Embarrassing Moments

I embarrass myself often and I've decided to start sharing some of these incidents, once the humiliation has worn off a bit, in an effort to laugh at myself and allow others to laugh at me, too. The one I'm still thinking about, which happened while down in Los Angeles on business earlier this month, still smarts a bit but is also super funny, although in a sad, "why me" kind of way.

I'm down in Los Angeles, supporting a conference for my boss, who's hosting the event. It's a small event, only about 30 people, but some of the most influential people in my field are present. The superstar of the event is undoubtedly the gentleman from New York City. I've met him once before and I'm absolutely enamored by him. I'm trying my best to find some reason to talk to him but I'm terrible with small talk so it has to be a real topic. Luckily for me, the New York Rangers were staying at our same hotel and had been placed in the conference room next to ours the night before. Unfortunately, they had left by the time Mr. NYC had gotten there, so he didn't get to meet them himself. But, luckily for me again, I was the one that got to talk to Mr. NYC about them. Unfortunately, he didn't appear to be much of a hockey fan because, besides general NYC pride, he didn't pursue a conversation regarding their presence any further.

My second chance at conversation with Mr. NYC caught me unawares. I was eating my lunch with two colleagues in a separate room from the rest of the group when we began talking about being in Los Angeles and how all my friends come back from their trips to LA with stories about meeting celebrities but how that had yet to happen to me. I had one friend, who had never been to LA before, come back with a story about being randomly sat next to Alan Alda at a diner. At the mention of Alan Alda's name Mr. NYC, who must've snuck into our room while our backs were turned, shouted from across the room, where he was seated, reviewing his Blackberry, "what did you say about Alan Alda?"

Now, I am often a victim of "ageism," where people don't believe I know things that I do because of my youth. Every time I throw down some knowledge about something I'm supposedly "too young to know" or was "before my time" I have to somehow justify this knowledge. It used to happen a lot in my 20's, not so much anymore in my 30's, but I'm still defensive about having to justify my knowledge. Anyway, in this scenario, with Mr. NYC, I instantly think he thinks me knowing anything "Alan Alda" is something "before my time" but, rather than be offended by it, I believe this to be the opportunity to impress him with some crazy knowledge. So, I repeat my story about my friend being randomly sat next to Alan Alda at the diner and add "she tried really hard not to yell at him for ruining the last few years of "M*A*S*H" when he got super preachy with the writing." Mr. NYC looks at me and says, "Alan Alda is one of my closest friends."

Of course he is.