What a busy month it’s been!  Since I last blogged I have been to two TV show tapings and a musical.

A couple of weeks ago I went to the actual live filming of the game show, Million Pound Drop.  I’m told that they now have an American version, Million Dollar Drop.  If you’ve seen it, you probably know it’s very intense.  Well, it’s even better to actually be in the studio watching people answer questions with £1,000,000 ($1,600,000) right in front of them.  It was pretty cool.  The first team that was up was this adorable young couple who were trying to win the money so they could get a bigger house and have babies.  They made some very risky but very smart decisions and went home with £200,000!  So cool.  Then they had a little time left so they brought up another team of two girls that I just could not get behind.  But overall it was a really fun time, and a very cool experience!

Then about a week ago, we went to a taping of a late-night talk show called the Graham Norton show.  He’s kind of like Britain’s Letterman or something.  Before the day of the show, Roy, the guy who got the tickets (which were free) got a couple of emails asking for either funny stories or good nicknames.  A couple of us sent in stories (I didn’t, I’m a terrible story teller), and most of us sent in nicknames.  Well the day of the show, Roy got a phone call during one of our class breaks, asking if I was interested in being on the show because they really liked my nickname.  I had turned in my high school choir nickname of Buddha Belly, due to my strange ability to make my tummy rolls look like an Asian face.

Because they wanted me in the show, we ended up getting priority seating with really good reserved seats.  Mine even had my name on it!  Then I got to go backstage to hear about what would happen during the show, and I had to sign a release.  Unfortunately, one of the other nickname people really monopolized the time once they got around to that part of the show, so they didn’t make it to me.  I was pretty bummed, but it was really fun nonetheless.

Also, Ashton Kutcher was on!  We were about 50 feet away from him, and it was awesome.  He is even more gorgeous in person!  And the show was very fun.  I don’t think I had laughed that much in a long time.  My cheeks were hurting afterwards!  The other two guests were a chef, Heston Blumenthal, and a comedian, Greg Davies.  If any of you Americans wish to view the show that I am not on, it should air on BBC America on February 26 (just check your local listings…).

The next day, I went with a few people to go see The Wizard of Oz.  It was supposed to be sort of a re-vamped version, and it is in previews through February.  Since it’s in previews, we got £10 of tickets, which was pretty nice.  The show was good, but they definitely still have a few kinks to work out.  A very cool concept for the set design though, and Glinda’s dress was mindblowing.

We saw it at the London Palladium, which is a very cool old theatre.  We were in the upper circle, in the nosebleeds.  I swear we were at like a 60-degree angle, it gave me a little bit of vertigo to be honest.  One lady actually barfed, which added some great ambiance to the whole evening.

Earlier this week, I was supposed to camp out overnight to try to get onto the red carpet for the BAFTA Awards (sort of the UK’s version of the Oscars, though they’re nowhere near Oscar caliber).  However, due to some of the things we read about the miserable conditions and the possible lack of actually seeing stars even if you do get on the carpet, we decided not to go.  But for me the kicker was that right before we were going to leave to camp out, Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart were confirmed NOT to be going.  There are really very few things I will wait over 2 hours for in the cold and rain, and without Rob and Kristen, I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

Instead, we watched the BAFTA’s on TV in the warmth and comfort of Andrew’s living room with pizza, wine, and ice cream.  And we all agreed that the BAFTA’s is a pretty miserable awards show.  Almost no production value!  No performances, no skits, no monologues…  What the hell is the point?

In other news, I am now booked to go to Dublin for my birthday with my friend Abby.  If you didn’t know, my birthday is on St. Patrick’s Day (yep, every year!  it’s not a moving holiday like Easter or Thanksgiving).  And in addition, this year will be my quarter-century mark for being on this earth (scary!).  I have been hoping to be in Dublin on St. Patrick’s Day for my 25th for a very long time, and I am UNBELIEVABLY HAPPY that my wish has finally come true!