Did you see me?

On Thanksgiving morning I got up at 5:00 a.m. and caught a cab to the New Yorker Hotel, where the Special Characters and Clowns (creepy) were to get dressed. I, along with my fellow Founding Fathers, Raul and Daniel, got dressed in the bottom half of our costumes, and boarded a bus with a bunch of other special characters and clowns (creepy) and headed uptown to join our parade line at 81st street between Columbus and Central Park West.



Daniel, aka Benjamin Franklin, is in front.
Raul, aka George Washington, is in back.






We arrived at 81st around 7:45 a.m. It was an overcast morning, and at that point the temps were in the 30's. The Weather Channel had predicted snow, but forunately we saw nary a flurry. Our balloon techs were there working on our balloon heads.



Here you can see Benjamin's head on the left, and my head on the right.







At about 8:00 a.m. they got us suited up in our gear...full metal framework worn as a backpack, and six foot balloon head on top. The hardest part was, then we had to stand around for an hour and a half until we actually joined the parade. The parade started at 9:00 a.m. We didn't actually start walking until 9:30-ish.




Here I am in my Thomas Jefferson get-up. You can see the pants and shoes of my costume, as well as the backpack to which the balloon head is attached. The overcoat attached to the metal frame above my head at the base of the head. My arms went through the arms of the coat so I could wave at the crowd.

Let me just say, this costume was exceedingly uncomfortable to the point of painful. I had bruises along my collarbones and across my shoulder blades from the harness. The weather was actually perfect for the parade...chilly, but sunny. The real struggle was the wind gusts. There were moments when I was truly afraid. The wind would gust so hard I would be thrown around, often to the point of being thrown off my feet with no way to catch myself in this huge costume. Columbus Circle was the moment of absolute terror. With the wind swirling around the circle, all three of us were spun around, and were actually screaming at the people who were supposed to be helping us to come save us. There were definitely some dicey moments.

We walked all three miles of the parade, from 81st and Columbus to 34th and 7th Ave. If you were watching the parade on NBC, my big ol' noggin was on TV right after Aaron Neville sang his heart moving rendition of Deck the Halls on the Postal Service float.

But overall is was a really fun experience! A once in a lifetime experience...and when I say once, I mean ONCE. I would absolutely do the parade again, just don't call me to be a balloon head. I'm afraid I'll have to opt out. No clowns either...did I mention, creepy.





This is Kevin and TJ...this is actually the CBS broadcast in Times Square. You can even see my little hand at the bottom of the screen waving.

Isn't that sweet?