Misty Water-Colored Memories
Well, it's my first post-TRL day. Being unemployed isn't so bad. It's certainly nice to sleep in. But you certainly get attached to a job after 3 years, and I will miss certain things. In fact, here are some of my favorite memories of my time at TRL. It's not a comprehensive list, not by a long shot, but these are the first things that popped into my head, and it's fairly representative of my time on the show.

- Sitting in soundchecks, 10 feet from the stage, with a dozen people or less in the room, for artists such as Green Day, Kanye West, Ludacris, Gwen Stefani, and The Killers.
- Standing next to Elijah Wood watching Good Charlotte perform for our Star Wars Episode 3 special and hearing him complain about how awful they are.
- Visiting Skywalker Ranch and watching Episode 3 in George Lucas’s private screening room. Not because I like the Star Wars movies, but because the ranch is beautiful, and there’s nothing like a movie theater with a huge digital projection system and huge speakers built into the floor.
- Meeting Hulk Hogan. Three times.
- Having Lindsay Lohan excitedly insist to me that she was wearing an authentic early-80’s Beach Boys concert t-shirt.
- Having Andre 3000 laugh and compliment my “Who Wants to Sex Mutombo?” t-shirt.
- Standing 3 feet from Paris Hilton in Cancun as the wind blew her skirt up, revealing she goes commando.
- Making VJDamien laugh by writing random 80s lyrics on the cue cards.
- Watching Justin Timberlake try to identify animals based on sounds of them having sex.
- Seeing a kid in the audience try to protest Taco Bell but getting tackled before he could do anything other than yell “Taco Bell…” thereby probably giving the chain some positive publicity.
- Watching Donald Trump temporarily “fire” VJQuddus. If only it had been real and permanent.
- Watching Joaquin Phoenix get reamed out by the director of Ladder 49 after Phoenix threw an immature hissy-fit and refused to go out onstage without wearing his Johnny-Cash-flipping-the-bird t-shirt. Phoenix caved very quickly.
- Getting my picture taken with the Stanley Cup.
- Creating “Live with Regis & Kelly” with guests Regis Philbin and Kelly Osbourne.
- Standing 5 feet from Seth MacFarlane as he seamlessly segued from one Family Guy character’s voice to the next.
- Watching a segment producer pitch a stunt to Jessica Simpson in which she shows us how to line dance, and her reaction when Jessica says she doesn’t know how to line dance, even though she does in the video for “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’.”
- Meeting Stevie Wonder and wondering if he had any clue that the name of his new album was written on the side of his sunglasses.