Day 2 (Part 2) - Disjointed Thoughts

My pants are almost falling off. I know it sounds silly and stupid, but these walkie-talkies are about the size, shape and weight of a brick. Add to that my personal blackberry, the work blackberry, and the camera I keep in my pockets, and I'm struggling to keep my pants up. Not to mention that this running around seems to be making my waistline smaller. Now, I don't usually complain about that, but if you see a screen shot of someone flashing the camera, it's not me, I swear. And as a side note, they never tell you how hard it is to go to the bathroom with these things. Yeah, you laugh, but I'd love to see you try to unclip everything and not to drop them in the toilet.

Anyway, as I mentioned earlier, we added 14 fire marshals today. There's one who's very cute. I'll try to focus though...on my job, I mean. And now I see a ring anyway. Too bad. He could have come party with us after work. Oh well. I'll just keep looking around. This is the youngest, most diverse and the most good-looking Convention we've ever had. Plenty of eye candy.

So, I'm standing next to the OH delegation as Kucinich speaks. Not smart. He's so energetic that he's whipping the crowd into a crazed frenzy. I'm getting my freaking eardrums blown out.

And now I'm standing by WI as Gov Doyle speaks. Eesh.

And now by CA as Barbara Boxer speaks. Just my luck. At the rate I'm going, I'll be deaf by midnight.

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Today was a bit of a clusterf***k. Even with the extra security, we had a slew of real problems interrupted by a bunch of ridiculous ones. Someone in the CA delegation called me over to settle a "dispute" between two grown men that went something like this:

CA delegate # 1: "Can you tell him that he's not allowed to save seats?"
CA delegate # 2: "I have people coming."
CA delegate # 1: "But it's first come, first serve."
CA delegate # 2: "Well, I was here first."

I looked at them like they'd just fallen out of the sky. Really, they called me over for THAT? Because I clearly have nothing better to do. I tried not to show how far my jaw was unhinged, and simply responded with, "I'm sorry, it's not my job to resolve your petty disputes. You'll have to figure this out on your own." I'm sorry, how old are we? Five? I turned around with disbelief written on my forehead and saw one of the security guys standing behind me laughing. I just shook my head. Wow.

A little later, our whole region dissolved into chaos. One right after the other, our group had to move a wheelchair delegate from one delegation to another, saw a fight break out and called an EMT. The walkie-talkies blew up as we rushed to put out all the fires. After that, I went back to the office, took out my earpiece and grabbed a box dinner. I deserved to have an uninterrupted 15 minutes to sit down in peace.

And then it was time to hit the floor again. Warner was about to speak. I don't even remember what happened next, but I know that I missed most of his speech. There was some problem in my delegations that I was trying to sort out, but I've since forgotten what it was. In between Warner's and Hillary's speeches, we were supposed to prepare for tomorrow's official vote. Apparently, CNN was filming crowd / floor shots at that time, because Thompson txt'd me with, "I just saw you on cnn! Black suit? Hair tied back. Chewing gum (or at least it looked like that on tv)." Later, I received a txt from a different friend: "Girlfriend, why were u chewing gum on national tv?" Ok ok, I got it. I'm somewhat flattered that CNN zoomed in on me enough that people could tell what I was doing. At least I wasn't blowing bubbles.

Then came the closing speech. The one we'd all been waiting for. I stood with baited breath to hear what Hillary would have to say. When she took the stage, I saw a flicker of disappointment cross her face, and I instinctively understood it -- she had hoped to be speaking here under a different circumstance. But the look was so fleeting that I almost thought I had imagined it. Within a flash, she was recomposed. Her speech was magnificent. She did exactly what the Party needed her to do. And as excited as I am about Obama, I couldn't help but feel a twinge of disappointment that they couldn't both win. I mean, I wouldn't have put them on the same ticket, but HRC is both smart and capable. Part of me wonders when we'll see another serious female contender. Only time will tell. I missed the end of the speech to help a few of my disabled delegates exit the stadium, but I heard it was good.

The rest of the proceedings was uneventful, which was nice considering how the evening had gone. After our nightly debrief, I tried to make plans to find a bar, which I promptly had to cancel. A friend offered me a ticket to a party I had really wanted to get into -- the African American gala. Less than two minutes later, another friend said he could hook us up with one of the most coveted parties this week. My feet felt like they would fall off any second, but I was dying to see the party scene. And I needed a drink. So, we party-hopped. We only stayed at the gala for 20 min, but it was long enough to see Boyz II Men perform. We bounced over to the other party at the Invesco field, which is apparently where the Clintons were. I got there too late to hear both of their mini-speeches, but in time for the top shelf open bar and decadent array of hors d'oerves and desserts. We sat outside in the top of the bleachers to enjoy the view and imagine what Thursday night will look like when Obama speaks there. And to think -- we'll be on the floor because that's where all the delegates will be sitting, and we're supposed to be taking care of all the delegates. I'll be on the middle of the floor of an NFL football field, staring up into the 75,000 spectators in the stands. Just the thought of it makes the adrenaline kick in... which is actually probably why I'm still awake. I'm too excited to sleep. But seeing how it's 4 am and I have to be at work again in less than 6 hours, maybe I should try to get some shut eye...