While I'm sitting here...
I have a bit of catching up to do! I didn't write about last weekend at all, which on a normal weekend would be fine...but lots happened last weekend! I'll break it into parts.
Friday morning at 11:30 a.m. was my Jeopardy! "audition" at the St. Regis hotel in D.C. It's the same place they held it last time, but my appointment then was at 8:30 on a Saturday morning and I didn't want to trust myself to the Metro system that early, so I drove. After all the parking headaches that time, I probably should have Metroed...now I know! Since I was also leaving for a weekend of leisure afterwards, and since being tense would not be good for my audition, I relaxed on Thursday night and "slept in" until 6:30. I did get up and exercise, basically a normal morning, except later. And I dried/styled my hair more than usual. Hey, the Jeopardy people were going to want a picture, what can I say? Of course, as per usual I didn't get on the road as early as I wanted because I relaxed...maybe too much! I figured I'd fill the tank after the audition instead of before. I drove to Greenbelt, no problems. Got on a train, no problems. Oh good! And actually, I wound up getting downtown to my stop about a half-hour early. No problem, though. For one, I had a headache coming on, and I didn't know why. I do usually have one caffeinated drink a day in the mornings, though, so I told myself that if there was a Starbucks or something around, I'd get a coffee. Sure enough, the first thing on your left as you come up from the Farragut North Metro? Is a Starbucks. A skinny vanilla latte later, and I was feeling dandy. I walked to the hotel and sat in the very fancy lobby. Last time, they just got us from the lobby. This time, I kept seeing people, but they kept going elsewhere. Hunh! Finally at 11:15 I asked at the desk, and they directed me downstairs to where the audition room was. Doh! Makes sense, though. Now that they do the online testing, they don't have to take a hundred people at a time in to take the test. There were perhaps thirty of us there at that time. We filled out official applications, stating the times we weren't available (vacations, etc.) for the next 18 months. We got our Polaroids taken. And, we shuffled in.
Once seated, they gave us the welcome-to-Jeopardy song-and-dance, and played the little video where Alex Trebek welcomes us and thanks us for trying out, and he hopes to See Us Soon! On Jeopardy!! Then it's time to take the test, now that the contestant-handling lady has gotten us a little relaxed with some doofy questions-and-answers and running patter. No one came out and said it, but I'm certain that the whole point of the second test is just to catch people who may have cheated on the online test. The second test that we took that morning I found much easier than the online test. I think there were only four or five I didn't know (it's a 50-question test). They never tell you your score, though there is a place on your application for them to write it in.
Score is the top thing that determines if you'll ever be a contestant or not, but it's not the only thing. Fact of the matter is, there's lots of people out there who can answer a trivia quiz who might not be that great in a game show situation, who might not be entertaining to watch from home. Jeopardy is a TV show that wants ratings, just like every other TV show, so they want interesting personalities to engage the audience at home. If they don't like you, they don't care if you keep winning, and might not watch regularly. So after the test, there's a lot more Q-and-A and chatting, but finally when they come in with the scores it is time for the mock game. That's a huge part of how they decide also. I guess they're taking notes during, though I wasn't paying that much attention, as I was trying to focus on my game. And on smiling, and being personable, and being confidently (and loudly!) spoken, and stuff. I answered more questions than the other two guys I was up against in my game, but I did blank on at least one pretty easy question. Ah well. (The other guys didn't get it either.) Still, I feel that to the degree you have to push yourself as an interesting person, I did that well enough. (The story they asked me about was that perpetual favorite, my cell phone ringing with the "Exorcist" theme...while I was in church.)
When it was all said and done, I chatted briefly with a few people afterward, but everyone pretty much left. I am not allowed to talk about the contents of the test I took, and I think that extends to the questions in the mock games, but let me say that there were a few questions where I was like, "This is tailor made for me! It's a sign!" Which is a load of hooey, of course, but still. It was confidence-building, which is good. So when I walked back out onto the sunny streets of D.C., I was in a great mood. I texted a few folks, and then I called salami_salome, because it was time for Part II!
