Adventures of an AFWingMom: Mind Tricks and Concrete Dreams

The Price Is Right Adventure

If you are interested in attending TPIR (The Price Is Right) there are generally two tapings Monday thru Wednesday. You have to pre-order your tickets by one of four ways, online, through the mail, pick up at the ticket booth or order by phone. Even after receiving these tickets it does not guarantee you a seat in the studio. I'll share more on that later. We were going to a Tuesday taping which was at 2:30p.m. The times for the tapings has changed since we went so check out TPIR taping for more info.

The key is to get there early. How early? We got in line at 10:45p.m. on Monday night and we were at least 100 people back. When we went in 2007 the studio was seating approximately 325. Some people that were in front of us were 'saving' spots for friends. Add to that any large groups (which don't have to arrive at the studio until the next morning) and you could quickly be pushed back further in line.

Now, those of us who were waiting in line were in various stages of preparedness. Some had brought lawn chairs, blankets, etc... and others did not really have anything. We had packed my daughters' old comforter and my folks had brought a couple of blankets as well. My dad rented some chairs from Bagel Break (a shop across the street from the line) so we'd have somewhere to sit. They are $5 and in the morning a couple of guys walk the line picking up all the chairs.

We were in line with some wonderful people. We were surrounded by

Stacy and Mark from Utah

The Boston Boys

Minnesota Bonnie

and Seattle Bob

They were all super sweet and fun to be around.

Now Seattle Bob at the time, was a window washer by trade but he's also a magician. Throughout the night and the next day he entertained everyone with his tricks.

He asked me to visualize in my mind, the name of a friend from elementary school. He wrote my name on one side of a piece of paper and on the other side he drew an 'X' and a line. He asked me to write the name on the line and then turned around while I did that. He turned back around and tore up the piece of paper into little pieces and made it disappear by shoving it into his fist. I was amazed.

Then he asked me to visualize a giant blank movie screen and write the 1st letter of my friends name on it. He said, "Does it start with a T?" YES!! He then said "I see two m's, is it Tammy?" I said no it was Tommy. Now I know he didn't get it exactly right but the friend that I chose was a random obscure friend so it was kind of freaky.

He asked Gina to believe that she could bend a fork with her mind. Then he took what appeared to be an ordinary fork and asked Gina to blow on it. As she did one of the prongs started to bend. He had another person in line bend more prongs and twist the handle and bend it in half. All of this was right in front of our eyes and it was really, really cool. He let Gina and I keep a fork as a memory. Coolness magnified.

He asked Stacy to see her watch. He asked her what time it was and she said 12:04a.m. He said pick a number between 1-10. She said 9. He put the watch in her palm and closed her hand around it. Then he put his hands near the watch and started shaking his hands a bit and he looked like he was either constipated or concentrating really hard. Then he asked her to look at the watch and the watch said, 11:51p.m. - 9 minutes until midnight. Super freaky. We couldn't help but think to ourselves, why didn't it say 11:55p.m.? That would be nine minutes back in time. I guess we should just be happy we were entertained.

Around 12:30a.m. (2:30a.m. Dallas time) a random ambulance drove by and over the loudspeaker said, "Come on down to The Price Is Right!". Also throughout the night there was a lot of traffic on the street. Hard to sleep with all the noise. There were also several helicopters with their spotlights on. Not sure who or what they were looking for but we probably didn't really want to know anyway.

Gina and I needed to take a potty break and so we headed down to the Exxon on the corner. While we were there we heard some screams from across the street. There was a woman trying to get away from a man. There were two people already in the store and they both kept telling the clerk to call 911.

As I am paying for my water (you have to buy something to be able to use the facilities) here comes the lady who was in trouble with the guy following her. This blonde woman that stepped outside of the store was grabbing the lady and dragging her back inside and yelling to the clerk to call 911 and FAST!! The lady that was a part of the drama just kept crying and saying, "I just want a cab so I can go home." Gina walked outside the store and I was trying to hurry up and follow her.

As I was leaving the store the man was approaching and had one hand inside his jacket. Now I am not saying that he had a weapon and I am not saying that he didn't have a weapon. All I am saying is that I wasn't going to stick around and see.

I ran out of the store and Gina and I hightailed it back to our place in line. Other people that were standing in the TPIR line had no idea what had just happened and they were yelling at us, "Run Forest, RUN!" which ordinarily would have been very funny to me. It's hard to laugh and run when you are as out of shape as I am.

The random ambulance came by again and this time over the loudspeaker the person shouted, "Go home all you b*&$%'s" which we did not find very friendly or funny at all.

Now if you are going to be in the TPIR line I would recommend being prepared. In addition to that being the Boy Scouts motto, it would also be a great thing to make your stay more enjoyable. If you are going to try and sleep, blankets, pillows and earplugs would be awesome to have. If you are going to stay up all night, snacks and something to do (hand held game or something) would be sweet.

We tried to sleep but it was cold and the concrete was hard. Some of the people in line didn't plan on napping or anything and they were up to party. We overheard the following statements:

"We're gonna play Texas hold 'em now?"

"Are you gonna find out about the bathroom?"
"She's the reason jeans are expensive."

"Ready for cribbage? What are we going to play on?"

"I need a cigarette."

Random statements like these and the conversations they were intertwined with made it difficult for us to sleep. We did take turns "sleeping" in the car but it's hard to get comfortable there and I just went back to my concrete spot leaving Gina in an unlocked car near where the helicopters were searching. Sorry about that Gina.

Gina rejoined me during the night and we discovered that the noises coming from the bushes was indeed rats. Not one or two rats, but several rats were joining us for the evening's fun and follies. Gina and I decided to switch from having our heads facing the bushes to having our feet there. One reason we stayed up most of the night was because we were waiting to feel a nibble on our toes.