I'm a groupie!

Yep, it's true. I'm a groupie of our kids; these Gen Y-ers, these twenty somethings. I'm a little discriminating... but not much, I just love hearing about what these kids are up to, what they're doing with their lives, what choices they're making and if I have the opportunity, I try to follow them. I'm not talking about my own kids, that's a given, but I'm talking about the kids of my friends and family, kids that are friends of my kids...

Well, I have something fun to report...due to my groupie-esque tendency, I was invited to have a cameo in a webisode! A what? OK, I'll back up... a friend's son and daughter in law write and edit for a webisode called "Chaos Theory." When I heard about this I was intrigued and asked, "what the heck is a webisode?" Well for those of you parents or Boomers like me that are new to this term, it's a short episode of a collection of episodes that make up a storyline on the Internet, rather than TV. In this case, it's kind of like a mini soap opera based on the lives' of Gen Yers Jess Fletcher and her friends living in New York City...and all that that entails. Well, I started at the beginning with no expectations and found myself pushing the "next" arrow after each of the episodes. Suddenly, I was hooked. These segments are only about 7-10 minutes long and they're about a fragment of the day in the life of one of these young people. Not only can I personally relate to numerous topics having lived in a city after college myself, but I can relate because I have kids that are doing it now.

A friend of mine has stated, on numerous occasions, that I am a "TV person" and it's true, I am. I like TV. I learn from it, I watch it, I often have it on as company... as background noise. My husband used to tease me when the lamaze instructor told us 26 years ago that our babies in utero would already be used to our voices when they were born because they could hear us, he said, "oh good, my baby will recognize David Hartman's voice (he was on GMA back then), because he's around more than I am!" I have always watched the shows my kids watched, not necessarily because I liked them, often times I did, but because I wanted to know what they were interested in and what they were learning or being influenced by. It's a window into their world. The added benefit to watching television with your kids (this was before TiVo and my knowing how to tape shows on my VHS) was that it prompted all kinds of good conversation. Anyway, I digress.

Back to my webisode... and my cameo ...

What was fun about all of this was the exchange... (I had no idea that my neighbors had mentioned to their son that I had become a fan of the show.)
I'm riding on a chairlift and I get a Facebook message from their son, Jim (and oh btw, we were not friends on Facebook.) How'd I get this message? My iPhone and Facebook app., both of which are a result of the strong influence my kids have on me. (My own personal, "tech support.) Asking if I'd be willing to "play" a "perky flight attendant." And that we could do it over the phone because they were interested in my voice. With no hesitation I responded in text format, "I'm in!" Then Jim responded back in text format, setting the segment up and my lines... I was the voice over the loudspeaker when the plane hit some turbulence. When he recorded this we did it over Gmail's video chat (again, the result of my personal tech support.) It was a kick! He was very professional and very helpful in the debut of my (cough) acting career, and I really enjoyed asking him about this Internet program format and how it was going and how they're paying for it and its' future? A real learning for me.

Well, this hasn't aired yet and for all I know my few sentences may end up on the editing room floor, but nonetheless, I continue to be a groupie and I really appreciated the experience. I learned a lot! Who needs Bridge to ward off Alzheimer's?

*Side note: if you want to "catch up" on the "Chaos Theory" before my cameo voice appearance:
http://phoebetv.com/chaos-theory/index.html

:)