Day 18: Talking 'Bout Feelings

I've gone to McDonald's three times since my last blog and I've gotta say, it's starting to wear on me. As you may have gathered from my previous posts, I was an eager up-and-comer this season and, a la Brennan Boesch, enjoyed some impressive early season results. Like any great performer, though, getting to the top was easy, but sustaining that success has proven to be much more difficult.

On Tuesday, when McCappo and I went out to get our hands on the elusive McRib but, as some of you may have heard, my average slid 48 points, dropping me from 1st to 3rd on the team. One bad outing has left me just a smidge above .300 - 0-7 nights can do that to ya. While I acknowledge that my season average is better than the MOPA (McDonald's Overall Predicted Average), I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned.

Lately I've been having some really strange urges - or lack thereof. Like the other day, I was thinking about redeeming one of my free medium fries, but chose to abstain because the fries weren't appealing to me. Additionally, I saw a Subway ad on TV and my mouth began to water just looking at their $5 Footlong. These strange and new thoughts are definitely messing with my game. How could they not? They're distracting. I mean, there was no way that I was going to actually go out and get Subway, but I was kind of attracted to [the ad]. Wanting Subway is wrong; I like McDonald's. Just not...all the time. College is so confusing...

Anyway, last night I had a resurgence of sorts. Actually, I had one of my better nights, going 2-4 with 2 Free Smoothies. It was good to get back on track again and it was even better that the team set a new franchise record with 20 medium waters in a single order.

But then this morning, it was back to the bad. I went 0-2 on my first two hash browns of the season, and that wasn't even the worst part. I redeemed one of my free breakfast sandwiches (a Sausage & Egg McMuffin) and I was utterly disgusted by it. I didn't like it and I didn't feel like myself when I was eating it. I couldn't figure out what was going on with me. All of these weird feelings about the McDonald's that I was supposed to like were messing me up. That's when I turned to the internet for some answers.

I joined some forums, went into some chat rooms, even asked Yahoo! Answers a few questions. Fortunately, there were a lot of people out there who have gone through exactly what I'm going through now. It's really comforting to know that you aren't alone in this world.

I started emailing "Pat," who works at an H&M in San Francisco. Pat grew up in Garden City, home of the first dine-in McDonald's in the world, and said that, as a result, there was tremendous pressure put on everyone in the town to like McDonald's. Pat wasn't like the other children in Garden City, though. Sure, Pat liked eating out as much as the next kid, but simply preferred pizza to burgers and fries. One day, Pat told Pat's parents that they liked Little Caesar's more than McDonald's - and they flipped. Pat's dad kicked Pat out of their house and Pat's mom wouldn't stop crying. As a result, Pat ended up having to shack up with Pat's older sister, Morgana, in SF where Pat's been ever since. It was a sad tale, but Pat told me that everything gets better once you're honest with yourself and that life's never been better.

Pat's story would have helped me out, save for the fact that I don't like pizza. Pizza to me is kind of like McDonald's: I eat it fairly often, it's a big part of my life, but I don't actually like it. And that's when I came to this conclusion: my life is filled with things I don't really like, and I just need to man up and deal with it. Wait a second, do I smell another list?

McGOMEZ's TOP 5 FAVORITE THINGS
HE DOESN'T ACTUALLY LIKE:
1) Spending Time With People: I get lonely sometimes, but then when I'm around other people, all I want to do is go back to my room and make songs with my viola and a cup filled with rice by myself
2) Movies: They intrigue me, but then I can't sit still after the first 20 minutes
3) Pizza: It's a staple in every lower to upper-class male's diet, but I don't like cheese, I don't like sauce, and I don't really like the crust
4) McDonald's: I'm going there like 6 times a week and writing a frickin' blog about McDonald's, but I hate greasy food and am unimpressed with their french fries as of late
5) Nutri-Grain Bars: They're so convenient when you're looking to eat something filling when I'm on-the-run, but the grains get stuck to the roof of my mouth and in my back molars

Yeah, so I'm probably overreacting during the dog days of the season. I know the team needs my head to be in the right place so I can perform well and that I've still got some good, injury replacement all-star stats to fall back on. I have to stop being so emo. I've just got to learn to ignore that damn temptress, Subway. I've come TOO FAR to let a stinkin' footlong shorten my success.

Ba Da Ba Ba Baaa,

McGomez

P.S. That picture of the girl wearing the "$5 Footlong" shirt doesn't make any sense...at least, I hope not.