On The Home Front
Soccer and Bees (NaBloPoMo Day 17)
Nov 18th
Sarah’s All-Star team had their first day of tournament today. They didn’t do so well. We had four games, we lost three and tied one. We should’ve won that last one, but the ref didn’t see it that way. Oh well.
We had a nice setup there – Our first game was at 8:30, last one at 1. The games were short (25 minutes), with at least hour breaks in-between. Some parents brought tents and sleeping bags and blankets and between games we piled all the girls in the tent and let them entertain themselves. They had board games and cards and books. The parents stood around in the cold (it was in the upper thirties when we started) and complained about our girls actually making the all-star team.
After that, Sarah and I, along with a friend of hers, went to see The Bee Movie. It wasn’t bad – I actually laughed out loud at a few parts. There’s the obvious tie-in to current bee disappearance, but I thought it was still an enjoyable movie. There was one disconcerting part; I was strangely attracted to the character played by Renee Zellwegger. I mean, like really attracted.
Obviously it’s been awhile since there’s been playtime in the bedroom if I’m finding an animated character a turn on…
Gone (NaBloPoMo Day 16)
Nov 16th
Gail and Cody had to get up and leave early this morning, on a plane bound for Arizona. Gail’s cousin is getting married, so they’re flying back for the weekend. Sarah and I have a soccer tournament this weekend, so we’re here.
Whenever Gail’s gone, whether it’s for a weekend like this, an overnight trip, or hell, even for a stretch of a few hours, I worry. I suppose this is natural, but my problem is I take it to the extreme. And not only do I imagine a worst-case scenario, I then proceed to think of how my life will change, how I’m going to cope, will I stay here, move to be closer to family, what do I do with her stuff, oh man the plants will die!
Of course, I’m thinking about this stuff in the shower this morning, and then start thinking about the Law of Attraction I was talking about last week, and I panicked and was like “No! I’m not thinking about that! I’m thinking about talking to her and hearing about her weekend come Sunday night! REALLY!”
Yeah – I’m a dork.
Soggy Soccer Weekend Ahead (NaBloPoMo Day 15)
Nov 15th
Gail and Cody are flying home tomorrow.
Gail’s cousin is getting married, and, as mentioned before, we aren’t all able to make it. Aside from the money issues, Sarah made All-Stars for soccer and the tournament is this weekend. Currently outside it’s raining quite heavily, with gusty winds and dropping temperatures in the forecast for today.
This weekend Sarah and I will be busy with a lot of soccer stuff, but it looks like it’s going to be a miserable weekend, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we both came home with colds. I’ve been fighting one for two days now (Halls is my friend!), and hoping it doesn’t get worse. The other coach (I’m assistant coach!) has already sent out email asking parents to bring tents and canopies for the girls to camp out in between soccer games.
Gonna be a LOT of fun this weekend.
/sarcasm
Awful Plays and Birthday Wishes (NaBloPoMo Day 14)
Nov 14th
School plays are supposed to be cute and awkward and are mandatory for any child who is in elementary school. The whole grade gets up on stage and performs, usually about something they’ve been learning about.
Sarah’s 4th-grade class is no different; This year they’ve been studying Virginia history so the play was about Virginia, its land formations, history, and economics. When the music teacher got up on stage before the play to explain this to us, she concluded by saying this play had been written by two teachers down in Richmond.
That should’ve been clue numero uno right there.
Without a doubt, this was the most painful school play I’ve ever had to sit through. The music was awful. The lyrics were awful (“there are five regions in Virigina, there are five, yes they’re five, yo yo five!”), and it was simply…well…awful. You could tell the kids weren’t into it and afterwards, when we were telling Sarah she did well and that it was a good play (yes, there are times when lying is OK to your children), she said “No it wasn’t! It was a boring play!” I thought that was putting a positive spin on it myself.
In other, less awkward news, my son is turning 15 today. I can’t believe I have a 15 year old. I can remember vividly standing over that little bologna loaf in its basket, looking at him in awe, and terrified of what we’d embarked upon. Now it’s fifteen years later, and while he’s not the straight-A, honor roll, scholarships to Harvard already in hand, starting shortstop/quarterback on the varsity team child I’d hoped for, he’s a pretty damn good kid.
Happy Birthday Cody. Can’t believe how lucky I am to have you as a son.
Weekend Wrapup (NaBloPoMo Day 12)
Nov 12th
Cody’s birthday is just around the corner, so this past weekend, we took him down to Guitar Center to look at guitars. He’s been needing a new electric, as my old one that he uses needs some serious work. Or just recycling. Cody has been saving his birthday, holiday and allowance money, along with picking up side work here and there for some neighbors. He originally found an Ibanez he wanted, but I think it was just because it was black and sharp. Playing guitar myself, and knowing what *I’d* like, I begged him to at least try out a few different models. When I played the Ibanez, the feel was awkward, the action on the fretboard was incredibly shallow (in my opinion – that actually might be a good thing, I don’t know enough about playing to say for sure, but it just didn’t *feel* right) and it didn’t sound good. That might’ve been the amp though.
So the whole family went down to the store on Saturday, and I got Cody to try a few. He played a Dean, another Ibanez, and finally, the one I was pushing for, a Paul Reed Smith. He liked the PRS one the best. Yay! So, along with our birthday gift to him (more money), he was able to order a nice PRS. And it’s a sharp looking one too. Not your basic black.
Myself, I was all over that store. Found a beautiful Martin Dreadnought Cutaway Acoustic-Electric, went and played a few different basses, sat in the Pro-Audio room for a bit tinkering on Keyboards and Synths, wishing I had the new Logic Studio and a MacBookPro to go with it, and finally ending up back at the guitars where I sat and played a beautiful Gretsch Chet Atkins model. Man, what a sweet, sweet sound. I’ve never played a Gretsch before and it was quite a pleasure. Apparently Gretsch has a Brian Setzer Hot Rod series as well. Those would’ve been fun.
