Kristen's Mira Debrief 2004
Well, there's always a story with me, isn't there? When I first heard about the "wave the starting flag" raffle for the MIRA 2004 Defi-Vision Charity Race, I thought "Who'd want to do THAT?" I had visions of running like he11 off the track as the blind drivers and their co-pilots started making their way once they got the go-ahead. I know…I've watched too many old movies. Of course, Joyce clarified that for me right away and told me that the flag was waved from the sideline and not the middle of the track. "Oh, in THAT case…that's pretty kewl." In actuality, it's a pretty big honor because I had to go an meet all kinds of security people, since they don't ordinarily let just anyone down there. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Friday morning, I ended up helping out with Registration since they were short-handed, even though I'd been signed up to help out with the auction later in the day. Safaph and I skipped the Opening Ceremony to tape two raffle tickets on the back of each person's ID badge for the weekend - she handled my tickets and I handled hers, not that anyone would have questioned us, but we didn't want to take any chances. The tickets were for the flag raffle and smaller drawings held throughout the weekend for various prizes such as autographed photos. I didn't win anything else, but I'm not complaining. We had decided to put two random tickets on each person's badge rather than two consecutively numbered tickets, largely because we'd gotten carried away in ripping apart the tickets and it was easier than trying to find the consecutive tickets when we finally did go to tape them to the badges! When we got to the race, I'd noticed that I did, indeed, have two consecutive tickets on my badge - I'm sure I was the ONLY one there and I gave safaph a hard time about it. It was the second ticket that won, and she made sure to remind me of that later after my number was called! Naturally, I did apologize. As my luck would have it…must have been my lucky day! …there was enough coverage at the auction and I was totally beat, so I had a chance to lay down for a bit before the race, knowing from experience that we were in for a LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG night!
So, there we were in the stands and the dust was kicking up like we'd never seen it before. Sitting in front of me were Rox, KT and Hahcie of storyboard fame, who were just so very kewl and we were having a blast chatting away when the noise level died down as the cars came whizzing by us during the earlier races. Then, MIRA volunteer extraordinaire Simon started calling out numbers on the winning raffle ticket from the beginning…not just the last three digits…drawing out the suspense. And each digit he called was matching mine…1-2-9-2-6-…all the way to the last one…-8! I think the first words out of my mouth were "Holy sh#t, that's mine!" I stood up and my hands started shaking…I have no idea why, but they did. I heard someone from behind me say, "It couldn't happen to a nicer person," and I know she meant it. That was great. I also know that there EVERY freakin' person in the MIRA section knew exactly who I was! Too f#ckin' funny! I'd had it confirmed for me earlier in the week that I am not what could be considered a "low profile" person in that crowd when I'd introduced myself to a few people and they pointed to me and said, "Oh, you're HER?"
Next, Simon and Joyce whisked me off to the gate next to the track, where I talked to one of Simon's friends who was also one of the security team. She was wearing one of those light blue biker vests and practiced her English with me. I missed the whole photo session down by the cars with Roy, but I heard it was kind of a madhouse down there. Simon said he was glad it was me who won and he kissed me on both cheeks "from the heart," he said. Then, Pierre stopped by and when he saw me, he said, "You won?" I didn't realize HE knew who I was! He also kissed me on both cheeks and whispered that Roy would sign the flag for me at the After-Party. I said, "no problem." I wasn't really worried about it. I should mention that I had a helluva time getting the flag home…Denis, another MIRA volunteer, had to put two poster tubes together so that airline security wouldn't think I was bringing a weapon along on the flight and it was too big to fit in my luggage! It's a black-and-white checkered flag with the words "Autodrome Granby/tourjours de l'avant/Gagnant Final/Feature Winner" on it. I was actually twirling it for a bit while I was waiting for the race to start. I used to "play" flag in high school and college in the marching band. Joyce got a few pictures. Henry saw me and came up to me and asked, "What the he11 are you doing?" Ah, memories.
