Let's make some baseball happen today! Wooohoooo, I'm up and awake and already having a good hair day, even better.
:) :) :)
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
Tim Chaddick is the best
Give thanks in every circumstance- this is the will of God!
Just got back from helping at Soccer Nights (Vineyard soccer camp, free, for area kids.. week long). I was a coach last year but because of work I couldnt commit this year. Had today off, though, so I sent a friend who works on Soccer Nights logistics a text and told her I'd come by to help set up and start the event. Kids are fascinating :)
Then I received the call... John wanted to let me know that we have to be in at 8:30 tomorrow morning. Earlyyyyy.
Just got back from helping at Soccer Nights (Vineyard soccer camp, free, for area kids.. week long). I was a coach last year but because of work I couldnt commit this year. Had today off, though, so I sent a friend who works on Soccer Nights logistics a text and told her I'd come by to help set up and start the event. Kids are fascinating :)
Then I received the call... John wanted to let me know that we have to be in at 8:30 tomorrow morning. Earlyyyyy.
About to melt
it's a HOT one.
but at least i'm not wearing a navy blue polo today. yesterday was overwhelmingly hot and humid for our afternoon game. birthdays have been going extremely well, and i've picked up helping Leo with merch duties. i usually have a couple hours every afternoon (most days) where i'm not doing anything in particular, so helping with trying to get a handle on merchandising and the store is a good project for me.
lets go with a quick run down before i get out of here to find some AC. friday found me in the A/V room running the music for the night. i'd never done this before, but i was up there with Paul who runs the video board and Mike who is the announcer. They both helped me get through what turned out to be a more-stressful-than-necessary night. Mike in particular kept me from hurling myself out of the window into the seating bowl below. The soundbytes and songs were all organized pretty well- I had no problem with that- but the cues were hard to keep up with, and I couldnt see almost any of the seating area (where our EMCEE often was) and it was a stretch to be able to see home plate. Also, a lot of the clips' names werent very descriptive, so I was nervous about playing something inappropriate for the play or situation. All things considered, nothing went wrong. There was only one time where I played a sound clip over Mike's announcing (woops)... and since then, I've heard other people do that kind of stuff. Bottom line, we're mostly all new to some of these duties... mistakes are inevitable. That's a hard concept for me to swallow though.
After the game, I went out with the front office staff to the Charlie Horse. As soon as the game started to wind down, I realized that my committing to this post-game event was a poor decision. I was entirely ready for my night to be over, per usual, after we had broken down the concourse for the night, but Karissa had said that I could stay at her place that night and part of me figured it would be a good thing to put in some intentional effort towards hanging out with these people- all of whom I like very much for knowing them so little. I was tired enough that I changed in the parking lot by the car we were taking, and when we got to the Charlie Horse I zoned out to enjoy my beer (compliments of Karissa) and watch the Sox game. Eventually, I had a few conversations, but soon got... well, dragged isnt the word for it, i wasnt THAT hesitant... off to the dance floor. That was a great time, and the majority of us danced till the band was done for the night. By the time we got to Karissa's house, it was after 2am. I flopped onto her futon and was out like a light. Of course, I was up by 7am that morning... didnt even take advantage of the rare ability to sleep in before work. We were due at the stadium by 10am, so we lazed around a bit and Karissa made cinnamon rolls.
Saturday and Sunday were both 1-birthday days. Pretty light. I hope you all get to come out to a game this summer and see what we've created. Unfortunately, John and Leo were both scheduled to be out on Sunday for various reasons, which is a hefty blow since John's head of promotions and Leo's merch guy. As I've picked up some of the merch stuff lately, it seemed a natural progression that I would assume responsibility on game day in Leo's absence. It seemed doable, on paper at least... but as Sunday morning rolled on (8am work start time) it became more and more apparent that I was overcommitted for the day. The birthday was largely taken care of, but there were little stressors, such as the fact that I hadnt been successful in connecting with the leader of the party voice to voice. I also hadnt printed a few seat reserve signs out, I hadnt gotten the souvenir gifts that we give out to each party by half an hour before gates opened... just little things that were piled up. And then you throw on top of this the merch duties, which I had never had to take care of and wasnt wholly clear on. I was having a hard enough time printing out the inventory lists for the store and the concourse merch stands as updated ones had been typed out in a program that wasnt compatible with excel and on a computer that wasnt on the network. I hadnt even begun to seriously think about stocking the concourse stands or finding the money bags for each merch station. Even apart from all of this, I had volunteered to run to the store and get a bunch of balloons and party trappings for a season ticket holder's birthday being held in one of the suites (not my department). This intended quick trip ended up taking 45 minutes because Shaws was backed up with balloon and flower orders. When I got back and was working hard on getting one of the networked printers to print, someone came and collected me to go to the pregame meeting where we go over everything happening throughout the day. This meeting bumped right up alongside of the Chapel time, and that was another 30 minutes I wasnt going to have to be getting tasks done but I knew that it would benefit and bless me to devote this time that I suddenly didnt have to God and fellowship with the others.
Chapel (11am... gates at 12) was really pretty good this week. Jean, Dom, Falu, and I were the ones this time around but we talked about Radical Love and I got to let a thing or two off my chest and received some support. The people I work with are my friend group right now- I dont have the physical time to be around my friends here in Boston and Cambridge, so it's been so important that I find a few strong, likeminded people who arent afraid to live their lives in a spirit of radical love. I dont see that practiced on a day to day basis and it's burdening... I enjoy everyone I work with but the harsh comments are wearing. I communicate this, too, but it doesnt make much of a difference. Anyway, Dom talked a little about how he can relate and I felt surprisingly better just hearing from him that he would be around the park if I ever just wanted to chat. He gave me his number, and I think I'll probably track him down towards the end of the week. I dont know him almost at all, but I can tell that he is probably the best person I've come into contact with this summer simply by the way he treats people. He's also the only other person connected to the Rox who I know is really into Jesus- I'm sure some of the other guys are too, but Dom's personality seems to be a bit more outgoing, a bit more forthcoming when it comes to the Bible studies. Enough on that. Oh, he's the starting shortstop for the Rox. Melvin Falu plays the outfield. All in all, chapel was extremely encouraging in the most simple way. But once it was finished with, my immediate responsibilities came back into focus and I was off again, running around and realizing that with only 20 minutes till gates opened, there were far too many things to be accomplished. After having printed the price/inventory lists for the store and the stands, I ran back to the ticket office to snag some tape... and who was outside the door but Leo. AHHHHH, Leo, what was he doing here? But I was so glad in that moment, because I was facing impending failure. Or at least, that's how I felt. He had asked for the day off for his flag football semifinal game, and potential final game as well if they won the first one... and so I assumed that he had lost that first game but knowing a little bit about Leo I was shocked that he decided to come back here instead of taking the rest of the day. I only add these past few sentences to give you an idea of how completely unexpected this appearance was to me. He took over and I breathed for the first time in 3 hours.
Think what you will but I know God took care of my in my circumstance that morning.
The rain came but we didnt end up rolling out the tarp. The game finished, the kids ran the bases, fans got autographs down the third base line on the field, and then we stood at the gates handing out pocket schedules for about 45 minutes while a Christian concert was happening in front of the Rox dugout. I was not a fan.
Finally, eventually, got out of town around 6pm. It was a long, hot, humid day, and I treated myself to a veggie burger at Not Your Average Joe's so that I could watch the end of the Sox game. Jon Lester was awe-inspiring. Complete game on 101 or 102 pitches. Just amazing.
I'm helping at the Vineyard's Soccer Nights soccer clinic tonight. Very psyched! It was so much fun last year. Kids are the best. Already looking forward to getting back at it tomorrow.
but at least i'm not wearing a navy blue polo today. yesterday was overwhelmingly hot and humid for our afternoon game. birthdays have been going extremely well, and i've picked up helping Leo with merch duties. i usually have a couple hours every afternoon (most days) where i'm not doing anything in particular, so helping with trying to get a handle on merchandising and the store is a good project for me.
lets go with a quick run down before i get out of here to find some AC. friday found me in the A/V room running the music for the night. i'd never done this before, but i was up there with Paul who runs the video board and Mike who is the announcer. They both helped me get through what turned out to be a more-stressful-than-necessary night. Mike in particular kept me from hurling myself out of the window into the seating bowl below. The soundbytes and songs were all organized pretty well- I had no problem with that- but the cues were hard to keep up with, and I couldnt see almost any of the seating area (where our EMCEE often was) and it was a stretch to be able to see home plate. Also, a lot of the clips' names werent very descriptive, so I was nervous about playing something inappropriate for the play or situation. All things considered, nothing went wrong. There was only one time where I played a sound clip over Mike's announcing (woops)... and since then, I've heard other people do that kind of stuff. Bottom line, we're mostly all new to some of these duties... mistakes are inevitable. That's a hard concept for me to swallow though.
After the game, I went out with the front office staff to the Charlie Horse. As soon as the game started to wind down, I realized that my committing to this post-game event was a poor decision. I was entirely ready for my night to be over, per usual, after we had broken down the concourse for the night, but Karissa had said that I could stay at her place that night and part of me figured it would be a good thing to put in some intentional effort towards hanging out with these people- all of whom I like very much for knowing them so little. I was tired enough that I changed in the parking lot by the car we were taking, and when we got to the Charlie Horse I zoned out to enjoy my beer (compliments of Karissa) and watch the Sox game. Eventually, I had a few conversations, but soon got... well, dragged isnt the word for it, i wasnt THAT hesitant... off to the dance floor. That was a great time, and the majority of us danced till the band was done for the night. By the time we got to Karissa's house, it was after 2am. I flopped onto her futon and was out like a light. Of course, I was up by 7am that morning... didnt even take advantage of the rare ability to sleep in before work. We were due at the stadium by 10am, so we lazed around a bit and Karissa made cinnamon rolls.
