Stars, they're just like ME. right??

Living in LA I see a lot of celebrities. Not only are they just everywhere, but I have an uncanny ability to identify celebrities from obscure guest spots or hit movies from the mid-90s. Yes that is the troubled teen from “Disturbing Behavior” at the Grove. And yes, that man with dread locks sitting across from me at the coffee shop did have one line in one episode of How I Met Your Mother… three seasons ago.

I see celebrities in so many different places and they come without warning. Like many of you (I’m sure) I assumed an army of paparazzi follows every celebrity around, snapping photos and giving us commoners a heads up to their arrival. But, no. Because there is usually no warning and I see celebrities in some of the most common, public places around, it reminds me that stars really are just like us. Like Ryan Kwanten at Starbucks, enjoying a coffee or Uma Thurman at the Apple Store, dropping an iPad.

I see celebrities in odd couplings, and I have always wondered if a celebrity sees another celebrity walking down the street, but they have never spoken, do they nod hello? Shake hands? Does their shared celebrity, the fact that they (and the rest of the world) recognize each other give them the ability to say hello without cause? I saw Jennifer Love Hewitt and Tyra Banks grab froyo together. I saw Kate Walsh and Angela Kinsey take in an improv show together. Have these women always been friends or did they just arrive at the same place at the same time, instantly bond over their shared fame and decide to enjoy the activity together? I’m not a celebrity and I would never just sit down and have a frozen yogurt with another non-celebrity just because we are in the same shop, but there’s something different about celebrities… I think they could pull it off.

I even see celebrities exactly where one would expect. Ie a disheveled David Hasselhoff atop an electrical box, barefoot, talking on the phone in the middle of Santa Monica.

Everyone has a different reaction to seeing a celebrity. Some ask for autographs, some snap pictures on their cell phones, some point so that no one around them will miss the sighting. I don’t do any of these things. Instead I make direct eye contact with them. For some reason I think this eye contact calms them into knowing I respect their job and we quickly bond over our mutual agreement that fame is just a ridiculous result of an honest days work.

The eye contact says, “we’re cool, buddy,” or “you’re safe here, I understand.” The eye contact has several flaws. 1. I’m sure it is not calming. 2. I am sure no celebrity needs me to telepathically tell them “we’re cool” and 3. I used to think the eye contact I made was by chance. But the more I think about it the more I think I just stare until we inevitably meet eyes. After all, there are only so many things a set of eyes can focus on in a certain amount of time.