A mercy rule?!? (Day 3)

What exactly are your options when you wake up at four in the morning?

Let me tell you, without a phone or Internet, there aren't many.

Of course I wouldn't be able to sleep more than four or five hours after not having had a good night's rest over numerous days. It just couldn't be that easy could it?

As Carl had foreshadowed during my short ride home, I woke up pretty much in the middle of the night. I tossed and turned for a couple of hours before falling back asleep for several long minutes. Oh the relief of those minutes of sleep. When I woke up again at eight o'clock I figured I wasn't going to have much more luck so I thought I had better start my day.

I wasn't expecting Whitey and Carl to come try and find me until closer to noon than dawn so I decided to have a walk around the area. The woman with whom I found myself staying, Erin, had slipped a note under my door before she left for the day to let me know where there is a grocery store down the street. So I thought that would be a good place to start my morning journey.

I had a slight panic attack before I left the apartment though because she had included the line 'don't forget to lock up' on the note. I thought that she'd told me the night before that the door automatically locked so I was incredibly confused. I tried to figure it out but in the end I just made sure that I wasn't able to get back in and decided that if I couldn't, no one else would be able to.

I was exceptionally hungry and hadn't really realized it until I made my way into the grocery store. I didn't really know what I was doing though so I sought out Kellogg's Corn Flakes. My favourite, whether it be super lame or not. I got some corn flakes and then a carton of chocolate milk. My first Australian purchases. How exciting.

The chocolate milk didn't last long though. I downed that almost before I made it back outside. And so I was ready for exploring.

I walked in one direction, coming up to some very high-end car dealerships, and I found myself wondering if I even deserved to be in this kind of neighbourhood. Within 10 minutes I saw Maseratis, Ferraris and Lamborghinis. I don't think I have ever even seen one dealership of that calibre back at home. I definitely don't belong there.

There wasn't a whole lot of interest to me in that direction. I found a gym and tried to inquire as to how much a temporary membership would be (I was hopeful that they call them gym memberships since season-ticket holders here are also called 'members' and season tickets are 'memberships'), and whether I was speaking the right language or not they told me there was no one in who could speak to me at the moment. So much for that.

I started going back the other direction and almost went back home until I decided to ask some people where there might be a pharmacy. I thought it would be good to know where one might be. My Canadian-Australian dictionary hasn't really been cutting it though since here a pharmacy is called a 'chemist'. Another one for the books I guess.

But I was given directions. I never did find the chemist but I found a neighbourhood full of stores and restaurants and all good things. I stopped at what I believe to be called Boost Juice (not quite the same as at home, not BoostER Juice) and had a smoothie or something similar. I'm sure it would have a different name here too.

I also found another place that had 'gym and swim' memberships which sparked my curiousity. I wandered around the front of the place, went further inside, wandered around the pool and could not find a person who worked there. I tried my best but instead I found a stack of business cards and decided to call later to inquire.

I continued walking and I found a bank and I had the opportunity to ask some questions about getting a bank account. The man and woman who helped me were both very lovely and I made an attempt at starting an account but they needed my passport. I didn't carry it on me so I said I would come back. They gave me a temporary number and an appointment time to come back in an hour. In retrospect, I guess I never made it back there. Another day.

I felt like I was kind of getting things accomplished so I headed back in the direction of the place I am staying at so I could get my passport. I felt good about my surroundings, or at least a little bit better than I had before. I had been walking for almost two hours, just wandering around what really was a very small area but obviously I was taking my time.

When I got back to my place I saw what I thought to be Whitey's car parked on the side of the road. Upon further inspection, which would have been really creepy if it hadn't been his, it was indeed the Bandit-mobile. Whitey's wheels. But no one was in it. I saw Carl's backpack too so I figured they were together.

But together where? The building requires a card swipe to get in, so I figured they couldn't be inside.

First I went to the entrance that Whitey and I had come through when we dropped off my luggage. They weren't there. Then I went back to the building I had walked to the night before when Carl had dropped me off and I didn't know where I was going. Not there either. I sat by the car for a little while thinking that they must be coming back soon. But when I'd had enough waiting I decided to go around to the front of the building to see if they were there. Nope.