The Jeopardy thing took a little over two hours, about what they'd told us ahead of time. So it was maybe 20 minutes to 2 p.m. when I called Amber (LJ names are going to tire me mercilessly on this part, so the heck with them!). We chatted, and I said I'd probably be home by 3, so we agreed to meet up. Unfortunately, what I did not realize was that now there was track work on the Green Line between College Park and Greenbelt, involving single-tracking, and that made my Metro ride home quite a bit longer than my ride down. (Hey, if there had to be a delay, at least it was in this direction!) I didn't get back to Greenbelt until about 2:50, so I knew I wouldn't be on time. I was driving on major highways, though, so I didn't want to mess with the phone. At a few minutes after 3, I was near home on a smaller road, and Amber called to say she was at the liquor store across from my place. "Oh good," I said, "'cause I'm still not home." So we were both running a little late, it was okay.
We got packed up and in the car by probably 3:30, but then I had to get gas, and go to the bank to get cash. If I'd realized there was a branch of my bank right across the street from where we'd be staying, I could have skipped that part, but ah well! My bank is not huge, I don't get in the habit of expecting to find branches of it in convenient places. We got on the road for real by a little after 4, and I thought we'd be there by 6. Which would have happened, if it weren't for the ridiculous traffic on Rt. 70 west of Frederick. It was from a construction zone. *sigh* Ah well! We got to stop at a Roy Rogers' for dinner, which was great. I swear, if there were more of those things around, it wouldn't be that big a deal. But for now, they're still a special treat. While we were caught in the traffic, Pam called - she and Chris and Katherine were already there, and were we close? I explained the situation and the three of them said they'd just go out to dinner. We got there without further incident, and found our place. So cute! The "Fairfax Suite" was a little two-bedroom one-bath place right over a real-estate office right smack in the middle of the historic downtown of this adorable little town. It was great! We quickly settled in, divvying up bedrooms, etc. Deborah arrived while we were on our way, and we met up with everyone else over at the other rental cottage. It was nice having both, because the cottage had a backyard with hot tub that got lots of use. That's mainly what we did that first night, hang out, chat, sit in the hot tub. Eventually Deborah and I walked back (it was only a few blocks; the town isn't that big!), and Amber and Pam came along a little later.
Saturday was the big day! I must say I slept pretty well, even though it was a new place and I was on the fold-out couch and a thunderstorm woke me up in the middle of the night. We got off to a slow and lazy start, which was fine. I wound up getting a small breakfast just at our place, thanks to Deborah sharing the fresh cantaloupe she'd bought, and Amber sharing Chai mix from Trader Joe's. Pam and I went to the local coffee house for what wound up being lunch, and Deborah joined us. Then we gathered up Amber and Kim (who had stopped by) and we all hit the shops. Everyone else was already up and shopping so we eventually caught up with them. Did I mention, it's a pretty small town? We looked at lots of cute little shops, though I was good and didn't buy much over the weekend. The Mountain Laurel Gallery, which was right next door to us, featured lots of cool stuff, but the only thing truly irresistible was the Buddha Kitten statue I got. I should take a picture! Anyway, we all wandered at various paces, and eventually Pam and Amber and I went back to our place. A. was feeling a headache coming on and wanted to try to counteract it; Pam and I had massages with Frankie Tan (Atasia Spa) at 3 and 4 p.m. respectively. I walked with Pam to hers to see where the place was, then I wandered by myself for a bit. This is when I discovered the Mountain Laurel Gallery also had a shop cat! Her name was Mama, and she was a real sweetie. When I went to buy the kitten statue, she jumped up on the counter and lay down and put her paw out on my hand. D'aw! Thus satisfied with my purchase and experience, I went back to the apartment to put my feet up for a few before it was time for my massage.
