(no subject)

So. RED SOX RALLY OMG. Just to warn you - this entry may or may not make any sense. My brain is still frozen, so it's not coming as easily as I'd like, which may mean that it's not entirely coherent. I can't really tell right now.

Anyway.

I managed to get out yesterday to get my new camera (fifty dollars, erk) and lots of film. I even had the presense of mind to get a camera case. Also, I finally bought the scarf I've been needing, for way too damn much because I had to catch the bus so my option was the nearest store with a half-decent scarf, aka The Gap (erk twice, because I hate shopping at trendy overpriced label stores). Thirty dollars for a scarf, people. That scarf damned better have some magic tricks that I haven't figured out yet. (Yes, the scarf is relevant.)

Anyway. Yesterday, I also arranged to meet shadesareraised, aka Shawna, as we discovered at the last minute on redsox that we were both attending solo. (manderspander could not come with me, as she was told just a couple days ago that she was to be working today. ARGH.) We were doubly pleased to find that we are both serious Bellhorn fans, which meant that we would have company in our squealy fangirl glee.

So Shawna and I met up this morning at around ten and found that we had jumped the gun just a tad; clearly no one else felt the need to arrive four and a half hours early. So we had breakfast and wandered as the weather became increasingly cool and windy. We bought souvenirs at a stand; I got a little something for Amanda so she wouldn't have missed out completely, and a little pennant flag for myself. The vendors, standing in the eternal pool of shade that is Monument Square in the winter, were huddled freezingly in their sweatshirts. I felt sorry for them, so I bought them candy.

Shawna and I took our places at the barricade a good hour or so before the parade was scheduled to begin, at the end of the route since the rally would be held nearby. Traffic continued for a while, because this is Congress Street we're talking about. At one point, a truck containing Yankees fans drove by, and they attempted to heckle us. So we chanted "YEAR TWO THOU-SAND!" at them until the light changed and they drove away. =D

Meanwhile, that increasing chill and wind I mentioned? Yeah. It got colder . . . and colder . . . and colder. And we all stood there . . . and stood there . . . and stood there. And then, a little while after the parade should have already ended, we were informed that it would be another twenty-five or thirty minutes before it even began.

Shawna: "I had a feeling they would be fashionably late."
Me: "Yeah, me too. I didn't think they'd be this fashionable, though."

Cold. Cold past the huddling stage, through the bouncing-up-and-down stage, and right into the, "Hey, it's not that cold" stage. I fortifed myself by remembering an SCA event that I was at a few years ago; it got rained out, and there were mixed signals, and I ended up stuck outside, cold and wet and not knowing when I would be warm again, for seven hours, which took such a physical toll that I just sat down and cried when I got home. Standing around for a couple hours, voluntarily, knowing that I'd likely be inside again in another hour or two? Not so bad. Even on a windy day in mid-December. All the same, I was fervently glad that I had sucked it up and paid for that scarf.

A couple of cars, non-parade-related, drove past. One of them had a dark-skinned man in it. A guy behind me, dryly: "Look, it's Pedro!" Ha.

Then, finally, parade! Admittedly, the word "parade" is stretching it a bit, since it was pretty much a few vehicles featuring the trophy, the players, and a mascot, but it was what we were there to see. I'd long ago gotten my camera out, so I started snapping away. Trophy: *snap**snap* Mascot: *half-hearted snap* Mark Bellhorn, sitting on a fire truck in a lovely black jacket and looking appealingly unshaven: *SNAPSNAPSNAPSNAPSNAPSNAP*

Then we all stampeded to the rally, where we couldn't see anything because we'd chosen the parade over the rally. Happily, there were Jumbotron screens, and Shawna and I were right next to one. We randomly got interviewed by a guy from Channel Thirteen; I don't know if that got on TV, but if it did, that'll be the second time I've gotten on the news for being a Red Sox fan. I took more pictures, of both the very-far-away stage (so we'll see how those come out) and the screen (those too, since I don't know how well an electronic image like that will come out on film).

In addition to Bellhorn, Kevin Youkilis, and Lenny DiNardo, Doug Mirabelli showed up! Each of the guys spoke for a moment. I don't remember much of what the first three said, aside from Youkilis thanking Portland for what they did for him (he used to play for our baseball team, the Sea Dogs, which is the Red Sox's AA affiliate), but Mirabelli was pretty funny.

"Admit it, ladies. You didn't come here to hear Mark talk. You came here to look at him." Which . . . yes. Otherwise, I might actually remember what he said.

Mirabelli then went on to explain that Youk would be around all night (he's doing some clinic thing or something in town tomorrow), and then? He gave out Youk's cell phone number. I'm not even kidding. Youk's phone rang a moment later, and he went back to the mike: "Sorry, I'm not taking any calls right now." It was the best part of the entire rally.

Then the rally ended, and people started leaving, so Shawna and I worked our way up till we were up against the fence, about twenty feet away from the stage. I took, like, a dozen pictures of Bellhorn signing autographs. Because I went there to look at him.

Then we remembered that it was cold (funny how things like freezing half to death slip your mind when there are Red Sox around) and we went to a bar and warmed up until Shawna had to leave for a party.

Then I came home, went back out to pick up dinner, ate, and took a very long, very hot shower that was neither long nor hot enough.

I used two and a half rolls of film, and I hope like hell those pictures turn out; it's weird to use a camera you're not familiar with. I'm going to use up the rest of the third roll on Sunday so I can get them developed Monday, and I'm going to try and get them on a CD too so I can post some of them here.

Which reminds me, I'll be getting my new computer Sunday, and also seeing Blade: Trinity with comme_un_buddha (Betsey), who's been away at college. As if the Red Sox weren't enough to make this the Best Weekend EVER.

*waves Red Sox pennant* Red Sox, you are the only, only, only!!!

(no subject)

HAHAHA my beloved Goofy Shortstops picture is up at Boston Dirt Dogs! Scroll down a bit, you'll see it. I don't know where it's from or why it exists, but it's a picture of Nomar, Princess A-Rod, and Jeter, all trying desperately to look casual. Instead, A-Rod looks like a flamboyant male model, Jeter looks like he's trying for "cheerful" but way overshot and landed on "total dork," and Nomar just looks like some poor guy who get stuck in front of a camera and is trying to make the best of it. I love this picture. I have a copy printed out and everything, and it always makes me giggle.