Tonight Show Silver Anniversary! Part 3: Aftermath

This is the final installment of my Tonight Show 25th anniversary series.  If you missed them, Episode 1 discusses events Before the Show, and Episode 2 recalls The Day of the Show.  Today's post follows up from late 1989 clear to the present.  It is the longest and perhaps my favorite post, because it shows how this personal history has been woven through my whole life.  Read about the publicity, the characters I've met, the book, and what it's all taught me.  There's even a video of alphabetic banter with another TV god.

Tonight Show Silver Anniversary! Part 2: The Day of the Show

November 22, 1989 - November 22, 2014

"It was 25 years ago today" that I sat in Carson's guest chair.  Today's post follows the events and my thoughts on that particular day.  It was the day before Thanksgiving, 1989.  This was the era before smart phones or the world wide web, so it was harder to document things back then.  I relied on newspapers, a film camera, and VCR tapes.  This year, I have collected these souvenirs to post here.  If you missed it, Part 1 of this series, "Before the Show,"  explains how I got to this point.  Part 3, "Aftermath," will follow in the next month or so.

Tonight Show Silver Anniversary! Part 1: Before the Show

It's been 25 years since my lifetime's most public moment, a four-minute civilian guest spot on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.  I am taking occasion of this silver anniversary to gather memorabilia and publish a full account of the TV appearance and all that surrounds it.  There is a lot of ground to cover, so I'm breaking this into a three-part series.  Part 1 discusses my alphabetizing talent itself and events leading up to the TV spot.  Part 2 will follow on the broadcast's anniversary date, Nov. 22, and will give my behind-the-scenes account of that particular day.  Part 3 will cover the aftermath:  publicity, events, and what I learned from being on TV.  

Partial Solar Eclipse, 10/23/14

Now it's the sun's turn!  These are my photos of the North American partial solar eclipse on October 23, 2014.
 

Fagerland, Meyer, and Beck updates

GGGT 2014 Part 2:  SD and UT

This is the second and final update of my GGGT 2014, summarizing what I learned in South Dakota and Utah.  My parents, Grandpa Fagerland, and gravesite of Grandma Fagerland are in South Dakota.  In Salt Lake City, I spent two days at the Mormon Church's Family History Library (FHL). 

Kaitlin at her great-grandmother's grave.  She picked out the flowers.

To see results in the Meyer, Fagerland, and Beck branches:

GGGT 2014: Washington

Fagerland History

Here's my first report from the road on the Great Grand Genealogy Tour of 2014.  I was in Washington June 27 - 29.  There is a sizeable Norwegian community in Washington.  The Fagerland branch of the family started settling there in the 1950s. 

The Seattle skyline, 6/28/14

My purposes for this trip were:

(1)  To tap the memories of Orville Fagerland, my oldest living relative.
(2)  To look for a picture of my 2nd-great grandparents Fagerland.
(3)  To see a collection of family artifacts at Pacific Lutheran University.  

The GGGT of the Western US, 2014

This summer, I will finally take the first of my major Great Grand Genealogy Tours (GGGT), as described a year ago.  I simply couldn't afford it in 2013.  This year, I am in a much better situation.  I also have very generous financial support from Dad and Grandpa Fagerland.




My 3rd Great Grandparents Svare (seated)

Lunar Eclipse, April 14 - 15, 2014

Photos - Observations - And don't miss the video at the end!

I took pictures of the moon about every 15 minutes during this last eclipse (except when it got too cloudy!)  :(    Here is a time-lapse montage of how the moon changed shape and brightness during that time. 

ScotFagerland.com, my all-in-one portal

Please note my new portal, www.ScotFagerland.com, which lists and links to all of my various websites, personal and professional.

My book-in-progress, "The Evolution of Human" (TEOH) now has its own website: 

www.TheEvolutionOfHuman.com

All updates will be posted there, not here.  I will be using Scot's Spot for personal purposes.  For example, this is a good site for my genealogical updates.  I will also post a 25th-anniversary commemoration of my Tonight Show appearance here this year. 

I'm Writing a Book!

I have been keeping a secret for four years. 

I've been kind-of, sort-of working on an idea for something that could turn into ... you know, a book.  Maybe.  I wanted to have it at least 20% finished before I even made mention of it.  After all, how many people have you met who are "writing a book" ??!!  People talk big and have nothing to show for it.  I didn't want to be one of those talkers -- especially since my book is a "history of everything."  Uggh; it sounds so grandiose.  I was embarrassed to even bring this up before I was confident that I could follow through.  The seed was planted in my mind in 2009.  I can hardly believe that I have now spent four years of my spare time on it.  I made a deal with myself: finish the first and last chapters and the introductory material, and then I'll promote myself from "thinking about" the book to genuinely "writing" it.  The date for this goal kept shifting.  First 2011, then 2012 ...... and most recently by my birthday in 2013.  I only missed that goal by three days! 

But now I have met my first goal.  The book is 20% done.  It's official.  I'm no longer kind-of, sort-of thinking about a book.  I'm writing it!  Woo-hoo!  And how appropriate that I'm writing a book about Life, the Universe, and Everything at age 42. 

So here's the nutshell:

The working title of the book is "The Evolution of Human Beings, Institutions, and Belief Systems:  A Logarithmic History of Everything," or "The Evolution of Human" for short.  It's not really a history of "everything," as it is focused on human history and beliefs.  But it does cover all periods of time.  I realized one day that I could manage a history of all periods of time if each chapter represented a power of ten years.  I call this format a "logarithmic history."  It allows me to cover all scales in equal breadth, in just ten chapters.  It has involved as much reading as writing.  The research is only half the challenge.  The other half is deciding what to write and how to prioritize and pace the material. 

I chose to write the oldest and newest chapters first, to convince myself and others that I can research at both extremes.  "Chapter 10" (the oldest chapter) covers the highlights of the past few ten-billion years, from the Big Bang to bacteria.  "Chapter 1" (the most recent chapter) spans the last few decades, the recent history and current events / trends from 1980 to the present day.  I will put my writing on hold for the rest of this year.  I want to momentarily shift my focus to self-publication and a little promotion.  I will start exploring the world of "real" publication and literary agents and all that, and see if there is any possibility of doing anything commercial with this project.  If not, that's okay, because I've come to love this book like a child, and I am committed to writing the whole thing just because it's a life-long personal goal of mine that is actually becoming a reality.  I would also like to find a few expert readers and some lay-readers.  If you are interested in reading some of this and helping me with feedback, or know someone who might be interested, I would really appreciate your contacting me.

Stay tuned!

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