Man, hearing my disastrous Getting to Know You call from that episode again was not fun. At the time I was seriously haunted by that for days (weeks?).
I should probably just leave well enough alone at this point, and probably no one cares either way, but I have some masochistic need to try and explain things and open myself up for a potentially permanent source of ribbing. I don't call the show often, and when I do I try to keep it brief, mostly because I'm absurdly self-critical and I fear dragging down one of the greatest founts of entertainment in the world - the Best Show - with my half-formed, nervous mutterings (seriously, my hand holding the phone is usually shaking like mad when I call. So's the other one, but for a different reason, heh heh... ugh). Oddly, not much else really has the same effect on me; I guess blame it on Tom's soul-searing intensity. So I prefer to stick to the Friends of Tom chat, where I feel powerful enough to devour whole worlds like Galactus and am surrounded by an army of silver heralds (i.e. the chatters) ready to scour the universe at my command (sorry y'all, but that's how I sees it... ok, not really).
Anyway, at the time that show aired I believe I HAD just bought the Ed Wood dvd at regular price from a store that apparently hadn't heard about the recall and while there were copies showing up on eBay for around $75-100. But when I called to play the game Tom asked me one of the questions I did NOT have an answer for - "What do you regret spending too much money on?" You'd think I was facing a roomful of Mennen executives because this was all it took to turn me into a Boring Owen-esque psychological mess. I attempted to shoehorn my Ed Wood luck -the only thing that popped into my panicked head - into the proceedings, rather than gracefully defer and move on with a measure of dignity. At the call's end, after I barely knew what I was saying and Tom let me off the hook, I hung up and repeatedly banged my head on the orange crate, eventually disturbing the family of Lutherans who were letting me stay in their basement (ok, another falsehood. You see, I've started down a scary, slippery slope). Eventually, I put the whole incident behind me but now I can feel the Best Show's ever-expanding audience damning me with contempt all over again and I felt the need to bear my soul.
As for one of my other GTKY answers, John Lennon was my least favorite Beatle on a personal level at the time but that was just a spiteful phase. He's back on top again now (oh Ringo, you must have blinded me with your flashy jewelry and irrepressible charm). In fact, who wants to get together later and scream along with me to "Mother?" Don't worry, the Lutherans are away all weekend.
