The Long Lost Blogger- dedicated to Katie

Well. I suppose it really has been 17 days since i posted here. I've been writing once in a while at http://pavilionsro.blogspot.com ... but my thoughts are pretty much all over the place on that site, and I tend to write out of anxiety and longing for my team. Coherency is not 1st priority.

It's hard to recap the span of a couple weeks. In no particular order, I received a coupon book that I bought for $15 which has some incredible discounts and have been taking advantage of this often, I've seen Clash of the Titans and Hot Tub Time Machine (neither of which I really liked, but there was some redeeming entertainment value to Clash of the Titans- and thanks to the coupon book, the movies were $6 and $7.50 respectively), I had a visitor, I was a visitor myself, I accidently broke something of Nadine's :(, I was taken out by Nadine to a very nice dinner, I signed up to clean up the school that my church body inhabits on Sundays, I made chicken curry, I went to the Grove, I went to Yogurtland, I went to the beach, I caught a Quakes game on a heartbreakingly perfect Sunday afternoon, I talked to my brother, I watched LOST, I mourned over the fact that LOST is a repeat tonight, I started to wind down at my current job, I got part of this song down pat:

(~53 sec to about 1:20)

Yes, as most of you know, I made the drive up to Laytonville out of love for my cousin and his family, which is my family too. The drive north was fascinating, and I wasnt bored for a second. I owe it all to a filled-out music selection, sunny weather, no traffic woes, fantastic gas mileage (only took me about 1.25, 1.5 tanks of gas to get up there), and plain old anticipation. Ah.. and how could i forget the ever-changing, gorgeous scenery? What a beautiful drive. I cant wait for an excuse to do it again, I really cant.

When I arrived, it was late- not sure if it was 12am or just before, but I had such a sense of serenity as I stepped out of my car onto shaky  legs and looked up through the trees to see brilliant stars. Mmm, just lovely. Wild life was humming gently around me. I was welcomed with hugs and about 20-30 minutes of chat, and then we all decided to call it a night.

The next morning, I awoke to the sounds of various farm animals outside my window. Everything else was quiet, and I could see the sun out my window. The grass was covered in early morning country mist. Absolutely picturesque. I just laid there for a few minutes, and soon heard Ryder across the house talking with his mom. Then, the pitter patter of little feet, and then silence. From bed, I glanced through the gap in the open door of my room to see a curious little face framed by wild feathery blonde hair gazing back. 

I invited him in and, friendly fellah, he entered the room with a smile on his face and started chatting away with me. I asked him if he wanted the wet willey that his grandpa had told me to give to him, and he grinned before  declining. In no time, he had me up and out of bed, and we sat on the floor of his play room and made castles for quite a while. 

Throughout that morning I received a fairly thorough tour of his toy room and everything in it. We were eventually joined by Mat's friend Jacob and his son Griffin, who's a bit younger than Ryder. (Ryder just turned 3, by the way- had a great birthday party, lots of fun presents, and a racecar pinata!) 

We all played together until breakfast was served- and of course, Mat is a ridiculously good cook. I generally dont eat pig meat, not on principle but just because I dont like it, but the ham he made was fresh and tasty. Hash browns, eggs, oj, and I was better than good to go. Thank you, cousin.

We went for a walk down their country lane, came back and played some more (ABCs for Ryder, reading, more castles), and settled in for lunch (perfect chicken salad- big chunks of chicken, walnuts, grapes, onions, consumed with pita bread). 

Mat and I had a chance to talk one on one during and after mealtime. I wonder if we had ever really talked, or spent concentrated time together. When I was little I remember thinking that he was the coolest. Now of course I love all of my cousins for the unique people that they've become :) Anyhow, before I dig myself into a hole here, haha (because the fight for the Favorite Uncle title is about to break out, I can just feel it) ...in the afternoon, we (minus Erin, who was wiped out at that point and opted to stay home) drove down the street a bit to pick up some groceries and "visit" the family on Skype. WOWWWW Ryder is so cute. Every time his grandpa (Mat's dad, my uncle) came into view on the computer screen, Ryder would wave and shout Hi Grandpa! Mat doesnt YET have a computer or internet, so this stuff was pretty novel to Ryder. When I videoed him earlier in the day, he was mesmerized by seeing himself on my computer. In any case, it was bittersweet but overall so very wonderful to see everyone gathered, and to be able to be a small part of it. I know that it meant a lot to Mat as well. What a great family I have.

Skype ended all too soon, and we returned to the house for steak and porkchops, asparagus, and shoot, I'm sure there was something else but all I can think about is the asparagus :) Yum. More chatting ensued. Cousinhood is an interesting sort of relationship. In my experience, it's essentially that you're cordially bound to certain people by blood/family ties, but you dont really have the pressure that comes along with a straight up friendship to keep in touch consistently. In a way, it's kind of nice to have people who care about you by default, even without too much of a reason. Anyhow, I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Mat better. He is so sweet to Ryder, and he and Erin seem to have a great home set up in this new place (they bought it late last year). The house itself is really nice. They've got fowl running around all over the place, sheep, horses, a pig (Garret!), a fluffy cat, and two dogs. Really quite peaceful. 