I have to admit I was a little nervous. I'd never had a professional massage before! I joked a lot about "paying someone to touch me," but I mean, it's true. It's been a long time since I had that much physical contact from another person. Of course, he was a complete professional, and I got over feeling weird about it pretty quickly. The spa had a great atmosphere, it was quiet and clean and smelled fantastic. The layout was great, it seemed huge and labyrinthine, with each section seeming quite isolated from the other sections. I changed into the comfy, heavy robe and locked all my goods in a locker in the changing room. Then I went upstairs to wait, where I met Katherine. She and Chris had had massages at 3:00 also, and she seemed very relaxed and happy! Frankie Tan (the owner of the place, who does his own special type of massage) came to get me and brought me into his room. He left me alone to ditch the robe and get on the bed to wait for him. Heated massage bed, aaaahhh. I was already half-asleep. Then he came in to do the massage, and I didn't actually fall asleep, but it was very relaxing and lovely. I had some twitches - I'm a very ticklish person and it took a little bit for him to get past that, especially on my back and sides. (My feet, which I was worried about, didn't turn out to be all that ticklish!) There were all kinds of things, hot towels and hot rocks and foot massage and hand massage and man. It was just great. I would highly recommend it! The last part is the seated shoulder and hot towel massage, and when he told me I had to get up I was all, "I don't wanna!" Heh. Anyway, there was not much guidance afterward, and I would have liked a more private place to get changed back into my clothes, but all in all it was a fantastic experience. I left my tip in the little envelope (I didn't know how that worked at first and was all, "How am I supposed to tip him when my wallet is locked up downstairs?!") and walked home in a state of blissful relaxation. When I got back to the Suite, it was empty. I didn't feel in a big hurry to do...anything, so I got a drink and a bite of chocolate and sat in the reading nook facing the street. Eventually Kim called, then Telf called, and a plan came together.
A lot of the other gals wanted salads, so they were going to the grocery store and then back to the other cottage to prepare their dinners. Telf and I agreed that after our massages, we felt like having actual meat of some kind. Eventually we got Pam and Amber, and after dangling our feet in the springs for a while, we walked down to the Corner Steak and Sea. What we didn't realize was that the place took reservations, plus a firefighters' convention was in town, so they were pretty busy. We got reservations for 7 at 6:30, and wandered around for a half-hour then went back. We were seated promptly, but sat there for a while without so much as a glass of water. I was starting to have a bad feeling, but then we realized that there were only like two waitstaff working the entire dining room. Eventually our waiter, Jacob, showed up with water, and we learned that between someone calling out sick, and someone else having a car accident, and the convention having seriously depleted the kitchen...well, they were holding together as well as they could. And he was clearly exhausted, on his second double-shift in a row, but still very pleasant. Had I been in his situation I'd have been a total bitch, probably. So good on him! He had to tell us that the kitchen was out of filet, which I think three of us had ordered. Doh! We made other selections, and really? Despite the wait? It was a delicious meal! (I had chicken breast stuffed with crab.) They gave us free desserts for the steak mixup, which SWEET MARY I did not need. But they were good! I took half of mine back to the other cottage 'cause I couldn't finish it. Anyway, perhaps Jacob thought these four women were crazy, but it was fun to flirt with him in a vague way and we all tipped generously. (Did I mention he was also tending bar? He was probably cooking stuff too, for all I know.)
Full, and happy, we walked back to the cottage for hot tubbing and gin. Sweet, sweet gin. It was a good night! There was lots of chat and hot tub and a rousing game of Luck of the Draw. I love that game! I think I turned into a pumpkin around midnight, and we all walked back together, and turned in.
I had felt bad that I hadn't gotten any pictures, because I am bad at taking pictures when I'm with other people or trying to do other things. I randomly woke up at 9 a.m. on Sunday, which seemed early (since I don't think I'd turned out the light until nearly 2 a.m. when all was said and done), but I couldn't get back to sleep. Deborah was up, so I explained I was going for a walk, got into the previous day's clothes, put a hat on my ridiculous hair, and went out. I took a nice long walk and took a lot of pictures, which was great. Then I got back, showered, and eventually Pam and I went to the same coffee house for breakfast. Yum! We explored the craft fair and farmer's market, met up with Amber and Deborah as D. was leaving, and then the three of us wandered up until the last minute. We had to be out by 1 p.m. and we literally shut the door and locked it right at 1. We had such a late breakfast, and then treats at the Creamery, that we didn't really need "lunch" or anything. We got on the road, made a stop in Hagerstown at the outlet mall, where Amber got a new purse to replace her busted one, and were home by about 4:00.
Thus, in conclusion, it was a lovely weekend and I would be happy to do it again!
Later maybe I'll do a rundown of yesterday, but really? Not much to say. I was zoning and nauseated most of the day, but now? I'm fine and not on any pain meds. Huzzah! Now, I'm off to gargle with salt water.
