2004-05-28, 8:35 a.m.

My baby-daddy on TV

Christopher was on the chanel 2 news this morning - riding the Coney Island Cyclone, of course. At 6:45am. In the rain, which made for absolutely perfect riding conditions - fastfastfast!! Which of course made Christopher even more excited to be there.

Christopher, charasmatic and winning guy that he is, was the one the reporter chose to put in the front seat of the Cyclone and briefly interview. He got to quickly explain who the ACE fanatics with him were - members of the New York chapter of the American Coaster Enthusiasts - and when the reporter asked if she could be a member, he told her yes, if she rode the Cyclone. Which she apparently was not about to do. Neither was Gerry, the man who's been running the Coney Island Cyclone for at least 25 years, and HAS NEVER RIDDEN. Not even once.

Then the reporter asked Christopher why the Cyclone is such a great coaster, and he answered (something like) "because it embodies Brooklyn - it's not going to coddle you, but the rewards are fantastic". I could just tell he'd been rehearsing that for hours.

And off they went. Christopher told me later on the phone that as the car was rolling out of the station towards the lift hill he shouted out "Alex and Leon, I love you!", but unfortunately at that point the reporter was interviewing Gerry, and I didn't get to hear him. But I love him for trying.

I, sitting at home (on the warm and not rainy couch) nursing Leon, immedeately tried to call Elise, Christopher's sister. I was hoping she'd be able to catch a little of the spot, but, according to her voice mail, she's already left town for Poland. So I left an excited and I'm sure garbled message. Then I called Christopher's parents, in Cumberland MD, even though they don't get the local NY news. I just wanted to share with someone! But they weren't up yet (come on, it's 6:45 already, why not??), so I had to content myself with another excited message.

When I talked to Christopher after the festivities, he told me that ACErs later convinced the spot's producer and the camera man to ride with them. Apparently, the produder got totally freaked out, but the camera man loved it - knowing Christopher, he probably talked them into riding in the back for their first ride. Which, for those who haven't ridden the Cyclone, is a rough ride on a regular day, and was probably completely terrifying for a first time rider, under today's conditions.

Christopher also told me that the spot will be re-aired on the 12:00 news today, with a longer interview. Which means that I have precisely 3 hours in which to figure out how the heck to tape with our new VCR. No, I don't have any idea what I did with the manual.

I suppose that in the worse case scenario, I could always tape the TV as it shows the program, using my new video camera. And then I could sell bootlegs of it on the Fulton Mall.