The night ended on a high note, with the consumption of Erin's blueberry upside-down cake. So good!! Then Ryder buried us all one by one in his stuffed animals (which he lugged from his room) and then it was time for bed!

The next morning was short, but sunny and summery and idyllic. We built a few more castles for good measure, and Mat cooked us up omelets with potato, carrot, and asparagus. Avocado on top. AHHHHH, this was mindblowing. I made the same thing a few days after I got back. As you can tell, I was a fan of the menu the whole weekend. 

Mat, Erin, and Ryder were off to the beach for the day, and eventually I said my goodbyes and commenced my return journey. It only took about a half-hour longer than before, as I hit some light traffic around Oakland. Just a warning- the stretch of road about 45 min north of LA- the 5- is DANGEROUSLY beautiful. I couldnt keep my eyes on the road. I wish I could describe it to you, but just think towering mountains, green everywhere, grass and darker dots of trees, everything soft and rolling... and even worse, I drove through there during the Golden Hour period of the evening, so everything looked even more perfect.

Where the 5 meets the 580 (i believe it's the 580), it's a lot of green rolling hills, and an army of windmills/wind turbines. That was fascinating, especially on my drive up, when I wasnt expecting it. Three-armed turbines of all different sizes were spinning at varying speeds... very interesting to watch. Around exit 325 on the 5, i noticed an amazingly potent, floral, sweet smell. It was there on the way up and on the way back. I wish I knew what was growing in the fields along that stretch of road, because the smell was unforgettable.

What else? My friend Tiffany came to visit this past Thursday, Friday, Saturday. I met her during my Music Semester on Martha's Vineyard- the CMC. 

 (Shawna, Me, Tifftastic)

(Andrea, Tiff, Me somewhere in LA)

She's living in NC right now and decided it was a good time to visit, while she'd have the dual benefits of seeing me and escaping to LA for a few days! The first time I visited LA was actually during that CMC semester, so Tiff and I have some history in this part of town even. We had a blast!  Unfortunately, I had to work on Thursday and Friday, but we made the most of it. She got her fill of Century City, and took my car down the road to Westwood Village on Friday to explore a bit. We made chicken curry on Thursday night, and then went to Yogurtland. She was very similar to me in my initial reaction to Yogurtland. I had been talking it up all day to her, and when we got there she tried a few flavors and agreed that everything tasted pretty good; was happy for the toppings bar, and noted without yet fully understanding the significance that the price was by ounce (30 cents/oz). This was just how my first experience went. And then, we got to the register, and I told the cashier that our yogurts were together, and Tiff started to protest.. until the cashier gave us our total, and the total was something like $4.30. At that point, her eyes went wide and she got pretty darn excited- as I had done, too. Cheeeeeap! A little money goes a LONG way at this place. You can get a TUB of froyo for under $3. Anyhow, she was sold.

The next day was work for me, as I mentioned, and Tiff did some exploring. Then, we were going to catch a sunset cruise around the bay in Newport Beach (I got 2 for cheap as part of a www.livingsocial.com deal). Unfortunately, due to several unexpected delays, we missed the cruise... so we went to the Grove instead, caught Clash of the Titans for cheap (thanks to my coupon book! woohoo!). Snuck coffee and cookies into the theatre, because we baaaad. The movie was ridiculous, but it was a leisure activity, and we could laugh about it afterward, so no real complaints.

Saturday... hmm. Saturday we visited Buffalo Exchange (in Westwood Village), which is like a thrift store but people sell their clothes to the shop instead of donating. They were having a $1 sale, and while I purchased a couple duds, I also bought a few great items. It was a madhouse so we didnt last long there. UCLA, which is directly next to Westwood Village, was holding The Festival of Books, so we walked up that way and ended up perusing for quite a while. We eventually came across a $5 or less books tent, and I got some great bargains! $17.50 for a large hardcover coffee table type book called The Chronicle of Baseball, a large softcover Encyclopedia of Soccer, an old nifty looking Complete Works of Shakespeare, and Interviews from Red Sox Nation. Tiff got a piano book. We lugged everything back to the car, went back to Nadine's for a quick lunch, walked to Century City for a dessert of a See's Candies sample each, drove out to the beach in Santa Monica and were beach bums for a while, returned to Nadine's, walked to get coffee down the street, came back to the house and crashed for a while, made dinner, drove to Yogurtland one last time, then headed out for a drive until it was time to go to LAX. We ended up on Hollywood Blvd near all of the constant hubbub area, and decided to find a place to park and walk around. 

