WWTBAM Bored

Kathleen Miller (BB: kmills)
Stamford, CT
photographer

Kathleen's claim to fame is that she shot Judge Judy. She's a photographer and a couple came into her studio. She thought they were average Jewish grandparents who wanted her to photograph their family at Thanksgiving. They gave her directions and 15 minutes before she left for the assignment the name sounded familiar so she Googled it and it was Judge Judy and her husband who is also a TV judge. Judge Judy is not someone you want to get a customer complaint from. Kathleen's husband doesn't know she's on the show. She didn't tell him for two reasons. First, she'd like to surprise him and he teaches 3rd grade and she didn't want him to have to take the day off. Plus she felt that if he was in the seat behind her, staring at the back of her head and knowing the answers she didn't, she'd be even more nervous.

Topic Tree: (unrandomized)
10 - Candy Land
9 - Will's Words
8 - Color Correctioin
7 - Fading Glory
6 - Back To Life
5 - Good Luck
4 - Blustery Indicators
3 - Wealthy Names
2 - Smelly Sports
1 - Testing Testing

Topic Tree: (randomized)
8 - Color Correction
3 - Wealthy Names
6 - Back To Life
10 - Candy Land
2 - Smelly Sports
9 - Will's Words
4 - Blustery Indicators
7 - Fading Glory
1 - Testing Testing
5 - Good Luck

Question #1 (Good Luck - Level 5)
Many people believe that which one of these unfortunate animal encounters brings good luck?
A - bitten by a dog
B - spit at by a llama
C - pooped on by a bird
D - kicked by a horse

Kathleen wishes she didn't know this.

Spoiler

Answer: C (pooped on a bird)
Value: $7,000
Bank: $7,000

Question #2 (Testing Testing - Level 1)
Experts of molecular gastronomy commonly refer to what part of the house as their laboratory?
A - kitchen
B - bedroom
C - garage
D - attic

Kathleen says that gastronomy has to do with

Spoiler

food and digestion

.

Spoiler

Answer: A (kitchen)
Value: $15,000
Bank: $22,000

Question #3 (Fading Glory - Level 7)
When Yahoo! appointed Marissa Mayer CEO in 2012, fans of what once-popular photo site asked her to please make it "awesome again"?
A - Snapfish
B - Flickr
C - Instagram
D - Shutterfly

Kathleen is pretty sure it's

Spoiler

B, Flickr

but adds that they're all popular photo sites.

Spoiler

Snapfish and Shutterfly are older, Instagram is fairly new so she doesn't think that's it

. She takes the leap and goes with her hunch.

Spoiler

Answer: B (Flickr)
Value: $2,000
Bank: $24,000

Question #4 (Blustery Indicators - Level 4)
When it feels colder outside than the actual temperature, one is likely experiencing which of the following?
A - draft shaft
B - breeze freeze
C - wind chill
D - gusty cooling

Kathleen says she feels like she's getting the

Spoiler

draft shaft

but if she remembers her weather guides properly she knows the answer.

Spoiler

Answer: C (wind chill)
Value: $10,000
Bank: $34,000

Kathleen says this is slightly more stressful than playing Trivial Pursuit with her mom. Kathleen's husband's name is Will, which Meredith notes as she moves to the next category.

Question #5 (Will's Words - Level 9)
Will Smith once said his grandmother, who appreciated diction, would correct his saying "y'all" by stating, "A yawl is a" what?
A - hat
B - flower
C - boat
D - knife

Kathleen says she thinks it's

Spoiler

a boat

but then says she's going to ask the audience.

ATA results

A - 19%
B - 3%
C - 64%
D - 12%

Kathleen does admit that she could have influenced the audience.

Spoiler

Answer: C (boat)
Value: $1,000
Bank: $35,000

commercial break

Kathleen's favorite movie is "The Wizard of Oz". The part where it "turns fully Technicolor" is such a great reveal. It's a classic. She collects memorabilia from the film, especially ruby slippers (a pair of which she's wearing). Meredith advises her not to click the heels together and Kathleen replies, "I'm not ready to go home yet."

