Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Take me out to the ball game.

*comes out from hiding*

Thank you so much to everyone who left me comments about the short story I posted yesterday! I appreciated all the praise, but even more so, I appreciated the constructive criticism. I like to think that no writing is ever truly "finished", and I definitely agree with many of the suggestions given to me on the piece.

I also wanted to point out that I definitely acknowledge the fact that I am still learning - putting writing up online with an attitude of "look how awesome I am, I already know everything about writing" wouldn't be helpful to anyone, and I actually know very little about formal English-degree type writing conventions. Writing is a hobby for me. I have always thrown conventions out the window (which is why essay-writing was always so difficult for me in school) and have just written things exactly the way they play out in my mind. I think that's why so much of what I write comes out in a very stream-of-consciousness type way. I have a definite "style" of writing, but I also have every interest in improving.

So anyway, I may be posting more writing in the future, but this was a little test-run and it wasn't nearly as scary as I thought it was going to be.

Now we're back to "here is what I did with my day" stuff. :)

Yesterday I had to drive over to my dad's office (he works in Seattle, really close to where I live) to pick up the tickets he was giving me to the Mariner's game. I'm not a huge sports fan (or, to rephrase, I loathe most things about most sports) but baseball has one thing that sets it above other sports for me.

I actually understand how it works.

I went to many ball games with my dad when I was younger (granted, I did spend most of these games with my nose buried in a Babysitter's Club book) but somehow I managed to pick up the rules and basic game-playing strategies of baseball. Also, it's pretty easy, compared to football.

So when my dad offered me Tuesday night's unused company seats (7th row, right behind 3rd base) I decided to take him up on his offer. He wasn't at the office when I arrived, but my brother is working there too for the summer, so I ducked in to say hello and experience what it's like to see my 17 year old sibling as a receptionist. It's pretty adorable, actually.

Nick decided to take a lunch break when I got there and we headed over to Wendy's (thus forcing me to put my 'no fast food' kick on pause; the things I do for family) and we had a lovely time catching up. Since I moved out of the house nearly two years ago, I've barely gotten to spend any quality time with my brother. And aside from the petty sibling road-trip type arguments, Nick and I have always gotten along reasonably well. So it was nice, just the two of us, chatting over french fries.

He was telling me his plans for after high school, and I told him a bit about future tour plans for ALL CAPS, and then we started joking that Nick should just skip college and be our booking manager (though I don't think he could get me the 4000+ audiences he promised during our fake interview) and the point of this story is that we were talking a lot louder than I realized, because when we went to throw our trash away on our way out, a guy in his late twenties sitting my himself stopped me and asked, "So what's the name of your band? I need to know who I just ate lunch next to."

Blush, blush, blush. I hope he's not disappointed when he finds us online.


The baseball game last night was loads of fun. Weirdly, coincidentally, and randomly Matthew Lewis was at the game and got to throw the first pitch. We totally did not know this was happening when I got us the tickets, but it was amazing to walk into the stadium, find our seats, and then hear the Harry Potter theme music start playing as Neville Longbottom walks onto the field holding a baseball.

The Harry Potter Exhibition is coming to Seattle in October (also very exciting news), which is why he was here at all. So Ariana, Eia and I had our little fangirl moment (much to the chagrin of the baseball fans sitting around us; one guy was even smacked his forehead and was openly laughing at us). The rest of the game was spent taking pictures with the Mariner Moose, eating pizza, and enjoying the beauty and wonderment that is Dippin' Dots. Perfect evening.

Last google search: "Harry Potter Exhibition"
Chipotle burritos: 16

18 comments:

Jess said...

That's so totally awesome! And what a random coincidence that a time when you go to a baseball game, there's something Harry Potter related. :)

Also, I really hope that random guy at Wendy's finds this blog. It would be really funny.

Rosanna said...

I would die with excitement if I was anywhere in the vicinity of any Harry Potter cast...well actually Rupert Grint was in my town a while back (which is crazy because I live in Ireland), I was pretty damn excited though :)
and I don't have much interest in any sport but I have always thought american football looked kind of exciting. xxx

Deanna said...

I got to see the exhibt when it was in Boston last fall. There was tears of excitement on more 20-something year old girls that I expected. Several of us had to push our way through little kids to throw quaffles, totally worth it. The only down side was not being able to take pictures :(

It's absolutly amazing, though I look forward to reading what you think of it when you see it. :)

Jessamyn said...

I remember going to mariner's games. It's the only sport I can really understand as well, no matter how many times the rest of the tubas in my section tried to explain last year. And while I can't stand to watch baseball on tv, I love going to games, and will always prefer my memories of the mariners games to the white sox. I still have two free shirts from giveaways they did when you walked in, and maybe an old cap from a free giveaway as well. Oh, and you got to see Nevile! Uber jealousy man.

Jessamyn said...

oh, I meant explain football >_<

Victoria said...

That's pretty awesome.Nothing Harry Potter related ever happens re I live, though, so you've now made me really jelous. I hope you're proud of yourself. Grrr!

Anna said...

You could have had a salad at Wendy's--they have a new one called the Apple Pecan Chicken Salad, and I am pretty much obsessed with it...not everything at Wendy's is unhealthy.

Also glad to hear that you appreciated and understood the constructive criticism. I'd be happy to give you feedback if you ever want to send me your stuff (I was the one with the English degree that left a list of notes).

cj. said...

Dippin Dots! When I went to Seattle with my choir we went to a Mariners game and we all bought Dippin Dots. Ha.

Unknown said...

I was at that same game last night. I cannot believe that I didn't realize that Matthew Lewis was there - I am really disappointed now!

On another note, I honestly find your writing style refreshing and enjoyable to read. Usually I don't find people's blogs exciting to read; yet, I am actually captivated by yours. From my point of view, your writing doesn't need to be improved. Obviously, the more you write, the more you will evolve and grow; however, I don't think you need to consiously force your writing to change. It doesn't need it.

Justine said...

I totally would have fangirled too. SOO awesome that Matt was there though! It must be that HarryPotterness follows you everywhere ;)

AccioAdventure said...

Baseball is the only sport I understand. :) And I would have totally fangirled beyond belief. :) haha That's awesome.

Azucena Paloma Garza Garza said...

I totally laughed when I got to the part where the stranger stopped you and asked about your band. xD Embarrassing. But I believe you have gained 1 more fan :)

Matthew Lewis making a surprise appereance -at least for you- it's so awesome. *sigh*, If only someone had convinced him to yell "Dumbledore's Army!!!"...

PatrickWrocks said...

I saw the Harry Potter Exhibition a couple weeks ago in Toronto and it was awesome. I'm excited for you to see it. The only flaw with it was that they didn't have any Hufflepuff merchandise at the store. And I felt a little insulted. Us 'Puffs need love too. They didn't have Ravenclaw either.

I really want to see the Doctor Who Exhibition. My friend went to it and got to meet John Barrowman and there weren't many other people there so they got to talk. I was jealous.

TheGingerHermione said...

I'm going to the HP Exhibit next Tuesday!! :D <3

Unknown said...

oh my gosh. matthew lewis being at a random baseball game is kind of amazing. and when i say kind of, i mean....that's hella amazing!

. said...
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. said...

Poo. You guys are stealing the exhibit. I'm going next week to see it one more time before it's gone. The merchandise store is way overpriced, but totally awesome. There's a 100 something dollar Ron doll, so look out for that. xD

EDIT: Ew sorry, why is my google accounts name a period? Random.

Alex Dahlberry said...

I dont know how you're not totally freaking out about Matt Lewis being there. I'd still be fangirling. Ah.