I See a Pattern

So, I've been working at Boo at the Zoo and...

Hmmm. Let's see, have you ever seen 300? Where all trillions of Persians attack the three hundred Spartans? Last night at the Zoo was like that, except the Persians all wanted caricatures, and I was 299 people shy of an army. Now don't get me wrong, I love doing caricatures and I particularly love the Zoo event, but yesterday was the busiest that I ever saw it. My line was an hour deep within fifteen minutes of opening up and didn't get any lighter until we closed the line. I'm posting some photos from the line, all of which were taken at the same time.

The massive amount of break-less drawing aside, it's great to see that many people come out. It's good for the Zoo, obviously, as they're a client and a great bunch of people. It's nice to see them do well, and it certainly justifies them hiring me. And for me, every year there are more and more people who say "You've drawn my kids every year for the last five years, and we always come back here first. Our basement has all your caricatures framed." Hearing that is just really special.

What amazes me is that the line is so long. The Zoo's only open for three hours during Boo, and these people spend a third of their time at the Zoo waiting to get a caricature from me.

I was also impressed at how crowded it was on a night where the Indians were playing.

Ah, the Indians...

I've written some cheers for the team on the blog for the last couple of weeks, so I figure I'd better at least mention their final loss last night. Here's the thing, (and I wish I could remember who said this) I don't get how watching nine millionaires chase a ball in a private park affects my mood so much.

There's a few things I'd change about myself. I'm always trying to lose a little weight, and I know I have a confidence that borders on arrogance, but I think right now I'd just get rid of my optimism if I could. No Cleveland team has won a championship since 1964. I've seen The Drive, The Fumble, The Shot, Red Right 88 and that base hit that ended the 1997 World Series. I should know not to get my hopes up. I should know not to believe because Cleveland teams always seem to choke.

And don't give me that "It was a good season and they gave a good effort and lost" stuff. They choked. I'd give you the valiant effort thing if the last games were 4-3, 5-2, and 2-0. When you have three chances to win one game, and you lose all of them by between seven and ten runs, that's choking.

Put me in the "it's better to never loved at all than have loved and lost" column. I would have rather they hadn't gone into the post-season at all, rather than invest that much in watching them get one game away from the World Series.

I suppose I could take some solace in that it was only the League Series and not the World Series. It would have been far worse to watch them choke in the World Series. But there I go being optimistic again.