Question #6 (Smelly Sports - Level 2)
Though it might not make you smell like Derek Jeter or Alex Rodriguez, which of the following baseball teams introduced a cologne in 2012?
A - Pirates
B - Red Sox
C - Cubs
D - Yankees

"It's gotta be

Spoiler

D

," Kathleen says

Spoiler

Answer: D (Yankees)
Value: $25,000
Bank: $60,000

Question #7 (Candy Land - Level 10)
Since 2008, Hershey's has from time to time offered a limited edition version of the Whatchamacallit that went by what name?
A - Doohickey
B - Thingamabob
C - Doodad
D - Thingamajig

Kathleen really wants to answer

Spoiler

Thingamajig

because that makes sense to her brain but she has no real idea so she's going to jump the question.

Spoiler

Answer: D (Thingamajig)
Value: $500
Bank: $60,000 (unchanged)

Question #8 (Back To Life - Level 6)
A rare medical phenomenon in which a patient's circulation spontaneously returns after he is declared dead is named after what Biblical character?
A - Ezekiel
B - Solomon
C - Lazarus
D - Isaiah

Kathleen has a friend who is named after this character.

Spoiler

Answer: C (Lazarus)
Value: $5,000
Bank: $65,000

Question #9 (Wealthy Names - Level 3)
Due to his last name, which of these billionaires is sometimes referred to in the press as "The Palindrome"?
A - Carl Ichan
B - Warren Buffett
C - Larry Ellison
D - George Soros

"I don't think my brain is wrong and you're not trying to trick me," Kathleen says.

Spoiler

Answer: D (George Soros)
Value: $3,000
Bank: $68,000

commercial break

Question #10 (Color Correction - Level 8)
In perhaps the boldest of its numerous color changes, what popular tourist attraction was painted yellow in 1899?
A - Statue of Liberty
B - Eiffel Tower
C - Leaning Tower of Pisa
D - Big Ben

She thinks she knows it's not

Spoiler

the Statue of Liberty and doesn't think the Leaning Tower of Pisa was ever yellow

. She pictures

Spoiler

Big Ben rendered as golden and knows the Eiffel Tower has been painted several times

. She really wants to go for it but doesn't want to mess up. She takes a moment to think about it, looking for hints in the question. She wants to take a leap but decides to jump the question.

Spoiler

Answer: B (Eiffel Tower)
Value: $100
Bank: $68,000 (unchanged)

CLASSIC MILLIONAIRE

$100K - The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that there is currenlty one death in the U.S. every 14 seconds and one birth in the U.S. every what?
A - 4 seconds
B - 8 seconds
C - 12 seconds
D - 16 seconds

Kathleen feels like the population is

Spoiler

expanding rather than shrinking so more are being born than dying. So she eliminates 16 seconds and thinks 4 seconds is too fast even for us

. She feels like it's

Spoiler

8 seconds - when she was a child she says the population was 300 million and now it's closer to 450 million, about 20 years' difference

. She finally decides to answer the question.

Spoiler

B (8 seconds)

commercial break

Meredith notes that Kathleen had known the answers to all the questions in her stack and if she hadn't used her lifelines she'd have them all at this point. During the break Kathleen checked her pulse. "It's a little fast," she says.

$250K - "Silent Gray Fellow" was the nickname of a popular early model of what?
A - Sony amplifier
B - Colt revolver
C - Harley-Davidson motorcycle
D - Boeing airplane

When the clue came up Kathleen thought the answer would be

Spoiler

"gun"

and that's one of the four options. "There's something about a

Spoiler

Colt

that's not very silent." She doesn't think it's

Spoiler

Sony amplifier "because you wouldn't want your amp to be silent"

.

Spoiler

"Motorcycles are supposed to purr like kittens, but I don't think you'd call one a 'silent gray fellow'"

. She's torn between two -

Spoiler

Colt revolver and Boeing airplane

. She eliminates

Spoiler

Boeing airplane because not enough of them would have been made to be considered popular except among guys who own airplanes

. She's tempted to answer the question but trying to explain to her husband how he has $75,000 less than he could have had might be tricky. "Colt revolver" might be the answer for another reason. She hates to say it but she's going to walk away.

