The first thing I have to confess to you all is that I spent a fair amount of hours this weekend catching up with tivo'd episodes of that Scott Baio reality show. Stop judging me. I can feel it through the screen. I couldn't help it though. Chachi! Charles in Charge! Dr. Jack Stewart! Bob Loblaw! I needed to see it, I just did. Never mind that after seeing it I may have crabs just from looking at him. Never mind that I actually paused my tivo just to see all the different charms he had hanging off of his neck-chain. Never mind! I, like Joanie, love Chachi. Or maybe I don't love him, but at least I am oddly interested in the fact that he is 45 and single and needs a life coach named Dark Alley. Hey! I said STOP JUDGING.
So one of the things that Mr. Baio struggles with in his life (yes, I said struggles. He has pain, he has hurt. He also has a koi pond) is that everyone still calls him Chachi. Wherever he goes, it's all "Hey Chachi!" and "Oh my god, it's Chachi!" and "Wah wah wah!" and you can just FEEL how uncomfortable he is, as uncomfortable as Fonzie was with saying he was sorry. (Remember that? "I'm sssss--sssss..." Ah. Good times.) It's got to be weird having people come up to you all the time like that, especially when you're just sort of famous, instead of super famous. I mean, if you're Posh and/or Becks, you're not really among regular people ever, you know what I mean? It's not like Angelina Jolie is shopping for spaghetti sauce in Aisle 5 of the Safeway and a random person is going to come and be all "hey remember that time you kept making out with Billy Bob on the red carpet of the mtv awards?" and she has to try and be gracious. The super famous are kind of protected from that. But not Scott. He's only partially famous, so he actually does things like go to the grocery store and walk his own dog down a regular street and such, hence the random approaches from strangers. And really, what is he supposed to do with these encounters? Someone comes up to him as he walks through a restaurant and says "hey, aren't you Chachi?" and he sort of stops and says "um, yeah, I was." The other person then says "wow." What is the correct response to this? "Thanks"? "I know, wow. I'm the shit"? "Ok, bye"? What does Scott do? He looks uncomfortable, and keeps walking, that's what he does.
So, if Posh and Becks and Brangelina are 100% famous, then Scott Baio is like, what, 10% famous? What happens if you're like .0001% famous?
This is the part where I relate my life to Scott Baio's. Really, watch this. I'm going to do it!
So like I said a couple of posts ago, I am in denial that anyone is really reading this blog except for the people whose blogs I read and I think that they are reading mine out of nice, polite, reciprocity. I am starting to get over this assumption. Mainly because of instances like the following. I was sitting at the reference desk the other day, and a young woman came up to me, smiling and nice as could be.
Her: Are you the Pop Culture Librarian?
Me: ...WHAT?
Her: Do you have a blog? The Pop Culture Librarian?
Me: umm...I...uh... yeah? I do?
Her: Cool. Thought it was you.
Me: Oh...uh....yeah...um...
Ok, so this is not the same thing as getting "where's the FONZ?" yelled after you as you check your mail. I understand this. I am in no way putting myself on the same level as Scott Baio. (Oh my god. How depressing is that? I am not any where NEAR the LEVEL of Scott BAIO.) I'm just saying. When this happens, it's jarring. I feel wildly inarticulate. Then that makes me feel like a doofus. This is a much higher-resolution sort of inarticulate doofiness than I normally feel. I then think to myself: that nice woman. Asking me a simple question. And walking away with the impression that I may be mildly retarded. Wonderful. Next time, I'll just quote Chachi and see how that goes: "wah wah wah." That works, right?
Kiss the rings I'm out.
Librarian Girl
Monday, July 30, 2007
Chachi In Charge
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18 comments:
OMG, I watch that show too! actually, I've been more interested in Rock of Love, but I'll leave that shameful fact for later. YOU ARE famous! I would have crapped my pants if someone would have come up to me out of nowhere and said that (although that probably would have made them stop reading). You're awesome girl!
If some total stranger who was not actually related to me came up and said they read my blog, I would keel over with a myocardial infarction.
I am so jealous.
Ok... So, WOW!
Admittedly it's unfortunate that jealousy had to be the reason I crawled out from behind my lurker rock... And yet it is what it is.
I am sooooooo jealous. I aspire to have stalkers some day too.
Wow! You have fans! I also would crap my pants if anyone ever knew who I was. That's why I don't go out in public without my hat and dark sunglasses. I have about 5 regular readers who live nowhere near Atlanta, but you just can't be too careful you know.