Yesterday I went and auditioned for “A Christmas Carol” – unfortunately it might not get made as I was the only one to show. It’s a rewrite of the Dickens classic, written for only 6 people, who play multiple parts. I’m really looking forward to doing this show, and am hoping the director can pull it together. The play is scheduled to open in 5 weeks. Talk about no time to practice!
After that, I spent the remainder of the weekend doing what I always seem to do; fold laundry, watch the Redskins collapse (groan), watch the Steelers pull one out (yay!), and listened to Gail tell me about her day that she spent out investigating a supposedly haunted house. She has fun at least 
Why am I awake? (NaBloPoMo Day 11)
Nov 11th
I have no earthly idea why I’m awake.
Drove up to Pennsylvania last night with my friend Eric to go play poker at Bill’s house. It’s about a two-hour drive, but it was good company, and aside from Bill, I got to see my buddy Jeff, who moved up there back in June. Eric, Bill, Jeff and I were all regulars at the poker games I have here at my house, but since Bill and Jeff moved away, we’ve had a couple of times I’ve had to cancel a planned game because of lack of players.
So Bill decided to host a game and Eric and I made the drive. We didn’t get back into town until way after two, and I think I turned out the light at 3:05 or something like that. Woke up at 7-ish, and here I sit, writing this post at just before 8am. Damn, I wish I knew how to sleep in.
Not a Scrooge (NaBloPoMo Day 9)
Nov 9th
I hate this time of year.
I like the season, don’t get me wrong. I love watching the colors of the leaves change, the bite in the air as it turns colder, the shortened days. What I hate is this: Today’s date is Nov 9th. 46 whole days before Christmas. There’s even another holiday in between now and then.
But do you think that matters? Stores have had Christmas decorations up since before Halloween, radio and TV stations are starting to bombard us with holiday ads and even people in the office are talking holidays and carrying coffee cups with reindeer on them.
It’s not that I’m anti-Christmas. I’m not a Grinch or a Scrooge. I do enjoy the holidays. I object to the mass-commercialization of them is all. I intend to put up decorations. I’ll decorate my house and even plan on decoration my cube here at work. But I’ll put this stuff up at a minimum of a week *after* Thanksgiving.
I’m like Nordstrom’s that way. They believe in celebrating the holidays the ‘old-fashioned’ way; one at a time. I love that. If I had money, I’d shop there just to support that.
It’s always a kick in the pants (NaBloPoMo Day 8)
Nov 8th
There’s a natural Law in the universe that states something along the lines of “If you have you it, you won’t need it.” I’ve had this funky type of torx screwdriver in my junk drawer for years. I don’t know where it came from, or how it got there, or what I’d use it for (I do have torx bolts on my Harley, but they’re much bigger). But I can’t throw it away. Even though I’ve been slowly decrapifying my house (and hopefully my life), I simply can’t throw it away.
Why? Well, because of the corollary to that first Law, which everyone knows; simply “If you need it, you won’t have it”
Great case in point: in a previous entry I talked about going to Krysta’s Halloween party. I had couple of ideas for costumes, but because of time constraints, I was going with ‘easier is better’. How about…a deviled egg! Yes! A simple white t-shirt, paint a paper plate yellow and stick it in the middle of the shirt and a pair of nice devil horns I’d received as part of a FreeBSD goodie bag I got a long time ago. But, thinking about it, I realized in my desire to get rid of stuff I never use, I threw away those devil horns.
And that’s why people hoard stuff. They always figure they might need it. But I’m not going to let that deter me – I’m still aiming to throw more stuff away!
Politics (NaBloPoMo Day 7)
Nov 7th
This past election was probably the most interested I’ve ever been where local politics are concerned. The county board of supervisors that were voted in last go-around turned out to be quite the bunch of morons. Loudoun county had a policy of slow growth, as decided by the voters. As soon as the board was sworn in last time, a good number of them started making plans to sell land to developers, and one of the individual members took over the Chairman of the Board position, even though the voters had voted the person they wanted in.
I’m happy to say that the person who took over as Chairman was soundly defeated, as were several others of his clique. The original Chairman is back in place and we have new board members, so now hopefully we can begin to feel positive about Loudoun’s future again. I’m glad I voted in the local election this time around – I really feel like my vote counted, and it sent a message to those butt-heads that are on the way out the door. Good riddance.
Krysta’s Halloween Party (NaBloPoMo Day 4)
Nov 4th
My friend Kyrsta throws the best Halloween parties. She goes all out with themed parties each year. Two years ago – the first time I attended one of her parties – she had a Harry Potter themed party. Last year’s was Sci-Fi (I was working at the bar that night, but told the kids’ I’d take them. I had no costume, but I did have a red shirt. So I grabbed a piece of paper, cut out a Star Trek badge, and went as the Red Shirt Guy Who Always Dies When They Go Planet Side)…this year’s themes was Nightmare Before Christmas. Again, we didn’t have much in the way of costumes, but because of the theme, we could dress Christmas-y. We did have Santa hats, and that’s all it took.
Krysta had great decorations, like always, and quite the spread – like always. She looked fantastic as Sally, with a great home-made costume. She always makes her costumes, and if you take a look at her gallery, you’ll see she does a fantastic job.
I can’t wait to see what she comes up with for a theme (or costume) next year. I think next year, I’m also going to try and come up with a decent costume. I went as Hagrid for the Harry Potter party, and won Best Costume (I think), and that was great fun.
So thanks Krysta…can’t wait to do it again!