Last night after twisting balloons at Red Robin I was talking with my wife. I got excited at the thought of having nothing on my schedule this Wednesday evening. Then it hit me that this is the last weekday evening until mid August that I will not have an obligation of some sort. So, I shall call tonight my overcommitment celebratory evening. Or, the “I can’t say NO celebration”.
What to do…what to do. I plan on going to the gym. After that I should probably shower and I should fold laundry…but if this is a celebratory evening, how is that celebratory? It should be a last meal sort of night, so maybe a video game?
For those of you who think that I am exaggerating, here is a peek at what I have commited to since the word NO is rarely heard in my vocabulary.
Monday: Church Softball games at 6:00pm followed by a semimandatory trip to the sponsor where libations are forced against my will down my throat. Church softball is funny. Grown church men fight. I have even witnessed twin 45 year old brothers on another church team beat the shit out of each other. Of all the softball leagues I have ever been in, this Catholic Church 16″ softball league is the farthest from God out of all of them.
Tuesday: Gotta pay some bills. Twisting balloons at Red Robin in Algonquin from 6:00 until 8:00pm. This is a doozy. I leave my day job at 4:30, and drive an hour and a half in rush hour every tuesday to twist balloons for many children each night. It’s not the money I make each evening that makes me happy, but the many birthday parties that I get referrals for since each and every table gets a business card.
Wednesday: 12″ softball league with friends. New league this year. I am most excited about this league since this will be the first time I am on a team with some of my closest and best friends. It could be great, or it could suck. Only time will tell. On a side note, I am the starting pitcher for both teams and I am interested to see how badly I pitch in 12″ since the mound is 10 feet farther back vs. the 16″ mound.
Thursday: Billiards from 6:00-1:00am This is a rough one since it usually leads to a hangover for the mandatory 8:00am Friday morning team meeting. I have been playing pool for many many years and will be heading to Las Vegas in less than two weeks to compete in the US National Championships. Hopefully I will do well.
Friday: Gotta pay more bills. I head off on the same drive to Algonquin to twist balloons at Nero’s Pizza. I enjoy Nero’s a bit more than Red Robin since there are fewer children and I get to twist for adults as well. Adding Nero’s to my weekly balloon entertainment lineup has literally doubled the amount of calls I get for private events and is another added step to the promiseland of doing balloons full time and making a decent living while doing it.
Saturday and Sunday has now become injected with anywhere from 2-5 balloon events now. Rarely will a weekend come and go where I don’t have some sort of balloon engagement.
Mix in random church meetings, the occasional Cubs game, and three vacation trips, and you have the making for a ridiculously crazy summer.
I have been fearing this weekfor some time and it is finally arrived. I just have to wonder at what point I crack and say enough. I am really getting excited at the concept of having children. I have heard from many friends that a great benefit to children is having a reason to say that you can’t do something. This will be my Ironman summer. I hope I am up for it. I put the over under at June 19th for when I hit the wall.
Filed under: Church, Cry baby, Cubs, Exercise, Overcommitment, excuse, grouchy, peer pressure, train wreck, work
