The BMO Field

march 23 2009
I attended a 3 hour orientation for the BMO Field tonight, for work.  Here are some facts:

– this is the home of the Toronto FC, Canada’s first Major League Soccer (MLS) team
– it’s also the home of Canada’s only Major League Lacrosee (MLL) team, the Toronto Nationals
– games go on rain or shine
– apparently soccer fans are very… intense.  The circles on the map above indicate sanctioned areas for these fans to be intense
– and the 2 circles with the $ signs attached indicate where the pricest seats are
– you cannot bring neither hairspray nor silly string into the BMO
– most food concessions accept only cash, and there are no concession stands anywhere on the north side. But if you’re allergic to peanuts don’t eat anything here
– you’re gonna want to avoid driving here on April 4th and June 6th & 24th because there’s something happening in every single building in the CNE and good luck finding parking
– there are only 4 drinking fountains, located in sections 111 and 114
– the field is fake, it uses FieldTurf
– there is a 95% renewal rate on season’s tickets

First Shift I’ve Ever Requested*

Worked the Britney concert.

march 19 2009 
That’s confetti falling from the rafters.  My thinking is anytime you’re somewhere and it’s raining confetti, it’s a good day out.  That’s the back of one of the two-seater couches directly in front of the stage, surrounding the stage, very VIP, $1200 each.

I was stationed at the sound mixer so not only did I not have to speak or interact, I was able to stand there with an excellent view and watch the show.

At the opposite end of this area was the ultra-VIP zone; 10 folding chairs and an uninterrupted sightline.  And that’s where I saw Larry Rudolph and subsequently got busted staring at Larry, by Larry.  I just want to have a coffee with him, imagine how much I’d learn?  Instead I accidently became that creepy-security-guard-girl.

She had exactly twice as many trucks as ACDC and the audeince was on its feet the entire time losing their minds.  And apparently the tour was very impressed with us security guys; yeah Canada.

* I would also request Bjork, and any symphony.

11k Parkour Run Today

Here’s where we went today.  It took 3 hours to get there and a 45 minute TTC ride to get back to where we started.  Again we went through every kind of terrain, maybe the best was when we crested a hill and happened upon a minuature golf course.  

So we’re in the forest and it’s reallllly muddy and my friend slips and flies down a hill and of course I laugh, and not 30 seconds later the same thing happens to me so I reach out and grab a tree branch to stop myself from falling (it worked) and jam the crap out of my left middle finger; it’s already blue.march 15 2009

As great as some parkour movies are out there, you can’t really appreciate it until you see it in real life.  And the fitness of these guys is retarded… hours in I’m barely jogging along and they’re sprinting and hopping fences in one bound.  But even the little fitness I’ve started to do has paid off, “hey Keri, you’re so much less weezy this time”.  And just to say it, I descended the giant tree with the most grace.

Check out these photos from our end point; the place is AMAZING.  It felt like an entire different world, like we hopped a fence into Myst.