Ah, the memories.

As I sit here and the weather gets colder, dunk tank season has definitely gone into hibernation. I have next Spring and Summer to look forward to. Seven months will go by quickly, won't it?

We are definitely having a dunk tank at VBS again. I think after the success of the last two years, it will be there now and forever. And that means my wife will be getting dunked again.... a lot. Over the years, she has gotten dunked a lot. She is a great sport about it. As I sit here, I am watching old videos of her being dunked over and over again at different events. It's kind of fun to see her over the years and how her personality responds to the inevitable soakings that will come. She is ALWAYS nervous, but does a great job.

She obviously knows about my obsession with dunk tanks and she plays it up as much as she can. We have talked about it a lot. She knows how I like her to act, how to sit, what to wear, etc. She has been in dunk tanks at several different carnivals, even though she feels uncomfortable at some when she is just a "random" person that has nothing to do with the organization running the tank offering to sit in it. She has never gone up to a dunk tank operator and asked to sit in the tank, every one has been planned with some contact made prior to.

We were talking the other day and I told her how much I loved seeing her sit in one at carnivals. Definitely my favorite because of the number of people that are around. She said, "Is it because I sit up there longer?" I thought for a second... you know, that might be part of it. At VBS, set up/after hours she'll sit up there in a predetermined outfit and me and the kids each get to dunk her two or three times. That lasts maybe 10 minutes. Every carnival where she has been in the tank, she has had a half hour shift. She's partially right. I like her up there a long time. She gets colder at the end of the shift.

At a carnival, throwers have a finite number of balls. On our own, we just keep throwing until we hit the target. Where is the suspense in that? I think next year we will set a time limit and everyone only gets 3 balls at a time.

VBS Recap - Finally

Well, this took a while. Been real busy. VBS has come and gone and what a time it was! My wife was in the dunk tank four times over the two days we had the tank and got dunked MANY times.

Set up day was a tight green shirt and black shorts. She was EXTREMELY nervous for the first dunk to the point of sheer terror. After going in once or twice, she was perfectly fine.

The second, and a surprising one, was after everyone left at night. It was about 10:00 PM and as we were cleaning up, she comes outside in a pair of faded jeans and a tight blue v-neck t-shirt. WOW! It was awesome. She sat up there for about 15 minutes and just let us dunk her relentlessly. It was kind of cold out and she was getting quite chilled, but stayed up there and let us have fun. The jeans were long and of course a little uncomfortable, but that's part of the fun!

The next day, after the carnival was at the end, she was the last person to sit in the tank, again at night. Black shorts and a blue t-shirt was the attire. Many people were around and she got dunked by everyone there.  She sat up there for about a half hour and got dunked and dunked time and time again. Only problem with the night dunks is not good for camera shots.

The final day, before we took the tank back, she got up there one last time. This was like 9:15 AM. After the tank sitting all night, the water was REALLY cold in the morning. She wore a tight black v-neck and black capri workout pants. This outfit was AWESOME! Black always looks great wet and the drip off of these pants is classic. As soon as she sat on the bench and stuck her toes in the water, she knew it was going to be cold. She got dunked about 12 times in 15 minutes and was pretty cold after a few dunks, but was having a good time. She heckled more this time than any other and really seemed at the peak of comfort. It was awesome.  Her posture on the seat and everything about the way she was sitting was perfect (at least for me).

She really has become my dream dunk tank girl! She's already looking forward to it next year!

Just a few more days!!!

VBS starts on Sunday. Wednesday we pick up the dunk tank. I am too excited. Now is one of those times where I can't think about much else. I can't work. Can't plan. Just thinking of this. Picking out my wife's outfits. Thinking of where to place the tank. Where will the best light be? Where can I get good camera shots (and for any Splashdown fans out there, yes, I video every second of my wife in the tank, no, none of you will ever get to see it.) Gotta work on my throwing arm now.

So, outfits. One for sure is full length, nice fitting, lighter colored jeans and TBD top. The black v-neck t-shirt is a must, but with the jeans OR black capri lounge pants (which she has worn before in the dunk tank and they look AMAZING!) OR grey capri lounge pants. I also want this tight, blue v-neck t-shirt and white pants that I have wanted to see for YEARS. Another blue t-shirt I have wanted to see, a pink dressier blouse, and this orange mini-dress she has. I guess a bathing suit is always an option too. ;-)

Looking forward

As I write this, we are 22 days away from D-Day.  That would be DUNK DAY!!

I hope my wife can handle the early morning dunks during set up then the night time dunks at the end of VBS. It could be a bit cold out at night getting all wet.

Oh wait, that's how it used to be.

#drunkblogpost

School Carnival - Where are the Women?

My kids had their school carnival a couple weeks ago. They advertised "The return of the ever-popular teacher dunk tank!" I was excited, but I had learned to not get my hopes up. I knew it would turn out to be just the male teachers up there.

As we got there, got a program/map, and looked at the dunk tank schedule, sure enough, only male teachers were on the schedule and some random unnamed high school students that were volunteering. The kids' school is probably about 90% female teachers. The figures of the ratio alone would give most people hope, but I knew better. There are some REALLY attractive female teachers there too. But all are too prissy to get in the dunk tank.  Not sure what it is. Where is the fun.

Out of the HS students that were getting dunked, there was one really attractive high school girl that was sitting up there.  She was cute, nervous, cold, and got dunked quite a bit.  It was a great show, but I was still disappointed that the female teachers wouldn't do it.