Friday morning at 11:30 a.m. was my Jeopardy! "audition" at the St. Regis hotel in D.C. It's the same place they held it last time, but my appointment then was at 8:30 on a Saturday morning and I didn't want to trust myself to the Metro system that early, so I drove. After all the parking headaches that time, I probably should have Metroed...now I know! Since I was also leaving for a weekend of leisure afterwards, and since being tense would not be good for my audition, I relaxed on Thursday night and "slept in" until 6:30. I did get up and exercise, basically a normal morning, except later. And I dried/styled my hair more than usual. Hey, the Jeopardy people were going to want a picture, what can I say? Of course, as per usual I didn't get on the road as early as I wanted because I relaxed...maybe too much! I figured I'd fill the tank after the audition instead of before. I drove to Greenbelt, no problems. Got on a train, no problems. Oh good! And actually, I wound up getting downtown to my stop about a half-hour early. No problem, though. For one, I had a headache coming on, and I didn't know why. I do usually have one caffeinated drink a day in the mornings, though, so I told myself that if there was a Starbucks or something around, I'd get a coffee. Sure enough, the first thing on your left as you come up from the Farragut North Metro? Is a Starbucks. A skinny vanilla latte later, and I was feeling dandy. I walked to the hotel and sat in the very fancy lobby. Last time, they just got us from the lobby. This time, I kept seeing people, but they kept going elsewhere. Hunh! Finally at 11:15 I asked at the desk, and they directed me downstairs to where the audition room was. Doh! Makes sense, though. Now that they do the online testing, they don't have to take a hundred people at a time in to take the test. There were perhaps thirty of us there at that time. We filled out official applications, stating the times we weren't available (vacations, etc.) for the next 18 months. We got our Polaroids taken. And, we shuffled in.
Once seated, they gave us the welcome-to-Jeopardy song-and-dance, and played the little video where Alex Trebek welcomes us and thanks us for trying out, and he hopes to See Us Soon! On Jeopardy!! Then it's time to take the test, now that the contestant-handling lady has gotten us a little relaxed with some doofy questions-and-answers and running patter. No one came out and said it, but I'm certain that the whole point of the second test is just to catch people who may have cheated on the online test. The second test that we took that morning I found much easier than the online test. I think there were only four or five I didn't know (it's a 50-question test). They never tell you your score, though there is a place on your application for them to write it in.
Score is the top thing that determines if you'll ever be a contestant or not, but it's not the only thing. Fact of the matter is, there's lots of people out there who can answer a trivia quiz who might not be that great in a game show situation, who might not be entertaining to watch from home. Jeopardy is a TV show that wants ratings, just like every other TV show, so they want interesting personalities to engage the audience at home. If they don't like you, they don't care if you keep winning, and might not watch regularly. So after the test, there's a lot more Q-and-A and chatting, but finally when they come in with the scores it is time for the mock game. That's a huge part of how they decide also. I guess they're taking notes during, though I wasn't paying that much attention, as I was trying to focus on my game. And on smiling, and being personable, and being confidently (and loudly!) spoken, and stuff. I answered more questions than the other two guys I was up against in my game, but I did blank on at least one pretty easy question. Ah well. (The other guys didn't get it either.) Still, I feel that to the degree you have to push yourself as an interesting person, I did that well enough. (The story they asked me about was that perpetual favorite, my cell phone ringing with the "Exorcist" theme...while I was in church.)
When it was all said and done, I chatted briefly with a few people afterward, but everyone pretty much left. I am not allowed to talk about the contents of the test I took, and I think that extends to the questions in the mock games, but let me say that there were a few questions where I was like, "This is tailor made for me! It's a sign!" Which is a load of hooey, of course, but still. It was confidence-building, which is good. So when I walked back out onto the sunny streets of D.C., I was in a great mood. I texted a few folks, and then I called salami_salome, because it was time for Part II!