Saturday and Sunday were both 1-birthday days. Pretty light. I hope you all get to come out to a game this summer and see what we've created. Unfortunately, John and Leo were both scheduled to be out on Sunday for various reasons, which is a hefty blow since John's head of promotions and Leo's merch guy. As I've picked up some of the merch stuff lately, it seemed a natural progression that I would assume responsibility on game day in Leo's absence. It seemed doable, on paper at least... but as Sunday morning rolled on (8am work start time) it became more and more apparent that I was overcommitted for the day. The birthday was largely taken care of, but there were little stressors, such as the fact that I hadnt been successful in connecting with the leader of the party voice to voice. I also hadnt printed a few seat reserve signs out, I hadnt gotten the souvenir gifts that we give out to each party by half an hour before gates opened... just little things that were piled up. And then you throw on top of this the merch duties, which I had never had to take care of and wasnt wholly clear on. I was having a hard enough time printing out the inventory lists for the store and the concourse merch stands as updated ones had been typed out in a program that wasnt compatible with excel and on a computer that wasnt on the network. I hadnt even begun to seriously think about stocking the concourse stands or finding the money bags for each merch station. Even apart from all of this, I had volunteered to run to the store and get a bunch of balloons and party trappings for a season ticket holder's birthday being held in one of the suites (not my department). This intended quick trip ended up taking 45 minutes because Shaws was backed up with balloon and flower orders. When I got back and was working hard on getting one of the networked printers to print, someone came and collected me to go to the pregame meeting where we go over everything happening throughout the day. This meeting bumped right up alongside of the Chapel time, and that was another 30 minutes I wasnt going to have to be getting tasks done but I knew that it would benefit and bless me to devote this time that I suddenly didnt have to God and fellowship with the others.
Chapel (11am... gates at 12) was really pretty good this week. Jean, Dom, Falu, and I were the ones this time around but we talked about Radical Love and I got to let a thing or two off my chest and received some support. The people I work with are my friend group right now- I dont have the physical time to be around my friends here in Boston and Cambridge, so it's been so important that I find a few strong, likeminded people who arent afraid to live their lives in a spirit of radical love. I dont see that practiced on a day to day basis and it's burdening... I enjoy everyone I work with but the harsh comments are wearing. I communicate this, too, but it doesnt make much of a difference. Anyway, Dom talked a little about how he can relate and I felt surprisingly better just hearing from him that he would be around the park if I ever just wanted to chat. He gave me his number, and I think I'll probably track him down towards the end of the week. I dont know him almost at all, but I can tell that he is probably the best person I've come into contact with this summer simply by the way he treats people. He's also the only other person connected to the Rox who I know is really into Jesus- I'm sure some of the other guys are too, but Dom's personality seems to be a bit more outgoing, a bit more forthcoming when it comes to the Bible studies. Enough on that. Oh, he's the starting shortstop for the Rox. Melvin Falu plays the outfield. All in all, chapel was extremely encouraging in the most simple way. But once it was finished with, my immediate responsibilities came back into focus and I was off again, running around and realizing that with only 20 minutes till gates opened, there were far too many things to be accomplished. After having printed the price/inventory lists for the store and the stands, I ran back to the ticket office to snag some tape... and who was outside the door but Leo. AHHHHH, Leo, what was he doing here? But I was so glad in that moment, because I was facing impending failure. Or at least, that's how I felt. He had asked for the day off for his flag football semifinal game, and potential final game as well if they won the first one... and so I assumed that he had lost that first game but knowing a little bit about Leo I was shocked that he decided to come back here instead of taking the rest of the day. I only add these past few sentences to give you an idea of how completely unexpected this appearance was to me. He took over and I breathed for the first time in 3 hours.
Think what you will but I know God took care of my in my circumstance that morning.
The rain came but we didnt end up rolling out the tarp. The game finished, the kids ran the bases, fans got autographs down the third base line on the field, and then we stood at the gates handing out pocket schedules for about 45 minutes while a Christian concert was happening in front of the Rox dugout. I was not a fan.
Finally, eventually, got out of town around 6pm. It was a long, hot, humid day, and I treated myself to a veggie burger at Not Your Average Joe's so that I could watch the end of the Sox game. Jon Lester was awe-inspiring. Complete game on 101 or 102 pitches. Just amazing.
I'm helping at the Vineyard's Soccer Nights soccer clinic tonight. Very psyched! It was so much fun last year. Kids are the best. Already looking forward to getting back at it tomorrow.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
prelude to an update
great week, great week. more coming soon... we have tomorrow off, which will be nice after a 6:30am wakeup call today. zzzzzzzz. someone is outside my window at a stoplight blasting spanish music from their car... before 7am on a sunday morning? come onnnnnnn. at least there will be 0 traffic.
silly bandz update, since i have to get in the car soon but i want to stick a picture on here..
silly bandz update, since i have to get in the car soon but i want to stick a picture on here..
angel, half note, guitar, seahorse
it was a beautiful thing last night, walking down the ramp that leads under the stadium after having wrapped the concourse up and thinking a spontaneous thought... i love my job.
it's a good thing, because it's time to go back now! Faith Night this evening (Christian concert after the game... none of the local bands that are best known). It's going to be annoying, all the intern irreverence today, but they dont get Jesus, so at least it's out of ignorance, and not necessarily hate or spite. I'm planning to chat with some of the guys about this at chapel today, see how they handle it with teammates.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
In which Pat turns 23
I've got a new phone.. that's the big news of late. I like my old phone better but it just got ridiculous trying to use it.
No, it's not an iPhone :( that didnt quite fit my budget.
Let's see... Sunday was the last game of the homestand, and I was on scoreboard duty since there were no birthday parties during the game. I was cool as a cucumber (I really just used that phrase) this time around and had absolutely no issues until the bottom of the 8th when a connection came loose and the scoreboard itself went blank. Everything was still there on my console, but the wires kind of drape outside the press box and through a window into a neighboring room so once in a while things become a bit less securely connected than they should be. The board came back on and went off again a few more times but there wasnt anything I could do about it... just keep logging the balls, strikes, outs, runs, etc so that when they were showing up out on the board, they were showing up accurately. Running the scoreboard ... I love it. I dont get to hang out with the others during the game or help with any of the promotions, but I do get to actually sit down and focus on what's going on on the field. The scorekeeper, Alan, is a nice guy and we have no problem conversing for 2 1/2 hours.
After we wrapped things up around the park, we were directed to one of the suites where there was lots of food waiting for us. Generally there are extra hot dogs for us after a game but I gave up on those weeks ago. I dont want my summer to be filled with hot dog consumption. They had a good spread for us, though, and we all sort of crammed in and watched Blue Streak on a tv for a while, zoned out, tired after 7 straight days of working. We're a good group, still all getting along peaceably. I'm thankful for that. We're all pretty different so it could have been a lot different. Something that's currently uniting us is the Silly Bandz fad... to varying degrees, we're almost all of us pretty into them... I think the draw is being able to trade with kids because we have the chance to interact with so many kids each game. Mason and Karissa got this going, I think, because I didnt even know about them two weeks ago. Dan and I got some kids to give us one each, and a whole world of trading opened up :) a new way to relate. Now among ourselves we kind of try to see who can get sweet ones. After Sunday's game, a bunch of us were on the field overseeing an autograph session that was taking place with all of the players. These two little boys walk up to me, and Greg was standing by as well, and I ask which Silly Bandz the older one had. After a minute and without a word, the younger one (4 years old?) takes a small football band off his wrist and hands it to me. Then he removed a green Boston Red Sox "B" and gave it to Greg. (You can imagine how immediately jealous this made me... actually, I hope you cant, it's kind of embarrassing.) The B is the best in my book, the best I've seen so far at least. I got a Pat the Patriot band later that night, by chance, so that one has some real value too even if I dont really care that much about it. Carly brought in several packs for us all and I snagged a Seahorse and a Helicopter.
Yep, I just wrote an exegesis on Silly Bandz. Right.
Monday, Monday, Monday. We split into teams and delivered pocket schedules. It was supposed to be a competition, with the winning team receiving Tuesday off, but of course that's not how it turned out. The team I was on- team Mason Law- won. Of course. I'm a winner :) heh. But considering that we had all just worked 8 days in a row, and have another long homestand coming up starting on Thursday, I figured Tom couldnt possibly only let 4 of us off. Some of us were off today (Team Law plus a couple others) and the rest will be off tomorrow... then it's full force on Thursday for the game. Competition is always fun. I didnt even really need today off to be honest. Nothing much happened... I did chore-ish to-do-ish things. I paid loans, which I'm feeling reallllly good about because I'm about to be completely done with one of them. On top of that, one of the rewards programs that I'm part of through Citibank has racked up enough points for me to put $375 worth towards loans! Awesome! So that feels good... I'll have that check in another month, and by then I will be DONE with that one loan. Woohoo!
Ah, I almost forgot to mention that I decided not to go to church on Sunday. It was a game day, and I'm committed to being at the park this summer... however, it's not more important. It's just very important. Which was why I was pretty excited when I found out that it's ok for me to join the players' chapel time. So that's what I did instead of going to the Vineyard- I joined the guys for a 20 min chapel. We focused on a passage from Genesis and a passage from Matthew. The point that was highlighted was "All that glitters isnt gold". There were 5 other guys there, as well as the one who had come in from an area church to lead. He recognized the Vineyard (I had met him about a week ago and we had chatted in the front office when I was manning the desk) and recalled hearing Pastor Dave speak at Inside Out Soul Fest years ago.