Spoiler

C (Harley-Davidson motorcycle)

[NOTE: The QOTD was shown between Kathleen's $100K and $250K questions.]
Millionaire question of the day:
On the TV series "Happy Days," what was the actual first name of the Fonz?
A - Charles
B - Anthony
C - Stephen
D - Arthur
Answer:

Spoiler

D (Arthur)

THE END OF GAME "NOISE"

Being the brilliant detective that I am, I deduce this is BB kmills....

Yay, KMills!

Question #3 (Fading Glory - Level 7)
When Yahoo! appointed Marissa Mayer CEO in 2012, fans of what once-popular photo site asked her to please make it "awesome again"?
A - Snapfish
B - Flickr
C - Instagram
D - Shutterfly

Kathleen is pretty sure it's

Spoiler

B, Flickr

but adds that they're all popular photo sites.

Spoiler

Snapfish and Shutterfly are older, Instagram is fairly new so she doesn't think that's it

. She takes the leap and goes with her hunch.

Spoiler

Answer: B (Flickr)
Value: $2,000
Bank: $24,000

ATA. Let's pretend they get it.

Question #7 (Candy Land - Level 10)
Since 2008, Hershey's has from time to time offered a limited edition version of the Whatchamacallit that went by what name?
A - Doohickey
B - Thingamabob
C - Doodad
D - Thingamajig

Kathleen really wants to answer

Spoiler

Thingamajig

because that makes sense to her brain but she has no real idea so she's going to jump the question.

Spoiler

Answer: D (Thingamajig)
Value: $500
Bank: $60,000 (unchanged)

I used my ATA, so I have to JTQ.

Question #10 (Color Correction - Level
In perhaps the boldest of its numerous color changes, what popular tourist attraction was painted yellow in 1899?
A - Statue of Liberty
B - Eiffel Tower
C - Leaning Tower of Pisa
D - Big Ben

She thinks she knows it's not

Spoiler

the Statue of Liberty and doesn't think the Leaning Tower of Pisa was ever yellow

. She pictures

Spoiler

Big Ben rendered as golden and knows the Eiffel Tower has been painted several times

. She really wants to go for it but doesn't want to mess up. She takes a moment to think about it, looking for hints in the question. She wants to take a leap but decides to jump the question.

Spoiler

Answer: B (Eiffel Tower)
Value: $100
Bank: $68,000 (unchanged)

I know that the Eiffel Tower is painted all the time. Let's pretend I have the nerve to pull the trigger. B, final answer.

CLASSIC MILLIONAIRE

$100K - The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that there is currenlty one death in the U.S. every 14 seconds and one birth in the U.S. every what?
A - 4 seconds
B - 8 seconds
C - 12 seconds
D - 16 seconds

Kathleen feels like the population is

Spoiler

expanding rather than shrinking so more are being born than dying. So she eliminates 16 seconds and thinks 4 seconds is too fast even for us

. She feels like it's

Spoiler

8 seconds - when she was a child she says the population was 300 million and now it's closer to 450 million, about 20 years' difference

. She finally decides to answer the question.

Spoiler

B (8 seconds)

JTQ

$250K - "Silent Gray Fellow" was the nickname of a popular early model of what?
A - Sony amplifier
B - Colt revolver
C - Harley-Davidson motorcycle
D - Boeing airplane

When the clue came up Kathleen thought the answer would be

Spoiler

"gun"

and that's one of the four options. "There's something about a

Spoiler

Colt

that's not very silent." She doesn't think it's

Spoiler

Sony amplifier "because you wouldn't want your amp to be silent"

.

Spoiler

"Motorcycles are supposed to purr like kittens, but I don't think you'd call one a 'silent gray fellow'"

. She's torn between two -

Spoiler

Colt revolver and Boeing airplane

. She eliminates

Spoiler

Boeing airplane because not enough of them would have been made to be considered popular except among guys who own airplanes

. She's tempted to answer the question but trying to explain to her husband how he has $75,000 less than he could have had might be tricky. "Colt revolver" might be the answer for another reason. She hates to say it but she's going to walk away.

