QIC: Yogi
PAX: FNG Arthur Murray, Ascot, Billy, Crimson, Daisy, EarharT, Ezekiel, Freebird, Frisco, Grinch, Honey Comb, Hotty Toddy, Imp, Intimidator, Osfart, Pickles, FNG Pong, Quiver, Red Ryder, Sloth, Spartan, Staubach, Texas Ranger, Traffic Cone
YHC was chosen out of 24 PAX to write the BB today. And by chosen I mean the Q ,Yogi, kicked sand in my face, stuffed me in a locker, invited my sweetheart to the high school formal and and said “Hey, if you want to hang at Muscle Beach, you write Back Blasts, pipsqueak!” Or at least that’s what the beat down he had just delivered felt like. I managed a simple “Unngggghhh” which Yogi took for “Yes” and that was that.
Opening disclaimer given out and we discovered that there were two FNGs (one a silver bullet). Tortises is limited run so we ran a few dozen feet from the shovel flag and circled up. The PAX was strong in the mumble-chatter and today was going to be a good day.
Warm-Up:
20x Side Straddle Hops
(At this point the street lamp went out leaving the PAX was in near total darkness.
10x Good Mornings
(Crimson–as usual–sounded like he was having either a very, very bad or very, very good Good Morning. If he ever calls out his own name during a good morning I am switching AOs right then and there!)
10x Windmills
10x Sir Fazio Arm Circles
10x Imperial Walkers
(Street lamp came back on and YHC realized he was doing HillBillies, not Imperial Walkers like the rest of the PAX.)
20x slooooow down Merkins
(Lights went out again and in the cover of darkness the mumble chatter was a good and strong. Our futures looked bright and we all knew we just had to make it through Mr. Yogi’s last math class to get to graduation…)
Class Is In Session (The Thang):
1 to 4 Jack Webbs (10 / 40)
(The lights came back on somewhere in the middle of the Jack Webbs and we all saw that Ascot’s toupee had fallen off at some point. He quickly shoved it back onto his head and we all pretended not to notice.)
Run to the flag and back and circle up
Burpees to Squats (10 / 40)
(The light cut out again. Someone who sounded like Texas Ranger muttered “I’m going to see if Camp Gladiator is still open”, a car door slammed, and then we heard it drive over 4 cement parking stops and peel out.)
Run to the flag and back and circle up
(The light came on and the PAX was starting to look a little worn around the edges…except Red Ryder who had at some point pulled up a hammock and was chilling out and was reading a comic book–at least I hope it was a comic book.)
Carolina Dry Docks to WW2/WW1/LBCs (10 / 40)
(Lights went out. When they came back on we realized our two FNGs had pulled up a section of the ashvalt and were trying to dig a tunnel under the parking lot to escape. None of that! We pulled them back into the circle because our motto is “No man left behind, no man allowed to dig a tunnel to freedom”. Osfart took a shovel down into the tunnel to “see how far they had gotten”. Hmmmmm….)
Run to the flag and back and circle up (first time anyone was ever glad to run at Tortosies, recover on the Mosey)
SSH to Sir Fazio Arm Circles (10 / 40)
(The lights were flickering off and on now. Side Straddle Hops, arms, hops, arms. YHC started hallucinating that Yogi was 20’ tall, calling out the cadence in a booming voice that shook the trees! Arms, hops, arms, hops. How many numbers are between 30 and 40!?! Where is that Uber I called at 6 / 24?!?!)
And then it was done!
We ran back to the flag one last time and circled up. The morning sun was peeking through the trees. Birds were starting to chirp and Yogi was back to his normal 4'2" height. The PAX embraced! We had survived the storm, we had graduated! Ascot wouldn’t let us throw his toupee into the air so we just threw Pickles instead (the man, not the vegetable, of course). We were 18 and free and the world was our oyster!
“Okay, boys,” Yogi said, beaming. “Good warm up. Let’s get started…”
COT:
Count-a-rama: 1 Silver Bullet, 8 Respects, 1 Hate, 15 Mehs
Prayers:
A number of prayers (I am sorry that I don’t remember most of them) including a call out for prayers for Parker who is dealing with his father’s progressing memory loss. The story he told yesterday about having a great time talking to his father, thinking his dad remembered him, then having his dad say “I can’t have dinner with you, I’m supposed to meet my son later to have dinner” was like a punch in the gut to hear.
NMS:
As you can see/read I like to have fun, but in all seriousness I am glad I got the chance to write this BB.
Yogi actually started the limited run AO Tortoises because he was a heck of a lot heavier than he is today and he was pissed off that he couldn’t run fast. So every Wednesday for a while he was a PAX of 1 at his own AO. A lot of guys would have given up but Yogi is stubborn.
When I first met Yogi I wasn’t sure how to take him. He brings 110% of his 110% and it can be like drinking from a fire hose the first (or second or third or…) time you post with him. But Yogi’s intensity and continual pushing is how he tells his brothers that he loves and supports them. From things I’ve heard him say I know he’s fought some hard battles and hasn’t always come out on top. We all have those rough moments and the way we get ready for them is by being stronger today than we were yesterday. But sometimes in spite of that we still end up being a PAX of 1 posting in our own dark.
Posting with Yogi can be intense :) but it is actually one of my favorite F3 experiences. I think of it like standing next to a light house or being in the front row at a really loud concert. Some people were put on this earth to reach that PAX of 1 posting alone in his own gloom. Some guys are designed to be able to play to the guy in the back row who can’t even see the stage. My father says it takes all types of people to make a world. I am glad Yogi is one of the ones who makes up mine.
CUITG, brother!