And that’s why I’m sitting here this morning, sharing my new found fear and confusion with you. It’s important to note that generally I don’t fear many things, with the exception, hilariously enough, of squirrels. I have NO IDEA why I fear squirrels. I mean, they’re, well…squirrely and all, but…oh, never mind. On the other hand, confusion seems to be a normal frame of mind for me. But the thing that caused my fear and confusion this morning is probably even less rational on some level than a fear of squirrels.

You see, the next chapter in our book is “Call the most famous person you can think of”. For the record, I’ve actually done everything I suggest in the book, but I haven’t done everything Nick suggests. I thought this one would be easy. I have excellent phone skills, I’m good at tracking down hard-to-find numbers, and I’ve never been particularly star struck by celebrity. So what happened on the way to tackling this simple task? Well, first of all, I chose to ignore the “most famous” part of the suggestion, figuring famous is famous, so why get bogged down by trying to rank things? So I selected Ellen DeGeneres as my first target. I’m always referencing her in my bio, so I thought this might be a good place to start.

Some quick web searches once again reminded me it might be worth investing that couple hundred dollars a month on the many database services available these days. Although this KGBAnswers.com listing seemed like a plausible place to start, it suddenly hit me. WHY was I calling her? I mean, even if I wiggled my way through the practical barriers to actually getting her on the phone, WHAT THE HECK DID I HAVE TO SAY? This was thought-provoking, and honestly made me re-think things. Like:

Why do I want to be “the next Ellen”, as I say in my bio?
What would I really say to Ellen if I got her on the phone?
What other famous person would it make more sense to call?
Why am I avoiding getting this simple task done today?
Why do I ask so many darn questions?

As you can see, even PONDERING this chapter of the book has been a real eye-opener. Which makes me think we did a better job with our little book than I tend to think. So Wednesday, I’ll be back with either the details of my amazing chat with Ellen, or maybe some other famous figure. Or a list of possibilities. Or a list of excuses. Stay tuned.