Wounded! (And Last Week, Part 1)
Poor Harley came back from the kennel missing a small chunk of his ear. Apparently he was rough-housing and it got a little too … rough. It’s very strange — he’s the third dog I’ve had of this breed (he’s a mix) and every single one has wound up missing a section of his ear the same way. He now officially has ‘character’ (as if he didn’t already).
So, last week, I was lucky enough to do TWO television shows. The first was for WTNH News 8 in New Haven. (There may or may not be video of it floating around the web — I ain’t saying.) I have to admit, I was a little nervous about the whole thing, and tried to distract myself by trying on everything in my closet. My friend knows this, and called me up to see how I was coping.
Me: “Oh, fine. It’s just a little television show, and it’s probably taped, so how bad can it be?”
Her: “Right. You know it’s what we all watch here, right? Plus, I’m pretty sure it’s live.”
Me: “No, no, it’s taped, I’m sure. Otherwise somebody would have told me.”
Her: “You think that if you want to, honey.”
Of course it turned out that she was right on both counts, and I tried on more outfits in a mad panic and then perhaps devoted several hundred hours to practicing what I might say. My friend and her husband were kind enough to take me out to dinner the night before, then tuck me back into my hotel room. Around six a.m. the next morning my phone rang.
Me: “I think I’ve changed my mind.”
Her: “Yep, okay, too late for that. Let’s go. Let’s go. Let’s GO!”
And she stayed on the phone with me while I skated across the beautiful frozen sleeping city that was New Haven at that hour, right up until I walked in the door of the station. And I have to say, if you have to be on TV live for the first time, that station is the place to do it. People were UNGODLY happy and perky and professional, even when the cameras were not pointing at them. The crew behind the cameras were exactly the same way — all smiling and joking and way too competent for an hour when it is still DARK outside. Seriously.
There was an adorable couple outside the station with me, and it turns out they were also guests. They run a photography studio and brought some of their gorgeous photos – tiny little perfect moments captured on film. I couldn’t stay to watch their segment but I looked at their website after, and it is so beautiful and romantic it made me want to get married all over again.
Then I was on television, and the Very. First. Question. the host asked me was a GEOGRAPHY question. Geography, let us say, is not my strongest subject. (If you know me at all you are laughing right now.) But there I was, on LIVE TV, trying to explain where a fictional town was located. Nightmares do come true, people.
But I somehow survived, and the host was overall quite lovely, and then I walked back to my hotel room, and I SWEAR I got the fish eye from at least one woman who was heading off to church. She looked at me, all made up and dressed fancy, and automatically assumed I was doing the walk of shame. (Obviously she is not a fan of early morning television.) And my friend called to congratulate me on surviving. And I saw a beautiful fantasy dress in a beautiful store window that may or may not make it into my next book, we’ll have to see. All in all, a lovely morning, and quite a change from tending to injured dogs, which I must go do now.
