A Bunch of Stuff

Not surprisingly I have been absent from my blogging for longer than intended. Again. Oddly, I have actually had things to write about, but just haven't sat down to do it. Why? Who could say? I know I have a list of potential reasons, but none are really valid so F it. I won't even try.

Let's see, maybe a little recap of things that have happened that could have been cool stories, but since I am packing them into one post it will be perhaps slightly abbreviated ...

Number 1, football. I play in a league with some work folk. It's co-ed and two-hand touch. This sounds like a good combination for perverts such as myself, but two things hinder the perversion. One, it's winter and everybody wears lots of clothes, including gloves and two, most of the girls are scary and not really the sorts that I want to touch. And I'm guessing for the most part they aren't into the gents anyway. That's purely speculation, but I'll stick with my gut on this one.

Every week football is a mess. There are (again) two factors that influence this. One, we are pretty awful and two, Mother Nature. Every week the weather and the field conditions are different. Muddy, snowy, frozen, rain, slush, wind, you name it.

Three memorable football events over the last few weeks: One week it was sort of warm. I even wore shorts. BUT, there was leftover snow on the ground. This snow was melting, but not entirely, so we were playing in slushy water the whole game. Water over the tops of my feet. Ice water essentially. Our feet were so numb by the end that it was scary. I was seriously wondering if I had done permanent damage. As it turns out, I'm a overreacting pussy and we were fine. But Jesus that was uncomfortable. Also a highlight of that game, and memorable moment number two, is a girl from the other team gave a guy on my team the hardest slap I've ever seen administered. It was awesome. And really over nothing. His face was red until halftime and she got kicked out. The last memorable moment that I will mention is the game following the slush and the slap. My friend Mike and I were playing defense and guarding our guys, when they crossed each other we managed to run into each other full steam. We both got knocked pretty good, but Mike went down. When I got to him his mouth was a bloody mess and he was looking dazed. He eventually got up and made his way to the sidelines before eventually going home. His teeth were all intact as was his nose. After he had left, another guy on my team asked, "What part of you ran into him?" I said, "I think it was my shoulder but I'm not sure. But my shoulder sort of hurts so I'm guessing that was it." He said, "Oh yeah, it was your shoulder." I look and there is blood spatter and a piece of lip on the shoulder of the fleece I was wearing. Update: Photo now available here. I'm a murderer.

Number 2, I went to a pretty sweet birthday party at a place just east of downtown CL. The bar was great. 100 years old, cool owners/bartenders, good jukebox, snacks, beers I never see anymore (Stroh's?) a dog, a cat and fun times all around. Read these little blurbs about this place here and you'll get the idea: Playboy | Esquire

Number 3, I attended a show at Beachland Ballroom. It was Tim Fite as the headliner with Benjy Ferree and Elephant Bones opening. I had listened to Benjy Ferree online and was sort of looking forward to it live but was slightly let down. I like the more "old timey" sounding stuff (e.g. "Fear" on the MySpace page) but there wasn't all that much of that. They were fine. I guess I was just expecting something a bit different. Thumbs up to local guys, Elephant Bones. A good sound. Solid, gimmick-free rock (other than the singer's hat I suppose.) Fite was odd but good. Certainly entertaining. It's cool to see someone just doing their thing. I'm sure he's not making much (if any) money, but he keeps making weird, non-radio friendly music (art?) because that's what he wants to do. Amen to that.

Number 4, I had shingles. Not the flat, tar/stone sheets that go on your roof. This sort of shingles. My waist along my left side felt weird for like a week, almost like I had dry skin or like my pants had rubbed there or something, but I couldn't see anything. Then one day I woke up and the whole area (especially heading down towards my crotch) was tender and it hurt to sit. When odd feelings start progressing towards my "junk" I get nervous, so I went to the doctor. He knew right away what I had. I got some medicine to decrease the discomfort, I rested up a bit and now I'm pretty much back to 100%. I'm a medical misfit!

Alright, I'm going to go finish a movie I started yesterday and get to bed. I'll try to come back and give you a little update on this coming weekend as well as an update on some communications.

Another Week Gone By

Again with the lack of consistent updates. I know, I know.

