Good day lady and gentleman and welcome to yet another installment of Make My Day. I just want to start by saying that 74% is the new 100% (I'll explain later), and that I need more suggestions (send some in)! Today's adventure came to us from Jarod in D.C., and was actually the top vote getter in this week's poll. My mission was to try and take a photo/meet someone from every state in a day. This idea, like many of the suggestions I get, seem like it will be a piece of cake to pull of, but once I get into it, I realize oh boy, this is hard (twss). And as I went through the day, I realized that it was not only going to be about trying to get all the states, but trying to get a bunch of different countries as well. Melting pot baby.
Luckily New York is the perfect place to try and make this happen because there are ALWAYS tourists here, especially in Times Square. This is where I set up shop. Now the trick on getting people to help you out is make them realize that you are not some random dude who is trying to sell you crap or beg for money. You got to take a more personal approach. This may include running up to people demanding they help you or else. Or talking so loud that people overhear you and want to help. Or just hold up my trusty sign. I did all of the above.
In order to make the photos a little more fun, I asked some people to symbolize their state in
a pose or movement. Being from Colorado, I would make a mountain. Some people found this extremely difficult to boil their place of origin down to one thing. One Russian lady wondered how to do Stalin (too soon?). I started out in the middle of Times Square holding up my sign hoping that someone would come talk to me. It took a few minutes, but then I finally had my first couple
of people. A mother/daughter combo from Wisconsin and New York, and then a lady from Kentucky. Sweet, the South already representing. Off to a good start. The mother from WI had a tattoo of the state on her arm. Convenient for representation. The lady from Kentucky did what all people in Kentucky: ride a horse (or maybe she is saving a horse and riding..nevermind).
One thing I love about Times Square is that there is always something crazy going on, and today it was National Turkish Pride Day/something about ancient Greek stuff. This meant a whole lot of people dressed in
old school garb, much like the fellow dressed as an Greek person, but he was from Honduras. I got to meet a whole bunch of people dressed old school who were from all over. Looking good folks!
As I was walking around looking for people, a dude came up to me and asked if I wanted to be in a documentary. I replied that I already was going to be in one, but he said another will be good too. This one was on world hunger, and they were looking for people to give their opinions. I have opinions. I gave them. It was really fun and all the guys were really nice. Plus, they were all from different states, so 4 more
checked off the list just like that.
When I got done with the movie, I searched out one fella that I really wanted to get my picture with. That's right. The Naked Cowboy. The dude spends all year in Times Square, and I heard he makes a million a year! For standing in underwear! Nice work guy. Anyway, so I found the young Cowboy milling around, and waited my turn for a picture. I had to wait because there were about 14,000 middle aged women gawking at him, waiting to grab his buttocks. As soon as I could, I got in and snapped a photo. I talked with him a minute, mainly because he couldn't understand what I was doing with my sign, but also found out he grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio. Midwestern man. Nice. Another one done.
Well it was starting to get on my third hour of searching, and while I was finding a good
amount of people, lots were repeat states that I already had, or were people who just blew me off because they thought I was crazy. Maybe a little. So I decided that it was time for drastic measures. Ambush people and make them tell me where they were fun. This worked....about a quarter of the time. I met some crabs from Maryland, and a some salmon from Oregon, and a hockey stick from Toronto. Awesome! I even got law enforcement involved, because I was feeling suspicious. I started talking with a
police officer from Connecticut, who for sure had the personality of a NY Cop (his poo poo did not stink), but he took a photo with me anyway, so thanks man (look at that serious face!). Then I ran into a horse officer, which for the life of me I don't understand why you need a horse officer in New York, but okay. The officer herself was from New York, but the horse was from South Carolina. Rocking. I'm counting that. That's a twofer. But while these people were nice, other people ran for the hills. Getting some of the states early was easy, but as the day was going on it was getting harder and harder to find people from states I didn't have who would actually talk with me. This was going to be a lot tougher than I thought.
Stay tuned for the second part of this story, either out later this afternoon or tomorrow morning. Again, please send in your suggestions! I am starting to run low and know that you all have funny imaginations. Thanks everyone.
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