I've done a lot of strange,
interesting, and unique things in my life. However, I never thought
one of those would be standing on a stage, wearing a bee costume and
trying to spell a word in front of several hundred people.
Before yesterday's sad news about
Phil's death I'd actually been having a rather interesting weekend.
Loraine and I had a great time at the SAIL Chocolate Festival
Saturday. My parents had to come back from Florida for a few days
(for a funeral, sadly), so we got to see them. And as I wrote about
a week or so ago, Friday night I was the judge at the Peter White
Public Library's “Sip & Spell” drunken spelling bee. I
didn't think I'd actually end up as one of the participants, but lo
and behold, it happened.
And I didn't even have a choice in the
matter.
First of all, the spelling bee was a
blast. It was the first time any group had tried something like that
in Marquette, and it it seems like everyone had a lot of fun, even
with the little glitches that come with doing a first time event. I
have no doubt that next year's should be even better. One of the
ways you could advance to the finals of the spelling bee, even if you
flamed out in an early round, was to spend $100 bucks and put on a
bee suit. You then automatically advanced. You could also pay $100
and force someone else to wear the suit. The good news for that
person was that they got to go to the final round. The bad news was
they had to wear the bee suit.
So when we got to a break halfway
through the spelling bee the crowd was informed that someone had made
an anonymous $100 donation, and the library would get that money if I
put on the suit and joined the finals of the spelling bee. Now, as
you may know, I'm usually not one to get dressed up in costumes, but
it was for a good cause and, apparently, I had no choice in the
matter, which is how I ended up wearing a bee suit on a stage with 25
other people trying to spell multi-syllabic words in front of a big
group, all under the glare of a spotlight and with music pounding
from the sound system.
It's too bad I flamed out on the first
word I was given.
Now, in my defense, I hadn't prepared
to spell words in a spelling bee. I hadn't studied a dictionary or a
thesaurus. I didn't remember any rules of grammar. And I hadn't
surreptitiously downloaded a spell check program into my brain.
Nope; I had to stand on a stage in a bee costume and spell a word
that I thought I knew but, as it turned out, had no idea how to
spell.
So, you know, “yay” for me.
I then went back to my pre-ordained
role as judge, although I did keep the bee costume on for effect
(and, just as an aside, those suckers get hot after a while).
Someone eventually walked away the winner, the Library walked away
with a lot of money, and everyone who was there walked away happy.
Before I walked away for the night I was given the chance to walk
away with my bee costume. I thought about it for a second, but
decided against it. I told them to give it to whoever anonymously
paid for me to wear it.
So if you see someone walking around in
a bee costume any time soon, let me know. I have something I'd like
to discuss with them.
8-)
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