I'm A Satellite Heart: 2010

Monday, November 22, 2010

life is good, life is sweet

The thing about memories is that if you dont think about them once in a while, they disappear into some dormant part of your brain. Or cease to exist up there at all, i'm not sure which to be honest. I was just thinking the other day about taking batting practice over the summer. So many times I couldnt talk someone into coming with me into the cage so I'd steal away by myself and hit off of a tee. Once or twice, bat boy Steve would lob a few pitches to me; another time, our broadcaster Scott pitched; I was even coerced by Jeff to stand in and take some cuts during one of the baseball camps... my head grew a bit that day as he praised my swing (I was using a little league metal bat, haha). And once, just once, on a brilliant blue-skied puffy-white-clouds day in late August, those of us who hadn't left the team to head back to school got to take bp on the field. Mac pitched and we all rotated in the field. I swung a bat that was much too heavy for me and was exhausted by the end of my turn. I remember standing out in left field, where Steve-John and Brendan were playing baseball golf, taking turns hitting the ball across the outfield towards an end goal on the other side. Ignoring the fact that I was standing between him and the goal (quite far away in the right field corner) Steve-John hit a line drive that, he served a ball up and WIZZ .. it flew within a foot of my head, right past my ear. One of the scariest and most infuriating moments of my life!

It secretly thrilled me every time one of the guys caught me in the cage. If I was down there, I wasnt expecting anyone else to be- their personal batting practice times usually tended to be closer to game time when I was busy with my various responsibilities. Still, once in a while Derek Kinzler would catch me, or Shawn Williams, or Dom or Keith. It's not a secret to most people who know me that I dont like doing things that I'm not good at in front of others (to the point where I wont do them sometimes). My swing, well, I have confidence in my swing, so I was just fine with the boys encouraging my southpawedness and having no tips to give. It's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but pretty standardly sound; only Dom and Shawn would give me any sort of advice, and while I've forgotten Shawn's (losing my memory at age 25.. very frustrating.. but I feel very much that it was along the same lines as what follows) I will always remember Dom's "loosen up, let it flow".. the bats were a bit heavy and my whole body was tensing up every time I turned my shoulders in order to try to get them around fast enough/compensate for the weight of the bat and the inadequacy of my muscles. :) Advice from a friend is good. I enjoy improving myself.

Now here I am. Too much time on my hands many days.. but I am having a love affair with Boston. Things on my mind include wondering how in the world I will ever live apart from it again. And yet, I havent figured out how to make a permanent home here- the local real estate is not in my price bracket. (I could remedy that and I think about it at least once weekly- give up the baseball dream, sign on with a healthy-atmosphered corporate job and bring in the bucks. Do the 9-5, and go to baseball games every day to unwind. Buy a house asap, rent out rooms to help pay the mortgage, get rid of those pesky student loans, fall into comfort.) Still, EVERY. TIME. i see Boston's taller buildings in my rear view mirror when I'm returning home through Somerville from Market Basket or Star Market, I automatically crack a tiny sentimental side-smile. My favorite places are on the bridges that connect Cambridge to Boston... no matter what time of day or what type of weather, I think to myself in the moments I'm crossing (on foot, by T, in my car) how utterly, heartbreakingly beautiful my city is. That I've never seen before like I am seeing it at that point in time. The leaves have been changing for months and every new shade of every leaf is just as uniquely bold and gorgeous as the other colors they have shown through this season. And then, one day, the leaves are totally gone and everything is a bit more spacious and the air is crisp and clear and bites at my nose and cheeks. Heatless sunshine splashes onto the brick buildings of Back Bay and Beacon Hill. The Charles is like frosted glass, not smooth like a mirror nor choppy with waves.. just textured.

Sigh.

I love it here.

With that said.. I interviewed with the Cleveland Indians a couple days ago. My resume made it to the final round out of.. well.. a LOT of applications. I am honored to tell you the truth. I spoke with the man I would be assisting (Director of Operations for Spring Training) and we got on very well, or that's my feeling at least. We talked for an hour. A step or two in the process, and then the decision on his part. The job would be perfect for me, and I for it. I truly have relevant experience to meet the requirements of the position, but not enough time in the biz nor with a MLB or affiliate team to be able to push my weight around... moving up to work with the Indians would be incredible. Remarkable. A dream. Completely unexpected. An extremely rare opportunity. A jump from a lower rung to one at the very top (the ultimate top being the Red Sox or Yankees in particular). There's nothing more I can do.. I have put my best foot forward and am entirely satisfied with /optimistic about how my interview went.

I miss my girl in New Zealand.

I am a dodgeball fiend. Not afraid to tell you that I excel at dodgeball.

