Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Fried in First


Last Monday night, my company had their annual Holiday party at their annual random pick of a venue - Dave & Buster's. My reaction to this news was a 1 on the enthusiasm scale, given that I am more of a martini and stilettos kind of girl than a Dave & Buster's kind of girl. Or so I thought...

I was quite the athlete in high school. Not only did I get "best sportsmanship" as my senior year superlative (who wants to get "most beautiful" anyway), I almost wound up playing D1 basketball but gave it up to do the sorority/binge drinking thing. Given that my older brother was more into golf and bowling in high school (sorry Big Fried but you were), my dad placed his hopes for a contact sports child on me, and told me to act more like a tom boy than boy crazy. Clearly I managed to be both, but either way, in my twenties, I am far more tan than agile. So Dave & Buster's wasn't immediately on my "things I am thrilled to do" list.

To my surprise however, upon arrival to the Holiday extravaganza, not only did I forgo the buffet (unheard of especially when mini sliders are on the menu), I pushed passed the herd of small children waiting to get their game credits, and went straight to the basketball shooting game. I did well the first round, better the next, and so on and so on for almost an hour. I beat kid after kid, screaming in their face things like "boo ya" and "yeah WHAT?" I even chest bumped a younger girl I didn't even know when I got my highest score. And the tickets for winning kept coming out. I started a pile of them, disregarding the bruises forming on my knees and ankles from jumping in stilettos (please note this is a standstill hot-shots game, not a live action court situation, no need for jumping).

I felt a sudden surge of energy and level of competitiveness come over me that is strange and inappropriate for a professional woman at her company Holiday shindig, and I knew it was all down hill from here. Throwing my cardigan off and pulling my hair back into a ponytail, I challenged anyone I could to car racing, skeet ball, even the game where you pay tokens to get more tokens. I was sweating, talking far too fast, and somewhere along the way lost my purse. But I didn't care. It was game time.

After an hour of standing at the hand-grabber candy machine (won a Charleston Chew and mini Butterfinger after ten tries - I at least deserved a Snickers), I calmed my heartbeat and stepped away from the flashing lights, sound of coins falling and kids screaming. And I realized...I have a ton of tickets to cash in for a prize!!!

I was making my way over to the store (filled with the kind of useless crap that only myself and a 9 year old would love), when my co-worker and friend Rachel stopped me. She explained that she had some tickets too and that it would be a nice gesture to give our tickets to a child (not sure why she assumes I am an adult), so that they can enjoy a bigger prize. Reluctantly I handed her my tickets in exchange for a glass of wine and watched as she "did the right thing."

I didn't sleep that night. Not only because I knew some kid was running around with an awesome toy that I fully deserved, but also because I felt something inside of me coming alive. I had forgotten how incredibly over-competitive (and sometimes scary), I can be when it comes to games, sports, really anything that involves a chance to win. And it felt great. Don't get me wrong, I love the city-girl side of me, the sushi-eating, french manicured, overly-bronzed woman that I am, but I also love that competitive, never-back-down, gotta get the win girl that I think I had forgotten about...

Sometimes it is in the smallest, most random things, like a Holiday party at Dave & Buster's on a Monday night that make you realize the greatest, most important things about yourself. It doesn't matter what anyone thinks about you, all that matters is what you know about yourself. I know that this fried lady has quite the fire inside of her, and well, I put up a damn good fight.

1 comment:

es.kae.dub. said...

dying. "more tan than agile"...great line. also, for the record, one of my favorite parts of being your friend is that i was already privy to the ridiculous dichotomy that is your personality. xo