Spoiler

C (Harley-Davidson motorcycle)

Sony amplifier is the only one I can eliminate. As for the other three, I have never heard a quiet revolver, motorcycle, or airplane. I'm outta there.

Thanks guys!!

I've had some insane days in my life, but this one easily took the cake.

I took Will to a pub on Friday and had pre-arranged for the bartender to turn on the right channel. (We don't have cable, living off of Hulu/Netflix and our DVD's, we had to cut costs to the bone to get by lately) His reaction was priceless. We were both in shock....it's just NOW sinking in.

kmills wrote: (We don't have cable, living off of Hulu/Netflix and our DVD's, we had to cut costs to the bone to get by lately)

So are you going to get cable, say in about a month?

Congrats!

vettech wrote:

kmills wrote: (We don't have cable, living off of Hulu/Netflix and our DVD's, we had to cut costs to the bone to get by lately)

So are you going to get cable, say in about a month?

Congrats!

Heck yeah! I'm going to get to see episodes of Louie right when they air, and Will finally gets to see the Chicago Bears without straining to see the little window on his computer!

I'm tempted to replace our TV when we get cable, because it's really old so it takes up a ton of space. But I don't want to get too fancy, this mostly = taxes + paying off student loans, and a few little upgrades like new glasses and tires and Will needs a new suit. But it's just so nice to look around and enjoy all the possibilities for a moment!

I feel like I'm living in that moment in the Simpsons where the Flanders family are enjoying "Imagination Christmas!" I may have won 100K, but I've mentally spent 20 million dollars in the last 6 weeks. I wonder how shoefresh is handling it!

It's too bad I couldn't record the show, I'd love to watch it again because I was watching Will's face as much as I was watching the show when it was on in the bar. I'm hoping it pops up on youtube if someone found me entertaining, or I can transfer it from a friends DVR if I can fly out to Portland at some point, Will's best man Dave caught it for me. If any of you guys have a recording of it and could/would do a transfer, give me a yell!

kmills wrote:I feel like I'm living in that moment in the Simpsons where the Flanders family are enjoying "Imagination Christmas!" I may have won 100K, but I've mentally spent 20 million dollars in the last 6 weeks. I wonder how shoefresh is handling it!

Since you like The Simpsons, I figured it would be apropos to say that now I can afford COW milk, a la Nelson Muntz.

I think I've spent the money ten times over in my mind, from the sensible to the ridiculous. My mom says I'm not allowed to spend a cent of it until I get health insurance first. That's mom for you. In all honesty, I'll sock away most of it for a million rainy days and spend the rest on a vacation for my family and fixing up my mom's house (if she'll ever let me!).

kmills wrote:It's too bad I couldn't record the show, I'd love to watch it again because I was watching Will's face as much as I was watching the show when it was on in the bar. I'm hoping it pops up on youtube if someone found me entertaining, or I can transfer it from a friends DVR if I can fly out to Portland at some point, Will's best man Dave caught it for me. If any of you guys have a recording of it and could/would do a transfer, give me a yell!

They cut away FOUR QUESTIONS INTO YOUR RUN here in Austin for the President's press conference, so my DVR'ed copy would do you no good... unless you care more about the fiscal cliff than your show.

I knew photographers were really smart...

Sure, it's great that you won a big chunk of money.

But.....

That HAS got to be the most fantastic way of first hiding and then revealing your BAM appearance to your hubby. I put that right up there with John Carpenter using his dad as PaF just so he could tell him he won the million.

Classy, very classy. And smart!

The entire episode was preempted in Los Angeles by a car chase, President Obama's news conference, and the announcement that the Lakers fired Mike Brown. Is the episode on line anywhere? --Bob

BBTranscriptTeam wrote:Kathleen Miller (BB: kmills)
Stamford, CT
photographer

Kathleen's claim to fame is that she shot Judge Judy. She's a photographer and a couple came into her studio. She thought they were average Jewish grandparents who wanted her to photograph their family at Thanksgiving. They gave her directions and 15 minutes before she left for the assignment the name sounded familiar so she Googled it and it was Judge Judy and her husband who is also a TV judge. Judge Judy is not someone you want to get a customer complaint from. Kathleen's husband doesn't know she's on the show. She didn't tell him for two reasons. First, she'd like to surprise him and he teaches 3rd grade and she didn't want him to have to take the day off. Plus she felt that if he was in the seat behind her, staring at the back of her head and knowing the answers she didn't, she'd be even more nervous.

