I have never been one for baseball. I don't understand it, and I get bored trying to watch it. I have done this gig for 2 summers now and only ever seen something happen twice. Working this gig has taught me to appreciate why Americans love it. This is a sport where you can show up halfway through and it's OK. You can chat with your friends, eat, and drink all with out danger of missing something important. Because it never happens ;)
Baseball aside I love stilting there! The crowds are so friendly and the kids love it! The season ticket holders all look forward to seeing me and asking how I'm doing and make me feel so welcome. Last year they all said farewell on the season closer and when our ballpark was struck with a fire they all told me how worried they were that I would not be back. My favorite part about stilt walking is the reactions I get from people which really never gets old.
There's the Toddler Reaction: Usually a child between 18 months and 4 years. They stare at you with and intensity that can only be broken by their parent picking them up and moving them, or food. They are trying to figure out why this is wrong. They can tell something isn't right about you but can't figure out what it is. Approach with caution though, these are the children most likely to scream.
The Young Child Reaction: This is typically a child between 5 and 11. They've picked you out as something strange and fun to play with. They love high fiving you, running between your legs and asking you all manner of questions from "How did you get so tall?" to "How do you drive?". My absolute favorites were "how do you get in bed?" and " What are you?"
The Middle Aged Man Reaction: These men are easy to spot they are usually drinking but don't have to be. Their wives are either not with them (they are with the guys) or they are the quiet sort of wife that laughs or scolds from the sidelines. These are the ones that are most likely to joke about knocking you over. They are rarely serious but best to be on your guard and squash the idea early. They are also lots of fun because they typically get sarcasm and want to joke with you. I would say most of the time these are bad jokes about playing basketball or liking women with long legs, on a good day I get puns :)
The rest of can be simply summed up they are either impressed at your skill or too cool to acknowledge you. I enjoy all the reactions I get and I love guessing what it will be in my head before I interact with a person. I work more than just baseball games if you are wondering. Once I worked at a corporate gig in a museum which was fun, partially because I love museums in general but this one had sentimental significance for me as well! Recently I worked a city festival which was also fun. there were of couse lots of kids but a fun band that gave me shout outs every time I walked by and lots of people running for state office that though I was pretty awesome. I absolutely love that I get to stilt walk it gives me an excuse to meet all types of people. I will write more soon we have a few more gigs coming up this summer!
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