ellen the generous

mila at 7 weeks is becoming quite the talkative little girl. we have a few small clips of her verbalizing with coos and grunts. they say even coughing can be a sign of her trying to learn language. so we broke out our baby signs dvd and have been practicing. we can really start working with her at 6 months. although it may help her to pick up language sooner, our main motivation is to provide her with communication tools as an alternative to crying.

in the past week she had visits with the kaiser office and sunray. fun but exhausting. then susan decided to go see a taping of 'ellen'. she has been watching the show for about a week and thinks she's pretty funny. ellen tapes monday through wednesday for a next-day showing, and two shows on thursday (for friday and monday). with the writer's strike affecting a lot of people, she wanted to try and get on before there was any talk of cancellation for the season.

so on wednesday at 9am susan called and at 1pm was informed that she was on the standby list: first come, first serve. she had to get herself and milagra ready, drop the little one off with hue at usc at 2:30, and drive to burbank by 3pm. she arrived at 2:59. there were people picketing all around nbc. the security guard asked if susan was a guest or an audience member. she was probably the only one of 300 people there that was a single party. she met some interesting people in line and heard that they were giving out xbox 360's to audience members.

rehearsal took forever, perhaps due to the strike. so while filming was supposed to begin at 4:30pm it didn't start until 6pm. thankfully, starbucks was there handing out peppermint cocoa and mochas while they waited outdoor in the cold. everyone filled out a form asking for an opinion regarding what entails a healthy weight. when they finally lined up to go in, susan realized that she didn't make the cut to be in the studio audience, but was designated to go into the riff raff room.

she files in with about 95 other women and 4 men. starbucks is inside as well (she had 3 that afternoon) along with a series of big screen tv's for the 'riff raff' to watch the show on. basically they're encouraged to dance and there are a few posed shots and many cameras, but susan's probably not really seen on tv. the show is on at 4pm pst today.

the weight question was folded into ellen's monologue and a few women were chosen from the audience to speak with her based on their answers. susan met a woman in line, beth, who was in the vip section and she is seen prominently on camera at one point.

so ellen does give out xboxes, but not to the lowly riff raff. susan does receive guitar hero 3 and the new scene it game for the xbox. not bad, considering that the only game we have for our own console is gears of war. not susan's favorite. she also receives two guaranteed studio audience tickets for a later date. hopefully there will be less waiting next time around.

ADDEND:
susan can be seen during the brief audience go gets starbucks segment. she already has her cup and is just standing around uselessly right in the front, back to the camera. black pants and purse, gray sweater, hair up. hilarious.