Day 6: Play Soccer in Someone’s Backayrd
Day 4: Can I play bad mitten in your backyard?
This one instantly scared me. I never want to make other people feel uncomfortable and asking to go into someone’s backyard felt a little invasive. I watched Jia Jiang's video and decided I could come up with a backstory of my own to make this easier and less intimidating for both parties.
I decided to go back to the house I lived in 2 years prior. I was going to ask them to take a video of me playing bad mitten to send to my roommate, for sentimental purposes. I was anxious the entire day leading up to it. I thought maybe it was from the coffee I had earlier, but realized it was the task iteself.
I get scared to even knock on the doors of people I know. And now it had to be a stranger. I parked the car and walked to the door. I didn’t see a car in the driveway so I was already anticipating no one to answer. I heard a dog barking and waited a while before walking away.
I decided the next best option was to go to the neighbors house who they share a backyard with. As I walked to the door, I heard talking and laughing. Perfect. I knocked on the door and a girl immediately asked who it was.
“Halle?” I answered. How was that going to make a difference… I didn’t know what to say and got nervous. After waiting around for another 30 seconds, a man finally came back and peaked out the window. He asked who it was and I was instantly terrified. I introduced myself again and told him my story.
Halfway through, I realized he was the same neighbor I had when I used to live there. A neighbor who constantly yelled, accused his wife of cheating, and used hard drugs. I was immediately scared. He rejected me and I was never more relieved to be told no.
I left and got in my car, really scared. He wasn’t the nicest, but the rejection itself didn’t faze me. It was the anticipation that still affected me the most. This one was probably one of the most difficult ones so far, tied with day 1. I shook it off though and was proud of myself for seeing it through.