I once saw Miss Doxie (with her boyfriend El Dukay) at an arts festival here in Atlanta and I was too nervous to say anything to her. How dorky am I? Like she's the pope or something? Of course she looks like a supermodel which is a little intimidating on top of her blog fame.
But dude, you're famous!
Just throw a fit and scream "I AM MORE THAN MY BLOG, GOD DAMN IT, I AM A PERSON!" That'll nip those approaches in the bud. And maybe nip your job in the bud, too. And your blog. On second thought, just act modest. Like Scott.
So what you're saying is... you have patrons who frequent your library who know about your childhood flirtations involving candies, your random relationship habits, and other intimate details of your existence?
What is that? Like breaking the fourth wall of the internet? :)
I think most of us in your situation would have reacted the same way. Also, most of us got that little pang of jealousy because it didn't happen to us.
Welcome to Hollywood, baby!!
whoa, you've hit the big time!
i got sucked into the Chachi vortex this weekend, too. but i get the feeling it's all a setup for the big "Renee loves Chachi" or "My fair Chachi" wedding next season after he's paid his penance.
I'm so glad you're watching the show! And that you're willing to blog about it! As I am still without cable (simply out of laziness--who has time to make an appointment?), I've been keeping up with the show on tvgasm. But I love me some Charles in Charge and even though Dr. Jesse Travis was a nice, no one can replace Dr. Jack Stewart for me on Diagnosis Murder...
And I agree with Mrs. Who. Obviously everyone can read your blog but they're not supposed to tell you about it!
What would have been nice is if your mystery fan had said, instead of "I thought it was you" was "I really enjoy your blog."
If you are gonna stalk, show some appreciation.
And I, like Mrs. Who and Sauntering Soul, would also have some sort of poop-in-my-pants or spectacular cardiac event if anyone beyond the realm of those I know who read my thing, actually read my thing. Actually, I pee a little every time my stats go above 10 readers in a day, so who knows what would REALLY happen if someone I don't already know in real life reads the damn thing. Aside from you of course, you polite reciprocal commenter, you.
HOw would they know it was you?
Do you look that much like the Bad Ass on a Big Wheel picture still? Because if you still look like you are prepubescent...THAT is what I will be *jelus* over.
I'm jes sayin'.
Have you noticed how many more comments you've been getting from us lurkers?
I think you should make us your posse now that you're as famous as Scott Baio :)
Ok, 2 things:
1. Did you get the impression from episode 1 that there is something a little, I don't know, OFF about Joanie?
2. Dude, your patrons know you by your blog? Do other librarians at your library know about it? I am so paranoid about people at my work finding out about my blog that I won't even bring it up on a computer there.
OK, confession time. Apparently, I bear a resemblance to Half Pint from Liitle House. Which is not so good. AND which I did not watch. But, these two people excitedly stopped me on a bus one time and asked me if my name was Melissa. They thought I might be her, the actress. Because Ms Gilbert hit the skids and had to start going Greyhound or something. It was odd, and I wanted to leave immediately.
How did someone recognize you? I can't remember seeing any pictures of you? I think if I were Scott I would lie and say no I wasn't then walk away.
I'm not sure how I'd react if someone I didn't know recognized me from my blog. Stalkeratzi and all that.
Across the street from where I work they sell Pop Culture Librarian t-shirts and bobble heads with your blog address. How could you not know about that? There's also the Pop Culture Librarian float in the pride parade and the PCL fountain in Grant Park. You should know about these things.
Whoa. I am EXTREMELY surprised at how many people who have commented on this post are surprised that it would be that hard to identify LG based on her blog.
A friend of mine freaked out and made her blog private when she realized a co-worker had found her (she was posting under her real name and had multiple pictures of herself, duh) and thought he was a stalker. I think he was just doing some random googling. Her name + the international corporation she worked for and mentioned often = personal blog paydirt.
This is where I would point out the details that probably could have identified LG, but I am a freaky detective nerd and have a memory for detail like you would not believe and I am not interested in scaring anyone. I am especially surprised at Melinda being surprised because she often posts pictures of her child AND lets everyone know when she's going on vacation. Those kinds of things are Very Easy to track down.
Total anonymity doesn't exist on the internet. My boyfriend worked for a web company... the tech guy for their website could trace people off their ISP addresses to their home address.
You are totally famous. You should have charged her $10 just to TALK to you. Next time, though.
I want to be recognized! And I've got my real name and pictures of me plastered all over my blog and nuthin'! But you, YOU are Miss Secretive and still get recognized.
*humph*
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