Sister, can you spare?

Vacation started off promisingly enough with my sister, Lorrie (aka Koop), coming in for nine days of fun, frivolity and shopping. She probably never would have dreamed that modern-day pop culture would ace out '80s revelry in my world, but it did when Shark Week clearly tanked MTV in t-shirt wars.

One of our first endeavors was Daytime Stars and Strikes -- an event at the Bowlmor Lanes in New York City that raises money for the American Cancer Society and features actors from the now-defunct East Coast soap operas. The plan: I bowl and Koop watches.

Each group of fans bowls with a couple of daytimers. I definitely had a makeshift want list, most of whom hailed from host Jerry ver Dorn's days as Ross Marler on "Guiding Light." Michael O'Leary (Rick), Elvera Roussel (Hope), co-host Liz Keifer (Blake), Maeve Kinkead (Vanessa), Kurt McKinney (Matt), Beth Chamberlin (Beth), Ron Raines (Alan), Ellen Dolan (Maureen, later Margo on "As the World Turns") and Denise Pence (Katie) were all people that I would have liked to have bowled with.

Instead, I wound up on a lane with Andrew Trischitta (Jack, One Life to Live) and Austin Williams (Shane, OLTL), who I really didn't know because I stopped watching when Trevor St. John left the show in the double Todd Manning debacle. They were really nice guys, though, and there still was a great affinity between them and more of the show's younger actors who came out for the cause.

But all was not lost, because late-arriving Sean Ringgold (Shawn, OLTL) got added to our lane and the big teddy bear was a barrel of laughs. Had a lot of fun with him, especially when he wound up bowling in the "Lisa" spot on our roster. I must have called him "Lisa" one time too many when he chided, "The name is Shawn-a."

Andrew set up our game with bumpers, which I just rolled my eyes about at the start but benefited from later on. I had my competitive juices flowing (of course!), so I was determined to at least win on our lane.

Since no one else was bowling particularly well, even with bumpers, it started looking good when I picked up spares here and there -- although I never did bowl particularly well on the first ball of the next frame.

Sis was my biggest supporter -- I got pep talks and one massage before I went each time. Except for the time early on when I turned around, only to see her chatting Tina Sloan (Lillian, GL) up! An in-depth discussion on napkins, I believe it was. But a nice surreal moment all the same. And then there was the time Koop walked away, and I finally got a strike!

Jerry also came by the lane at one point and I showed him a picture of when I interviewed him and Kristi Ferrell (Roxie) a couple of decades earlier. His jaw seemed to drop when he looked at it, and we decided to recreate the shot at that moment.

I also "sparred" with Sean -- he looked very humored by belligerence -- and discussed the intricacies of the sport of bowling with another late arrival on the neighboring lane -- Nathaniel Marston (Michael, OLTL and Eddie, ATWT). OK, me and the incredibly well dressed Mr. Marston were just clowning around.

As the game wound down, and bowlers -- both actors and fans continued to disappear at an increasing rate -- it looked like I was going to win. But I didn't take anything for granted. Got a spare on my last ball, giving me a third in the 10th frame -- and Lordy, a non-bumper-assisted strike that Sis saw! And Sean/Shawna too!! My final score was 122, a lot better than when I had feared I might not crack three digits.

Before the "competition" got under way, there also were raffles and prize events, the latter of which you put your own tickets into a bowl only for the items you'd like to win. When I looked at the overall list, there were two main things I wanted -- Debrah Farentino's autographed photo from the prizes and Elvera Roussel's photo from the raffle. I ended up with both!

I got to meet Elvera in the process of bidding and winning her lovely photo. I really liked her as Hope Bauer back when I first started seeing "Guiding Light" many, many moons ago. She seemed really honored that someone would come to the event this much later to see her, so it was all worth it before the bowling even commenced. She also primped me for our picture like a doting mother hen.

I didn't see half of the "GL" actors that I had been hoping to at the event, but I did squeak out a minute with Maeve Kinkeand and Kurt McKinney. I told Maeve how I loved Vanessa for years and years, but then added to Kurt that I primarily know him as the first Ned on "General Hospital" because I do the Sean-Tiffany YouTube channel and he's all over that for a couple years. He got a laugh out of that.

Enjoyed some quality time with Tonja Walker, who has been on several different shows, but again I seem to know best from "GH" as wacko Olivia. She couldn't believe that so many people still love to hate the character this much time later and we commiserated about shows reusing the same names again -- like Olivia and, say, Sean ... Katherine ... etc.

And had another minute with former Emmy winner Gina Tognoni (Dinah, GL and Kelly, OLTL), who just looks so gorgeous and is so sincere that's embarrassing to be in her presence. Just kinda makes you want to go home, crawl into bed and stay there for two days. But that's later in the vacation, stay tuned!