I'm glad to get back to it tomorrow. I'll be working with John 3, John 1, Leo, Max, Alex... I think that's our crew. Should be a fun day, not sure what they'll have for us to do. If we were distributing pocket schedules on Monday then there cant be a whole lot of upkeep type stuff left to finish up for Thursday. I will have some birthday stuff to figure out but most of that is day of game. Maybe we'll get some wiffle ball in. Or I'll get to try out the jousting suits that we use for promotions between innings.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAT! I love you, wish I could be around to celebrate! Next time I see you.
No, it's not an iPhone :( that didnt quite fit my budget.
Let's see... Sunday was the last game of the homestand, and I was on scoreboard duty since there were no birthday parties during the game. I was cool as a cucumber (I really just used that phrase) this time around and had absolutely no issues until the bottom of the 8th when a connection came loose and the scoreboard itself went blank. Everything was still there on my console, but the wires kind of drape outside the press box and through a window into a neighboring room so once in a while things become a bit less securely connected than they should be. The board came back on and went off again a few more times but there wasnt anything I could do about it... just keep logging the balls, strikes, outs, runs, etc so that when they were showing up out on the board, they were showing up accurately. Running the scoreboard ... I love it. I dont get to hang out with the others during the game or help with any of the promotions, but I do get to actually sit down and focus on what's going on on the field. The scorekeeper, Alan, is a nice guy and we have no problem conversing for 2 1/2 hours.
After we wrapped things up around the park, we were directed to one of the suites where there was lots of food waiting for us. Generally there are extra hot dogs for us after a game but I gave up on those weeks ago. I dont want my summer to be filled with hot dog consumption. They had a good spread for us, though, and we all sort of crammed in and watched Blue Streak on a tv for a while, zoned out, tired after 7 straight days of working. We're a good group, still all getting along peaceably. I'm thankful for that. We're all pretty different so it could have been a lot different. Something that's currently uniting us is the Silly Bandz fad... to varying degrees, we're almost all of us pretty into them... I think the draw is being able to trade with kids because we have the chance to interact with so many kids each game. Mason and Karissa got this going, I think, because I didnt even know about them two weeks ago. Dan and I got some kids to give us one each, and a whole world of trading opened up :) a new way to relate. Now among ourselves we kind of try to see who can get sweet ones. After Sunday's game, a bunch of us were on the field overseeing an autograph session that was taking place with all of the players. These two little boys walk up to me, and Greg was standing by as well, and I ask which Silly Bandz the older one had. After a minute and without a word, the younger one (4 years old?) takes a small football band off his wrist and hands it to me. Then he removed a green Boston Red Sox "B" and gave it to Greg. (You can imagine how immediately jealous this made me... actually, I hope you cant, it's kind of embarrassing.) The B is the best in my book, the best I've seen so far at least. I got a Pat the Patriot band later that night, by chance, so that one has some real value too even if I dont really care that much about it. Carly brought in several packs for us all and I snagged a Seahorse and a Helicopter.
Yep, I just wrote an exegesis on Silly Bandz. Right.
Monday, Monday, Monday. We split into teams and delivered pocket schedules. It was supposed to be a competition, with the winning team receiving Tuesday off, but of course that's not how it turned out. The team I was on- team Mason Law- won. Of course. I'm a winner :) heh. But considering that we had all just worked 8 days in a row, and have another long homestand coming up starting on Thursday, I figured Tom couldnt possibly only let 4 of us off. Some of us were off today (Team Law plus a couple others) and the rest will be off tomorrow... then it's full force on Thursday for the game. Competition is always fun. I didnt even really need today off to be honest. Nothing much happened... I did chore-ish to-do-ish things. I paid loans, which I'm feeling reallllly good about because I'm about to be completely done with one of them. On top of that, one of the rewards programs that I'm part of through Citibank has racked up enough points for me to put $375 worth towards loans! Awesome! So that feels good... I'll have that check in another month, and by then I will be DONE with that one loan. Woohoo!
Ah, I almost forgot to mention that I decided not to go to church on Sunday. It was a game day, and I'm committed to being at the park this summer... however, it's not more important. It's just very important. Which was why I was pretty excited when I found out that it's ok for me to join the players' chapel time. So that's what I did instead of going to the Vineyard- I joined the guys for a 20 min chapel. We focused on a passage from Genesis and a passage from Matthew. The point that was highlighted was "All that glitters isnt gold". There were 5 other guys there, as well as the one who had come in from an area church to lead. He recognized the Vineyard (I had met him about a week ago and we had chatted in the front office when I was manning the desk) and recalled hearing Pastor Dave speak at Inside Out Soul Fest years ago.
I'm glad to get back to it tomorrow. I'll be working with John 3, John 1, Leo, Max, Alex... I think that's our crew. Should be a fun day, not sure what they'll have for us to do. If we were distributing pocket schedules on Monday then there cant be a whole lot of upkeep type stuff left to finish up for Thursday. I will have some birthday stuff to figure out but most of that is day of game. Maybe we'll get some wiffle ball in. Or I'll get to try out the jousting suits that we use for promotions between innings.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAT! I love you, wish I could be around to celebrate! Next time I see you.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
There must be something wrong with me
I've always been under the impression that less sleep + more activity = increased exhaustion. Guess that's false because this has been a hugely busy, largely sleepless week and I'm still going per usual.
Tuesday was so long ago in some ways. Well, I remember that it was school day at the park, so tons of schools were there- in fact, it was otherwise closed to the public, save for season ticket holders. Things were uneventful at Guest Services where I was stationed with Dan. When the kids were lining up to leave, we got a whole class to swarm the booth when we started talking Silly Bands. My interest in Silly Bands came into existence about a week ago and is totally about interacting with kids, but I didnt have one yet at that point and it seemed like no one would trade me one in exchange for something else. Finally, a sweet little girl named Leanna slipped a green one off her wrist and flat out gave it to me. It was in the shape of a car. Soon, everyone wanted to trade with me. Dan also somehow got one at that point, and we traded back and forth with the kids for a good 10 minutes. I got a pear and a giraffe, and then another wide-eyed little girl held out her palm and I got suckered into trading my giraffe for her Snow White. Oh well, I didnt really want a princess but like I said, it's just fun trading. The kids get so into it. Now I have a conversation starter with 85% of the kids I come across day to day. Well, the Rox won 14-2. Not bad.
There was more high school baseball after Tuesday's Rox game, as the Rox game was in the morning. It was a spectacular day for once and there was almost nothing for us to be doing at the high school game so we all stood along the concourse and talked for a few hours. Afterwards, a bunch of us went to John's for the Celtics game (eventually)... very chill, nice to hang out in an actual home and watch tv. Well, they (Carly, John, Leo, another John) watched the Celts game, and I actually watched a few different games on my MLB.TV account online. Another short drive to work the next morning! Loved it while it lasted.
Wednesday .. I became the Birthday Girl. I am officially licensed and authoritied to oversee all birthday-related affairs. For much of the day, I touched base with some upcoming birthday party leaders and answered emails/made calls that were a few weeks overdue. It's fun talking to people who are psyched to essentially buy your product. The game that night went smoothly, and I got to man the front desk which was a nice thing considering the pouring rain we got towards the end of the game in particular. They pulled out the win 5-3, and here's something cool- Brian Daubach manages the Colonials, who we played that day (as well as on Tuesday and Thursday). He came into the front office and asked me if I had the fax number for the Can-Am league. I told him no... dot dot dot... but that I'd take care of it for him. He told me in a weathered and decisively approving tone that he liked that answer, and left the duty of faxing to me. Yes sir, Mr Daubach. I didnt even know who he was (only that he was somewhere in the park) but thankfully John H walked in at that moment and identified him. The only reason I care at all is that a co-worker of mine from my last job loves him. We all were making a deal about it among ourselves, as well, because he's sort of a known guy. But really, it just made me think of Bill (old coworker). Anyhow, Daubach came back into the office later on, we exchanged a few words, and that was the extent of it. I proceeded to transfer the calls that came in and monitor every MLB game going on that night. The front office is essentially closed down while games are going on to anyone who doesnt work there, so manning the desk is largely about hanging out on the internet. I provided some fantasy baseball updates to guys who would stop by on their way from one gametime task to another. It was fantastic and simple and air conditioned and dry.
Almost caught up! Thursday was a little tense, or that's how I felt at least. People seemed to be a little bit on edge, a little less easy going and a little quicker to snap. I lost my attitude of focus and positivity a bit myself. But then Tom assigned me to run the scoreboard and things started looking a lot better. I can imagine that running the scoreboard might be either tedious or boring or very difficult for anyone who isnt used to paying attention to every pitch in a game; however, I'm pretty cut out for it. I love scoring games, and this was in many ways one or two steps easier in that I didnt have to make any of the calls as long as I was paying attention. I messed up a couple times- getting used to the controller- but nothing detrimental to the game, and everything fixable. I hadnt been able to really watch a Rox game from start to finish so it was even better in that regard. The most nervewracking parts of the job were 1)the couple times where it was tough to tell if the ump had called a ball or strike- nothing like having the largest bit of the scoreboard, the count, wrong, heaven forbid; and 2)the very knowledge that I was the one telling everyone what was going on. It's one thing for me to score games on my own, and reference my own attention with what's up on the scoreboard- but there WAS nothing to reference by this time. The scorer was slower than I was so while he helped remind me to put up the number of the current batter, he often inputted plays and the count after I did.
Now that I'm doing birthdays during games, I wont be running the scoreboard very often.. but I cant wait to do it again.
The Celtics game was on during the end of the game, and 6 of us went to The 99 afterwards to catch the 2nd half. Poor decision Maggie... the game ended and I got home around 1:30; once there I needed to shower, let my hair dry, and straighten my hair before I could crash and burn at 3am. Getting up was tough and weird (initial wake up was at 6:30... the unrestful dozing until 7:30), and I actually reset my alarm a few times- which I rarely do- but once I got in the car, everything was fine. I'm still not tired from only having gotten 3.5/4 hours of sleep, and that's just strange. Tomorrow, thankfully, we dont have to be there till 11. I will probably get there earlier to take care of preparations for the birthday that's on the docket for tomorrow, but even so I will have the chance to really sleep in a tiny bit. If my body will let me.
