As previously mentioned recently, I have been fangirling over that professor with the dating blog who does stand up comedy. Well, she did her “Chronic Pain: A Comedy” show again at the cancer center* in Sac today and I took off from work to go see it. Yeah, I’d seen it before but I figured I’d see what she’s done with it in the last couple of years, plus...fangirling. I left an hour and a half before it started because of the joys of Sacramento traffic, which was sloggy but I still managed to get there within an hour, yay. I did feel weird going to the cancer center without actually having it though, it did make me think, “Am I jinxing myself?”**

* Should probably explain that this is through a campus program about health, hence the location, and it also had its own cute little theater. Yeah, did not expect that last one.
** Apparently her son was thinking what I thought about it, that it was kind of ironic that she was going to this place when she so far does not have cancer!

They had the door locked when I got there so I was a little confused and parked in the lobby, and there were two dudes there that I thought, “I am pretty sure they are here for this show, they look like the right type.” I called it.

Anyway, the show was a delight for its subject matter. I don’t think I’ll try to recap it here (anyway, it’s already online from the last time and mentioned in one of those links) but I continued to enjoy it, especially when there’s add-ons like whatever drama’s happened recently, explaining the things she has to explain when she does this performance in Europe to clarify our lack of health care. And I do like her closer on how she should be prescribed a boyfriend--yeah, don’t we all wish there. I think I counted about 20 chronic illnesses that she mentions and she said she takes 34 pills a day...and still has a gag reflex issue. I hear ya, girl. I think I’d just die from lack of pills if I ever have to take anything on a regular basis.

Even better, she had a Q&A afterward and she told even more stories during that. There were a few medical professionals at this that had things to ask about/mention, but the most interesting one was the lady who asked if she’d been gene tested for .... um, something*, because it sounds like she has almost all of the symptoms of that paraticular genetic thing, whatever it was. I was all, DAAAAAAAAAAAAMN I THINK SHE’S RIGHT in my head after that. That would explain a lot of shit happening to one person!

* I thought the lady said “Fragile X,” but upon Googling I do not think that was correct. Fragile SOMETHING...??? I have no idea now. Grr, argh.

I got up the nerve at the end to ask how she got into standup comedy and has she ever considered storytelling--one of her degrees is in theater and she did improv and sketch while in college and has started doing standup since you don’t need a group for that. Standup and teaching are apparently very good for distracting you and making you feel better. Well, I am always a big fan of distraction myself. Anyway....she said after doing a standup routine at a Planned Parenthood fundraiser (i.e. she wishes she’d had that option as a teenager, which is why she had a kid young), people were affected by it and asking if they could hug her, so she seriously had a Line of Hugging after it was over.

I filled out the evaluation they gave me ahead of time and I think I wrote something like “Can I be her friend?” on it. I eventually got up the nerve to get into the hugging line and was all “You’re really cool!” and otherwise feeling very fangirl (erm...I am wondering, did I actually SAY anything about can I be her friend? I think it headed in that direction because I wanted to talk about performing stuff and pointed out that I work next door to her office and she seemed to like that), but she seemed to like it! She gave me her card and said I could e-mail her! And so I did!

It was probably Too Long to e-mail someone really, but I am chatty. Mostly just introduced myself and told my theater wannabe, now I’m doing storytelling about some crazy topics like X, Y, and Z and also I play with yarn a lot, would be nice if you wrote back but I can take a hint if not, thanks for the show tonight.

I am still giggly.

This is reminding me of getting up the nerve to ask Meg to hang out with me after class back in the day. I took a class from her and wanted to, but at the time she was doing caregiving for her in-laws with dementia and I figured she was too busy, but I eventually got up the nerve, she made time for me and here we are! So, we shall see.

For the moment, I am still pleased and giggly. And sent her the Princess Leia sweater pic.

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