Anyway, this past week was pretty fun. Monday I went to see my boys from my old stomping ground, the New York Yankees play my new stomping ground's Cleveland Indians. Tickets were a birthday present making it even better. Despite it was pretty chilly out and there was some sloppy playing by both sides, the Yankees pulled out a win which was pretty sweet. Making all this even sweeter was the fact that some random guy comes up to me at the bar before the game and asked if I wanted to upgrade my ticket. I, of course, am suspicious of anything that seems too good to be true. I told the guy that the tickets I had were pretty good (not a lie) but he said, "Look, these are right behind homeplate. Here, take 'em." So I did. And he wasn't lying. Five rows back, right behind the plate. Pretty sick. I bought the guy a beer, but other than that it really was a totally free upgrade. WTF? That kind of thing never happens to me. So, thanks for the tickets mystery guy. It was appreciated.

The day after the game I went to see spaz rockers (did I just make up a new genre?), Mindless Self Indulgence at The Agora. Pretty cool venue. Sold out too, so it was full to the brim with the odd mix of punks, goths, rockers and ravers that MSI seems to attract. A good time was had by all. I even picked myself up a poster that I plan on getting framed (someday).

Last night I went to a dos de mayo party at a co-workers apartment. Also pretty fun. Drinks, snacks, drinking games, music, stories about whitewater rafting and high school football douchebags, etc.

Tonight I have another cinco de mayoish party with my newly established rowing peeps. I'm bringing some mac and cheese and people better fucking like it because it's the shit.

Playing Catch Up aka Recaping The Week

I can see this blogging isn't quite flowing like it used to. Well, I warned you.

So let's see ... what's been going on?

Friday was pretty non-eventful. Some Chinese food, some TV and early bed.

Saturday was a full day. I got up in the morning and jumped on my bike and carted my ass down to the mighty Cuyahoga where I did an introductory class for the rowing league that I signed up for. 7:30am to 2:30pm. It's a lot of introductory action going on. Anyway, the class was mostly people who have never rowed before. I have already been trained and beaten by the sport back in my college years so I know what I'm doing although am out of practice and about 25 or 30 pounds heavier than I was back then. Obviously there is always more to learn (especially when it comes to me) but around people who have never had their ass in a shell or touched an oar, I look pretty awesome. So the day went well. Some introductions to the club, some safety stuff, a tour of the boathouse, some overviews of rowing, some time on the ergs and then some time on the water. At the end of it all, one of the coxswains and one of the more experienced rowers that was helping out with the day asked if I'd like to be in a more competitive boat rather than flailing around with novices. I reluctantly said "yes." I figure if I'm going to do this I should get more than a tour of the riverbanks, right? Hopefully I won't regret this move. There is already talk of workouts and training and sweating. Part of me thinks this sounds good but the other part of me thinks this is exactly what I happily said goodbye to back in May of 1995. It's that love/hate routine that I have with rowing ... with all things really. Anyway, it should make for some entertainment and/or torture so I'm giving it a go.

Oh, and my shoulder wasn't actually bothered much by the rowing. Odd. My shoulder still hurts from my little fall, but only seems to bother me when I sleep on it or pick up things with my arm at an odd angle. Rowing, biking, running and most other things are OK. I'm thinking that is a good sign. Maybe I'll heal without having to go to some wacky Cleveland witch doctor.

Saturday night was out for a birthday celebration. For me. Sunday I turned the big 3-5. Ouch. Anyway, a whole bunch of my co-workers went to a bar and did what we always do at bars. Drink. There was some pool and darts too, but mostly everybody stuck with what they do best which is drinking. Nothing too crazy, but it was fun. Much better than last year, that's for sure. Now I'm old enough to run for President so get your petitions ready and I'll get practicing my handshaking and my laying down bullshit 24/7.

This week has been pretty average, but I did go see a jazz show at Brothers Lounge on Wednesday and out for some eats, drinks and Cavs watching tonight.

Nothing major planned for the weekend at this point, but Monday I'm going to see my Yankees play the Tribe and Tuesday it's Mindless Self Indulgence (I've got an extra ticket to MSI if you want to go).

That's all for now. I'll try to update a little more frequently, but no promises.