Today was such a great time. I was worried that people were going to be in horrendous moods today because of Boston's great loss last night, but it really wasnt that way. I spent most of the day making sure that things were in order for the two birthdays that we had for the night, and I really enjoyed having something very specific to be putting my energy into. To give you a sense of the day-of itinerary:
I did some doublechecking of my google calendar (of all birthdays that have been booked to date) with a binder that Karissa (as ticketing head) keeps and with the Groups spreadsheet on the network, which of course lists all of the different types of groups coming to the park on any given day throughout the season. Just getting things in sync. I got a couple team autographed baseballs (special gift for birthday kid) from Hoffman, snagged Kid Zone tickets (3 for each kid in the party) from Mason, and collected cubes (to hold the baseballs) and mini bats (party gifts to each kid in attendance) from Leo. Leo does merchandising in the Rox shop and often he does it alone, so I packed up and headed over to sit in the then-cool merch store and bang out some emails. Towards the middle of the day, I went to track down the guy who is my point of contact for food coordination, and he sent me out to buy juice boxes and hoodsie cups for the rest of the week's parties. The production of a birthday party takes cooperation with a lot of different people as you can see. I collected John and Leo and we hit Shaws, grabbed some lunch, tried not to melt in the heat. After that, there wasnt too much else to be done. I printed off some signs to tape to each party's seats, and then floated around trying to find other people to help. The game was busy for me through about the 5th inning. After meeting the parties outside of the stadium with their tickets and gifts from the team, I lead them to their seats and left them to play in the Kid Zone/etc. End of first inning- bring food. End of second inning (man the first inning went fast)- bring dessert. Third inning, leave them alone. Top fourth- bring the birthday kids to the concourse in preparation to lead them to the dugout where they'll stand while the crowd sings Happy Birthday and K-O meets with them... mid fourth, emcee leads the kids onto the dugout. Fifth inning- deliver autographed ball to each birthday kid. That's how I did it, at least, and once that was through, there wasnt much else to do on the birthday front. Everything went extremely smoothly. The one hangup was that the hoodsie cups, which were knockoffs, didnt come with spoons. Luckily there were some plastic spoons in the direct vicinity so - disaster averted.
The rest of the game saw me walking around the park, asking anyone I came across if they could use any help. I stumbled upon the promotions crew just as they were looking for someone to take Leo's spot throwing out tshirts between innings, as he had to run off for the moment. I took the job and K-O and I got into trash-"talking" each other (K-O doesnt talk). He thought he could throw a tshirt farther than I could. HAH. Fat chance. Leo came back before we went onto the field and I almost lost my tshirt throwing position, but K-O wanted me out there- it was ON- and so he gave me a shirt, Leo pitched in with a shirt, and I was good to go. I think I proved my point when I got out there. John had told me to aim for the back of the section I'm throwing to, because it wont get there (basically, warning me of the pitfalls of trying to throw something up and into the stands). I absolutely launched the first tshirt to the back row, thankfully not onto the concourse. Then I changed my aim and launched the other shirt I had just as far- I couldnt help putting some oomph into it, after noticing the Rox players in the dugout in front of me checking to see how far my first throw went. I'm an idiot, always trying to prove something. A guy with a media pass saw me a few innings later and asked if I had been hurling tshirts on the field. I said yes, and with an expression that bolstered my pride in that moment said that I had the best arm out there, that he had been watching me launch those shirts. That made my night. I absolutely love being noticed for my physical ability even though the height of those days is certainly past. I can still do some things pretty well and I take pride in that silently (and sometimes not so silently, wiffle ball, haha). There were fireworks after the game, and things wound down efficiently. I came across a plastic dinosaur perched on an out-of-order sink (Carly found it.. I took it). And now here I am, wondering how it's 2am already. Today was a great day- a near-sellout, a win for the home team, lots of laughing and productivity and downtime and no rain.
Let's do it all again in a few hours.
Tuesday was so long ago in some ways. Well, I remember that it was school day at the park, so tons of schools were there- in fact, it was otherwise closed to the public, save for season ticket holders. Things were uneventful at Guest Services where I was stationed with Dan. When the kids were lining up to leave, we got a whole class to swarm the booth when we started talking Silly Bands. My interest in Silly Bands came into existence about a week ago and is totally about interacting with kids, but I didnt have one yet at that point and it seemed like no one would trade me one in exchange for something else. Finally, a sweet little girl named Leanna slipped a green one off her wrist and flat out gave it to me. It was in the shape of a car. Soon, everyone wanted to trade with me. Dan also somehow got one at that point, and we traded back and forth with the kids for a good 10 minutes. I got a pear and a giraffe, and then another wide-eyed little girl held out her palm and I got suckered into trading my giraffe for her Snow White. Oh well, I didnt really want a princess but like I said, it's just fun trading. The kids get so into it. Now I have a conversation starter with 85% of the kids I come across day to day. Well, the Rox won 14-2. Not bad.
There was more high school baseball after Tuesday's Rox game, as the Rox game was in the morning. It was a spectacular day for once and there was almost nothing for us to be doing at the high school game so we all stood along the concourse and talked for a few hours. Afterwards, a bunch of us went to John's for the Celtics game (eventually)... very chill, nice to hang out in an actual home and watch tv. Well, they (Carly, John, Leo, another John) watched the Celts game, and I actually watched a few different games on my MLB.TV account online. Another short drive to work the next morning! Loved it while it lasted.
Wednesday .. I became the Birthday Girl. I am officially licensed and authoritied to oversee all birthday-related affairs. For much of the day, I touched base with some upcoming birthday party leaders and answered emails/made calls that were a few weeks overdue. It's fun talking to people who are psyched to essentially buy your product. The game that night went smoothly, and I got to man the front desk which was a nice thing considering the pouring rain we got towards the end of the game in particular. They pulled out the win 5-3, and here's something cool- Brian Daubach manages the Colonials, who we played that day (as well as on Tuesday and Thursday). He came into the front office and asked me if I had the fax number for the Can-Am league. I told him no... dot dot dot... but that I'd take care of it for him. He told me in a weathered and decisively approving tone that he liked that answer, and left the duty of faxing to me. Yes sir, Mr Daubach. I didnt even know who he was (only that he was somewhere in the park) but thankfully John H walked in at that moment and identified him. The only reason I care at all is that a co-worker of mine from my last job loves him. We all were making a deal about it among ourselves, as well, because he's sort of a known guy. But really, it just made me think of Bill (old coworker). Anyhow, Daubach came back into the office later on, we exchanged a few words, and that was the extent of it. I proceeded to transfer the calls that came in and monitor every MLB game going on that night. The front office is essentially closed down while games are going on to anyone who doesnt work there, so manning the desk is largely about hanging out on the internet. I provided some fantasy baseball updates to guys who would stop by on their way from one gametime task to another. It was fantastic and simple and air conditioned and dry.
Almost caught up! Thursday was a little tense, or that's how I felt at least. People seemed to be a little bit on edge, a little less easy going and a little quicker to snap. I lost my attitude of focus and positivity a bit myself. But then Tom assigned me to run the scoreboard and things started looking a lot better. I can imagine that running the scoreboard might be either tedious or boring or very difficult for anyone who isnt used to paying attention to every pitch in a game; however, I'm pretty cut out for it. I love scoring games, and this was in many ways one or two steps easier in that I didnt have to make any of the calls as long as I was paying attention. I messed up a couple times- getting used to the controller- but nothing detrimental to the game, and everything fixable. I hadnt been able to really watch a Rox game from start to finish so it was even better in that regard. The most nervewracking parts of the job were 1)the couple times where it was tough to tell if the ump had called a ball or strike- nothing like having the largest bit of the scoreboard, the count, wrong, heaven forbid; and 2)the very knowledge that I was the one telling everyone what was going on. It's one thing for me to score games on my own, and reference my own attention with what's up on the scoreboard- but there WAS nothing to reference by this time. The scorer was slower than I was so while he helped remind me to put up the number of the current batter, he often inputted plays and the count after I did.
Now that I'm doing birthdays during games, I wont be running the scoreboard very often.. but I cant wait to do it again.
The Celtics game was on during the end of the game, and 6 of us went to The 99 afterwards to catch the 2nd half. Poor decision Maggie... the game ended and I got home around 1:30; once there I needed to shower, let my hair dry, and straighten my hair before I could crash and burn at 3am. Getting up was tough and weird (initial wake up was at 6:30... the unrestful dozing until 7:30), and I actually reset my alarm a few times- which I rarely do- but once I got in the car, everything was fine. I'm still not tired from only having gotten 3.5/4 hours of sleep, and that's just strange. Tomorrow, thankfully, we dont have to be there till 11. I will probably get there earlier to take care of preparations for the birthday that's on the docket for tomorrow, but even so I will have the chance to really sleep in a tiny bit. If my body will let me.
