As I was packing, I fell upon the notebook I had been using for my blog posts before posting them. In it, I found my Montreal Urban Race blog post, part TWO. I am actually not that far behind, as the first episode went up on their channel on the 26 April and the last on the 31 May. So here I am finally posting that. Also, the other posts I had outlined but not yet drafted will be coming up as soon as possible …hopefully that does not turn into many months later again, though:
I wrote this at the same time as part one, but like I said back then, no spoilers! (I promised Game Master B haha)
Okay, so Ed did a call-out for a team-mate for a scavenger hunt on his Facebook account. Since that sounded like fun, I said yes; I mean who does not enjoy a good scavenger hunt? As the first people there (by a long shot; we even beat the crew and organizers!), we secured our place as team four.
Before starting the race, we had to get our photographs taken. I was so shy that I could not stop giggling, so I definitely felt like an utter novice. After a while, we all received the first clue: Victoria arena on René Levesque, known for holding the first ever indoor hockey match; take a picture of whatever replaced it. All I could think was that this had to be West, since the old forum and also the Bell Center are both also West. Ed was certain it could not be west, since he “knows everything west”. I said okay fine, we will go east, though I had the feeling he wanted to go where other teams seemed to be going. We started asking people immediately, but the best we got was people figured it must be west → except one old man whose face lit up (after we had finally turned around) to the name of Victoria arena and said to keep going a few blocks. Before turning, Ed kept insisting on the size of the building we were looking for, but I thought that was pointless, since we were looking for a replacement. After what seemed like the whole race, we ran into Team Fat Cat and Team ReGoat This. Fat Cat had just helped ReGoat This, who proceeded to run off while Fat Cat also helped us. In the end, they had used their Game Master Hotline to learn that what we were looking for was between Stanley (street named after NHL trophy) and another street – i.e. the building was on René Levesque, on one or the other side of Stanley. When they figured it out, they gave us the answer; immediately, we decided we would help them if they needed it (which did not happen).
Next: selfie with us and ten other people. The first people we saw, we asked and they said sure. We walked with them to their destination (one was registering for the Montreal marathon the next day) and found the other eight on the corner of the building he was going to – including a father, whose daughter gave him permission to be in a selfie, because in any other situation, only 16 year old girls are allowed to take them haha adorable.
After a break, we made our way to the Eaton Center, where there is apparently a wax museum taking up a lot of space! That was a fast one, in which we took a picture with one of the wax figures …I forget his name, but he is one of those people whose whole body is tattooed. After another short break, we were off to Chinatown’s Place Sun-Yat-Sen, where a 2kSquad dancer showed us a very small part of the BTS Danger choreography – if I was not more azonto/alkayida, then I would want to learn it, I really enjoy the style! But to dance it would be another thing. Apparently we were the fastest to learn it until Team Blueberry Pancakes arrived.
Once we had another break and that was accomplished, we were off to climb St. Laurent until we got to Breather Balfour to find the next clue. We had to look at pictures found in one of the rooms and find the link to know the next location. With a penguin (Biodôme), stars (Planetarium), football (Impact Stadium) & the letter “O” (Olympic Statium), we were directed to the Olympic Village. We then had to find our way to the podium and Olympic rings, strike a “champions pose” and then we were done. Except that was easier said than …done. We must have been dropped off at the furthest point possible from the rings, because I think it took us 30 minutes to get to them! I do not actually know, but it was definitely long. Halfway through that journey (it really was a journey), I was bored of trying to get there. Especially with Eds annoyance at our likely position in the race.
From there, a final interview (by the way, mandatory timed breaks and the taxi ride were used for mini interviews); Ed’s frustration with not winning caused me some amount of irritation, as I was there to have fun. When I told him to stop it, he did, though, so I cannot really complain about him …except when he said that the thing he learned about me that day was that I was creepy. Why? Because I asked people if we could bother them before …bothering them. And I told him afterwards that I resented that, as it struck me as common courtesy! Except it was a few months later and he had completely forgotten, so instead he felt bad for traumatizing me for life haha
Finally, that ceremonies, where we learned who won. FatCat deserved to win, after helping two other teams, one of which did not even tell them what they had gotten from that help: the answer to that clue (rude) …I felt so awkward! And it really shows in the shows haha I did not care that I had not won, nor did I care that I was in last place, but I had absolutely NO idea what to do with my face! I do not watch these kinds of shows (except the one I was in, of course), so I have no idea what the audience expects of these people …or at least what I expect of them. So my weird facial contortions is me trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my face haha and anyways, had I won the tablet, I would have felt a certain amount of trepidation, knowing the social and environmental costs of such a product, in particular brand new!
Consolation prizes (i.e. what everyone got, win or not):
- One hour at Breather Balfour
- Some David’s Tea
- Bell Local promo t-shirt, neck thingy and phone notepad (do people still need those?)
- Lifetime membership with Kyozone
- …I am surely forgetting, so Game Master B, let me know so I can add it!!
Obibini Bruni – Facebook, YouTube
Team Blueberry Pancakes – GO MTL, WOT TV
What’s Up Montreal? – Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter, Website, Youtube
Obibini Bruni 