Although disguised, Oshkosh was the main star of the movie "Public Enemies" to me. Sorry, Johnny. You're hot, but this blog is much more about Sawdust city.

I missed the premiere night of the movie for many reasons, but mostly involving Indio City Council. But yesterday, in my pinstriped vest and tie (in 100 degree weather), I stepped into the Palm Springs movie theater and saw the movie that brought back memories.

With the first bank robbery located in Oshkosh's First National Bank (yup, it's that fabulous scene where Johnny Depp leaps over the desk with his tommy gun), I screamed "That's where I paid rent!"

As I watched the movie, memories came back like the dark waves of trees that Johnny Depp had to run through during the entire movie. They were memories of my life as a Sawdust Boy.

I remembered walking through the set, days before the movie was going to film. I was wearing a full-blown three-piece suit with a hat and interviewing people for an article that I was writing for The Oshkosh Northwestern. Our city's main street had been transformed into North Dakota thanks to the magic of Universal Studios.

Vintage billboards lined up the tiny central park and covered up the historic sundial. I walked on cobblesetone roads made out of rubber that were especially rolled out for this scene. I saw the hippie-ish New Moon Cafe transformed into a 1920s restaurant called Skalsa and the "House of Heroes" comic book store become a men's clothing store. And the nearby record store The Exclusive Company was a Walgreens with a vintage neon blue Walgreens sign dangling out front.

I remember that article came out on the first edition of a very vintage looking Oshkosh Northwestern, one that is in a box somewhere in San Francisco. The paper is printed in the classic style of newspaper with a hundred articles fitting on one page in more than nine columns. It would be the day before I hopped on a plane to Palm Springs, Calif. and fate would start turning its wheels toward The Desert Sun. I delivered this article to Rick Green, my to-be executive editor on that fateful day.

I was not there for most of the filming because I was interviewing for a job in Palm Springs, Calif. but I did return in time for the last few days. I remembered crowds blocked by chainlink awning. The streets were closed to the public but people were walking around main street in awe. I remember the sound of gunshots during filming sounding like the clang of rocks hitting pans. My Sawdust City had become Hollywood.

And, yes, I remember Johnny Depp in his bright orange jacket and blue shirt taking the time to shake everyone's hand...right outside my studio apartmenet building! He smiled and thanked everyone, including myself, for coming, as the cameras flashed and people pulled out their cell phone cameras. Of course, this lady has much more intimate memories of that experience.

When I saw it on the screen, I remembered it all. The Oshkosh Library with its two lions. The Masonic Temple that was always empty and had magically become another bank where Depp dragged out two hostages from a bank robbery onto the rubber cobblestone. A quick glimpse of Main Street Oshkosh as Johnny drove in the getaway car with a smile on his face. And of course, the First National Bank building where I paid my $350 in rent every single month.

But other memories also came back. The snow. That little studio with the heater I could not control. The Mr. Wisconsin competition. The old-fashioneds. Fish Fry Fridays. Christopher Allen's Club 1226. My two bofyriends. The two years that I had in Oshkosh and the stories of my own personal life that I have woven in. The streets that I have walked on, now eternally emblazoned on film so that the whole world can see that my small town America was once the center of the universe.

Mark my words, the Universal Studio employees did their job, but I could still see beyond the magic to the Oshkosh, Wisc. that I spent two important years of my life at in a small town newspaper and a small-town life that allows me to enjoy and value the life that I have now in Palm Springs.

As I prepare to go to work on Fourth of July for The Desert Sun, I quietly thank the Oshkosh Northwestern for everything. It never was destined to be my "anchor newspaper" but I was lucky to have experienced such an important moment in Oshkosh's history and to have been able to be part of the telling of its story.

Goodbye blackbird, goodbye.

And if Public Enemies does get an Oscar nomination this year, which I really hope it does, may the Sawdust City celebrate the success of being a historical Hollywood location. And I hope that when I do return to the state later this year, the city will have been transformed by this experience.

Oh, and so this blog enetry isn't entirely heavy, guys with pin-striped three piece suits are H-O-T. Why don't we dress like that anymore?

Yesterday, my new team defeated my old team.

And I helped them.