What gives here? When I was growing up, EVERY dunking machine (yes, we called them DUNKING MACHINES, not dunk tanks or even dunking booths) at every town carnival had girls sitting in them. I'll bet from about age 4 until my freshman year of college I had only seen about 4 males getting dunked ever.  It was always cheerleaders running them, or gymnastics teams, or dance teams, or if the local Rotary or Lions club sponsored one, the daughters/granddaughters of the members were the ones they had sitting up there.  I know old traveling carnivals had a "Dunk the Girl" booth where a few girls traveled along and that was their summer (or longer) job... to get dunked.

I think the respect women movement has taken things a bit too far that anything may be deemed "embarrassing" is not something a woman should do, so let the man be the buffoon now. But come on teachers, your kids would LOVE to dunk you!! It's for the KIDS!!!  Oh, wait, some teachers are not about the kids now.... I forgot.

Oh well, whatever. I still get to see my wife in a dunk tank every summer several times and she enjoys it. At least I am lucky enough to be with someone who can still have a little embarrassing fun.

Reserved!!

Well, it is official. VBS will once again have a dunk tank! Should be fun. Events will happen at night this year. We will need to do an early morning set up (read COOL morning) followed by a couple days of dunk tank fun. Friday, during tear down, we'll probably give it a go one (or two, or three) last times.

Outfits???? Big question. Too many to choose from.  Jeans are a must, black t-shirt is a must. Others? We'll see.

Spring Fest

What a nice day today! Well, nice in the fact that Spring Fest was today and one of the sororities runs a dunk tank every year. Not too nice for the girls as the warmest the temperature ever got was maybe 60 (if they got lucky) and it was cloudy with some on and off drizzle. The girls looked quite cold. All in all, it looked like a great fund raiser for them. Lots of business.... and who could blame them. Soaking wet and freezing cold girls seems to be a good draw.

I actually caught the action from the start. They finished filling the tank and then the first girl up was a cute Filipino girl in a purple t-shirt and spanx. She sat there for a few minutes before people started throwing. It didn't take long for her to go down. I could read her lips saying, "Oh my God it's so cold!!" She ended up sitting up there for about 40 minutes. The more she got dunked, the easier it got. She seemed comfortable given the cold weather.

The next girl up was wearing a long sleeved red shirt and black spanx. She actually sat up there for a while before her first dunk. She was quite nervous waiting for the first cold drop. She tied her hair up in a semi-bun, which I knew wouldn't last for long. Her hands were folded in front of her chest dreading the cold water. Eventually it came. The target was hit and she dropped straight to the bottom of the tank. She sat back up on the seat and immediately was dunked again. She had a lot of good throwers come by. After a couple dunks, she gave up on the hair tie and let her hair down. She got dunked many times. After each dunk, she seemed to hold her legs tighter together and folding her arms or keeping her hands in her lap. It was very nice.

The last girl I saw wore a purple t-shirt and long black tights. She was really cute. She sat there for a minutes before someone finally hit the target. She was also pretty shocked at how cold the water was and how even colder it was getting out. On Twitter she mentioned how it was the "coldest experience of her life." I believe it. A half hour getting dunked in cold water on a cold day. That's a trooper.

When the dance team ran their dunk tank 12 years ago (wow! has it really been that long???) It was just as cold, BUT after the first night at least (when the temperature really dropped) the girls had the luxury of a heater being attached to the tank and getting dunked into WARM water. They wore clothes that kept the warm water close to their bodies, and if they got cold, they just had someone put them in the water.

This brings up an interesting thing with me: what is the attraction of girls being COLD in a dunk tank? I've seen it all my life. Girls getting dunked in cold water. Shivering as they sit on the seat waiting to get dunked again. Seeing the girls at the county fair growing up getting dunked at night. Dripping, cold. It has to be uncomfortable. I'm a nice person. I don't like to cause people discomfort, but when it comes to a dunk tank, I want a chilly girl.

I love my wife, but my two favorites of all the times she has been in a dunk tank were the two she was the coldest. Once with the dance team when she had the last shift at 10:30-11:00 PM, and temps were in the 60s. Warm water, but cool air. The second was at H Day when it was a relatively warm day, BUT the water she was getting dunked in was freezing. She sat up there for a half hour both times. The first one she would be cold sitting out, but once she got dunked it was better. The second, each time she got dunked she got colder and colder. You see this a lot when girls are in the tank for a half hour. The more they get dunked in cold water, no matter how warm it is out, the colder they get. At the end of her shift (actually just after her last dunk), she sat up there shivering with legs pressed together and hands folded in front of her chest. I was going to throw a few more balls just since she only was going to be up there another minute or two (because her replacement was late), but I didn't.

It's weird, I know, but I like seeing the discomfort. Why? I don't think I want absolutely blue, hypothermia setting in freezing (like putting ice cubes in the tank.... that's just stupid). But I like chilled and some discomfort. I guess because part of why I like the dunk tank is that the girl doesn't want to go in. My wife is the perfect dunkee. She sits up there, having some fun, encouraging people to throw (especially if raising money), BUT she doesn't want them to hit the target. No acting there. She is a good sport and will give of herself to get dunked for the enjoyment of others (namely me), but as she sits up there, she doesn't REALLY want to go in the water. It's all good fun.

So, THANK YOU to the sorority girls today for putting on a great show and braving the cold water and cold weather for the amusement of others. I hope you earned a lot of money.