Just before the race, a camera crew approached me because they saw my ID around my neck and the flag and the reporter thought I was some sort of official. He started talking to me in French and I used my "caveman French" - key words - to convey that I don't speak it. Then, he started asking me in English for permission to be on the track at the start of the race. I'm like, "I don't work here, you've gotta find someone with authority, dude. I just won a raffle!"
Finally, it's race time! Joyce came along with me to take pictures - thankfully, a friendly face! - and the regular official took me onto the wall that ran alongside the track. He started instructing me IN FRENCH! I entered major panic mode, "Joyce, he's talking IN FRENCH!" He says, "Okay." Then, continues in English. Big time relief! He told me to walk down the wall to the beginning of the line of cars. I presumed they didn't want the blind drivers to begin driving around the curve, but along the straight part of the track. Made sense to me. I looked down to where he wanted me to go and looked back at him. I must've looked confused. He said, "Follow me." I liked that plan! When we got to the front of the line of cars (BTW, I did notice Roy's car briefly as we passed, but I was concentrating on my footing on the cement wall covered with rocks and grass and stuff. , the official told me to "take stock of the cars." Huh? It means to look and make sure everyone is wearing their seatbelts, apparently. Now, at this point, I'm thinking that he's giving me MUCH more information than I need, because he's got guys on the track who are actually doing that part and who signal him when it's time to wave the flag, as he'd continued on to inform me. That's the only part I really need to know about! However, I try my best not to act like a bimbo and to pay attention. All of a sudden, I turn to Joyce. "Did I just hear 'KG' announced over the loudspeaker?" She responded, "Yeah, Pierre said he was going to have them do that." I said something like, "I vaguely recalled that the winner's name would be mentioned, but I thought they would say my WHOLE name!?" She replied, "Well, only 'KG' appears on your name badge!" At least I heard it.
Well, they'd watered down the track before the race, so instead of being dusty, it was now MUD. My job was to wave the flag in figure eights until each car passed by me once. Unfortunately, some of them didn't budge at all! I was afraid I'd have to stand there for the whole race, but after a while the official told me I could stop. I was grateful, since my wrist was starting to hurt. After that, our goal was to get back to the official's little platform without having a car crash into us or tripping over one of the media camera people littering the path, causing us to inadvertently fall onto the track! I'd heard later that some of them were snapping MY picture at the start of the race! Oh goody!
Let me tell you, if you think a race that looks like bumper-cars-meets-demolition-derby is scary from the stands, you have no f#ckin' clue how scary it is when you're standing right above it. I had visions of tail lights flying up into my face! I was shaking the whole time! It was an honor…it was a thrill…and it was an experience I never want to have again! Next year, I'm watching it from the safety of the stands! I believe I even told Roy as much later that night.
I got to wave the flag two more times…with cues from my trusty official friend…when the #14 car - a white vehicle that was conspicuously unmarked for some reason - drove past our platform at the beginning of the 8th lap and then to again when it crossed again to mark the 10th lap to win the race! I'd heard the next day that Roy's car placed 8th…I had NO IDEA from my position on the platform, I can tell you that!
The next thing I knew, my official friend was leading me onto the mega-muddy track to the Winner's Circle for that now-infamous picture from the Autodrome Granby website. I was instructed to give MY flag to the winning co-pilot - which I didn't want to relinquish until I was assured that it was just for the photo op! I almost had a coronary when he d@mned near waved it into the mud! However, a quick-thinking official on the other side salvaged it for me and promptly returned it. We were then ushered off the track and Simon introduced me and Joyce to another driver and celebrity on the way back to the buses. I drove over to the hotel with Joyce, but I did have to retrieve my purse from safaph on bus #2, where I received a round of applause. We also took a detour onto the grass to scrape the mud off of our shoes.
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At the After-Party…Roy actually sat in the chair next to mine at the table, and I seemed to subconsciously scoot as far away as possible from him as I could! There were four ladies from Japan at the table who didn't speak much English, and they presented him with some origami pieces they'd made. He was completely enchanted with them! It was also so cute to hear him say their names…he tried so hard to annunciate them correctly. There was also a police officer at the table who presented him with a badge and handcuffs…he kept repeating the words "sh#t" and "holy sh#t" over and over again as he held and looked at them!
