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.
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