What I Learned At The 3 Day 2011

Welcome to the annual 3 Day recap-Joey style! I have done this post for two years now, while last year’s post was from a walker’s perspective (you can read it here) this year will be a glimpse from a crew member. A blurry, sleepy eyed glimpse but hopefully informative. Enough of the introduction, let’s get to the good stuff!

It’s a good idea to have a least one person that can sew on your team.

One of the things that make The 3 Day so much fun is that you get to wear costumes, but usually those costumes are original and homemade. That means someone putting needle and thread to cloth. Those of us on the Food Service Crew are incredibly spoiled in this department. We have a bunch of great ladies putting together things like chef hats and aprons. But the coup de gras for me is that have my very own seamstress, and Wendy put together a superhero costume for the ages. For opening, it was my job to man the street by the long-term parking garage and wave the walkers in. It was five in morning and I was on a dark street corner and I was totally waiting for crime to happen so I could go fight it. On the downside, there are not too many phone booths around to do the super hero switch. Oh well, one uses what one can. Which leads to:

Being a Superhero is as much fun as I imagined.
Whether it’s a Pink Masked Marvel costume or an Ironman suit, living the life a hero is awesome! Plus, the ladies of The 3 Day have no problem objectifying a man and copping feel of the guns, which of course didn’t bother me a bit.



Don’t get between a walker and her coffee at 5:00 in the AM.
Not much to add here other than the fact if you are the one to have coffee for her in your hand, you get to be a hero even if you aren’t in a suit.

No matter how many times I do The 3 Day, it never fails to change my life.
Closing still gets me. It always happens when we raise our shoe to the survivors. I have written in the past the survivors are the rock stars of weekend, and as the years go by and I meet more people at the events, the more I respect and admire them. I’ll be worried when it doesn’t get to me anymore.


Karaoke isn't just for the talented anymore.

"Don’t sign up for Karaoke unless you can bring it" is what I wrote last year. That hasn't changed but when the gal singing Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart (and REALLY bringing it) is asking for a guy to sing the Rory Dodd "turn around bright eyes" part, I stepped up. Yes I had to Goggle the dude's name, even my vast Useless Knowledge Memory Banks didn't know it and you didn't know either. It was the Glee version and I managed to fumble through it (I have a HUGE post in my head about how that show is killing all the songs from my high school experience). Everybody was really cool saying that I did a good job but what do they know? They just walked 20 miles and are on an Gatorade high. Still, the complements are very much appreciated. Here is a video of my "performance" and if anybody know who the gal is, please let me know.



Sprinklers that are used to water big fields, are really good at their job.
And those pink tents are not good at repelling the water. But, even the pink tent offers some protection, those sleeping on cots the medical tent didn't even have that much. Things started around two o'clock Sunday morning and as the word got out, people were dragging their tents off the field. Tables were overturned and placed on the sprinkler heads. As you can imagine, chaos ensued. I'm reasonably certain I was the only person to sleep through the whole thing. It's not very often you get to hear the benefits of sleep apnea.

Stickers seem to be the only currency that matters for three days.

If you have on a super hero suit, people tend to talk to you. If you have on a super hero suit and are handing out stickers, people crowd around like you are a levitating David Blaine Street Magician. Wait, he's a bit creepy now isn't he? How about crowding around like you are Yoda levitating a X-wing fighter? Too nerdy? Too bad, I'm a nerd and this is my blog.

Just because you are a bus driver, that doesn't mean you know how to drive a bus.<

Buses are big and they don't make signs like they used to. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure they ever made signs that can hold up to a bus.

The Remembrance Tent will affect you.

This year was the first time I went into the Remembrance Tent and saw a picture of someone I knew. In 2009, I went in there with no idea what to expect and it hit me hard. I didn't know a single person in any of the pictures. I didn't know any of the names written on the tent. The sense of love and lose was so heavy and brought home to me why people participate at the 3 Day. In the intervening years, as my circle of friends and family has grown, so has my awareness of cancer. There have been members of my family that have beat it that I didn't know about. I have met and come to love people through The 3 Day that are fighting cancer, some for a second or third time. People who have had lost mothers, daughters, sisters or aunts and people who just want to make a difference. I don't want to see any more pictures added to the Remembrance Tent.