Finally I just decided to go back to the car and wait there again and as I turned the corner, they were coming out of the building. As it turns out, they had made it inside and were upstairs trying to find me while I was running around downstairs trying to find them.

It worked out though and after I dropped my box of corn flakes off at the apartment I was on my way to the ball park with them. There was more work to be done and I was there to work. More errands to run and little things to sort out.

I found myself once again heading home only to have a quick shower before the game and I was back at it. I was doing exactly what I came here for, getting sun and getting baseball. Have I mentioned the weather yet? Gorgeous and sunny and amazing. All the time. Sorry Canada, but you need to step it up. Take some pointers.

Prior to the start of the game it had become a known fact that we were short on volunteers for the evening. Particularly, we were short one mascot. Buster the Bandit. The options were slim and to make a long story short, I think you see where I am heading with this.

Cross another one off the bucket list.

I have a newfound respect for team mascots of any sort. If any other costumes are as hot and heavy and difficult to function in, then I'm not sure how there haven't been more mascot-related deaths. I put on the Buster, though there was some difficulty with the head. My head is apparently freakishly tiny and it wouldn't support the weight of the mascot head. Eventually we figured it out but I was still pretty much a bobblehead inside that thing. I could hardly walk, I couldn't see much and hearing was difficult. But I did it and I can say I've done it.

I only had to wear the thing for a total of maybe a half hour and that includes my exaggeration because of how awful I thought it was. I'm not saying I wouldn't do it again. I am just saying I wouldn't want to. But if there's a need and I can fill it...well, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. All I had to do was some pre-game waves and a little dancing (I might have thrown that in on my own) and a few high fives. I lead a tough life.

The game was much better than the first had been. I found myself once again doing the walkup music, with the help of Belinda to run the sound effects during the game. Belinda is the wife of Coshi who is game day announcer for the Bandits. They seemed pretty awesome and hilarious and I got to meet their daughters and also their parents. I love me a good baseball family and I imagine in Australia they aren't too easy to find.

Outside of those in my company, the Bandits won 10-0 against Sydney. Unfortunately the game was stopped in the bottom of the seventh inning because of a mercy rule. What kind of professional league has a mercy rule? I mean, I don't have anything against the ABL so far, but that comes pretty close to being a large negative. Minus one point.

But the game was won by the home team and a good time was had by all. And I got the chance to finally talk to the woman who owns the place in which I have been taking up space with my cluttered luggage and my non-sleeping self. She was wearing a Blue Jays jersey, which immediately made her my favourite person in the entire place, and I learned that she had lived in Toronto for two years up until March of this year. Crazy! She's lived in Toronto for longer than I have. The chatting was short-lived unfortunately though because someone called me away at some point to do something (that was very descriptive I know).

But when the work was done I had my first authentic Australian drink (or three), Bundaberg. The drinks are weird here. It was a mixed drink in a can. Rum and cola in a Bundaberg can which has a polar bear on it. Polar bears in the land of Oz? Gimme a break. But the drink was fine so I can't complain.

While I was in the members' bar with various new coworkers and members of the crowd, having a couple of drinks, some of the players came to join the people who stuck around. It was kind of refreshing to see athletes mingling with the crowd and enjoying themselves. At least on the outside.

I met the Bandits second baseman Brad Dutton, and for my conversation with him I do believe that I will never hear the end of it from Carl or Coshi, but what can you do? I couldn't just stop him in the middle of a sentence and walk away. I had actually officially met him a little earlier in the day when I was running around doing things, but I later learned that he played at a state school in Illinois (I think) and he might have played some ball in Germany as well. His brother Wade also plays for the team, but Brad didn't even know how old his younger brother was so I decided to stop the tough line of questioning there. Instead I think we reverted back to talking about the Bundy I was drinking.

I thought I would definitely be able to get a good night's sleep after that. I don't know why I thought that, except for the fact that I must have temporarily forgotten that cola happens to have caffeine in it, but it wasn't really the drink (or three) that did me in.

Must be this 'jet lag' everyone is talking about.