I auditioned for MasterChef 2. I didnt make it. Boohoo. They did say that my cake's frosting was "excellent"..

One of many great things about Boston is Bostontweet- Beantown's very own Tom O'Keefe. I follow Tom on twitter where Bostontweet does it's thing about town- tweeting to his followers about everything Boston, from upcoming concerts large and small, to accidents, to events and happenings, and especially about local businesses (Bostontweet is Tom's startup marketing vehicle- he promotes local businesses). We have become twitter friends, and whenever he tweets about where he is during the day, I always have the desire to go out and find him. I know that plenty of people around town do the same, and in the past few months I've actually had some near run-ins but in the end I was a bit to slow. On Saturday I went to the Prudential Center to make Christmas cards for yet-unsponsored Compassion kids and to make myself available for others to drop off cards that they had made as I plan to send them out to Compassion all together. One person stopped by, and I had forgotten my scissors, so I left about 45 minutes earlier than I had particularly planned to.
(AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. I had the whole story written out. somehow while i was writing the site signed me out and stopped saving my progress, then asked me to sign in when i tried to submit the post!! WOW I HATE BLOGSPOT RIGHT NOW! WOWWEE)
Tom had tweeted about an a cappella performance being put on by one of the college groups in front of the Nike Store on Newbury, just a few blocks away, and I was going to stop by on my walk through the city to Park Street.. but first I headed in the opposite direction to the nearest (participating) Starbucks to take advantage of a special that they were running with their holiday lattes.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Happy Halloween!

The most remarkable thing about this Halloween was that I saw not ONE vampire costume.

Here's mine- and then a few pics from a farm I visited for work. Just sayin hey to those who peruse my blog once in a while :) hope to post something more tonight or tomorrow- we'll see.

Monday, October 18, 2010

AUTUMN!

http://bos.to/jetblue

this is my next adventure, to commence in less than 4 hours when I wake up to my alarm (a snippet of Muse's Hysteria), throw on layers of clothing, and trek down the street to the Arlington T stop. The first inbound train departs at 5:14am and I will be on it. Aside from showing up an hour and a half early, I have no power over whether I win anything at this Jet Blue event, but I'm going to put myself in the right place, hopefully at the right time, and see what happens. It will be nice to be in North Station- havent been there for quite a while.

My days in Canton are over. Today I started working on Peabody's Patch, doing the same sort of stuff only this time it's north of the city in familiar territory. Today wasnt super productive, but I got enough done. Last week, in an effort to finish things up, I turned in about 40 listings in one day (most people do about 30 in a week). I felt pretty good after that. So work is going very well, and Pat is actually going to be doing some side stuff with Peabody's Patch force too.

The only things I plan to say about baseball tonight are that I am 100% behind the Rangers and that my friend Dom was at tonight's game and sent me this pic:

YEEEAH! Pretty cool. He's going to tomorrow's game as well. Next year I'll catch a WS game. I've been to ALDS and ALCS games in the past few years, and definitely remember the excitement with MUCH longing. Sigh. It wasnt to be for us this year.

Let's see. Since I last wrote, I've had the chance to catch up with a bunch of friends. Kenny and I chatted over Boloco, Victor bought me a drink at the Pour House, I celebrated the end of the JUICE's best softball season yet with my teammates at Dan's new house in Wenham, I spent an afternoon and evening with Johannes, saw Justin (S) off at Logan Airport, and watched Point Break with Chy, Lauren, JB and Justin (B), I made plans with Linc, I had a few quick chats with Dom, Julia and I enjoyed some home-fried chicken at the Highland Kitchen where she works part-time, even saw Lindsay while she was visiting from Argentina- and Jeff was present as well. I'm watching Glee with Julia tonight, having dinner with Johannes on Wednesday, meeting Pat for dinner on Friday, and going out with my friend Dan on Saturday. MAYBE having some video gaming quality time with Kubs somewhere between now and Sunday. Whew. That's a pretty good list if I do say so myself. OH! And I know what I'm going to be for Halloween:

Of all places, I got the idea from Martha Stewart's site. Looks fun to make and creative to wear.

Things are great. I'm headed to sleep now, in hopes that I can get out of bed when I need to in a few hours. I miss working in baseball. I miss working at the Rox. Closing thoughts..

