kmkat & her kneedles

That’s the Hawick cowl.

Keeping up with my Facebook messages and emails and texts since Thursday was pretty much a full-time job. There have been 213 searches for me on MyLife.com in that past three days (I do not have a profile on that site, thank goodness.) Anyone who searches for me on LinkedIn will be disappointed, too; I am on there but with no information. Not that I am complaining, you understand. Just the fact. It has largely tapered off now.

We were warned if we won that we might well be contacted by scammers and con artists trying to take advantage. Oh, I think, you mean besides the 4 or 5 friend requests I already get every week from some guy I have never heard of? Forewarned is forearmed, but been there, done that, altogether tired of it.

Younger Son set up his computer to record Thursday’s show for me.

Screen shot from his recording. That is Johnny Gilbert, the 90-something year-old announcer. They told us he doesn’t come in to work until noon because of his age. Those people in the lower right-hand corner of the screen are the judges.

A thing that surprised me: suddenly getting a mess o’ messages on Ravelry from people who recognized that I was a knitter, mainly because of this sweater that I wore on day 2:

That’s Tappan Zee, from Knitty spring + summer 2010. I messaged both of the designers to tell them their pattern had appeared on Jeopardy.

Photos from the watch party.

Clockwise from upper lef: me and my doppelganger; not everyone watched every second of the show; after the broadcast they asked that I tell them more about the experience.

There was a reporter from one of the local papers there, too, with his camera. He said there will be photo spread in next week’s paper. He kindly sent me a few.

Clockwise from upper left: Margaret, our candidate for the 7th Congressional District seat in Congress (she lost in this heavily gerrymandered district), me, Smokey, and Ann, past chair of our county party; back of Katherine’s head, an internet friend who tried out with me for Jeopardy the first time back in 1999, Tony (partially hidden), a Minneapolis firefighter married to Tina, who worked at Elder Son’s daycare when he was a toddler (Smokey was best man at their wedding), Kym (back of her head), who was on a trivia team with me (she knew at least half the answers), me, Smokey, and Sue, retired English teacher who had both our sons in class and whom I recruited for the regional library board; watching myself; the aforementioned Tina, Smokey, me, and Sue.

The party was great noisy, enthusiastic, and great fun. Everybody decided to cheer whenever I got an answer right. When I first reserved this room at a local bar & grill, I told them I expected between ten and twenty people; when I called back the day before the party the head count was between thirty and forty. Forty people came; we had to drag in chairs from the next room.

Things I have learned about the fan community:

• There is at least one sub-Reddit devoted to Jeopardy. The people there comment on each day’s episode and on the different contestants.
• There are a couple closed Facebook groups of people who have appeared on the show. I am now a proud member of one of them, Women of Jeopardy.
• One of the people from my taping day created another closed FB group called Nov. 7 Taping Day. It was quite lively last week as, one by one, our episodes aired.
• There is a Jeopardy hashtag on Twitter.
• And on Instagram.
• Why did I not know this?

Thus endeth my 22×2 minutes of fame. Being on that show has been on my bucket list since before bucket lists were invented. It was great fun and one of the most outstanding times of my life.

Yeah, I am gonna milk this 22 minutes of fame for all it’s worth…

If you live within range of Twin Cities TV stations, you can watch on KARE11 at 4:30pm.

If you are not sure what station near you carries the show, you can look it up on the Jeopardy website here.

If you miss it on Thursday, you may be able to watch it here a day or two later (without commercials!)

A lovely article appeared in my home town newspaper, prompted by a phone call to the editor from Kathy, my best friend in high school. Shorter articles appeared in my local papers here in Polk County, Wisconsin.

I am hosting a watch party on Thursday at a local bar & grill. When I initially called to reserve the room, I said I was expected between 10 and 20 people. As of today, the guest list is somewhere closer to 30. Yeah, Imma gonna milk this for all it’s worth…