Okay I am back. I have gotten some hate mail that I have been letting myself down by not blogging. According to my friends I have not blogged in over 3 weeks. Interesting, because I have not lost any weight in 3 weeks. Could it be related....Interesting. If it is, I am going to catch up big time today and hope that by doing so I drop a couple of pounds this week, let's see if the theory works. Tamese and I are at the Starbucks in Issaquah. I am having youthful flashbacks to when it was Godfathers and we hung out here after High School Football games! No one here seems like good material to go make out in the backseat of their car so oh well. Tamese is busy working on her stuff. I am happy to be out of the house after some snow days. The kids were almost driving me to drink! Snow at the end of February, please! Enough!
When I left off we were heading into the month of February, Heart Health month, and more specifically Go Red for Women day on February 4th. This is the big day my committee that I am working with as part of the American Heart Association were waiting for. Our goal as the Passions committee is to increase awareness for the organization in a grass roots manner. One of the ways to measure our success is the amount of Publicity we receive and how many people wear red on Go Red Day.
Well we rocked it! They say this was the most publicity we have ever gotten. Particularly in the live TV News piece. The local stations usually will do the Public Relations announcement about the day and show one of the local landmarks lit up red. This year we were on Two of the major networks and multiple times! The most exciting part was that I was a part of all of it! My fifteen minutes of fame dragged on and on. It was overwhelming and exciting! After the New Day Northwest Event which in itself was super exciting. With the getting dressed by a professional, Laura Bennet at Bellevue Macy's, having my hair done by Tiffany at Mollie Michelle Salon in Bellevue, having June and Hayley in the front row; it was like being a queen. Granted a queen would not have broke her heel, hobbled out, snapped her shoulders back and boobs out a couple of times, made faces and tried to mouth words to her audience because of her nerves. So much so that the poor cameraman had to keep panning to my feet. Trust me watch that link, I just about throw my back out when I remember Laura's advice of shoulders back girls out! Not once but twice, that poor cameraman!
The next morning I had to be on the windy roof of the Hard Rock Cafe shortly before 7:00 am. I had a long Red Coat Dress over a sequin tank and black Lycra pants and flats! I was interviewed live along with a cardiologist LIVE on the morning news. What is amazing about how these newscasts work is that they really don't tell you ahead of time what they will ask. Granted I know we are going to talk about heart health and maybe my survivor story. You know you may have 2 minutes to talk. You can assume they are not going to ask you about the weather. But when the interview took a turn towards Weight Loss Goals and healthy Living, I was a little thrown off. I did okay, talked about having as many "day ones" as you need, never giving up, etc. Of course I wanted an apple fritter really bad at the moment. I did not expect blondie Barbie reporter to throw me under the bus by asking me on live tv in front of the City of Seattle and most of the State of Washington on the number one morning news broadcast, What was my weight loss goal? Holy crap, really. If you watch the tape, you see me lean back and look at her like "WTF?", but then I answered it, 50 pounds. Talk about being accountable. When the camera turned off I looked at my AHA PR friend, Krista, then at the reporter and said with a laugh "thanks for throwing me under the bus". She claimed that was not what I meant, that I misunderstood the question. Now being interviewed by a well spoken professional already makes you feel kind of dumb and ill spoken and like a hick. So now I am like, oh I misunderstand I bet that made me look dumb and fat. Well Dr. April came to my rescue, she said "nope she didn't misunderstand that is exactly what I thought you were asking her". Thank you Dr. April. She has a medical degree so maybe I am not so dumb.
Watching the crane lift the fiberglass frame of a 20 foot tall dress onto the roof in front of one of the most famous icons in our city was just awe inspiring, when they plugged it in and it lit up red, I felt like the kid that gets picked to light the White House Christmas tree!
Later I thought about it and the reporter was a bit annoyed because we could not film more pieces live because we had another appointment. She kept asking Krista to change it and wanted to know where we were going. Krista didn't want to say it was the competition, at one point just flat out saying "we can't tell you". Right before the "fifty pound" airing, I heard the reporter say under her breath, "what do you guys have an appointment with the FBI or something?" So maybe in hindsight we should have just confessed, but I understand in the world of live on the spot publicity we didn't want to lose any of what we had because one station didn't want to repeat what another was doing. She taped a more extensive one on one interview with me to be aired later. I still have not seen a copy of that, I am afraid to, that one included more about my "goals", ugh. As we dashed from the roof of the Hard Rock, I said to the reporter "you're my favorite, thank you!" What a dork I am!
So we raced across town to the studios of Fox News. I was feeling more comfortable there. It is hard to be nervous when the producer is so nice and warm and excited to have you like you are a big celebrity. That and the murals of the Simpsons and Family Guy Characters on the wall may have helped. Hard to take yourself seriously when Stu and a talking dog are looking at you.
