The blog never rests

Given my evening activity plans, it was easy for me to wake up today thinking there would not be an entry tonight. But in the end I was wrong. I mean, what really happened this evening is not indicated by the invitation alone. (The photo below may give you a clue.) But sometimes pictures just can't say it all.



So, on to the evening. I arrive at Gracie Mansion about 5:45 on one of the most beautiful nights of the summer. 80 degrees, low humidity, nice breeze kinda night. Also, feeling quite beautiful, if you must know. My hair came out great! I used the flat iron to straighten it encouraged by reports of no humidity this morning and thinking that I wanted to look nice on my first visit to Gracie Mansion. Immediately after check in, I am handed a card in which I am instructed a photo opp with the Mayor was going on right now and if I wanted to take advantage I should quickly get in line and fill out the card with my address so the aforementioned photo can be mailed to me. I comply. (Again, my hair did - still does as of this writing - look pretty good and well, even if it didn't, that is, even if the humidity had skyrocketed up and my hair was a frizz bomb, I would still have waited on line to meet His Honor.)
The line is abnormally fast, I whiz by the Mayor, while shaking his hand, smiling and having photo shot. I proceed to the BBQ under a lovely (and huge) tent, meet up with some familiar faces, grab a bite and wait for the Mayor to come on stage and do his Mayoral thing.



So, he presents us with this pretty cool tidbit. He explains he has just taken photos with approximately 700 people in under 45 minutes. It was 44 minutes he notes which means it was 4 seconds per person. Whoa. And I (will) have the photo to prove it!! check this space in the following weeks for a scan of said photo

Next the Mayor is cracking jokes left and right telling the audience of 1,000 that we each own 1/8 millionth of Gracie Mansion and if we want to live in it one day the lease will be up for grabs soon. Then he screams out, "I will be here all week, two shows on Saturday!" (hahaha) Actually, I thought that to myself as he continued his stand-up.

But then, oh then! He's not done. He's got a game for us to play. And surprise - it was New York City Jeopardy! He's going to pick party attendees to come up on stage and play a few rounds of trivia!

I practically pee in my pants. I am naturally freaking (actually I am starting to think it is not so natural - my reaction to anything Jeopardy! - but that is for another day and most likely, another venue).


I quickly turn to the woman on my right - she's with my bunch - tell her I am a Jeopardy freak right around the same time she tells me - "oh a Sony show." (She works for Sony Television - more on that in a bit) A friend overhears and says, "Jess - try to get up there." But I've been, too "Oh this is weird - Jeopardy! The blog! My readers!" that I've paused and didn't think fast enough. I shrug and I wave my hands semi-frantically in a 'Pick me! I kinda sorta want to go up there' way. But alas, we are too far from the stage and so others are selected to go on stage and answer questions about New York City. He even has buzzers for them in which they can ding in. Or honk. Or ring. (One is a bicycle horn, another a bicycle bell and the third, I don't recall as I don't think that 'contestant' used it)

So that's the photo above - three non-Jeopardy bloggers up answering questions about the Big Apple. One question informs us that Angelina (Angela in Bloomie talk) Jolie auctioned off a signed lunchbox with her likeness on it and gave the money to the Fund for New York City schools. Another informs us that the Executive Director of the Mayor's Volunteer Center was once a chef and another more interesting question lets us know that there are at least 500,000 trees in New York City (or maybe just Central Park - I can't remember). The reason I can't remember is I wasn't quite listening, as - remember the Sony TV friend?
Well, she hears (from me) that I love Jeopardy and her reaction was perfect. She immediately whips out her cell phone and starts texting a good friend who works on the show! Seems that Jeopardy schwag might be coming my way! To be continued. . .

So, a BBQ. At a famous house. An extravagant mansion. An estate, if you will. And Jeopardy comes up, it's there. It's everywhere!


Editor's Note:
Regarding last night's surprise (Celebrity Jeopardy coming to NYC this fall!) please note I have already sent in my application to receive 4 tickets and of course, I filled it out with my Jeopardy pen. Oddly, I didn't even specifically look for the pen, but in my practically robotic motions to print out the application and begin to fill it out, that was the pen my fingers reached for first. Really. It was only after I had begun to complete the form that I realized the coincidence.