The Fall Event
Today I attended the rehearsal for the Very Impressive Fall Event with which I am involved/am participating in/requires practice!
I cannot begin to explain how exciting it was. (I'm not the type to use a lot of exclamation points!)
At 11:00 this morning, 16 of my co-workers and I gathered in a parking lot some distance from my home.
We were warmly welcomed by the staff and given special sweatshirts and offered donuts and warm drinks (it's cool here!) and given instructions.
A large crowd was gathered around us (a thousand people? possibly!) and we listened intently to the rules:
Rule number one: never wrap your string around any part of you.
Rule number two: always listen to your pilot.
We received gloves to protect our hands and did some exercises to limber up.
We learned the signals for Going Up, Speed Up, Reel It In and Stop.
And then we took our positions.
My pal KT and I weren't as fast as some other people and ended up with a foot!
A FOOT!
My Very Impressive Fall Event is walking with a balloon in the Thanksgiving Parade!
Yes!
(No, I cannot believe it either!)
I was asked in August and accepted as I thought it was too interesting an offer to pass on. But, now that I've been trained and have walked with a real live house-sized balloon, I cannot even explain how excited I am.
KT and I held on for dear life and had a pilot all to ourselves as our position in the balloon handling turned out to be very important.
It was very hard work!
(In truth, neither of us makes the weight limit for handling a balloon of this size and we were warned that we would be responsible for holding 100 pounds! They were not kidding.)
We laughed and screamed with delight and swung wide with each turn, as we were told.
Our arms were aching with exertion and our faces hurt from smiling so hard.
I don't have any pictures from during the training as I could not possibly let go of my "bone" though we were told that, in the event of a serious problem, we could do just that: just let go of the balloon.
At the end of the practice we were laughing and jumping and congratulating ourselves on a job well done but our work was not over...we had to help with the deflating of the balloon which was nearly as much fun as walking with it.
That's my beloved work-pal, KT, giggling as the balloon deflates around her.
And these?
These are the Balloon Executives chatting with my boss.
At the end of their conversation they asked who was on the foot of the balloon and then congratulated KT and me on our fine work!
I can barely wait until the actual parade.
(I'll be wearing a red jumpsuit!)
I cannot begin to explain how exciting it was. (I'm not the type to use a lot of exclamation points!)
At 11:00 this morning, 16 of my co-workers and I gathered in a parking lot some distance from my home.
We were warmly welcomed by the staff and given special sweatshirts and offered donuts and warm drinks (it's cool here!) and given instructions.
A large crowd was gathered around us (a thousand people? possibly!) and we listened intently to the rules:
Rule number one: never wrap your string around any part of you.
Rule number two: always listen to your pilot.
We received gloves to protect our hands and did some exercises to limber up.
We learned the signals for Going Up, Speed Up, Reel It In and Stop.
And then we took our positions.
My pal KT and I weren't as fast as some other people and ended up with a foot!
A FOOT!
My Very Impressive Fall Event is walking with a balloon in the Thanksgiving Parade!
Yes!
(No, I cannot believe it either!)
I was asked in August and accepted as I thought it was too interesting an offer to pass on. But, now that I've been trained and have walked with a real live house-sized balloon, I cannot even explain how excited I am.
KT and I held on for dear life and had a pilot all to ourselves as our position in the balloon handling turned out to be very important.
It was very hard work!
(In truth, neither of us makes the weight limit for handling a balloon of this size and we were warned that we would be responsible for holding 100 pounds! They were not kidding.)
We laughed and screamed with delight and swung wide with each turn, as we were told.
Our arms were aching with exertion and our faces hurt from smiling so hard.
I don't have any pictures from during the training as I could not possibly let go of my "bone" though we were told that, in the event of a serious problem, we could do just that: just let go of the balloon.
At the end of the practice we were laughing and jumping and congratulating ourselves on a job well done but our work was not over...we had to help with the deflating of the balloon which was nearly as much fun as walking with it.
That's my beloved work-pal, KT, giggling as the balloon deflates around her.
And these?
These are the Balloon Executives chatting with my boss.
At the end of their conversation they asked who was on the foot of the balloon and then congratulated KT and me on our fine work!
I can barely wait until the actual parade.
(I'll be wearing a red jumpsuit!)
Comments
I AM SO EXCITED!
So cool!!!
What a strange and exciting creature you are.
Excited and happy for you, bb. What fun!
xo
ErinH
This is adorable, and I truly wish I could come and see you in person.
It sounds fantastic!!!
I'll be there in spirit.
Kim? I have Tuvalu's weather station on my desktop too ... AND Euro/$ daily exchange ...
Wear heavy boots. They'll help weigh you down. I'll look for you on TV.
What footwear does one team with a red jumpsuit?
Hooray for you and KT and your colleagues at the Job in the Big City. And for your arm muscles.
jbhat