More summer, more baseball (Day 4)

At some point I promise I will stop talking about sleep, or my lack thereof, but it is a really hot topic with me at the moment.

Last night was the worst.

I woke up at about 2:30 in the morning after having gone to bed not more than three hours prior. It didn't seem so bad at first, leaving me a lot of room to get back to sleep, except for the fact that that didn't happen.

I lay awake for a few hours until at about seven when I got another hour of shuteye on the books.

Somewhere along the line I have learned that there's no chance at falling asleep again after the second awakening. But this time I thought I would try and get something productive done. I got up, rummaged through my suitcases and found a pair of running shoes and some running attire.

In the back of my mind I know there must be some fantastic places to run here. It's beautiful and there are bodies of water somewhere around (or so I've been told) and it's perfect running weather before or after it gets too hot out. So presumably there are some running or walking paths and it would be great to find them.

But my destination of choice was of course, the ballpark. The RNA Showgrounds (still don't remember what it stands for...Royal Narcotics Anonymous?) is actually originally some sort of horse track or something. So it's completely round and has a perfect track around the outside of it. It's actually quite impressive that anyone was able to build a relatively normal baseball diamond in the middle of it, but its dual purpose is now to provide me with a place to run.

I ran around the outside of the place first, trying to find a way in and making sure that I wasn't going to get in trouble. I ventured in and made my way close to the field eventually and the only person around was the one-man groundscrew. I can't remember his name but I went up to him and asked if it would be okay if I ran there. I'm not quite sure if he knew who I was or that he'd met me previously, but he didn't seem to mind either way.

During the majority of my run I was trying to figure out how big the track was. I felt like I was running at a decent clip though I know I've slowed down in recent months, but I couldn't get a grasp on how fast I was going. It was taking me about three minutes to do a lap, so I was hoping the entire time that the track was 500 metres. At least 400. Anything worse than that and I'm essentially a turtle. I asked the one-man groundscrew and he didn't know so I was at a standstill on that.

After probably an hour of running I went back home (still weird to call it home) to shower and then turn right back around and go back to RNA (probably stands for Rocketship Neighbourhood Amplifier).

To the ballpark.

There were some tiny chores to be done, but still no major disasters. No one getting entirely too stressed out or anything. I would consider that a success.

I learned that I would be on my own for both sound effects and walkup music that evening. Belinda was going to sit with her daughters during the game instead of being put to work. She did come by and offer a couple times to help out or give me a break though. The Coshis are a class act. Fantastic family.

Actually, I should take time to mention that all of the people who assist the organization that is the Brisbane Bandits are fantastic. The biggest surprise that I've had so far is the fact that they can run a ball club based almost solely on volunteers. I guess I shouldn't be so astonished since I made my way out here from 12,000 kilometres away (give or take) just to be put to work for free. But I love the game and I can use any experience I can get. And an opportunity for more summer and more baseball...well, how could I pass that up?

But with baseball being such a fringe sport in Australia it was just a shocker to me to discover how many people were willing to help. Maybe Toronto has made me a skeptical person. I don't know if we would be able to get the same number of volunteers out even for a Blue Jays game, but perhaps.

The game was a good one, with Yohei Yanagawa (from Kanagawa) and the bullpen tossing the second shutout in a row for the Banditos (that's spanish...you're welcome). I should mention that Alex Maestri got the win last night, with 10 strikeouts in 5 1/3, making his shutout in combination with the 'pen as well. Coming from working for a team on which there were 25 blown saves this past season, I am feeling pretty good about three days of the back end of the Bandits right now. I wouldn't want to jinx anything though, and since Gonzo thinks that pretty much anything good to say about the team is a jinx, I have probably already crossed that line. My bad.

But at the very least, the team would split the home series and be at .500 at the end of the week. IF tomorrow were a writeoff. Which it most certainly is not.

After the game Gonzo gave me a cell phone(no longer incommunicado!), so no longer do people have to just wait outside my place for me and hope I show up. That could be handy.

And Whitey's girlfriend Julie and some friends had been at the game, and Carl, Whitey, Kevin (a guy who was inspecting the field to make sure it was up to snuff for MLB) and I joined them and we went out for a drink afterward. My first Australian beer opportunity and I think I had a Heineken. Ahhh well. There's plenty more time and beer where that came from.

The highlight of the night was probably me trying to use my cell phone. Carl offered to help me out and give me some phone numbers of people I might want or need to talk to, but the phone's settings are such that it guesses the words that you want to type for you. And I have trouble with it. I wasn't able to type in any names with any sort of accuracy but now everyone has a hilarious phone nickname and I just have to remember them.

Carl typed his own name in, making it not nearly as funny as the others but Whitey's name has become 'Wigive' in my phone. Gonzo is 'Hony', Erin is 'Drink', Julie is 'Kleenex', taxi is 'Variety' and there might be some others. But my typing skills are hilarious.

It's pretty similar to the situation with my phone at home that has developed into its own funny language in itself. Often, when I try to type 'lol' I happen to miss the letter O. My phone thinks that means that I wanted to type the word 'llamas'. So now when things are funny I pretty much just send a message that says 'llamas'. It sounds funnier out loud than when I type it and read it here. You're going to have to trust me on that one.

I am easily amused.