First of all, the Roadrunners were a great team and I learned a lot from them and my former teammates who I do miss dearly. But knowing that I helped score one of the seven winning points seriously rocked.

The first time I went for bat against my old team, I struck out with three swings. I was so depressed after that. On the other hand, our defense was so good that we kept getting so close. In the third inning, I went up to bat and I hit the ball and got to first base. Jose and Dennis then got me home and I was just so thrilled that I actually scored a point. It was one of the points that helped tie the score 5-to-5.

You know when I talk to sources and I ask them how they feel about winning this award or meeting Cesar Millan from "The Dog Whisperer" and they respond: "This is surreal." That is exactly how I felt that day.

Unfortunately, my surreal happiness was short-lived. We had another game against Hunters, the champion team. Our catcher Diane tripped and almost busted her knee. She had to leave early and we lost that game. I hope she is okay.

Still, my remaining teammates and friends celebrated our Sidewinders victory at our favorite bar. Then, I received a call from my parents. They had just arrived to Palm Springs and they were eating dinner at El Pollo Loco. That is right across from Sidewinders.

So, I had this crazy whim to get them to meet my friends and after a few calls, they agreed and met me at Sidewinders.

That's right. I managed to get my parents into a GAY BAR for their first time ever. And boy, was I nervous. I was slightly worried about the nearby go-go dancer doing his job and getting dollars stuffed down his g-string in front of them, but my parents were actually very cool about it.

We all hung out on the veranda and my parents were just so friendly and sweet. I don't get to talk much with my parents even though we are in the same state, but I wanted them to at least see a little bit of what my life has been like here and why I am (very often) happy here.

I apparently look like my mom, so that must be a cool thing.

So, I have a little bit of breathing time before I go spend a full day with mom and dad. Woohoo!

Oh, yeah, I went to this thing called COACHELLA, which was okay, but I'll have to save that for another blog.

I received a jury duty summons early this month and for some odd reason, I thought it was this week.

To find out, you need the juror number and that was on a sheet of paper on my office desk. I was searching for it last night to no avail.

And then, I had a nightmare that I was late for jury duty. It also included my parents and my sister for some odd reason, but that's a different story.

So, I drove to the office at 6:50 a.m. and I found my jury duty form on my office desk. That's when I made a startling discovery.

My jury duty is next week.

The gods must be crazy.

That's right, I've got access to the BNP Paribas Tennis Open. It's very exciting, I think.

I went to the Indian Wells Tennis Garden before the games began. By "garden," they must have meant "gargantuous stadium and several dozen tennis courts." That place was beautiful...and so are the tennis men.

So, today in honor of my "fur-cation," I'm going to the BNP Paribas Tennis games...and celebrate with Popeye's Chicken with Biscuits, which just opened in Palm Desert. And, of course, I'll use my credit card, since I'm broke and classy like that.

In other news, I have saved $13 in change for laundry money. Woohoo!

6. My favorite peanut butter ever is Luddy's Peanut Butter from the Phillippines and I am happy that the Asian grocery store in Cathedral City sells it.

I was very impressed with the Gay Superbowl tonight. I was more impressed than I usually am, but seriously the three hours of the show floored me.

"Slumdog Millionaire" took the gold in all of the right places and even in best picture. Okay, I did not mind seeing my future husband Dev Patel over and over again, but the movie deserved every award it received.

I love how they are now introducing the best actor awards with five award winners introducing each of the five nominees. Whoever thought of that was GENIUS.

I do feel bad for Brad Pitt because he deserves something for Benjamin Button. But Sean Penn's role in Harvey Milk has elevated the gay leader into the likes of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

And, yes, all the anti-Prop 8 speeches were awesome and needed to be said. I call it "Brokeback Mountain's Revenge." I also teared up with Heath Ledger's posthumous award. "The Dark Knight" is on my Netflix.

I do feel bad for Benjamin Button. It was still an incredible movie and I look forward to buying it and Slumdog on DVD when they both come out.  

The best part? Seeing a sneak peek of the new movie "Public Enemies" and realizing that the background was the bank building in Oshkosh. I was screaming at the top of my lungs "omg I used to pay rent there!"