They led us into the newsroom where the news was on! The anchors Mark and Lily were sitting behind the desk. There seem to be lots of cameras and not many people. It was so quiet not what I expected at all. We watched Adam do the weather and traffic in front of the green screen. With his dress shirt, tie and sneakers, it really looked like an SNL skit waiting to happen. There seem to be only two people running it. At commercial we were introduced to the team. Mark was the most friendly asking if we wanted to come sit behind the desk. Because my filter is lower when I am nervous I suggested that I would if I could lay on the desk. He thought I was funny. Lily? not so much. So myself and two other survivors dressed in Red were posed in front of some props. Lily came over after the next piece. Wow she was tiny like from the city of Oz! She was trying to find a box to stand on and kept asking what camera we were using. Everyone seem to ignore her. Even with the box she made me look like the jolly red giant! As soon as that camera was on she lights up and started yet another live interview where we had no idea what we would be asked. Talk about excitement. She asked what it was like to live with a pacemaker. She asked about being 40, which I had to say I couldn't say because 40 was so new to me! We all spoke and it ended with me putting in a plug for the casting call piece of the Macy's connect event the next day. We took photos "behind" the desk. It was so cool, I wanted to be a part of it. I should have gone into media!
As I rounded the set corner I ran smack into a 400 pound plus comedian. Ralphie May! I seem to be the only one that knew who he was. I got my photo taken with him and started chatting him up. The producer kindly told him I was funny enough to open for him. He said his shows were sold out. He went to do his interview and we stepped back stage with Adam the traffic guy to watch. That was the most fun. Adam is like a big kid with a deep radio voice. Ralphie May seemed stoned out of his mind! I thought for sure they would have to hit the dump button on him. We were taking bets. But a 5 second delay is not much time to catch him when he is talking about losing his virginity and being good on the back stroke but that's okay cause his wife has an iud! It was dead silence in the studio except for one of the producers literally laughing out loud. Lily, the interviewer looked stricken and Mark looked like he was thoroughly enjoying that she drew that stick! I was just in heaven and entranced with the whole thing. I was so proud of myself for not dropping the "f" bomb in any of my own interviews that I was so excited to see someone else maybe do it!
After he was done he was waddling slowly out of the studio singing "walking in Memphis" but saying "Seattle". Can you say "HIGH". Like a rabid fan I caught him in the parking lot to tell him how funny he was. He invited me to his sold out show that night! Told me who to call!
So that night, my friend Mary and I went to the 10:00 show at the Parlour in Bellevue. It started late and he went on for over two hours, the show ended at 1:30. Yes, I did see the irony that I was there promoting Heart Health, wearing red, and watching a guy that was not the poster child for good heart choices. Like he said at the start of his show, he has "one foot in the grave and one foot on a banana peel". I wanted to save him. Although as the show progressed I was finding he and I had some different opinions on political and life philosophies, so I figured, screw him, he is on his own.
So two days of live tv interviews starting before 7 am, a comedy show and then back to Macy's the next morning at 8:00 for the big event. I was dragging!
So Saturday morning (Thursday, New Day NW, Friday King 5 and Fox, Friday night Ralphie, and now Saturday) we arrived early to set up for the Macy's Go Red Connect event. My new friend a mom from school came to help for half the time. That was great to have someone to help me get going, I really wasn't sure how we were suppose to do it. But it ended up being a very emotional and inspiring task. I interviewed other survivors about their experience and taped it on my flip video. I was so fried emotionally and physically that I was kind of on autopilot. Jenny was finding it very emotional and I was worried that I was not connecting with these people. Then "Linda" arrived. She walked up with her mom and adult daughter. She said she drove from Tacoma because she had seen me talk about the event on Fox. We talked for a few minutes about Ralphie May's interview! I asked if she was going to do a casting call. She said no I just wanted to see you. I still was not getting it. Her daughter told her she was doing the casting call. When she sat down I said so you saw the three of us and wanted to come tell your story. She said "no, I wanted to meet you, your story really touched me" She showed me a scar that looked very familiar. She had just gotten a pacemaker six weeks earlier after having a heart attack 3 years before and struggling to stay well. I was flabbergasted, someone drove from Tacoma to meet me. This was not a funny ha ha my fifteen minutes of fame. This was connecting with another human being. My story had made a difference. The tears started and we embraced longer than probably correct for two woman in public. This is why is all I could think in my muddled sleep deprived brain. Why I had heart surgery? Why I want to talk about it now? Why I have to get healthy? I can help others. Talk about getting slammed up side the head! I am still trying to wrap my brain around the experience, which is why I think I have not been able to blog. I don't know how to be entertaining, intelligent or funny when I can't even figure out what path to take next.
The next week I caught up on my sleep and did a powerpoint presentation to the City of Renton employees. Scott filmed it but I have not had the guts to watch it. My nerves got to my filter again. Next time I should probably review the slides more thoroughly when someone else has prepared them. As I listed the side effects of Diabetes I got half way down to "erectile dysfunction". The audience was predominately men so I could not let this go by without comment "hey guys you know what I am talking about, you don't want that, that is bad". Deep breath next item "loss of hands and/or feet". Me..."Uh guys, ED and loss of hands? That would really put a crimp on your love life". Me... nervous laughter. Audience....crickets. Scott....shaking his head and rolling his eyes.
So maybe public speaking is not my next career. But I am determined that my career path is going to lead me to work for the American Heart Association! I am past step one of three steps for my dream job there, cross your fingers for me!
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