Today was such a great time. I was worried that people were going to be in horrendous moods today because of Boston's great loss last night, but it really wasnt that way. I spent most of the day making sure that things were in order for the two birthdays that we had for the night, and I really enjoyed having something very specific to be putting my energy into. To give you a sense of the day-of itinerary:
I did some doublechecking of my google calendar (of all birthdays that have been booked to date) with a binder that Karissa (as ticketing head) keeps and with the Groups spreadsheet on the network, which of course lists all of the different types of groups coming to the park on any given day throughout the season. Just getting things in sync. I got a couple team autographed baseballs (special gift for birthday kid) from Hoffman, snagged Kid Zone tickets (3 for each kid in the party) from Mason, and collected cubes (to hold the baseballs) and mini bats (party gifts to each kid in attendance) from Leo. Leo does merchandising in the Rox shop and often he does it alone, so I packed up and headed over to sit in the then-cool merch store and bang out some emails. Towards the middle of the day, I went to track down the guy who is my point of contact for food coordination, and he sent me out to buy juice boxes and hoodsie cups for the rest of the week's parties. The production of a birthday party takes cooperation with a lot of different people as you can see. I collected John and Leo and we hit Shaws, grabbed some lunch, tried not to melt in the heat. After that, there wasnt too much else to be done. I printed off some signs to tape to each party's seats, and then floated around trying to find other people to help. The game was busy for me through about the 5th inning. After meeting the parties outside of the stadium with their tickets and gifts from the team, I lead them to their seats and left them to play in the Kid Zone/etc. End of first inning- bring food. End of second inning (man the first inning went fast)- bring dessert. Third inning, leave them alone. Top fourth- bring the birthday kids to the concourse in preparation to lead them to the dugout where they'll stand while the crowd sings Happy Birthday and K-O meets with them... mid fourth, emcee leads the kids onto the dugout. Fifth inning- deliver autographed ball to each birthday kid. That's how I did it, at least, and once that was through, there wasnt much else to do on the birthday front. Everything went extremely smoothly. The one hangup was that the hoodsie cups, which were knockoffs, didnt come with spoons. Luckily there were some plastic spoons in the direct vicinity so - disaster averted.
The rest of the game saw me walking around the park, asking anyone I came across if they could use any help. I stumbled upon the promotions crew just as they were looking for someone to take Leo's spot throwing out tshirts between innings, as he had to run off for the moment. I took the job and K-O and I got into trash-"talking" each other (K-O doesnt talk). He thought he could throw a tshirt farther than I could. HAH. Fat chance. Leo came back before we went onto the field and I almost lost my tshirt throwing position, but K-O wanted me out there- it was ON- and so he gave me a shirt, Leo pitched in with a shirt, and I was good to go. I think I proved my point when I got out there. John had told me to aim for the back of the section I'm throwing to, because it wont get there (basically, warning me of the pitfalls of trying to throw something up and into the stands). I absolutely launched the first tshirt to the back row, thankfully not onto the concourse. Then I changed my aim and launched the other shirt I had just as far- I couldnt help putting some oomph into it, after noticing the Rox players in the dugout in front of me checking to see how far my first throw went. I'm an idiot, always trying to prove something. A guy with a media pass saw me a few innings later and asked if I had been hurling tshirts on the field. I said yes, and with an expression that bolstered my pride in that moment said that I had the best arm out there, that he had been watching me launch those shirts. That made my night. I absolutely love being noticed for my physical ability even though the height of those days is certainly past. I can still do some things pretty well and I take pride in that silently (and sometimes not so silently, wiffle ball, haha). There were fireworks after the game, and things wound down efficiently. I came across a plastic dinosaur perched on an out-of-order sink (Carly found it.. I took it). And now here I am, wondering how it's 2am already. Today was a great day- a near-sellout, a win for the home team, lots of laughing and productivity and downtime and no rain.
Let's do it all again in a few hours.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
K-O and Pat the Patriot
I dont know, I guess I'm good with 5-7 hours of sleep. I keep getting to bed later than I like, and waking up WAY too early, but aside from having my eyelids start to drag around 11:30pm, i'm not yet experiencing any sort of exhaustion during the day. My job energizes me. Every morning I have 45 min to remind myself why I'm doing this and it really does work- I get to work and am as awake and ready to go as Karissa is (Karissa has an unlimited supply of energy as far as I've seen). I'll save a description of my little in the car routine for another entry... just know that it was inspired by the one, the only Dwight Schrute, who has actually taught me a bit about motivation and determination. Yes, I'm using Dwight as a role model, haha.
This week has been sweet. On Sunday, my day was booked between church, lunch with Julia (best friend from elementary school- we're living about .5 mi from each other right now), and an evening with Kearah and Adam down in Foxboro. Kiip and Adam are moving to VA as Adam will be going for his PhD down thurr... wow huh? Anyhow, if there's something to regret in life, it's not spending every day off I've ever had with those two. They're two of the best people I know. They make ME a better person. I love them as individuals and as a married couple. Plus, they always cook something really good when I come over :) We had pizza, completely from scratch. And I'm excited to have a day off, or even a day when I get home at a normal hour, so I can go down the street and visit J. There's something very reminiscent of childhood in our situation... we were closest in childhood, and now we have the chance to be like neighborhood friends. I'm happy to have someone like her in my life after all these years. We used to do everything together, so many crazy memories.
Monday... back to work! Monday was pretty MONDAY-N. Haha, i just came up with that. I spent the entire day in the ticket office with Karissa helping her from being overwhelmed with everything that was going on. We all cycle in and out of the man-the-front-desk, man-the-ticket-office tasks. I really like Karissa, we get along well and she is one of the great encouragers at the Rox, at least to me.. I dont know. Anyhow, the task is mundane because it's away from all of the other people I generally spend my day with, and it's doing work almost all day, imagine that. We work hard during a typical day, but there's also a lot of down time. But things went fine, I got better at ticket sales, and at the end of the day I drove home to... Bridgewater? Oh sweet, short drive to Bridgewater, how I miss you already. My friend John's parents are on vacation for the week and he made an open invitation for anyone who needed to crash to stay at his place. This offer came at an opportune time as we were all expected to arrive at the park at 7:30am the next morning for the School Day day game. Up until that point, John and I had a pretty sarcastic relationship but I feel like I made my first real friend of the Rox experience that night. I mean I get along well with everyone there, we're a pretty good group. But we're still just work friends for the most part. John is a very self-motivated guy and I'm making the most of what I have in the people around me, using him as my gauge. It might sound silly to be intense about a gig with an unaffiliated minor league team but I WILL want this the most. It'll be a close race but I want to be known as the hardest worker, the reliable one, the go-to. Most of the others that I work with directly (not the front office guys) arent doing this with the same kind of goals in mind but I know what I'm after, I know what this could mean for my future. I do everything I'm assigned to the best of my ability and I know that it'll pay off somewhere down the line. Oh, and there's a piano at John's house, and it's out of the city which is a nice change once in a while. It was great to play piano again. And in the morning, I had a 20 min drive to work. It was magical, haha.
Tuesday to follow.. time to get in the car and drive.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Screenager
Awesome non-baseball day today... church, lunch with Julia, spending time with Kearah and Adam. And out of the ashes of yesterday's bad hair day rises a pretty decent curly hair day. Huh.
www.bttls.com
if i'm going to lose my hearing eventually, it may as well be a direct result of pumping Battles and Muse beats through my ear canal.
I've been given life in abundance, and I'm living life abundantly.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Rain, rain, more rain
I'm so happy every day. I hope that working in baseball long-term gives me this kind of unexplainable daily joy.
Nothing much happened yesterday. I did laundry, went to salvation army, got some groceries, rested. Walked around Cambridge. Tom called in the late afternoon and let me know that I was needed at the ballpark by 10:30am the next day. "Great, wow" I said. This was the latest I'd ever been requested to arrive to work. Then he added.. "One more thing, can I ask you to do me a HUGE favor?" Of course. "Will you be K-O tomorrow?" sure, chuckle; a momentary ugh flitted across my mind but being K-O really doesnt bum me out though it seems like it should. Then the big detail- the appearance was in Mansfield and I needed to be there by 8 or 8:15am. that's south of Foxboro. I have no idea why Tom asked me... out of the 3 of us who were coming in that day (today), I lived farthest away... by a long long long shot. By like 30-45 minutes. I just did a 2.5 hour appearance last Friday, and most normal appearances seem to run 30-60 min. Anyhow, maybe Tom has figured out that I'll do whatever he needs me to do. Or maybe I just happened to be the first person he asked.
So I was up by 6:30am this morning, already half-dressed to get out the door. Within 10 minutes of my alarm going off, I was in the car... trying to leave enough time for traffic/construction, one of which is ALWAYS an issue these days on I-95. This being Saturday, I actually didnt have any trouble. Kind of forgot about the part where I was hitting the highway on an early weekend morning. I met Nick there- Nick works in the front office and was accompanying K-O on this outing, which was a Relay For Life event. He's originally from around Bangor. The event itself was a piece of cake, especially after what I had been through in my other appearance. The tough part was that this one was outdoors, and I had to walk/run/shuffle around a track a few times in that huge gommy suit. I got my workout in for the day before I even got to the stadium. It was a fun time, and Nick got a pic of Pat the Patriot with me as K-O. I havent seen it yet but it's sure to be positively brimming with mascot camaraderie..
After that was done with, Nick offered to let me shower at his place (he lives about a minute away from the school we were at). So important. The film that coats my exposed skin upon exiting the K-O suit is smelly, but beyond that it's actually sticky, not just damp or wet like sweat. It dries and leaves this residue... I wont describe it any further, you get the point. Thank you again, Nick.
I was at Campanelli Stadium by 10. We did some detail-cleaning while we waited for the first high school championship game to start. Rain was an issue but it didnt cause any delays. We werent running the event, just there to be some extra hands if help was needed. I really just made sure that people werent smoking or going into the part of the stadium that was barricaded off. Made for a long day of standing, and I wished even more that I had been able to work yesterday instead or that everyone had been working today. Yes, we'd all be standing around, but we'd have people to stand around with. Ooh, we got free chicken fingers and fries! The fries are great there, and I'm generally not big on that stuff. And the chicken fingers are half of the conversation between all of us during a game... this was my first time trying them and I give em a nod, though they're pretty salty.
The most surreal moment of the day was when I noticed flashing police lights out beyond the bullpen in left field. The cruiser was pulling through this small parking lot between two streets, and the grey SUV in front of it was crawling along at about 10mph- if that. Suddenly, the SUV peels out into the street and starts to make a getaway. I cant imagine who must have been driving. The cop car was seriously right on the SUV's tail... there's no way they were able to shake the cop.
