October was a month of firsts for me.
1. I attended my first pro basketball game. Basketball is one of my favorite sports–I played it when I was young (even though my kids don’t believe me) and currently enjoy watching my son play high school basketball. Even though I’m not a big fan of watching sports on TV, you had better not interfere with me watching the KU Jayhawks or the WSU Shockers play ball if their games are televised. You would be facing the wrath of the Caffeinated Ginger and that wouldn’t be pretty.
However, I have to admit I was extremely unimpressed with my first pro basketball game. The Oklahoma City Thunder came to town to play the Toronto Raptors. The Thunder was missing a few of their key players because of injuries, including Kevin Durant, so after being in the lead in the first quarter, the rest of the game definitely belonged to the Raptors.
Besides our “home” team being blown out of the water, the basketball game was, well, boring. It lacked the atmosphere and enthusiasm that I’ve experienced at college basketball games. Not only that, but HOW much money are these basketball players paid? To MISS their free throws? Seriously…
I’ll just stick to high school and college basketball, thank you. The game didn’t keep our attention, so my youngest daughter and I had to take pictures such as this to keep us entertained, and no one wants anymore of these!
2. I ran my first sub 30-minute 5K! Woot! Woot! I’ve been chasing that elusive time for a couple of months so I was so pumped to prove to myself that I could rise to the challenge. This 5K race, which benefited a local food bank, was held in a beautiful park that is surrounded by a creek. The course led us around the park as well as on top of an adjacent dike. It was a gorgeous fall day–sunny, cool, with very little wind. Perfect running conditions. When I sprinted to the finish line and saw my time, it was cause for celebration!
As an added bonus, the race t-shirt had a picture of a running peanut. You know you want one.
3. I spoke to Rick Springfield. No, not in my dreams–live and in person! And he spoke back! I have been a fan of Rick Springfield ever since I was a young teenager. I am a little bit sheepish to admit that I have seen him in concert five times and enjoyed every minute.
A friend of mine had procured two tickets to see Rick Springfield’s Stripped Down show at a casino in Oklahoma. The casino was celebrating their 30th anniversary and brought in Rick to do a free show for their VIP members. My friend ended up not being able to go, so knowing I was a huge Rick fan, she offered me the tickets. And who was I to hurt her feelings by saying no?
I took my best friend who also shares a love for Rick. The show was held in the casino’s bingo hall. We got fourth row center seats—the first three rows were reserved for VIPs. (How a person gets to be a VIP VIP, I don’t know…) We were pretty much the youngest people in the crowd–by FAR. I now consider myself very lucky that I can walk without a walker or cane, can breathe without an oxygen bottle, and also still retain all of my natural teeth. I’m also pretty sure that most of the crowd had no idea who Rick Springfield was, however they got free tickets so by golly they were going to go anyway.
The show was great–he sang and also told stories about his life and the stories behind his songs. He has a great sense of humor and seemed to enjoy entertaining the crowd.
THIS IS THE BEST PART–After the show he came back on stage for a question/answer session. I got to directly ask him a question and he directly answered back to me and LOOKED AT ME! Rick LOOKED at me and TALKED to me! Swoon! Swoon!
My life is now complete.
The Caffeinated Ginger 
Go Girl!!
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