Saturday, January 14, 2012

Almost Famous


I’m pretty much famous at this point after completing my second career radio interview and turning down a television appearance.

My first radio interview was live. When I learned that it would be aired live, I wondered if the people at the radio station would have made a different call if they’d known how awkward and inappropriate I can be. Fortunately, I was able to keep my internal dialogue to myself and successfully stuck to the subject at hand. The interview took place in October and was intended to raise awareness for the American Heart Association Heart Walk. Overall, I felt pretty good about it…probably because I never actually heard it afterwards.

My second radio interview was pre-recorded to allow for editing before being aired. Because of this, I was relaxed about it and was therefore completely unprepared. I’m pretty sure it was a hot mess and am crossing my fingers for some pretty serious editing. The good news for me (bad news for the cause) is that it will air at 6am tomorrow (Sunday), during which time no person of sound mind will be listening. The bad news is that it will be available online by Monday. If I find the recording to be less embarrassing than I currently anticipate, I'll post a link here for all to enjoy. The point of this interview was to raise awareness of Go Red For Women’s National Wear Red Day, which takes place on Friday, February 3 [click here to see photos from last year]. Please wear as much red as possible that day and tell everyone you know why you are dressed up like a giant dot-free ladybug. The goal of Go Red For Women is frankly to stop the killing – heart disease is the #1 killer of women in this country, and it doesn’t have to be.

The television appearance could have been my big break, but unfortunately I’ll be out of town on business the day of the taping. Was I going to be on Ellen? No. The Today Show? Not so much. After all, I’m no Bionic Bride! It was to be an interview with a local tv station that I think has a reach of roughly 17 people in the central New Jersey area. Like I said, could’ve been big.

Remarkably, amid this media firestorm and inescapable jungle of paparazzi, I was also interviewed for an article to be included in the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital magazine. I always like to recognize the fine folks at RWJUH (except for that one guy that tried to kill me) for the multitude of times they saved my life. If my captivity-driven moodiness (and stench) and unladylike management of the gowns wasn’t enough to fully express my gratitude, I’m sure seeing their names in print (in smaller font than mine) will make up the difference. During this interview, I was also asked if I was willing to be photographed for both the article and potentially future marketing materials…including billboards. That’s right. Soon the fine people of New Jersey may be unable to escape my prematurely wrinkled and unnaturally pale face.

They’ll probably just mistake me for Kate Hudson.