There was a rain delay during the second game, finally, in the top of the 6th. They had us pull tarp, and 20 minutes later, we had to take it off again. I gave up trying to stay dry. You probably know that I hate getting my straight hair wet... as it turns curly at best, frizzy at worst... well, today was destined to be a horrible hair day given wearing the K-O head, showering without conditioner, letting my hair dry and having no straightener, and then being in the rain or drizzle for much of the day. ...but pulling the tarp on and off the field was as much fun as it was the first time I did it. I think that we were all just a little impatient, having stood around for the entire day and then with the whole on again off again tarp situation (it's a production) but the telling part of all this is that when the three of us were told that we could leave early, sometime in the 7th, I didnt really want to go. Yep, it was about 7:30pm and I'd been up and in work mode for at least 12 hours; still, I offered to stay if there was any possibility of them needing more than a few people to close the place up after the game. I hope they (Tom, Karissa, Nick) made it out of there alright... before I got home I hit a nasty storming raining mess.
Everything's good, I'm dry, I've eaten, and I'm off my feet. Hopefully my tarp-pulling sneakers will be dry by Monday. Our little group of 3 get to go in at 11 instead of 10 since we worked an extra long day (with the delay and all) but I cant imagine sitting around the house for that extra hour on Monday... I'll be awake and ready to go no matter what so I may as well go hang out with everyone else.
Here's an interesting aside.. I havent given much thought to the next Red Sox or Paw Sox game I'll be getting to. WHAT CAN THIS MEAN!? I'm sure I wont be away from either for too long but imagine that... something that could so entirely divert my attention. I love taking pride in what I do. I love believing in the "product" I'm endorsing. I love walking around a stadium all day long. etc, etc, etc.
Nothing much happened yesterday. I did laundry, went to salvation army, got some groceries, rested. Walked around Cambridge. Tom called in the late afternoon and let me know that I was needed at the ballpark by 10:30am the next day. "Great, wow" I said. This was the latest I'd ever been requested to arrive to work. Then he added.. "One more thing, can I ask you to do me a HUGE favor?" Of course. "Will you be K-O tomorrow?" sure, chuckle; a momentary ugh flitted across my mind but being K-O really doesnt bum me out though it seems like it should. Then the big detail- the appearance was in Mansfield and I needed to be there by 8 or 8:15am. that's south of Foxboro. I have no idea why Tom asked me... out of the 3 of us who were coming in that day (today), I lived farthest away... by a long long long shot. By like 30-45 minutes. I just did a 2.5 hour appearance last Friday, and most normal appearances seem to run 30-60 min. Anyhow, maybe Tom has figured out that I'll do whatever he needs me to do. Or maybe I just happened to be the first person he asked.
So I was up by 6:30am this morning, already half-dressed to get out the door. Within 10 minutes of my alarm going off, I was in the car... trying to leave enough time for traffic/construction, one of which is ALWAYS an issue these days on I-95. This being Saturday, I actually didnt have any trouble. Kind of forgot about the part where I was hitting the highway on an early weekend morning. I met Nick there- Nick works in the front office and was accompanying K-O on this outing, which was a Relay For Life event. He's originally from around Bangor. The event itself was a piece of cake, especially after what I had been through in my other appearance. The tough part was that this one was outdoors, and I had to walk/run/shuffle around a track a few times in that huge gommy suit. I got my workout in for the day before I even got to the stadium. It was a fun time, and Nick got a pic of Pat the Patriot with me as K-O. I havent seen it yet but it's sure to be positively brimming with mascot camaraderie..
After that was done with, Nick offered to let me shower at his place (he lives about a minute away from the school we were at). So important. The film that coats my exposed skin upon exiting the K-O suit is smelly, but beyond that it's actually sticky, not just damp or wet like sweat. It dries and leaves this residue... I wont describe it any further, you get the point. Thank you again, Nick.
I was at Campanelli Stadium by 10. We did some detail-cleaning while we waited for the first high school championship game to start. Rain was an issue but it didnt cause any delays. We werent running the event, just there to be some extra hands if help was needed. I really just made sure that people werent smoking or going into the part of the stadium that was barricaded off. Made for a long day of standing, and I wished even more that I had been able to work yesterday instead or that everyone had been working today. Yes, we'd all be standing around, but we'd have people to stand around with. Ooh, we got free chicken fingers and fries! The fries are great there, and I'm generally not big on that stuff. And the chicken fingers are half of the conversation between all of us during a game... this was my first time trying them and I give em a nod, though they're pretty salty.
The most surreal moment of the day was when I noticed flashing police lights out beyond the bullpen in left field. The cruiser was pulling through this small parking lot between two streets, and the grey SUV in front of it was crawling along at about 10mph- if that. Suddenly, the SUV peels out into the street and starts to make a getaway. I cant imagine who must have been driving. The cop car was seriously right on the SUV's tail... there's no way they were able to shake the cop.
There was a rain delay during the second game, finally, in the top of the 6th. They had us pull tarp, and 20 minutes later, we had to take it off again. I gave up trying to stay dry. You probably know that I hate getting my straight hair wet... as it turns curly at best, frizzy at worst... well, today was destined to be a horrible hair day given wearing the K-O head, showering without conditioner, letting my hair dry and having no straightener, and then being in the rain or drizzle for much of the day. ...but pulling the tarp on and off the field was as much fun as it was the first time I did it. I think that we were all just a little impatient, having stood around for the entire day and then with the whole on again off again tarp situation (it's a production) but the telling part of all this is that when the three of us were told that we could leave early, sometime in the 7th, I didnt really want to go. Yep, it was about 7:30pm and I'd been up and in work mode for at least 12 hours; still, I offered to stay if there was any possibility of them needing more than a few people to close the place up after the game. I hope they (Tom, Karissa, Nick) made it out of there alright... before I got home I hit a nasty storming raining mess.
Everything's good, I'm dry, I've eaten, and I'm off my feet. Hopefully my tarp-pulling sneakers will be dry by Monday. Our little group of 3 get to go in at 11 instead of 10 since we worked an extra long day (with the delay and all) but I cant imagine sitting around the house for that extra hour on Monday... I'll be awake and ready to go no matter what so I may as well go hang out with everyone else.
Here's an interesting aside.. I havent given much thought to the next Red Sox or Paw Sox game I'll be getting to. WHAT CAN THIS MEAN!? I'm sure I wont be away from either for too long but imagine that... something that could so entirely divert my attention. I love taking pride in what I do. I love believing in the "product" I'm endorsing. I love walking around a stadium all day long. etc, etc, etc.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Achey
Thursday AM: I'm very sore this morning. I love that I get to do physical work, especially outside. I think there's only one other person I'm working with directly who has had a job outside of college- or maybe he hasnt even yet- so even if everyone else is grumbling about the operational tasks we have to do, I'm glad for them. It beats sitting in an office all day. Office work is ok but it's fantastic when that stuff is interspersed with real activity. After being dormant all day long for two+ years, the action I am a part of every day is a welcome change.
Yesterday there was a graduation at the park.. but the day before, we had some serious play time. During down time, we've created several rubber band balls (one is nearing the size of a basketball). The other two 24/25 year olds (Leo and John) and I went to play catch with one under the bleachers, and eventually it got thrown into the area that's fenced off. I'm actually not clear on why it's fenced off because there's nothing under there. Anyhow, I had personally created the rubber band ball that we lost, so I had the guys hoist me over the fence and I ended up finding a bunch of baseballs and tennis balls on the other side, a big bouncy ball, a wiffle ball bat (!!!!!), even some plastic maracas. I climbed the fence and launched myself towards the ground on the other side of the fence and that wasnt the smoothest leap I've made in my life but I survived.
We returned to the ticket office, which is our HQ for all intensive purposes, and stored our new toys away. Then we rounded up the others and went to play. Some went for the kid-sized basketball hoop, but before long I was in the batting cages with a few others who were starting to play wiffle ball. First, I caught for the pitcher, and I when I threw the ball back I'd put a little something on it so that they'd notice. Just showing off a little I guess. When I got to bat, I did alright, but I wasnt necessarily better than anyone else who had been up. Eventually John offered me the ball to take a turn pitching. I gave some weak warning about how I'd give it a try but might be terrible... threw a pitch that was about 4ft high and 2ft outside, and then got down to business throwing sliders that froze my first victim Leo time and again. I was even getting plenty of swings and misses. No matter where the ball started, it always seemed to bend its way back into the strike zone in time to hit the chair behind home plate. John took a try and I struck him out swinging on three pitches to start his at bat. They were calling my "stuff" "filthy". I hardly knew I had stuff to begin with... I only just discovered my slider about a year ago when I played with my friend Victor. I hadnt had many chances, if any, to play for at least 9 months. After about 25 minutes, my arm was tired and Tom had come to put us to work anyhow. But let's just say that I walked out of the cage feeling pretty good about myself.
Friday AM: What a great week. I have today off, and then will work on Saturday and have Sunday off as well. They're hosting a couple championship games at the park today and tomorrow, so we're split-staffing it. My name just happened to not get pulled out of the hat (THANKS A LOT John) and so I dont get a 2-day weekend. For the record, once I learned that a 2-day weekend was a possibility, I was planning to visit you guys in Maine. My friend Leo, great guy that he is, even offered to switch as he has Saturday off- but it's fine, really. I was mostly bent up because the people I'm closest to are all working today.