The Jeopardy thing took a little over two hours, about what they'd told us ahead of time. So it was maybe 20 minutes to 2 p.m. when I called Amber (LJ names are going to tire me mercilessly on this part, so the heck with them!). We chatted, and I said I'd probably be home by 3, so we agreed to meet up. Unfortunately, what I did not realize was that now there was track work on the Green Line between College Park and Greenbelt, involving single-tracking, and that made my Metro ride home quite a bit longer than my ride down. (Hey, if there had to be a delay, at least it was in this direction!) I didn't get back to Greenbelt until about 2:50, so I knew I wouldn't be on time. I was driving on major highways, though, so I didn't want to mess with the phone. At a few minutes after 3, I was near home on a smaller road, and Amber called to say she was at the liquor store across from my place. "Oh good," I said, "'cause I'm still not home." So we were both running a little late, it was okay.
We got packed up and in the car by probably 3:30, but then I had to get gas, and go to the bank to get cash. If I'd realized there was a branch of my bank right across the street from where we'd be staying, I could have skipped that part, but ah well! My bank is not huge, I don't get in the habit of expecting to find branches of it in convenient places. We got on the road for real by a little after 4, and I thought we'd be there by 6. Which would have happened, if it weren't for the ridiculous traffic on Rt. 70 west of Frederick. It was from a construction zone. *sigh* Ah well! We got to stop at a Roy Rogers' for dinner, which was great. I swear, if there were more of those things around, it wouldn't be that big a deal. But for now, they're still a special treat. While we were caught in the traffic, Pam called - she and Chris and Katherine were already there, and were we close? I explained the situation and the three of them said they'd just go out to dinner. We got there without further incident, and found our place. So cute! The "Fairfax Suite" was a little two-bedroom one-bath place right over a real-estate office right smack in the middle of the historic downtown of this adorable little town. It was great! We quickly settled in, divvying up bedrooms, etc. Deborah arrived while we were on our way, and we met up with everyone else over at the other rental cottage. It was nice having both, because the cottage had a backyard with hot tub that got lots of use. That's mainly what we did that first night, hang out, chat, sit in the hot tub. Eventually Deborah and I walked back (it was only a few blocks; the town isn't that big!), and Amber and Pam came along a little later.
Saturday was the big day! I must say I slept pretty well, even though it was a new place and I was on the fold-out couch and a thunderstorm woke me up in the middle of the night. We got off to a slow and lazy start, which was fine. I wound up getting a small breakfast just at our place, thanks to Deborah sharing the fresh cantaloupe she'd bought, and Amber sharing Chai mix from Trader Joe's. Pam and I went to the local coffee house for what wound up being lunch, and Deborah joined us. Then we gathered up Amber and Kim (who had stopped by) and we all hit the shops. Everyone else was already up and shopping so we eventually caught up with them. Did I mention, it's a pretty small town? We looked at lots of cute little shops, though I was good and didn't buy much over the weekend. The Mountain Laurel Gallery, which was right next door to us, featured lots of cool stuff, but the only thing truly irresistible was the Buddha Kitten statue I got. I should take a picture! Anyway, we all wandered at various paces, and eventually Pam and Amber and I went back to our place. A. was feeling a headache coming on and wanted to try to counteract it; Pam and I had massages with Frankie Tan (Atasia Spa) at 3 and 4 p.m. respectively. I walked with Pam to hers to see where the place was, then I wandered by myself for a bit. This is when I discovered the Mountain Laurel Gallery also had a shop cat! Her name was Mama, and she was a real sweetie. When I went to buy the kitten statue, she jumped up on the counter and lay down and put her paw out on my hand. D'aw! Thus satisfied with my purchase and experience, I went back to the apartment to put my feet up for a few before it was time for my massage.
