Our Booth
I had gone to bed a little late last night so waking up was kind of an issue. Rob picked me up at 7AM and only by miracle, was I ready when he got there. With him in the car was Jena, another member of Forms in Motion. We drove to her place were everyone else was meeting us. We stopped for some DD on the way and mmm that was tasty. Got to the house and everyone slowly started to arrive. We piled in the van and took off for downtown Chicago. We were right in the middle of the morning rush hour so it took us quite a while. I decided to sleep which was great because by the time we got there I was feeling pretty awake.
Team Balzers
We got into the convention center and it looked pretty different from when we left it on Saturday. Everything was fully set up and all the carpets were uncovered. It was pretty crazy. Tons of lights and sounds and things to look at. It wasn't until today that I realized that this whole trade show was based around drill bits and things to do with drilling. Kind of interesting, I guess haha. The vendors certainly did think of creative ways to display their various drill bits lol. We made it over to the Oerlikon booth and had some time to stretch out in the open before people started piling in at ten. I was feeling pretty good after the warm up... no terrible repercussions from Saturday. Our first show was at 11:30 so we waited quite a while up in this eating area that overlooks the entire center. We went over last minute notes and just hung out.
Our Back Stage Area
Our "backstage" area is this tiny little closet behind the main Oerlikon booth. It works, I guess, but there is no area for stretching back there. Luckily they have a conference room that they weren't using so we could go in there and stretch. Then we went and did our first performance. It went pretty well minus some minor issues. It was pretty easy. There weren't many people there but you know, it wasn't bad. I'm not really "performing" because it's basically a gymnastics display. I just do my tricks and style. Even though we were a little early on the first performance and when the guys had me over their heads in a split, waiting for the music to end, I totally turned on my performance charm to get me through that awkward spot haha. Jena said it was hilarious to see happen.
The Ice Booth with Ice Flown in From the Ice Hotel in Switzerland!
After that, we had our next performance at 3PM and then the last one at 4:30PM. We were hoping to get out soon than 4:30 so we could beat the traffic but Rob said he'd try to make that happen tomorrow. We all walked toward the food court area and it wasn't until then that I realized that the trade show was also happening in another building! This thing is crazy huge and I'm kinda confused why. Anyway, I ended up getting a slice of cheese pizza, a medium drink and a side salad for a combo deal of $9.99! Wow, what a great deal (sarcasm). Then we all went back up to the cafe area and chilled. There is free wireless internet here so that is very exciting for my computer and I. Then we did our second performance and that wasn't as good. I did everything ok except when I went to do a back tuck off of Ray's back my feet totally slipped and I just landed on the floor (on my feet). Nothing happened so that kinda sucked. Eh, oh well.
Myra, the Bearded Lady!
After that, Rob, Andy, Ray and I went walking around the convention. We ran into this woman who we had seen early in a big red dress. She was a bearded lady! Well, she was actually a lady but she had a fake beard. She was awesome. I asked her for a picture but she insisted that she tell me about her "bits" first haha. It was so sexually suggested, her whole speech. I liked her a lot. I plan on visiting her tomorrow too =P
Mars Lander | Dragon | Dancers | Airplane
We then walked around the rest of the center. The company was there that built the mars lander and they had a life sized version of it. One company had a metal dragon that breathed vapor. We finally saw some other performers... they were dancing at some booth. It was pretty gay but entertaining to watch. We were some of the only people who clapped when they were done. They were also dancing to a song from Cirque du Soleil's Dralion, which was cheesy. Lots of different things, including a cross section of an airplane from Boeing that we got to sit in. We've been getting a lot of free bags and lanyards though. Oo, free stuff.
Devouring the Pizza!
Third performance was much better. Everything went well except at the end Andy almost hit me coming out of his back tuck. Luckily I just stood as still as a statue and it didn't look like a mistake =P We immediately took off and I slept for a bit. However we also had a bunch of good conversation about random stuff. Every one is really really awesome and they are wonderful to work with. I wish my back was feeling better so I could be totally excited about this trip =P After all of this my back was feeling OK, but not great.
We dropped everyone off and Rob and Jena took me out to dinner at this great restaurant. It was classic Chicago style pizza but it was stuffed with spinach that is grown at the restaurant! Crazy right? It was delicious. Rob, Jena and I had a great time! They are so funny! So after all that driving I came back to my hotel and chilled for the rest of the night. I've been feeling kind of sick so Rob gave me an Airborn to take. The vending machine was out of water so I had to put it in Nestle Iced Tea. Not so tasty... Watched half of The Fifth Element on TV and went to sleep.
------------------
Lichtenstein National Anthem
(Oerlikon Balzers is from there lol)
No comments:
Post a Comment