This was a classic moment, IMHO. Joyce asked him to sign the DVD copy of "Fais-moi un dessin" - the drawing game show - that was won by proxy bid in the auction earlier in the day. He looked at the DVD and said, "I was in this? I did 'Fais-moi un dessin?'" We were all surprised by his reaction and I said, "Obviously, this isn't in your personal library!" He looked at me and said, "I don't remember doing this." He looked stunned, but he was smiling. He turned over the DVD and looked at the photo on the back and said, "This is me?" I said, "Well, you've had a long and industrious career!" It was just really funny! The show aired for a week, but it was probably taped in all in one day…I went to a taping of "Hollywood Squares" in New York once and that's how it was done there. Still, you would think he'd remember it considering he probably only did ONE game show in his whole career. I could see him forgetting an interview show or two! We saw a screening of it on Saturday night and he must've gone right from filming "Les Filles de Caleb" to the taping because he was wearing Ovila's wedding ring in every episode. When he went to sign it, he started to write "for," but Joyce wasn't sure the bidder wanted it personalized, so Roy started wiping the writing off with his thumb. Joyce went to hand him a napkin, and he made a sound like he was going to spit on it, then looked up with a mischievous look on his face that said he was kidding! Having spent WWWAAAAAYYYY too much time in MR, the first words out of my mouth were "DNA, it'll be worth more!" Luckily for me, he did not acknowledge that remark.
When he saw that I had the flag, he asked if I was the one who won it…I guess he hadn't noticed me freaking out on the wall, which was probably a good thing! I made some smarta$$ comment about "yeah, I'll probably be on Ebay before the weekend"…he agreed! How reassuring! He asked if I wanted him to sign it to me and I said "yes, please. To Kristen. K-R-I-S-T-E-N." He wrote the "K" and then stopped…I'm not sure why. I prompted him with "R-I-S-" He interrupted me and said, "Kris, yeah." He said my name to me! I'd heard it on TV before, but now he said it TO ME! Then, he kept writing and he got as far as the "T" and I gave him the "E-N" because a lot of people get stuck there. I also asked him to put the date on it and he asked if it was the 16th. None of us knew the date, except, of course, for Joyce! I was lucky I knew it was still June! So, I asked him to write "06-11-04" for me…although, I certainly wouldn't have complained if he'd written 11-06-04.
And for my last embarrassing moment of the evening???? After he signed the flag, I put my left hand palm up on the table, as he was sitting on my left. He put his right hand palm up right next to mine. WHY did he do that? I have no idea. I went to put my left hand in his and a synapse in my brain went off "No, that's wrong!" So, I switched hands and shook his hand…it was very soft, BTW. Now, had I been any farther away than right next to him, I might have had enough brain power to just look him in the eye when he'd put his hand down next to mine and ask him…"What?" However, I was toast. Therefore, I shook his hand…without making eye contact …and then I took my right hand back, put my left hand back on the table, palm up again, laughed and said, "Actually, I was just reaching for the flag!"
When he did finally stand up to leave the table a little while later after talking to someone else, I did actually make eye contact and smile a good-bye to him. Small steps. Ah, well…there's always next year.
While we waited for the evening to end, one of my other table mates brought me and Nikita6768 over to the bar to meet Robert Brouillette - the actor who played Donalda's brother in "Seraphin" - who was also a co-pilot in the race. He kissed me on both cheeks and kissed Nikita6768's hand. French-Canadian men are nothing if not gallant.
By now, you know that the evening ended at around 3:00 a.m. and that the buses rolled back toward our hotel by 4:00 a.m. as the sun started creeping up on the horizon. I had actually joked with a few people before we left for Canada that if Roy was going to spend as much time with us this year as he did last year, he'd have to stay until dawn…I guess he heard me