Last night my group at work was treated to a night out a Minute Maid Park to see the Astros play. We'd worked out the details long before Roger Clemens announced he was coming back to the Astros and finding out he was going to be pitching his first game this season on the night we were scheduled to go was pretty cool. The stadium was completely sold out and it was standing room only but because we'd planned so far in advanced, we had good seats.
Now since Roger Clemens was pitching they turned out the lights and let the stadium be lit by the flash photography. Ha! (But let me tell you, cameras were flashing all over the place!) We had a company/department camera with our group and I had stressed that I did not want my picture taken because I hate the way I look in photos these days. As a result, there are more individual pictures of me than of anyone else in the group. The one to the left was the least offensive to me. LOL
One of the pictures of me was taken when I was tapped on my shoulder by one of those white tubes you see (posters of Roger Clemens) and I turned around. I saw the camera pointed at me, closed my eyes and said NO. What the camera captured was my eyes closed and my mouth WIDE open, as I looked over my shoulder. Not attractive at all. And if I hadn't suffered a moment of intense annoyance when I saw it, I wouldn't have deleted it and would have even posted it here for your viewing horror. LOL
Anyway, the most exciting thing about the game was the parking experience. I rode with someone from work and my "guest" for the evening met us at the game, having come alone. Now, the person I rode with is like me - not cheap but a single woman with bills to pay so she knew where we could find $5 parking "two blocks" from the stadium. When we got to her parking lot I was afraid to get out of the car the neighborhood was that bad - and it was daylight! (For the record, two blocks to my friend means "two blocks this way and two blocks that way" which means four blocks to me, but I digress.)
So, we realize that my friend is probably parked in a different $5 parking lot and since she's my guest, there is no way I am going to let her walk to her car alone after the game. I tell her we'll take her to her car. Her response was, "Or I can take y'all to yours." Nothing further was said on the matter and we head out of the stadium. We're walking and talking and walking and talking when my cell phone rings (gotta love "vibrate" when they're in your jeans pocket lol). It's a friend from work (actually the woman whose back you see in the picture) - she'd meant to walk my guest to her car but had forgotten. She's at her car and wants to know if her and her husband should wait for us. I said no, we were fine that we were going to take Tamara (my guest) to her car. Tamara stops and says, "I thought y'all were going to take me to my car." Kelly (my ride) says, "I thought we were going to your car."
Apparently we were wandering aimlessly through downtown Houston without a clue as to where we were headed. (Being that I was a passenger regardless, I'd left all decision making up to Kelly and Tamara...maybe not the best decision of the night. lol) I relay to Brenda (the friend from work who is waiting at her car for us) what is going on and change my thought about them waiting...I ask them to please wait for us. Please.
At this point, I have no idea where we are or where we're going and I'm not convinced that Kelly or Tamara know where they are either. The crowd that you walk out of a game with has thinned and it's just the three of us and Kelly's six year old son walking in the middle of no where. We finally find Tamara's car (she had been parked next to Brenda and her husband) and send her home. Brenda took us to Kelly's car and we all left.
Now, I already mentioned that I was not happy with the parking lot in the daylight but thought it could just be my imagination running away with me, right? (because I do, after all, have an active one at that) Come in this morning and Brenda was talking about how scary of an area it was that we parked in, what with all the homeless people hanging out there and all.
But hey, we only had to pay $5, right? LOL
2 comments:
Other than the parking, Mrs. Lincoln...LOL. It would've frightened me too, walking at night in a bad area of town. I probably would've given up tomorrow's lunch $ for closer parking.
Other than that, what a great game that must've been! How exciting that the big group all went--at least it sounds fun. :)
You know, I don't think I've ever gone to a game where I paid less than $10 for parking - and I'm okay with that. I'd actually gotten extra money that day for parking. But, when you're a passenger in a car you really don't have a lot of say in the matter. Had I known, in advance, what the area was like, I would have insisted. Hindsight and all. lol (Thank goodness we had someone take us to the car that night!)
And yes, the game (and the company) was a lot of fun, even though the Astros lost. :-(
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