Who knew a rainbow could make you think so much?

Friday night I went to the baseball game. Now I will admit that I didn't watch much baseball, I spent most of the night catching up with old friends and walking around. It was nice because I haven't seen some of these people since last October. While I was walking around there was a rainbow behind the stadium. It was a complete rainbow, all the colors and you could see both ends. It was beautiful. I took a picture of it with my phone and didn't think twice about it.

That was until I was looking at that picture as the background on my phone. There is something symbolic about rainbows. Rainbows are like small messages from God. He sent one to Noah when he was on the ark and I believe like other small things in life rainbows are sent to us to send some kind of message. The exact message may not be clear to all and will more than likely vary from person to person but it is a message, a symbol.

I believe I was in that place at that time seeing that rainbow because God was pointing out that I was on the right path. I finally feel at ease and at peace with leaving the baseball team. It was not what I was supposed to be doing but it will always be a part of me and the friendships and connections I made while there will always be with me. There is a peacefulness that comes over me when I see a rainbow in the sky and it's the same peacefulness I feel towards everything I have been through in the past. It helped me grow and become the person I am but it's over now. I have moved on and will continue to. I have my friends from my various stages in life and they will always be there. Some will be more prominent then others but I will always have them in my life in some way or another.

I have made peace with the regrets that I had about how I left things with the baseball team. I wish I could be more involved and help out more but I feel like I am better off just being a fan this year. I will help when and if I'm called on because I'm not the kind of person who can turn my back on them when they are in need. But until or if that day comes I will be a fan and support the team and the community that is involved in it. This was one of the best things to happen to Springdale and to me. Therefore it is something that will be important to me and something that I will do everything I can to help.

I learned a lot in the year that I was at the baseball team. Knowledge that you can't gain anywhere else at any other time because no one else will be able to recreate the exact conditions we were dealing with. We were a brand new thing in a town who had never seen a professional sport before (minus professional bull riding, we are in the south). We had to show people what this new thing was and the possibilities that partnering up with could mean for them. We had to sell this new idea to a new audience. I learned more about how you can go from a smaller company operating out of a small office making do with whatever you can and transition that into a full fledged baseball operation that was operating out of a multimillion dollar stadium. We went from mailing out all of our own merchandise by filling out countless Fed-Ex slips to having people who could do that for us. We went from maybe 20 people in the office to a staff of almost 300 (and that didn't include the concession stands). And the whole time I was there, working closely with the managers, learning and experiencing new things.

If it weren't for the sales techniques, the operating techniques, the managing techniques that I learned over the course of that year I wouldn't sit here today and know that I could one day start my own production company (or any company for that matter). I have learned some of the little things that will make or break a new company. I don't know it all and I never will but the experiences that I had at that ballpark are, what I believe, have prepared me for my new career path. Sure I need to learn new things about the film/TV industry, specifics that you can't learn anywhere else but I know that no matter what I face I will succeed because that is what I have done in the past. I knew nothing about operating a baseball park and I learned that, surely I can learn whatever I need to learn somewhere else.

I will miss working at the ballpark and will more than likely work at one when I retire just for the fun of it but for right now I have my home away from home (when I'm not working) and I know that my extended family is there with open arms welcoming me back again.

Opening Up

So I'm trying out this "Live" feed thing. I actually might like it. This is odd to me because I am the person that hates being in front of the camera. The person who hides away when one is even pointed near her direction. But knowing that someone could possibly be watching (I don't know why they would I'm a pretty boring person unless I break out the Rock Band) has helped me get used to the ideas of cameras. Not that I want to go into acting or be the center of attention but I like being able to share just that little bit more of my world. Plus I am totally in charge of it and can stop and start it anytime I want. 

Today was a good day. I slept really late and that was nice because I hadn't slept in a long time. After I finally woke up I got a call from my mom saying that my SGP shirt had arrived there!!! I was so excited I hopped straight in the car and picked it up. I will be wearing it tomorrow and taking pictures borrowing another rainy day. 

After getting my shirt I went to work and had a fairly easy day. 1 anchor, few tapes, and a very slow news day. I loved it. We also bought a NERF basketball goal on break and played in the control room which was so much fun. I was afraid we would break something but we didn't. After work I came home and was lame and cleaned my bathroom before rocking out to Rock Band. 

Tomorrow will be another slow news day but at least I will be getting paid soon. I can't wait to spend all that money in Wilmington. Down to 9 days and I am so excited.