I'm curious to know how you kept it from your husband, Kathleen.

BBTranscriptTeam wrote:Question #3 (Fading Glory - Level 7)
When Yahoo! appointed Marissa Mayer CEO in 2012, fans of what once-popular photo site asked her to please make it "awesome again"?
A - Snapfish
B - Flickr
C - Instagram
D - Shutterfly

Kathleen is pretty sure it's

Spoiler

B, Flickr

but adds that they're all popular photo sites.

Spoiler

Snapfish and Shutterfly are older, Instagram is fairly new so she doesn't think that's it

. She takes the leap and goes with her hunch.

Spoiler

Answer: B (Flickr)
Value: $2,000
Bank: $24,000

I'd have to JTQ on this one. I don't know enough about photo sites to choose one.

BBTranscriptTeam wrote:Question #5 (Will's Words - Level 9)
Will Smith once said his grandmother, who appreciated diction, would correct his saying "y'all" by stating, "A yawl is a" what?
A - hat
B - flower
C - boat
D - knife

Kathleen says she thinks it's

Spoiler

a boat

but then says she's going to ask the audience.

ATA results

A - 19%
B - 3%
C - 64%
D - 12%

Kathleen does admit that she could have influenced the audience.

Spoiler

Answer: C (boat)
Value: $1,000
Bank: $35,000

It's a shame you didn't go with your instinct on this one.

BBTranscriptTeam wrote:Question #10 (Color Correction - Level
In perhaps the boldest of its numerous color changes, what popular tourist attraction was painted yellow in 1899?
A - Statue of Liberty
B - Eiffel Tower
C - Leaning Tower of Pisa
D - Big Ben

She thinks she knows it's not

Spoiler

the Statue of Liberty and doesn't think the Leaning Tower of Pisa was ever yellow

. She pictures

Spoiler

Big Ben rendered as golden and knows the Eiffel Tower has been painted several times

. She really wants to go for it but doesn't want to mess up. She takes a moment to think about it, looking for hints in the question. She wants to take a leap but decides to jump the question.

Spoiler

Answer: B (Eiffel Tower)
Value: $100
Bank: $68,000 (unchanged)

I loved your reasoning but alas, you couldn't bring yourself to pull the trigger. Still, getting to Round 2 is an accomplishment.

BBTranscriptTeam wrote:$100K - The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that there is currenlty one death in the U.S. every 14 seconds and one birth in the U.S. every what?
A - 4 seconds
B - 8 seconds
C - 12 seconds
D - 16 seconds

Kathleen feels like the population is

Spoiler

expanding rather than shrinking so more are being born than dying. So she eliminates 16 seconds and thinks 4 seconds is too fast even for us

. She feels like it's

Spoiler

8 seconds - when she was a child she says the population was 300 million and now it's closer to 450 million, about 20 years' difference

. She finally decides to answer the question.

Spoiler

B (8 seconds)

Great job!

BBTranscriptTeam wrote:Meredith notes that Kathleen had known the answers to all the questions in her stack and if she hadn't used her lifelines she'd have them all at this point. During the break Kathleen checked her pulse. "It's a little fast," she says.

Way to rub it in, Meredith.

BBTranscriptTeam wrote:$250K - "Silent Gray Fellow" was the nickname of a popular early model of what?
A - Sony amplifier
B - Colt revolver
C - Harley-Davidson motorcycle
D - Boeing airplane

When the clue came up Kathleen thought the answer would be

Spoiler

"gun"

and that's one of the four options. "There's something about a

Spoiler

Colt

that's not very silent." She doesn't think it's

Spoiler

Sony amplifier "because you wouldn't want your amp to be silent"

.

