not nervous at all

      The morning of the TV bit I had an 8:00 appointment in my next door neighbor's kitchen. She was going to put some makeup on my face before I drove to the studio. I brought over the red bag of cosmetics they gave me at the Look Good, Feel Better class I took during chemo.
     "I'm not sure what's in here," I told Arlene, as I emptied the bag onto her counter. Out spilled blush, lipstick, mascara, various pencils and brushes. A sponge with tan smear in its pores. Foundation. Concealer. It just kept coming.
     She did her thing and we put it all back in the bag.
     As I left, she said, "When you get there, touch up your lips with the lipliner and the lipstick." She gave my eyebrow a little brushing with her fingertip. "You always have to touch up your lips," she confided.
     "Okay," I promised. I pulled the lipliner and lipstick out of the bag and popped them into my pocket.

     I had my instruction sheet on the passenger seat next to me in the car. I had highlighted the driving directions in bright yellow so that I wouldn't get distracted by the part in bold: "**NOTE** Hosts don't like mayonnaise, duck, canned tuna, beets, relish, Russian dressing, deer, rabbit, lamb." This little note had already captured me completely a dozen times or more. I wasn't going to have that happen as I drove.
     There it was on the left: the gigantic CHANNEL3 sign, just like on TV. So whaaaat, I say to myself. Wazza big deal" (I have a Brooklyn accent in my head). So what -- it's just fun! It's just a normal thing on a normal day with normal people. I park where the show's logo says to park, and I carry the paintings, one by one, over the slushy driveway. Then the easels. Then shoes, so I don't go on TV in my winter boots. 
     Minutes later, I am still feeling kind of pleased with myself for operating so normally, so like a person who lives in the world and kind of gets around in her own quiet way. Someone comes over to take the paintings and set up their display. There's no "I don't know, Jerry. What do you think? Think this one should be over here? Why don't we try...this?" about it. When I turn my head for a second, they have all 4 paintings in place, with three cameras poised (someone does this from an office somewhere) and ready to go. These guys are studio masters, man. They have this thing down to a science. They are counting seconds -- for ten hours a day. 
     A man walks over to me and says "let me show you to the ladies' room." Even this guy knows the secret about having to touch up your lips. The whole operation is so efficient that they don't even wait for you to ask for directions to the bathroom. This way they don't have to deal with guests trying to figure out whom to interrupt to ask for the bathroom; they don't have to hear people ask for the "loo" or "potty" or "little girls' room."
     I touch up my lips in the bathroom. Let me take a quick moment here to say that I discovered after getting home that eyeliner comes in pencils that look exactly like lipliner pencils. 

     I return to the studio with mauve lips, outlined in brown. I'm here. In this moment. Here I am. What a fun moment! This is my more zen chatter of the head. Fifteen minutes before taping: the clocks on the stove and the microwave both say 2:45, so that when the show airs at 3:00, it looks live. I am a little agog even at that small act of cleverness. I'm pleased that my nervousness is staying quiet enough for me to be having fun.

     The producer comes over to greet me. He puts out his hand and smiles. 
     "Hi!" he says. "I'm Bob."
     "Hi!" I say warmly. "I'm Bob."
     Yep. "Hi!" I said - warmly, for god's sake - "I'm Bob."