Keep checking the blog because you never know where or when I'll pop up for a "live" look.

Arkansas Incentives

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/04/03/ap6254254.html

So I've been watching this since I first heard they were trying to get it passed. This is really good news for me because I was looking at making my movie around here and now the incentives have come up to make it better to do so.

I am also watching the battle over incentives in NC. I think every state should do what they can to encourage the film industry because it is an excellent way to employ people in this tough economy.

It's All Good!

I wanted to follow up on my last post. Last night was Opening Day at Arvest Ballpark and as my post said I was a little nervous about going. Well I have a tendency to over analyze things and I believe last night was just a case of that. I have never had such a warm reception from people.

It was mainly the same staff that I had last year which made me really proud that I was able to find a solid group of people to work not just one season but more. Everyone was happy to see me and was very interested in what was going on with me. I didn't know how there reaction would be and I think that was the part that scared me the most. But i was missed and welcomed with open arms which always a good feeling. 

I can't wait to go back tonight and see everyone again. However I realized how boring baseball can be because I never actually had to sit down and watch a whole game last year. It looks like I'm going to be doing lots of catching up during games this year. 

I finally have my first full day off in over 2 weeks and I don't know what to do with myself. I feel like I should be rushing around to get ready for work or doing homework or anything productive. The problem is that I have become so used to my crazy schedule that I'm uberproductive all the time and have run out of things that I need to do. I guess I can finally get back to reading The Fountainhead or go take some pictures or get back to work on my screenplay. Well now it seems like I have lots to do. 

11 Days Til Wilmington!

1 year ago today.

Just around 1 year ago today I was running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. It was Opening Day of the Inaugural season of the Northwest Arkansas Naturals baseball team and I was an intern working her very first baseball game ever. Now I had never been to a minor league baseball game let alone worked one. I was new to everything and like many others had no idea what to expect.

I had been working for the team since the previous September. I started out as a receptionist before we even had a stadium built. It was cool to see this team come from nothing. Granted some of our staff came with the team franchise from Wichita, KS but it was basically all brand new. I spent months mailing out brochures, organizing inventory, shipping out orders, filing, answering phones, etc. Anything and everything they needed done, I pretty much did.

In January I switched over to the Gameday Operations Intern position. There I was in charge of all of the staff that worked on game days, payroll, hiring, firing, managing, organizing, etc. I had from January to April to hire a staff, train them, get their payroll information submitted, and schedule them. Remember I had never worked for a baseball team before and had only managed at the local movie theater when I was in high school and early years of college. 

So here I was with this daunting task of putting together an entire staff but I loved every second of it. I was in my element, solving problems, organizing, planning, developing. The job had all of the things that challenge me in life. I was given a rough outline of how they had done things in years past and completely changed everything around and "fixed" it. 

Finally we reached April 10th and Opening Day was upon us. This was the new entertainment in town and we had to come through. After going through meetings all morning and talking with the others who had worked in baseball before I started preparing for the game around 2 o'clock. What was nerves quickly faded away to the determination to do my job. Next thing I know I'm having my first pre-game staff meeting and the gates are opening. The night flew by in a blur from then on. Granted the weather wasn't the greatest, not all of the big plans we had got to go off, and we had major parking/traffic issues but to me the night was a success.

The rest of the season all 70 home games were gone before I knew it. I learned so much working at the ballpark, not only about managing and organizing and planning for large numbers of people but also about myself. It was through this job that I figured out that I could be a producer. After all a producer is the person who plans and organizes and makes sure the project gets made. That was basically my job at the ballpark and the season was my movie. 

So here we are a year later and it's Opening Day again and I can't help but reflect on what I was doing a year ago (around there at least). I miss the excitement I felt, seeing things coming together, the energy of the crowd waiting to come in, the excitement on little kids faces when they see Strike the mascot for the first time, the feeling of knowing that I was doing something that I was meant to do. I will get these feelings again in my life but reliving that Opening Day experience has made me feel like I was lucky to be able to be there for the beginning and to watch it grow that first season.

I will be at the game tonight and for the first time ever be able to sit back and watch the ball game but I have a feeling it just won't be the same. I will be listening for voices in my ear on the radio or checking on the ushers to make sure they are doing their jobs, etc. I love baseball, and will love going to games this season. New memories to be made and old friends to see. Go Nats!