Sunday Night Stalking

Earlier in the week, Lindsay sent Karen, Megan and I an email, an invitation really, to the 5th Anniversary Party at Halo (gay bar in DC), on Sunday, from 7:30-9. Under normal circumstances, we wouldn't A) go out on a Sunday night but if we did, it wouldn't be B) at a gay bar. But these were not normal circumstances. Through the "Anti-Real World" blogger, there was a 2-1 chance that cast members from the DC Real World would be there. Awesome.

So we ventured out, to Halo, on a Sunday evening, dressed as though it was Saturday night. I had called ahead for the dress code, but figured there would be a bunch of people there, dressed nice, considering it was an anniversary party AND potential Real World stalking. We come into Halo and quickly discover that A) we are overdressed (most were in shorts and flip flops) and B) we were the only women (and probably straight people) in the bar. We made our way to order drinks, trying to ignore the stares we were receiving. Luckily, there was a 2-1 deal on drinks until 9 :)

Shortly after we secured our drinks and table, we saw the camera crew come in. There they were! 3 cast members, and their crew, walked right by us and lingered on the dance floor (steps from our table) for a bit. Needless to say we all immediately texted people who would care to let them know who was there. Unfortunately, the excitement only lasted maybe 5 minutes as the cast made their way to the "VIP Party" upstairs. Foiled again! We had another drink, and made our way out the door. But as we passed the stairs, we noticed it was no longer roped off. Karen asked if we could go upstairs and the bouncer said, "No problem!" So away we went.

And they were there. Hanging out. Awesome. And even better? There were free drinks at the bar. Apparently it was for this "VIP" party, but hell, we were the only straight women in the place, so we were VIP. Ha. So we got our free drinks (Belvedere Vodka, Barefoot Chardonnay) and scooched to the other side of the bar, where the cast and crew were. Oh, and what else was there? Um, how about an appetizer table - Saweet! Free drinks AND free food. We quickly scavenged the table and then just looked around, as if we belonged there.

There were a few photographers taking pictures to document the party. One of the photographers, a young woman, asked to take our picture. Thinking nothing of it, we smiled and carried on. She told us that the picture would be for The Blade (the gay newspaper for DC) Great. We may be plastered on the front page for all we know. But we moved on. Then, it happened. Karen, pieced it together - young photgrapher, camera crew filming HER taking pictures - she was a DC cast member!!! We had our picture taken by a DC cast member! I know it's nothing, nothing at all. These people aren't celebrities - yet - but I was SO excited about it. It made the night totally worth it.

We hung around a little more, and Karen and Lindsay got their picture taken with JD - Real World Brooklyn. He was there promoting the event. We finally decided to roll out around 10:30, probably much to the relief of the regulars there. "What are these straight women doing here anyway??" We walked outside, and then learned that the cast was still there, downstairs. We walked back in to grab another look - and came to the conclusion that the camera crew had figured out that we were there for the cast. Whatever. It was awesome and totally worth it. We plan to work some full-fledge stalking on August 15, if anyone wants to join :)

Karen and I - DC Camera Crew behind us

Erica (DC Cast)

Lindsay, JD (Real World Brooklyn), Karen

Callie (DC Cast) - the sneaky photographer

New Respect

I have a new respect for slow pitch catchers. Yesterday, I played on my friend's team in Manassas because they were short girls. Being a sub, I rotated between outfield, bench and catcher. I have never played catcher in slowpitch, and haven't played catcher since 6th grade. And let me tell you, that position is hard! I mean, I have ALWAYS underestimated this position. First of all, you have to constantly change position behind the batter because I for one was scared to get smakced in the head by the bat. Secondly, that ball takes weird hops when it hits the ground and it's hard to stop all of them. But the third, and worst part of the position - the squatting! Holy Quads Batman. I didn't even play catcher the entire game(s) but MAN are my quads sore! I mean wow. I was having some troubles going down the excalator today. I knew my legs were getting a workout, but I really didn't expect this. So catchers, I commend you. You must have legs of steel.

In regards to playing yesterday, this league by far had the weirdest rules. The team is only required to play 2 girls = SUPER LAME! I mean seriously, do you have no respect for the ability of the women? This rule is RIDICULOUS and just really bugs the crap out of me. It's hard enough dealing with the stupid "girl walk rule" but 2 girls?? I mean, why have any girls at all? I am one girl who HATES walking after the guy does. My Monday night team NEVER lets that happen, even if we are losing. We come to play, not get walked. My Thursday night team, well, I think they only want you to walk if we're losing or the game is close. Still not a fan of that. Honestly, this is Rec league people. It's not our careers. I want to hit. So yesterday, I was almost in the position of having to walk. Being a newbie on the team (and previously striking out) the "coach" urged me to take the walk instead of hit. I, of course, glared in his direction and forcefully put my bat down. He says, "Everyone has to walk. It's not a big deal." well it's a big deal to me! I WANT TO HIT. That's why I have been playing softball for the past 18 years. If I get walked, then fine. But I will NEVER be happy about walking without even getting in the batter's box. Seriously... it's just a game! And you know what happened? I couldn't walk because there was only 1 out. So I got a basehit instead. Yeah.

But the WORST rule in this league... the safety base. "What is that?" you may ask. Yeah, exactly. There is this random temporary base a few feet off of homeplate. So it eliminates any possible collision. How it works is that is a play is coming home, the runner has to tag the safety base before the catcher tags homeplate. This rule is STUPID. It eliminates any close plays and excitement at home. Sure, it eleiminates possible collisions. I understand in a sense because our catcher got clobbered at homeplate and had to have knee surgery. But that doesn't happen often. Most players slide or hold up when there may be contact. It's a completely ridiculous rule... and I got called out on it. If the runner goes to homeplate instead of the safety bag, then the runner is out. So I, who had not been told of this at the beginning of the game, naturally tagged homeplate instead of this stupid safety base and I was called out. I was pissed. The ump later told me that they usually only use the safety bag in the 65+ leagues. Right.