Spoiler

"Motorcycles are supposed to purr like kittens, but I don't think you'd call one a 'silent gray fellow'"

. She's torn between two -

Spoiler

Colt revolver and Boeing airplane

. She eliminates

Spoiler

Boeing airplane because not enough of them would have been made to be considered popular except among guys who own airplanes

. She's tempted to answer the question but trying to explain to her husband how he has $75,000 less than he could have had might be tricky. "Colt revolver" might be the answer for another reason. She hates to say it but she's going to walk away.

Spoiler

C (Harley-Davidson motorcycle)

Good thing you walked away and great job over all. You were fun to watch.

earendel wrote:

BBTranscriptTeam wrote:Kathleen Miller (BB: kmills)
Stamford, CT
photographer

Kathleen's claim to fame is that she shot Judge Judy..... Judge Judy is not someone you want to get a customer complaint from. Kathleen's husband doesn't know she's on the show. She didn't tell him for two reasons. First, she'd like to surprise him and he teaches 3rd grade and she didn't want him to have to take the day off. Plus she felt that if he was in the seat behind her, staring at the back of her head and knowing the answers she didn't, she'd be even more nervous.

I'm curious to know how you kept it from your husband, Kathleen.
...
Good thing you walked away and great job over all. You were fun to watch.

Thank you! I apologize to whoever had to transcribe this episode. I'm a talker, clearly.

Here's all the deets on Operation Top Secret Windfall -

My lifestyle as a freelance photographer made it possible.
I think it's just one of those lucky things where everything aligned.
Anyone who didn't work for themselves within the tri-state, would've had a hell of a time pulling this off.

I took the test thinking nothing would come of it, but I got interviewed on camera in the back and I knew that couldn't be bad.

Will actually got the mail the day the postcard came so he was all smiles and all "You went to audition for WWTBAM?" and I kind of played it off;
"Well, I'm in the city so much, I saw the listing, I figured I'm good at trivia and I know about rappers AND Nathan Hale, so maybe I'd do ok,...but it just means I'm in the pool and they keep a pool of hundreds for two years, so who knows if they'll ever call me."

So we BOTH kind of forgot about it and then I got the call when I was out of the house. I did the initial phone interview right then.
They did a follow up to get stories to work with a day or three later. I sent in the clothing shots etc.
I am a big oddball generally, so I had a lot of stories they liked. I tell stories sometimes at openmics and podcast shows in the city....I got on the Moth podcast one time a year or two back! I was a military brat so I got dragged around a lot, makes for a lot of good fish-out-of-water tales from when I was a kid.

They scheduled me for two days after our anniversary, and I thought I'd just go, and then tell him if it was good news!!
(And quietly lick my wounds if it was bad, I suppose.)

But first, they called me the day after out our anniversary and said they had to reschedule me til the next Thurs.
But then the next night they called or emailed last minute and said "We need you in the morning!"
So I got about 9 hours of notice before I'd have to leave my house!

I usually work pretty late doing production work (and I'm working on a little homemade stopmotion animation I've been working on for a year, it has to mostly be done at night to control the lights) so I packed after he went to bed and I got an hour of sleep. Will thought I'd had an early photoshoot scheduled for headshots in the city for an actor, that happens often enough that it didn't stand out.

I rode into the city on the train at about 5am with a bunch of Greenwich-y Wall Street guys, with my lightsabers and my yoga pants and my Bloom County book (to keep my amused) and thought "I cant believe that there's a chance I might make more money than these guys today."

I never let myself take cabs but I took a cab back from the studio to Grand Central that day!! And road the train home in a trance.

I thought that I'd get busted because I'd get back so late, but since I went 3rd/4th that day (there were come carryovers I think and then I went right after Josh, the guy who flipped the tin...I didn't see his game but I saw him and his family from across the room having their audio packs removed) I got home before Will.

I wanted to tell him so bad, but the lawyer who briefed us made it VERY clear that ANYONE, INCLUDING SPOUSES, who wasn't there with us watching the show couldn't know the result.
So if I knew if told him I was on at ALL, I'd just be sentencing us both to torture for untold weeks...they said it might be until MAY!
There was just no way I could tell him half and not all.
So I got home, he wanted to sit down with the winter budget, and I had to start the only real acting job I've ever had......6 weeks with my husband.

