I suppose, given that a) he'd been on The Tonight Show the night before I should have known he was in town and b) this is a very hip Starbucks (on one of the other recent occasions I was there, my friend pointed out that Robert Downey Jr. had just walked out the door behind me - and I'd completely missed it) I shouldn't have been terribly surprised to see him there. And really I wasn't surprised so much as giddy. It was a bit overwhelming, especially as he proceeded to tease us for not standing right up behind the people at the counter. "What, are you afraid of the cash registers?" he joked. As I said, it was all a bit overwhelming, as he was there with his bodyguards and I think a police officer as well - they were keeping back, giving him space, and letting people approach the Governator, but were close enough to tackle anyone who made a wrong move.

My friend and I sort of stepped aside to let The Arnold get to one of the registers and we soon moved to another, trying to be cool and figure out where we'd just left our conversation and trying to pick our jaws up off the ground. So we ordered our drinks and moved over to a table, but neither of us could really concentrate while The Arnold was there. Now, having lived a lifetime in this town and having worked for many years in the industry, I've gotten to a point where I can be very cool and collected (on the outside) upon seeing a celebrity. When you work in the business, you just can't let your fannish side take over, because you never know when you'll run into that person in a work situation. But even I have my ActorGroupie moments where it's exciting to see someone... So I turned to my friend and said, hang on a sec, I've just got to have my fannish moment, and I left my drink and purse at the table with my friend and gently (slowly and friendly-like so as not to upset the guards LOL, including the secret service looking one with the earpiece) went over to the Governator who was getting his coffee.

Now I don't want this to be a political article, so I'll just say that I spoke two or three sentences to him in the context of his current job and that he was very friendly and receptive. I did not feel it was at all appropriate to be film-fannish in the moment, so no, I did not mention his movies nor ask for an autograph. I then returned to my friend at our table.

A few other people briefly leaned in to speak to the Governator and he was equally friendly and polite to them.

My friend and I had a difficult time trying to continue our original conversation while The Arnold was still there, so we just sort of watched out of the corner of our eyes as he worked the room (my friend joked that that was probably The Arnold's 23rd cup of coffee from his 23rd Starbucks stop of the day and I agreed, it was a definite 'pressing the flesh' opportunity, but it also seemed smart for him to do). At one point, while The Arnold was putting sugar or milk in his coffee, he was near our table and my friend leaned over to ask the Governator's position on a particular issue, which again, he was very friendly about responding to and explained (briefly) why he felt the issue was important. Then he moved off, was stopped perhaps once more on his way out the door and then entered the passenger side of his vehicle which had pulled up right outside and he left.

My friend and I noted that in person The Arnold has a definite charisma, though my friend felt he had a detached quality (which I think you've got to have when you're dealing with as many people as he must, you've got to be able to keep your boundaries up or you'd get easily overwhelmed). We also joked that first, Robert Downey Jr., today the Governator, who would we encounter there next? I guessed Madonna. We'll just have to see what happens.