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.