Afterwards

That pretty much wraps up the story of my taping. I then had to decide what to do about telling people. Even though I had been hoping for the Halloween show, getting it meant that people would have a lot of other commitments. I decided not to invite people anywhere to watch, though that was probably also somewhat influenced by not winning. If I’d had multiple games, I might have organized something for the Tuesday, but then if you tell people you are also on Monday, it gives too much away.

I ended up just posting it for my Facebook status on the day of, and also posting in the Aloha forum. I thought about doing it as an event, because people will get notice of the invitations, but that seemed a little too conceited, and more likely to cause confusion on whether I was actually inviting people to come over. Some people did wish I had publicized it more, but my friend and junior high locker partner Heidi posted it on Youtube, and then I could direct people there.

I will get a check for $1000 120 days after my appearance, so around March. This should pretty much cover transportation, hotel, and clothes, so it works out pretty well. This is sponsored by Aleve, incidentally.

I cannot do another game or reality show for six months from my airdate. I suspect this will not be a problem. Although many people have suggested that my family should have a reality show, we have not had any offers, and also I think they are wrong. We’re more fun for what we say than what we do, so I think a talk show would make more sense.

For another game show, I don’t know. The only other shows I have really been interested in are both off the air: Remote Control and Win Ben Stein’s Money. Actually, one of the other contestants had attended a taping of Remote Control, so that would have been cool. I think I could have done well on that. With Ben Stein, the questions focused a lot more on political science and recent history, which I did not know as much about then, but I have caught up a little.

For current shows, nothing really appeals. I do watch Wheel of Fortune sometimes, and I am fairly good at guessing the puzzles, but I have no confidence in my ability to spin the wheel well, and I don’t know what things cost, so The Price is Right is out. Family Feud could be fun, but it’s more complicated getting five people together, and then instead of coming up with facts, you have to come up with what people think, which can be pretty random.

I guess what I am trying to say is that I think my game show career is over, and that’s okay. I had fun, and people who knew me had fun.

If you are wondering about recognition, I would have said that people who had already seen me around recognized me, but not strangers on the street. So people who knew me recognized me of course, and a lot of people in the building where I work asked me about it. A few neighbors have stopped me while walking the dogs, and a former neighbor’s daughter called right after the game. So far, all people who have seen me at least a few times.

There is a wild card now, so I don’t know. When I was picking up my prescription a woman I did not recognize said she had seen me and I did a good job. I thanked her, but I didn’t stop to talk, because after all I felt miserable and I could not wait to get home and take those pills. I have no idea whether that was her first time seeing me, or she has seen me several times around the store, which is certainly possible, because we go to Walker Road Fred Meyer a lot, and I pick things up at that pharmacy a lot. Possibly I actually do know her, but I wasn’t able to recall because at the time I was sick and sleep-deprived and I did not have my full mental faculties. If she only saw me from the game, kudos to her on recognizing me while looking like death warmed over. Good eye.

So really the only thing left is thoughts, and even though I have shared many thoughts, there are more. This is where things start getting personal again, and maybe less entertaining but more insightful. We’ll see how it goes.