For Crying Out Loud

Now, this was not unexpected, but what followed sort of was. In came the camera man. Camera Man, you ask? Yes, Jarred, followed by the sound man, Joel. And while they were setting up, Alissa arrived. They are all from the Discovery Channel. And they were here to include me in a special on Leroy Seivers and his My Cancer blog on npr.org.

Joel and Jarred put down drapes on the carpets. They put down a special adhesive plastic runner on the carpet. They hauled in lighting equipment. They hauled in sound equipment. They hauled in battery packs. They hauled in cameras. You get the idea.

Then Alissa arrived. She is just a little slip of a thing, and though she professed to be from Chicago originally, she was dressed DC. No coat visible. Cute, strappy little shoes. Just a peek of belly above her belt. We had had white-out conditions not two hours earlier. Daddy wanted me to call to cancel due to bad weather.

They set up. I was sitting on the sofa knitting. This is a good thing, because they decided that shots of me knitting would be a good thing. No sound, just me knitting. The other reason this is a good thing is that I made some great progress on the scarf I am making Gramma. (Shhhh. She doesn't know about it, and I don't want her to hear it from you.) So, we spent about 45 minutes of me knitting, and them filming. And moving the sofa, and moving the lights, and moving the camera. They had lights outside which they shot inside. They had a plastic tarp over the window through which they were shining the outside lights. This was to diffuse the harsh light they were shining in. Then they would move everything again to catch a different light. First to catch the light on my hands, then my hair, then my yarn.

A short break while I ate a bowl of soup and went to the bathroom. (Thank God!) On to the computer and a variety of shots of different angles and who knows what. Some of me, some of me reading, some of my hands (and my ubiquitous cup of tea), some of what I was typing, some of who knows and even a long shot of me typing on Panopticon, just because I was getting sick of the whole cancer thing. I did 'fess up later that I was commenting on a knitting blog for the long shot. And they didn't care.

Then they filmed Mara and me looking at photos and commenting on what we were looking at. This went on for another half hour or more. During a break, I made the mistake of showing Alissa the boxes I had hidden in the front room. Well, she thought it would be a good idea to show that too, as I made a comment about sorting things out for my kids.

So, if you watch the special on (April 29) and see me in a clean house, you will know that it is just tucked in the many corners of the house, attic, basement, garage, etc.

This whole procedure started at around 11:30 am. By 4:30 pm they were all gone. Six hours for probably 6 minutes (at most) of air time. It will probably be way less. They also want to fly me to DC to interview me. So, let's do the math. The special is on Leroy Seivers (30 minutes). There are at least 3 of us who are being included, plus a town meeting, giving us each about 6 minutes. And some of my six minutes will include interview, so we probably are actually only 30 seconds.

Overall it was a very interesting and educational day.