Yesterday we started the morning by pulling the tarp to get all the water off it. Most people were going barefoot so I joined in, and it was blissful. The grass was sopping in many places, especially in left field, and the water wasnt too cold. Looking behind when the tarp is billowing up into the air will give you quite a sight. Most everyone else I'm working with dont seem to have this genuine love in their hearts for the game and the baseball experience, but pulling tarp on and off the field makes me almost giddy with excitement. Yesterday was my first experience of actually putting on the show of a minor league game and although it's definitely a different thing to be a guest at the ballpark I loved even the most grunt-workish things, like sweeping the stadium afterward. Not as bad as it sounds- there are about 10-15 of us working on it at once so it takes 15-20 minutes. I was actually pretty busy, or at least occupied, for most of the day. We pulled tarp, then rolled up some mats that we had laid down for the graduation ceremony (i liked this part because I had a chance to comically exhibit the near-full extent of my super strength... we have a good time), did some last minute detailing of the concourse, ran a few errands for Karissa who runs the ticket office, helped Leo with merchandise inventory, checked teachers in for teacher appreciation for about 3 hours, and finally when game time came around, manned guest services and pretended that I knew the answers to questions that I was asked. (Sometimes I actually did.) Dan was officially at the guest services post for the night but a lot of us seemed to be more or less jobless so we stood in small packs and chatted. I found out that Leo is a big fan of Mayflower Brewing as well, and has been to the brewery a few times. I guess that the Rox used to serve Mayflower .. last year? But it sounds like that partnership doesnt stand any longer which is such a shame. My favorite. Hmmm... what else... oh, your usual baseball-loving characters were present. We were all worried about the rain that was heading our way- which would mean we'd have to pull the tarp on the field and wait it out for a while. It was cold and wet last night and I must have missed the memo about bringing long sleeves for underneath my Rox polo shirt. WOW was it cold. And damp, drizzling for most of the day. Leo finally got me to slip a hoodie on beneath my polo. I only resisted because I didnt want to get my doubly-overpriced Sox hoodie dirty, or his hoodie which he was offering initially, but we didnt end up having to pull tarp after the game anyhow so that was a nice end to the night for the people who cared that they were missing the Celtics game. After lots of little runner-type tasks were completed, and sweeping was finished, I headed home... but not before being delayed and detoured on 95N, just 2 exits from my home exit.
It was a long night in the car. Think 4 lanes of traffic- even nighttime traffic- squished into one for about 2 or 3 miles, and regulated by a traffic light on the off-highway detour route. Not pretty.
Not much to do today which will be nice. I HOPE to head into Boston and walk around but the weather is looking... undecided... outside my window. Bank, groceries, the usual. Oh, I'm psyched for next week because John is having any of us who want to stay over at his house.. he's only about 20 min from the park so that will be incredible. Sleepovers with fun people are always sweet.
Muse is the soundtrack of life right now.
Yesterday there was a graduation at the park.. but the day before, we had some serious play time. During down time, we've created several rubber band balls (one is nearing the size of a basketball). The other two 24/25 year olds (Leo and John) and I went to play catch with one under the bleachers, and eventually it got thrown into the area that's fenced off. I'm actually not clear on why it's fenced off because there's nothing under there. Anyhow, I had personally created the rubber band ball that we lost, so I had the guys hoist me over the fence and I ended up finding a bunch of baseballs and tennis balls on the other side, a big bouncy ball, a wiffle ball bat (!!!!!), even some plastic maracas. I climbed the fence and launched myself towards the ground on the other side of the fence and that wasnt the smoothest leap I've made in my life but I survived.
We returned to the ticket office, which is our HQ for all intensive purposes, and stored our new toys away. Then we rounded up the others and went to play. Some went for the kid-sized basketball hoop, but before long I was in the batting cages with a few others who were starting to play wiffle ball. First, I caught for the pitcher, and I when I threw the ball back I'd put a little something on it so that they'd notice. Just showing off a little I guess. When I got to bat, I did alright, but I wasnt necessarily better than anyone else who had been up. Eventually John offered me the ball to take a turn pitching. I gave some weak warning about how I'd give it a try but might be terrible... threw a pitch that was about 4ft high and 2ft outside, and then got down to business throwing sliders that froze my first victim Leo time and again. I was even getting plenty of swings and misses. No matter where the ball started, it always seemed to bend its way back into the strike zone in time to hit the chair behind home plate. John took a try and I struck him out swinging on three pitches to start his at bat. They were calling my "stuff" "filthy". I hardly knew I had stuff to begin with... I only just discovered my slider about a year ago when I played with my friend Victor. I hadnt had many chances, if any, to play for at least 9 months. After about 25 minutes, my arm was tired and Tom had come to put us to work anyhow. But let's just say that I walked out of the cage feeling pretty good about myself.
Friday AM: What a great week. I have today off, and then will work on Saturday and have Sunday off as well. They're hosting a couple championship games at the park today and tomorrow, so we're split-staffing it. My name just happened to not get pulled out of the hat (THANKS A LOT John) and so I dont get a 2-day weekend. For the record, once I learned that a 2-day weekend was a possibility, I was planning to visit you guys in Maine. My friend Leo, great guy that he is, even offered to switch as he has Saturday off- but it's fine, really. I was mostly bent up because the people I'm closest to are all working today.
Yesterday we started the morning by pulling the tarp to get all the water off it. Most people were going barefoot so I joined in, and it was blissful. The grass was sopping in many places, especially in left field, and the water wasnt too cold. Looking behind when the tarp is billowing up into the air will give you quite a sight. Most everyone else I'm working with dont seem to have this genuine love in their hearts for the game and the baseball experience, but pulling tarp on and off the field makes me almost giddy with excitement. Yesterday was my first experience of actually putting on the show of a minor league game and although it's definitely a different thing to be a guest at the ballpark I loved even the most grunt-workish things, like sweeping the stadium afterward. Not as bad as it sounds- there are about 10-15 of us working on it at once so it takes 15-20 minutes. I was actually pretty busy, or at least occupied, for most of the day. We pulled tarp, then rolled up some mats that we had laid down for the graduation ceremony (i liked this part because I had a chance to comically exhibit the near-full extent of my super strength... we have a good time), did some last minute detailing of the concourse, ran a few errands for Karissa who runs the ticket office, helped Leo with merchandise inventory, checked teachers in for teacher appreciation for about 3 hours, and finally when game time came around, manned guest services and pretended that I knew the answers to questions that I was asked. (Sometimes I actually did.) Dan was officially at the guest services post for the night but a lot of us seemed to be more or less jobless so we stood in small packs and chatted. I found out that Leo is a big fan of Mayflower Brewing as well, and has been to the brewery a few times. I guess that the Rox used to serve Mayflower .. last year? But it sounds like that partnership doesnt stand any longer which is such a shame. My favorite. Hmmm... what else... oh, your usual baseball-loving characters were present. We were all worried about the rain that was heading our way- which would mean we'd have to pull the tarp on the field and wait it out for a while. It was cold and wet last night and I must have missed the memo about bringing long sleeves for underneath my Rox polo shirt. WOW was it cold. And damp, drizzling for most of the day. Leo finally got me to slip a hoodie on beneath my polo. I only resisted because I didnt want to get my doubly-overpriced Sox hoodie dirty, or his hoodie which he was offering initially, but we didnt end up having to pull tarp after the game anyhow so that was a nice end to the night for the people who cared that they were missing the Celtics game. After lots of little runner-type tasks were completed, and sweeping was finished, I headed home... but not before being delayed and detoured on 95N, just 2 exits from my home exit.
It was a long night in the car. Think 4 lanes of traffic- even nighttime traffic- squished into one for about 2 or 3 miles, and regulated by a traffic light on the off-highway detour route. Not pretty.
Not much to do today which will be nice. I HOPE to head into Boston and walk around but the weather is looking... undecided... outside my window. Bank, groceries, the usual. Oh, I'm psyched for next week because John is having any of us who want to stay over at his house.. he's only about 20 min from the park so that will be incredible. Sleepovers with fun people are always sweet.
Muse is the soundtrack of life right now.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Enjoying Massachusetts
I've been shuffling my life around since I last wrote- I think about posting at the end of most days but am usually too lazy to do so.
Pat and I had a good time in Los Angeles- he got to spend time with his friend Morgan, we went to the Grove, we caught a movie almost every day, took him to Universal City Studios, drove up the PCH, hit a Quakes game (of course!), Nadine treated us to a meal at the country club (she really liked Pat), we went to RealityLA (one last time)... ah, and watched the final episode of LOST before getting in a car to head to the airport. We spent that night at LAX and it was a sleepless one- Return of the King kept us more or less awake. That movie still gets me choked up.
Since it was the last Quakes game I would be going to, I left Pat to meet and talk with some of the pitchers who were sitting in the stands behind home charting the game. One in particular was Tyler Chatwood, and getting to know him was my goal for the night. Manaurys Correa and Matt Shoemaker were the other two, and I spoke with Manaurys quite a bit too. He and Tyler were the two nicest ballplayers I've ever had the chance to really converse with. Poor Pat- I sat with those guys for 5 or 6 innings! Very thankful that they were worth introducing myself to.
So now I'm here- hardly any thanks to Delta. I cant stand that airline. I have twice now arrived at my seat to find a significant amount of cookie crumbs on it. The overall cleanliness is subpar. The second leg of the journey from Salt Lake City to Boston was the most turbulent flight I've ever been on. I was so happy to touch down in Boston, albeit about an hour later than scheduled. I spent that night at my parents' house in Maine, drove up to my grandma's house (saw Joe in Bangor!) and stayed the night in Old Town, got up and drove down to pack my car at my parents' house and then drive a few more hours down to Cambridge to move in to my new room. I'm quite settled in- craigslist does it again- comfy papasan chair and large but room-sized fridge among several pieces of furniture acquired for cheap or free. I started with the Brockton Rox baseball team on June 1, but before that I caught a Red Sox game (vs KC, compliments of Jayne! mwah) and a couple (no, 3) Paw Sox games. That was quite a weekend- a Sunday game after my first service at Vineyard in many months (Michael Bowden started and did exceedingly well), manning a merch table for my friends in The Wrecking before/during a show that they had at McCoy after Monday's game, and then after work on Tuesday as the Paw Sox had a twitter/facebook friends promotion running that made it worthwhile! So far, the Red Sox are 0-1 in games I've attended this year... but the Paw Sox are 2-1! Huh.
