24

No, not the TV show. The last 24 hours of my life. Why do you care? Oh, who are we kidding, you don't. You thought I was going to talk about it's impending Season 6 premier in five weeks. Or maybe you thought I'd talk about Keifer Sutherland. No such luck.

In the last 24 hours, I've received a phone call from New York City, my husband's been given word of promotion, and my interest in science has once again been piqued. Allow me to elaborate.

My phone rang around 11:00 a.m. yesterday; I was just setting my son to feed him his lunch. I looked at the number on the caller ID, didn't recognize it, and therefore didn't answer it. The answering machine picks up and this perky voice says, "Hi Darcie, this is Mandie from the Rachael Ray Show..." and that's all I heard because I immediately knew what she was calling about. This past Friday, I emailed the RR Show in response to this. In short: Email their show if you need a new wardrobe but don't have the dough to achieve that goal on your own.

So I immediately called her back and we spoke for a few minutes; I had to answer a few questions about what kind of wardrobe I needed, why I needed it, etc. Basically I had to plead my case. Then she asked me to email her three or four full-body pictures of myself.

Um. I don't have any.

Well, that's not entirely true, I had a few, including one I up and snapped about two minutes after the phone call ended. I then sent a head shot so she wouldn't think I was too frumpy. I looked frumpy as HELL in all but one of those pictures. She emailed back and said she would let me know via email or phone if I was chosen for that particular show and if I wasn't, they'd hold on to my information for future episodes. Holy crap! If they called and told me they were flying my ass to NYC and putting me up for a night or two so I could BE ON NATIONAL TV and then get to go SHOPPING...well, I just might pee my pants.

Then again, I might pee my pants at the scariness and unfamiliarity of all that. I've not flown since April 2001. Pre-9/11. Even after seven years of no air terrorism, I'm still leery. Read this for some laughs about that. I've never been to NYC alone. Scratch that. I've never been to NYC. I really doubt the show would fly me and my crew out to the east coast. I'd probably be going solo. Finally, and most importantly, I've never been on TV. Not really, anyway. My mom and I were on Erie, PA, news for my hometown's flood in 1996. The Lt. Gov. - then Mark Schweiker - visited our house. That doesn't exactly rank anywhere near Rachael Ray.

So that's that.

Then my husband comes home, gets changed, eats dinner, waits until "Jeopardy" is starting (two hours after his arrival home) and says, "Oh, by the way, I heard from both [service manager's name here] and [head road mechanic's name here] that in two weeks, I'll be on the road."

"What does that mean?" you ask?

It means, we think a raise, a company van, and better hours. That is to say, 40 hours per week, just as it should be. To quote Shannon, "Squeeeeee!" More money, less gas money out of our pockets, and full paychecks? Cover me in oil and call me Slick. But we'll see if any of that actually manifests.

And for my interest in science. Fringe science, that is. I freakin' LOVE this show! It's very reminiscient of The X-Files, but with more action, much more humor, and a tad less secrecy. I love the repartee between Peter and Dr. Bishop, the creepy Agent Broyles, and all the scary-yet-intriguing cases they deal with. I was horrible with all science classes in high school, from 7th grade Physical Science to Chem II and Physics, I scraped by. As a friend's mom once put it, I'm "...the artsy-fartsy type." But this show makes me want to go back to college and major in everything scientific. Fascinating, I tell you!