Thanks, Sen
The Just Play Festival was a'ight. The demo itself was meh. We got there and did our warm-ups in front of this long, low stretch of
empty bleachers since were the first act at 11am. Then we played pick-ups from 11:30 to 3:30. I'm actually glad we got that formality out of the way first. The park filled up as the day went on. The festival reminded me a lot of Taste of Chicago with all the booths and people walking around outside but instead of food people got to try activities. It was so busy and crowded in the afternoon that a good portion of them stumbled on our court right in the middle of play! One mutant actually got like 4 feet into the court by the net and looked around as if lost for like 5 minutes then tripped on one of our lines as she started walking away. The whole time she was completely oblivious to us! I wanted to laugh the hardest but unfortunately I was also the closest to that moving disaster. Then there was this one obnoxious little chubster that camped out near our lines and gave his little color commentary... 2 words...
space
maker
Speaking of space, the spot in the grass they had given to us was slanted and bumpy. We ended up claiming a different space adjacent to one of the bleacher ends. It was an island of relatively decent grass surrounded by asphalt that led to the main show area. We just barely fit the court. The end lines had to be shortened to make everything work. When the other performers did their routines the crowd not quick enough to grab seats on the bleachers would often be on our court so they could see the
real attractions. There were occasions where a few of the spiked bags would roll too close to the performers. One bag stopped right in the way of a BMX biker moments before he he rolled onto the ramp to do a trick.
Despite hitting a few big spikes I mostly played like ass. The wind and all the other annoying factors really prevented me from getting into a proverbial groove. I'd do it again next year if we get invited back. I never walked around to check out the rest of the festival (typical me) but I hope we can get a better spot so that we are not in anyone's way. I'm not as sore as I was expecting to be but my knee still aches a little .
Meh
One of my favorite moments from Sunday was during the drive to Carol Stream when Rob Creel and I came up to a street called 'Schmale'.
"Does that say
she-male?" I ask. We both got a slight chuckle out of it. After we passed it I noted that the street went both ways. Then we were like