I have to admit I was a little nervous. I'd never had a professional massage before! I joked a lot about "paying someone to touch me," but I mean, it's true. It's been a long time since I had that much physical contact from another person. Of course, he was a complete professional, and I got over feeling weird about it pretty quickly. The spa had a great atmosphere, it was quiet and clean and smelled fantastic. The layout was great, it seemed huge and labyrinthine, with each section seeming quite isolated from the other sections. I changed into the comfy, heavy robe and locked all my goods in a locker in the changing room. Then I went upstairs to wait, where I met Katherine. She and Chris had had massages at 3:00 also, and she seemed very relaxed and happy! Frankie Tan (the owner of the place, who does his own special type of massage) came to get me and brought me into his room. He left me alone to ditch the robe and get on the bed to wait for him. Heated massage bed, aaaahhh. I was already half-asleep. Then he came in to do the massage, and I didn't actually fall asleep, but it was very relaxing and lovely. I had some twitches - I'm a very ticklish person and it took a little bit for him to get past that, especially on my back and sides. (My feet, which I was worried about, didn't turn out to be all that ticklish!) There were all kinds of things, hot towels and hot rocks and foot massage and hand massage and man. It was just great. I would highly recommend it! The last part is the seated shoulder and hot towel massage, and when he told me I had to get up I was all, "I don't wanna!" Heh. Anyway, there was not much guidance afterward, and I would have liked a more private place to get changed back into my clothes, but all in all it was a fantastic experience. I left my tip in the little envelope (I didn't know how that worked at first and was all, "How am I supposed to tip him when my wallet is locked up downstairs?!") and walked home in a state of blissful relaxation. When I got back to the Suite, it was empty. I didn't feel in a big hurry to do...anything, so I got a drink and a bite of chocolate and sat in the reading nook facing the street. Eventually Kim called, then Telf called, and a plan came together.
A lot of the other gals wanted salads, so they were going to the grocery store and then back to the other cottage to prepare their dinners. Telf and I agreed that after our massages, we felt like having actual meat of some kind. Eventually we got Pam and Amber, and after dangling our feet in the springs for a while, we walked down to the Corner Steak and Sea. What we didn't realize was that the place took reservations, plus a firefighters' convention was in town, so they were pretty busy. We got reservations for 7 at 6:30, and wandered around for a half-hour then went back. We were seated promptly, but sat there for a while without so much as a glass of water. I was starting to have a bad feeling, but then we realized that there were only like two waitstaff working the entire dining room. Eventually our waiter, Jacob, showed up with water, and we learned that between someone calling out sick, and someone else having a car accident, and the convention having seriously depleted the kitchen...well, they were holding together as well as they could. And he was clearly exhausted, on his second double-shift in a row, but still very pleasant. Had I been in his situation I'd have been a total bitch, probably. So good on him! He had to tell us that the kitchen was out of filet, which I think three of us had ordered. Doh! We made other selections, and really? Despite the wait? It was a delicious meal! (I had chicken breast stuffed with crab.) They gave us free desserts for the steak mixup, which SWEET MARY I did not need. But they were good! I took half of mine back to the other cottage 'cause I couldn't finish it. Anyway, perhaps Jacob thought these four women were crazy, but it was fun to flirt with him in a vague way and we all tipped generously. (Did I mention he was also tending bar? He was probably cooking stuff too, for all I know.)
Full, and happy, we walked back to the cottage for hot tubbing and gin. Sweet, sweet gin. It was a good night! There was lots of chat and hot tub and a rousing game of Luck of the Draw. I love that game! I think I turned into a pumpkin around midnight, and we all walked back together, and turned in.
I had felt bad that I hadn't gotten any pictures, because I am bad at taking pictures when I'm with other people or trying to do other things. I randomly woke up at 9 a.m. on Sunday, which seemed early (since I don't think I'd turned out the light until nearly 2 a.m. when all was said and done), but I couldn't get back to sleep. Deborah was up, so I explained I was going for a walk, got into the previous day's clothes, put a hat on my ridiculous hair, and went out. I took a nice long walk and took a lot of pictures, which was great. Then I got back, showered, and eventually Pam and I went to the same coffee house for breakfast. Yum! We explored the craft fair and farmer's market, met up with Amber and Deborah as D. was leaving, and then the three of us wandered up until the last minute. We had to be out by 1 p.m. and we literally shut the door and locked it right at 1. We had such a late breakfast, and then treats at the Creamery, that we didn't really need "lunch" or anything. We got on the road, made a stop in Hagerstown at the outlet mall, where Amber got a new purse to replace her busted one, and were home by about 4:00.
Thus, in conclusion, it was a lovely weekend and I would be happy to do it again!
Later maybe I'll do a rundown of yesterday, but really? Not much to say. I was zoning and nauseated most of the day, but now? I'm fine and not on any pain meds. Huzzah! Now, I'm off to gargle with salt water.