She Likes to Watch

 After months of waiting, I’ll be appearing on the popular TV game show

This is it. The wait is finally over.

Tonight, I make my national television debut on the popular game show “Jeopardy!”

At least nine million viewers will tune in tonight to see me match minds with some of the smartest people in the nation. They’ll see me ring in, select clues and “answer in the form of a question.”

As my friends, family and loyal blog readers know, it’s been a long, arduous journey to this moment.

I originally tried out for “Jeopardy!” last October in Santa Maria, taking a ten-question quiz along with about a thousand other hopefuls.

I made it to the next level,  and was one of nine people selected out of a crowd of 80.

Then came the waiting game.

I waited. I waited. I waited. In fact, I waited so long that I felt almost sure that “Jeopardy!” would never call, that my 15 minutes of fame was over.

Then, in early March, I got a phone call from “Jeopardy!” contestant coordinator Maggie Speak. Would I like to be on one of the nation’s most popular game shows? Sure!

Weeks of cramming and pen-clicking followed.

I headed to Sony’s Culver City studios in mid-March to serve as an alternate and returned March 31 for taping. Then, again, I waited.

The culmination of all that work, worry and heady anticipation is tonight, when countless viewers will watch me take the stage.

“Jeopardy!” airs at 7 p.m. PST tonight on NBC. (That’s KSBY, Channel 6, on the Central Coast.)  Don’t miss it.

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Photo by Christopher Daly.