Friday, October 1, 2010

Flexibility

Things are a lot different for me right now, and it all centers around work. My work day is definitely not 12+ hours anymore. I'm sure that most people cant imagine getting used to 12+ hour work days but it really did become standard procedure for me this summer... and if you've been reading this blog you know that I didnt mind it. In fact, I didnt know what to do with myself when I had shorter days. Now I make my own hours. I've been spending 2-3 hours each day in Canton speaking with business owners, managers, or anyone else who will talk with me. It's a good time, especially because it reminds me of Raymond. I am starting to get a sense of the flavor of Canton, it's social and economical and political dynamics. Canton, this town I have no real ties to- aside from the fact that the original members of Relient K are from Canton, OH. It has been interesting thus far! Beyond that, I get to set my creative skills to work a bit, selecting and editing pictures of the different businesses I've visited and doing paragraph-length write-ups about each establishment. I'm getting quicker at the writing part, but man am I out of practice. Also, I'm glad I have a job like this where I really have to be diligent and self-directed... those are great abilities to have, and I dont get enough practice at honing them. Cant beat the pay- and it's weekly so I'll get my first monetary dues this Tuesday. What... money coming IN for once? It's a dream come true.

I'm still loving my piano music, and a lot of the same stuff I was listening to almost a year ago. Cant wait until I'm a little more settled somewhere. I'll have a piano, and I'll be able to practice and play at will.

I think it's about time for bed. I'm in Maine, my brother is sleeping upstairs, my parents are at a wedding out of state, and my hair is curly. It's been raining all day and night. I'm sporting my moose pj pants. The smell of fresh chocolate chip cookies hasnt completely disappeared from my earlier baking efforts. I'll be back in MA tomorrow afternoon, and will probably just do some work from home to finish the day off. I miss Campanelli Stadium, Grant, Karissa, Dom, Scott, Mason, Falu, the batting cage, Christian and Cory. The Meadow and Lake Erie Rainfall have been on repeat on my iTunes... I want my love to be described by those two songs, among perhaps one or two others. I've had one alcoholic drink since the season ended (things are back to normal). Even now at age 25 I feel "grown up" when I get my oil changed without parental prompting (just yesterday, thank you). There's nothing good on TV... and TV is almost entirely dull to me anyway. I'm going to buy an EZ Pass for the highway and then go to sleep.

Night.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Looking Back, Looking Ahead

I'm not above tangents. My life is made up of seeming "bunny trails", in fact... when I look back it sure does look that way, at least. I have the inside scoop, and I know that all of my passions and jobs and pursuits have significant purpose behind them, but to an onlooker I've got a lot of unrelated experiences.

Nah.

These things all make me who I am. Some have enriched me personally, emotionally, spiritually; some have made me the kind of money I've needed to travel or pursue certain career paths; some have simply given me great life experience and serve as interesting stories to tell- which I believe is very important, having stories. Someday I'll be "old" and my life will be relevant to others through the stories I can tell about my experiences.

And now, another seeming tangent- although an overarching theme to my life has always been that things inevitably come back around. Relationships, work, hobbies, interests.. nothing has to be lost or passed by forever. Today I start my freelancing career with Patch. Check it out- www.patch.com . It's a site that is ultimately owned by AOL, so reputable for sure. It focuses on bringing backyard, hyperlocal news and interests to its readers. MY first efforts will be towards furnishing information and small writeups about local businesses- a la Yelp.com , but more focused and more complete. The pay for doing what I'll be doing- hitting local businesses to gather basic information- is incredible, and there is almost unlimited work available to me. I will easily make a living wage doing just this, and in fact will be making much more than that as I have no second job and can devote an intense amount of time to this. As a freelancer, I make my own hours. I can submit 30 listings in a week, or 100 (or more). It blows my mind how I fell into this job, especially so soon after my end with the Rox. But finding jobs and making money has never been a problem in my life, and I am extremely grateful for this. The best part is that while I am working for the Canton, MA Patch site, Patch will soon be expanding into Maine. At the moment, there are quite a few states that Patch is up and running in, and about 200+ towns that are being covered. The goal is 500 by December... and new town Patches are going live every day. I talked to my overseer today about Maine and she is happy to get me involved with the expansion into Maine, which will be taking place over the next couple of months (my thinking is, maybe sooner- if they have someone who is actively interested in getting the ball rolling, and who knows an area well and can furnish some freelancers and employees who can cover a few towns to start with). My overseer is actually a Christian, attends Reunion in Boston and I am just continually amazed at how I find myself in the situations I come into... God really does have a purpose behind all of the relationships we're part of, all of the endeavors we undertake when we're walking in His light. I've got a personal connection with this woman now and I know that if I want to get settled in with Patch for the long term, she is a great IN and will be a good friend to get to know outside of work.

Separation from my Rox world has been SHOCKINGLY unpainful. This might be the first time in my life where I havent felt inner turmoil while removing myself from a community I'd become a part of. I fondly miss a number of people, but I dont kid myself that the community will ever possibly exist again. What a great summer though. I'll never forget it. Let's look at some pictures, that always makes a blog post more interesting. No particular order: