Tag: boston

sports

didn’t see that one coming

abby mumford

one of my great loves is sports. playing or watching or coaching. there’s a certain poetry of movement out on the field as the players push their bodies beyond expectation. there’s also a camaraderie of teammates which extends well beyond the turf or grass or dirt or whatever type of field you might be on.

i happen to be fortunate enough to come from a naturally athletic family + i live in a hotbed of champion level professional sports teams (go sox! go pats! go bruins! go celtics!), so this love continues to flourish.

but, if you give out your heart, there’s always the chance it’ll break. unintentionally in this case, but fittingly so as my story starts when the guy in the yankees hat steps up to bat. i pitch the ball right over the plate. he swings and my foot explodes with pain as the ball dribbles a few feet to my left. i happen to have excellent reflexes so the fact i couldn’t get out of the way is a testament to how hard/fast that ball was hit.

two days later, i’m still sporting a golf ball sized lump on my foot/ankle, my ankle is tender causing me to hobble more than glide across the floor like i usually do (ha, right) and, i’m very limited in choice of footwear because most everything wraps right over the bump. (thank goodness for flip flops and a casual dress work environment!) i have to miss both a softball and a lacrosse game, but even in situations where one’s heart is hurt, there is a lesson to be learned.

watch out for yankees fans.

just kidding, sort of, but seriously, i’m grateful it’s nothing truly major because in the last two weeks alone, i’ve seen players go down with pulled hamstrings, torn tendons in the knee, and a ruptured achilles tendon. i can still walk and in case of emergency, run. i’ll just have to hope my absence from any athletic event this week won’t cause my heart too much more trauma, and, in the meantime, focus on the fact that some soreness now reminds me to be grateful for every other day i walk without pain.

feelings

come away with me OR life as a hollywood extra

abby mumford

my first job in boston was working for a catering company and despite the long, grueling hours, it was a great way to get to know a city you’ve just moved to. my next job after that, my first official publishing job, is where i met nancy. nancy is a doer, a planner, a let’s go explore type of gal. i like to think i’m those things — and i can be if needed — but i’d much more comfortable being the tag along kind of girl. the one who just has to say yes. and when nancy is the one doing the asking, it’s very easy to get caught up in her infectious love of the city.

this past saturday, i did something i’ve always wanted to do. i got to be an extra in a movie. a hollywood movie. ever since massachusetts passed a law giving out tax breaks to movies that shoot locally, you can barely turn a corner without running into some set. but i’ve always been the outsider. not saturday night.

the movie is TED starting mark wahlberg and mila kulnis and is directed by seth macfarlane (creator, writer, actor of FAMILY GUY). they needed 2500 extras to film a concert scene with a “grammy winning artist” and they needed the extras to be there from 7pm to 3am. despite the crazy hours, nance was game and so was i.

and, well, since it’s hollywood, i’ll just roll the camera. (uh, it was my cell phone camera, so pardon the shoddiness of the shots. i’m no movie director.)

we arrived at 6:30 (call time was 7pm), signed in, got our raffle ticket/set pass, and settled in behind the caution tape. everyone was casually spread out on blankets and chairs. the low humidity and temperatures of mid 70s put everyone in a grand, hollywood type of mood.

as night fell, the lights went up and i realized exactly why actors look so good all the time. they have lights like this following them around. *note to self, buy one of these and hire someone to carry it around.*

the grammy winning artist? miss norah jones. she’s the teeny one in the green dress with her arm out.

the movie cameras were all on these massive contraptions. (the crane starts at the bottom left of the picture and rises upwards.) roll sound, roll camera, ACTION.

and here are the stand-ins. norah jones’ stand in is right as the blue meets the brown background and dominic, mark wahlberg’s stand-in is one next (ish) to her. and the third guy is the director of photography. ever seen LOVE ACTUALLY? yup, those kind of stand-ins. wait, no, not THOSE kind of stand-ins, but yes, they have people who are of similar look, size, and shape stand on stage while the set crews adjust the lighting and camera angles and whatnot. they are up there for hours, and then the actors arrive and are there for mere minutes. i can see why stand-ins are needed. they help keep the budget semi under control.

and now, mark wahlberg has entered the building. he was HILARIOUS. in this scene, norah says her line “i’m going to rest my chops for a minute, so i’m going to invite up a friend of mine who’s here to sing a song for a special lady in the audience. (or something like that.) and then she has to introduce mark wahlberg’s character, john bennett. except, the first time she said his name, she said, “here’s mark.” and after a brief moment of embarrassed silence, we all burst out laughing. after going through the line again and saying the correct name, mark comes up and says, “thanks, alicia keys.”

after the novelty of the evening began to wear as thin as the hour on the clock, i realized something. maybe it was the surge of sugar from the mountain dew i chugged at midnight or maybe it was the bright lights setting the scene, but there i was right in the middle of the action. so much in the middle of it that i will not be visible at any part during the movie, but that’s not the point. the point is I WAS THERE. i wasn’t on the sidelines anymore.  i was living a (mini) dream because of nancy. that’s the kind of friend she is.

i can’t wait to see what our next adventure entails.

i’ve got my “yes” all prepared.

convos with strangers

conversations with strangers #3

abby mumford

to refresh your memory about why i’m talking with strangers, here’s the deal.

i was beebopping as guster sang song after song. brian was jamming on the bongos. adam was strumming his gee-tar. luke (i think that’s the new guy’s name) was enjoying the crowd. and ryan was wailing when SPLASH. something cold and wet landed my arm. i half turned and saw a guy a near me flinch as well. i semi-smiled to let him know that “eww” i was hit too. apparently my smile didn’t translate in the darkened room.

“it wasn’t me,” the guy said.

i turned fully and smiled bigger. “oh, i know.”

“it’s just beer.”

“as long as that’s all it is.”

we cringed and laughed weakly, as i wiped the last drops off my arm and focused my attention back on the stage.

convos with strangers

conversations with strangers #1

abby mumford

i’ve linked to this site before (which is now defunct, so CLICK HERE to meet the original inventor of conversations with strangers), but i can’t stop thinking about it, so i’ve decided to conduct my own “conversations with strangers” research.

without further ado:

i reached the bus stop and stopped outside of the waiting area to enjoy the scare April sunshine. a woman was already there perusing the posted schedule.

a few seconds later, i saw a movement in my peripheral vision, turned, and found this woman looking at me expectantly. “excuse me,” she said.

i removed my ipod ear bud because a really loud song was on and while i could see her lips moving, i couldn’t hear her over the treble. (i was a little worried because she looks lost and frankly, i’m not the girl to help her. i’m horrible with directions on a good day, but also, this shuttle bus is linked to a big name university. i don’t go there, i just work there and so don’t know the ins and outs of the campus like i should or like it appeared i do considering i’m waiting for the bus.)

“i need to get to radcliff quad,” she said. “is this the right place for the shuttle?”

i smiled because YES, I KNOW THIS. “yup. you’ll need to get on the quad express route.”

“great! thanks!” she said.

she still looked a bit confused and i suppose i could have followed up with some questions about where she was going, but i was afraid it would lead to topics i didn’t have answers for and then i’d feel bad i brought it up in the first place. i guess all i could do was leave one ear bud out in case she had more questions as we waited for the same bus.

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feelings

it starts off small…

abby mumford

with a comment like THIS.

and a reply like THIS.

and before i know it, i’m having a conversation with an agent of awesomesauce and an editor from a big name publisher. both who work with kids books. which is what i happen to write.

sure, the conversation is lighthearted and about things unrelated to books, but this is the thing (all you Twitter naysayers out there): it’s all about networking. and no, that’s not the sole reason i’m on Twitter. i’m on there with the intention of education and sure, for a bit of procrastination. networking just happens to be a happy side effect since the publishing community is so active on Twitter.

and maybe now when my query comes in with the masses of other query letters, it won’t get smushed at the bottom of the electronic pile. maybe it’ll get moved to the top because, hmm, my name is familiar. and maybe when i’m agented and my MSS is being submitted, it too will go to the head of the class instead of being ignored because, hey, i “know” that girl from twitter and i liked what i saw.

let’s take a moment to savor that dream.

you know what though? even if this is just a big game of what if and none of it comes to fruition, for this tiny moment today, i feel important. people (of influence) were talking about me without any original input from me. that’s plain lovely.

score one more for Twitter.