Monday, June 21, 2010

wroad wrap

The Minnesota storms that cut short day two of the Nature Valley Grand Prix, had fatalities.
The day three stage was in downtown Minneapolis. It felt more like an eastern city (a little). Day four was at the University of Wisconsin -Stout, my first foray into that fair state. The final day was in Stillwater, Minnesota. Minnesotans and Wisconsinites were lovely, green people. Not overly diverse, but lovely.
Our team won. I didn't get to see the race from closer than fifty feet, and i got the sense that bike racing may be the worst spectator sport ever. The bikers go by in a flash, so how a fan might follow it all, is a puzzle to me.
My booth moved from day to day, in relation to my neighbors. I made some nice connections, and my booth was the most popular. People just loved that PB. Many came back for multiple visits (because of my roguish charm...and, uh, the PB). I got a little punchy toward the end of the last two days, partly from the heat and partly from being a staff of one with no reprieve. I ate a lot of peanut butter, and not a few Nature Valley granola bars. They're actually better than you remember (not a lot, but a little). When i sealed up the company boxes to be shipped back to NY, i included goodies and memorabilia from the festival (basically a lot of Nature Valley granola bars).
How often people think about sex, is always a popular topic of conversation. Do men think about it more than women? I've never bought that one at face value.
But it may be an interesting insight, to list the women i found time to be attracted to on my trip into the heart of America. If i've forgotten one or two, i hope i'll be forgiven. I mean, i was in the midst of dozens of professional female athletes, so my focus may have......
There was Margarita, the hotel maid i met the first day. We talked, made eyes at each other, then i never saw her the rest of the trip.
There was Kate, who worked the booth that sold our team jerseys. We were neighbors twice and actually got to talk a bit, mostly about the two sides of her personality, bad-ass party girl and silly sweet. On the last day, i gave her a case of PB, she gave me a jersey, and i told her she made me almost wish i was more of a bad-ass.
There was Carly, my neighbor on day three. I could only steal an occasional fleeting moment with her. She was as gentle as a sigh, and it almost felt like she was taken with me, too. I had sex/love/baby fantasies about her. She wasn't at the show on day four, and by the time i looked for her at the end of day five, she was gone.
There was Lisa, who worked the Jelly Belly booth, and somehow got it into her head that my name was Tony. She was so enthusiastic i didn't want to correct her, and eventually told her that Tony was my middle name. She was a bit of a Latin sex kitten, very talkative with men. Even though she was made-up and probably not my type, i maintained a little flirtation with her.
There was Liz. Her booth partner and i spent hours trying to guess her heritage. I finally narrowed it down to South America, but gave up. The attraction was mild, but a pleasant diversion.
There was the quiet Latina flight hostess on my trip back.
And just think...were i gay, might i have had sex with some or all of them?
The winner? Cynthia. A sport photographer who visited my booth twice, the last time on the final day. She was Asian, so very sunshiney, and thin with a shirt full of goodies. I don't know whether she was attracted to me, or whether a crazy wildflower might be her type at all, but if she'd asked me to, i'd have followed her to Menomenie or Mars. I was tempted to call Mary the assistant festival co-ordinator, to see if i might score some Cynthia contact info. I weighed flimsy pretexts against the simple truth. I'm currently letting my professionalism negate those plans, but haven't given up 100%. Mary liked me, and might go out of her way to help me.
Farewell, land of lotsa lakes! You still owe me a gopher.

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