The Rox gig has been a good time thus far. I have my eyes on the prize as they say, though I havent been put through the fire yet and wont be until our long homestand that's coming up in a week and a bit. I took my lunch out in the stands on my first day. You can probably imagine how happy this simple detail made me. I've been learning ticketing; I've been working with other interns to promote the team and distribute pocket schedules; and today I was KO, the mascot! They have a hired mascot for games, but everyone pitches in for appearances- today's was at an elementary school in Braintree where there were two reading award assemblies taking place. I'm not sure whether I'll be able to really describe the experience to you or not... suffice it to say that most of what I've heard from others is that being K-O is the least desirable job for a number of legitimate reasons. First off, from experience I can confirm that yes, it does get very hot in that costume. I was in there for about 2.5 hours today, and I may have well been swimming as sweat was pouring off me. Despite that, the heat wasnt overwhelming- I HAVE had heat stroke before, and I have been in other situations where I felt like I just couldnt go on- but this was just very warm. Ok, so besides the heat, it also smells. I wasnt sure what to expect along those lines, because I've heard tales from 4 or 5 other young adults who have paraded around in the costume, and we young people like our drama, our exaggerations :) Well, fair enough, it did smell bad- but having done athletics for my whole life, I quickly registered this smell as the "locker room" smell and moved on. Yes, smelly, but that smell hasnt phased me for many many years. Actually, those were the two big issues that had been talked about at length, and so I was very pleased that neither ended up bothering me much in the end. The tough part was seeing. The little mesh circle for breathing and seeing is not only small (and doesnt allow for peripheral, which made things interesting!) but is actually more situated where my nose and mouth are than where my eyes are, so out of the hundreds of kids I high-fived, fist-bumped and hugged today, I saw maybe a handful of them from the neck up. That was the part that got old, but I made it through and am happy to say that when (if) it's my turn again to be K-O, I wont have a problem making it happen. Nary a grumble will be heard from this mouth. In fact, I've started to think about how I can make it a better experience for me- maybe put some padding between my head and the top of the inside of the costume head so that my eyes are better lined up with the mesh. Anyhow. The most helpful thing was having another person there - my "escort" though I got laughed at by the principal (behind my back!) for calling John that. John is also with the Rox for the summer and when K-O goes out he is always accompanied by an "escort". John was instrumental in that I got him to kind of be my eyes, as I had tunnel vision. He'd tell me where different kids were coming from in the room, or let me know that someone behind me wanted a high-five, and he hopefully would have helped me not to fall on the steps I had to descend and climb from the stage to the cafeteria and back again (I had to do that at each ceremony- so much room for trouble but it went just fine!) Parents took pictures of me with their kids and it was surreal to think that I, as K-O, could end up in some family photo album- or somewhere on facebook!
By the way, if you're wondering what K-O looks like, you can see him on the front page of the Rox website: http://www.brocktonrox.com/
He's a kangaroo which is sweet.
Hmm. I felt like I had so much more to write about, but I guess I dont. I started watching Glee about 2 weeks ago and am all caught up- the season finale is on Tuesday. If you watch an episode you'll understand why I like it... very much up my alley with the whole singing thing. I wish I was good enough to be on that show, it looks like so much fun :)
I'm going to a Bocci BBQ tomorrow ... please no rain!! I'm pretty thrilled. My friend Heather is hosting and I havent really seen her in quite some time. Since I've been back I've had the chance to connect with some of my friends here... unfortunately, most of my close ones are guys and they're all getting married or in pretty serious relationships, so consequently their respective relationships with me are changing. Isnt this the story of my life?
Finally, I was informed by a pretty reliable (or perhaps conniving) source that my parents will be buying iPhones for the family in the near future. .......................
Pat and I had a good time in Los Angeles- he got to spend time with his friend Morgan, we went to the Grove, we caught a movie almost every day, took him to Universal City Studios, drove up the PCH, hit a Quakes game (of course!), Nadine treated us to a meal at the country club (she really liked Pat), we went to RealityLA (one last time)... ah, and watched the final episode of LOST before getting in a car to head to the airport. We spent that night at LAX and it was a sleepless one- Return of the King kept us more or less awake. That movie still gets me choked up.
Since it was the last Quakes game I would be going to, I left Pat to meet and talk with some of the pitchers who were sitting in the stands behind home charting the game. One in particular was Tyler Chatwood, and getting to know him was my goal for the night. Manaurys Correa and Matt Shoemaker were the other two, and I spoke with Manaurys quite a bit too. He and Tyler were the two nicest ballplayers I've ever had the chance to really converse with. Poor Pat- I sat with those guys for 5 or 6 innings! Very thankful that they were worth introducing myself to.
So now I'm here- hardly any thanks to Delta. I cant stand that airline. I have twice now arrived at my seat to find a significant amount of cookie crumbs on it. The overall cleanliness is subpar. The second leg of the journey from Salt Lake City to Boston was the most turbulent flight I've ever been on. I was so happy to touch down in Boston, albeit about an hour later than scheduled. I spent that night at my parents' house in Maine, drove up to my grandma's house (saw Joe in Bangor!) and stayed the night in Old Town, got up and drove down to pack my car at my parents' house and then drive a few more hours down to Cambridge to move in to my new room. I'm quite settled in- craigslist does it again- comfy papasan chair and large but room-sized fridge among several pieces of furniture acquired for cheap or free. I started with the Brockton Rox baseball team on June 1, but before that I caught a Red Sox game (vs KC, compliments of Jayne! mwah) and a couple (no, 3) Paw Sox games. That was quite a weekend- a Sunday game after my first service at Vineyard in many months (Michael Bowden started and did exceedingly well), manning a merch table for my friends in The Wrecking before/during a show that they had at McCoy after Monday's game, and then after work on Tuesday as the Paw Sox had a twitter/facebook friends promotion running that made it worthwhile! So far, the Red Sox are 0-1 in games I've attended this year... but the Paw Sox are 2-1! Huh.
The Rox gig has been a good time thus far. I have my eyes on the prize as they say, though I havent been put through the fire yet and wont be until our long homestand that's coming up in a week and a bit. I took my lunch out in the stands on my first day. You can probably imagine how happy this simple detail made me. I've been learning ticketing; I've been working with other interns to promote the team and distribute pocket schedules; and today I was KO, the mascot! They have a hired mascot for games, but everyone pitches in for appearances- today's was at an elementary school in Braintree where there were two reading award assemblies taking place. I'm not sure whether I'll be able to really describe the experience to you or not... suffice it to say that most of what I've heard from others is that being K-O is the least desirable job for a number of legitimate reasons. First off, from experience I can confirm that yes, it does get very hot in that costume. I was in there for about 2.5 hours today, and I may have well been swimming as sweat was pouring off me. Despite that, the heat wasnt overwhelming- I HAVE had heat stroke before, and I have been in other situations where I felt like I just couldnt go on- but this was just very warm. Ok, so besides the heat, it also smells. I wasnt sure what to expect along those lines, because I've heard tales from 4 or 5 other young adults who have paraded around in the costume, and we young people like our drama, our exaggerations :) Well, fair enough, it did smell bad- but having done athletics for my whole life, I quickly registered this smell as the "locker room" smell and moved on. Yes, smelly, but that smell hasnt phased me for many many years. Actually, those were the two big issues that had been talked about at length, and so I was very pleased that neither ended up bothering me much in the end. The tough part was seeing. The little mesh circle for breathing and seeing is not only small (and doesnt allow for peripheral, which made things interesting!) but is actually more situated where my nose and mouth are than where my eyes are, so out of the hundreds of kids I high-fived, fist-bumped and hugged today, I saw maybe a handful of them from the neck up. That was the part that got old, but I made it through and am happy to say that when (if) it's my turn again to be K-O, I wont have a problem making it happen. Nary a grumble will be heard from this mouth. In fact, I've started to think about how I can make it a better experience for me- maybe put some padding between my head and the top of the inside of the costume head so that my eyes are better lined up with the mesh. Anyhow. The most helpful thing was having another person there - my "escort" though I got laughed at by the principal (behind my back!) for calling John that. John is also with the Rox for the summer and when K-O goes out he is always accompanied by an "escort". John was instrumental in that I got him to kind of be my eyes, as I had tunnel vision. He'd tell me where different kids were coming from in the room, or let me know that someone behind me wanted a high-five, and he hopefully would have helped me not to fall on the steps I had to descend and climb from the stage to the cafeteria and back again (I had to do that at each ceremony- so much room for trouble but it went just fine!) Parents took pictures of me with their kids and it was surreal to think that I, as K-O, could end up in some family photo album- or somewhere on facebook!
By the way, if you're wondering what K-O looks like, you can see him on the front page of the Rox website: http://www.brocktonrox.com/
He's a kangaroo which is sweet.
Hmm. I felt like I had so much more to write about, but I guess I dont. I started watching Glee about 2 weeks ago and am all caught up- the season finale is on Tuesday. If you watch an episode you'll understand why I like it... very much up my alley with the whole singing thing. I wish I was good enough to be on that show, it looks like so much fun :)
I'm going to a Bocci BBQ tomorrow ... please no rain!! I'm pretty thrilled. My friend Heather is hosting and I havent really seen her in quite some time. Since I've been back I've had the chance to connect with some of my friends here... unfortunately, most of my close ones are guys and they're all getting married or in pretty serious relationships, so consequently their respective relationships with me are changing. Isnt this the story of my life?
Finally, I was informed by a pretty reliable (or perhaps conniving) source that my parents will be buying iPhones for the family in the near future. .......................
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