A week afterwards he brings up the mail and he's all "Hey! It's from WWTBAM!" and stands across from me and I have to pretend like I was seeing an invite to come interview when really it's a nice congratulations note from Meredith Veira!! I stashed it afterwards.
I had to FAKE that I went into the city that week to interview for a spot on the show and pretend like I didn't get it! I even sent him a photo from the ACTUAL day saying that they let us take a tour! If he had a) asked me to hand over the note so he could see it or b) asked why the photo didn't have the right data in the metadata.....I would've been stuck.

Thank God they emailed me with show dates for the election week. I was about to burst. Also my birthday week. Pretty sweet birthday, lemme tell ya! His face was the best present ever.

I tried to arrange us flying out to our friends restaurant in Portland so he could be with our college buddies to see it but that fell through so I arranged at the very last minute with the local burger/beer joint downtown to turn it on with the sound at the right time.

I covered it with a RIDICULOUS cover story that I was taking him to a late lunch and then we'd go hiking afterward....which he LOVES, but I'm horrible at planning that kind of trip, that's HIS thing...but he has been trying to be extra supportive so he just went with it. I peeked into our little office and he had CLEARLY packed emergency backpacks with good supplies because he was worried I'd get us killed. I just wanted to make sure if he needed to sit down somewhere quiet to process everything for a bit after seeing it that he'd have time set aside to do whatever he wanted. I didn't actually make any plans for after lunch.

I put a little iflip camera behind the bar so I have a video of his reaction. It was wonderful, he's alternately excited and terrified and stunned, but then at the very end he turns to me and says "So...is that for real?" It's adorable.
Some of our friends who are teachers make it there about 10 minutes into it, I called one of them the night before from Target and just said "Show up at ___ at 4pm if you can, I was on a game show and I'm surprising Will with it!" and they thought it was Cash Cab!

Also, my worst fears didn't happen, in that he didn't know the last answer either, and neither did his buddies,
AND he was actually glad I'd done as well as that, even though clearly if I'd trusted my hunches as much as the times I *knew* I could theoretically have done better. Although I think that might've led me to guess Colt 45 too, and end up with 25k. I think if I'd had a lifeline left I might've skipped the population question, I felt pretty shakey there. Who knows what would've happened? I would've LOVED to see the next two. I bet I wouldn't have known them but if I did I wonder if I would've held it together or started bawling!

( I almost cried when the answer was Lazarus....a person in our college group of friends who passed away was named Lazarus....the two of us looked just alike by some odd coincidence...his sister is the only person I spoke to the entire 6 weeks until just before the airing about being on the show, we're BFF, and our other friends named their son after Laz and the little guy's 2 and going through treatment for leukemia right now so I couldn't say ANYTHING else about that question without bursting into tears! )

How the hell I got the guts to guess "flickr" when I didn't pull the trigger on Eiffel Tower I have no idea. Thingamajig is the perfect example of how something from my couch seems very clear to me but on that stage with money on the line seemed an awfully big leap of faith. And Yawl.....I just had no idea HOW I knew that, and Will himself is a little bit obsessed with boats, so I thought I was just saying that because category named Will's Words and his name in the question seems to look right next to boat.....but then I tipped my guess to the audience so who knows what the spread would've been if I'd just asked without saying anything. I STILL think I just thought it "sounded boaty" which would've been cold comfort on the ride home. But maybe I'm remembering some sliver of Huckleberry Finn or something! Ehh, the brain is a mystery. I also noticed how I kept referring to my brain like it's a separate entity the whole time.

Afterwards, during the wait, I had so much time to kill without saying anything I just lurked on the bored a LOT and tried other stacks and looked through the stats.I was a little sad when I realized how bummed you guys would be that I had an obvious shot at at least SEEING the million dollar question! But maybe someone will manage it this week, it look like 5 made it to round 2! Thank you guys for all of the un-knowing support you lent me in the meantime, and it was really fun to root for BB's all along the way! I'll keep it up!

It all still doesn't seem real. Maybe after I see a zero in front of my student loan balance!

A Most Excellent report! Thanks!