We strolled along the walk of stars, saw Grauman's Chinese Theatre (as well as its less flashy sibling, Grauman's Egyptian Theatre), and people-watched from the top level of a plush, gorgeous outdoor mall complex. Lots of over-excited teens; lots of costumed hooligans (spidey, superman, a sparkly-shirted ape man, etc). Never a dull moment. Eventually it was time to head, and I dropped her at LAX without incident. It was a super fun time. I need to find my camera and post a few pics.

Lastly, because this is feeling long now... I went to a Quakes game on Sunday. 

Got those glasses for $1 at Buffalo Exchange. They're ok. They'll do.

It was the kind of day that's perfect to spend at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket. Fenway, well I love Fenway whenever, but I especially love it in the evening/at night. McCoy is great for sunny Sunday afternoons. The Quakes won, and I got some color sitting and scoring the game. It was such a relaxing few hours... I wish the stadium was even 10 miles closer to West LA. Before the gates opened, I had Boba Tea which another CMC friend had recommended to me all of 5 years ago. I chose Pineapple, and, well, it was ok. VERY sweet. It was more of a pineapple slush, ice and pineapple, with tapioca bubbles at the bottom. All in all, it was too sweet for me to get even halfway through, but I'm glad I finally tried it. Also before the game, there were 3 coed softball games happening around the stadium (it's called the Epicenter, hee)... a bunch of nice baseball and softball fields surround the Epicenter. AND it was Little League day, so all sorts of teams were there and the kids marched around the field before the game. Cute.

Any good road trip ideas? I still need to see San Francisco, but I'll wait to make that happen around Mat's wedding. San Diego is also on the radar. Taking suggestions.

Best way to start a day.

I just woke myself up out of a dream, laughing.


My dream started with me inside of Fenway, standing in the bleachers but down at the front in the aisleway, at the wall. Centerfield. The Red Sox, of course were out there. The field was sometimes normal grass, but I also remember it being made of wood, like basketball court flooring. Petey and Ellsbury came out near where I was standing with a friend (dont remember who, maybe Mehdi) and I could see that not only had Ells changed his number from 46 to 2, but Petey had changed his from 15 to 27. I called down to him, asking why he had changed his number. His response was casual, and to the effect that there was no superstition or significance behind it- he just did it. I felt good that I had connected with my baseball hero, and the dream continued on I'm sure, but anything that happened was insignificant and has been forgotten, until the point where I'm standing again at the CF wall, and Petey's there too, very close next to me. He starts chatting at me and we have a conversation- the most that I can remember of what was actually said is that at one point, I looked at him and said "My mom will be disappointed to hear that you're not really that little," to which he replied something about "5'4"", clearly not in reference to himself as he stood at least 2 or 3 inches taller than I (but a reference, no doubt, to the guy at the game last night who kept shouting at our smaller players "5-4! Hey! 5-4!"), and knelt to the ground to jokingly emphasize his reputation for being small, chattering the whole time. For whatever reason, he tilted his head toward my hand and I patted his head like I might do to a child. It wasnt a romantic gesture, just very endearing. Oh, and he had hair, maybe 1/4 or 1/2 inch long- not bald. Well, that conversation was satisfying, whatever it consisted of, and soon he was headed off. He turned to leave, and said goodbye. I lingered at the field as I do after games, just looking around. Someone nearby, who i knew, started telling me how cool it was to see Petey talking so animated with me. Lucky me! haha.
Eventually, I decided to leave too. The stairway was like a castle's, built with large stones, pillared, with many openings to the outside. It was also an extremely long way down, so as soon as the field left my view, it was like I was no longer at Fenway. Anyhow, I started to descend, and noticed Petey at the very bottom already outside the long enclosed stairwell, which snaked around slightly in a clockwise manner, the inside of whatever structure I was now at being to my right (consequently, the wall being to my right). I halted; even though we were far from each other, i didnt want him to think that I was following him. But as I stopped, he turned around (couldnt have heard me) and peered up through the pillars of the outer enclosement of the stairs, and upon seeing me shouted Maggie!" and something about Meryl Masterson's cookies (wife of Justin Masterson, Indians pitcher. her cookies are sooooo good.) He waited a few minutes for me to get to where he was, and we conversed back and forth to each other while i was ascending. Then we started walking together, talking very much like old friends- funny how, when you read about someone in the paper, online, in their book.. and watch them on TV night after night.. and spend many many days sharing the same space and the same goal with them, you start to feel endearment, just as if you are friends, that you would be friends if you had that one missing piece of having actual meaningful and personal interactions; of course we're not friends, but my subconscious did a great job of putting on a show last night of what's really going on in there, and i'll continue- and wherever we had been turned into a school, after hours. Halls were dim and in some places the lights were turned out; there were a few workers here and there, fixing things in the roof, stringing things up, and as we talked we ducked around these people and construction sites. More and more, I got the sense that he was on a mission, headed for something in the building. After a long time of navigating the hallways, we ended up in this pretty small walk-in utility closet space. We couldnt even really move more than a step or two in- it was about 4 feet deep, maybe 5, and three or so times as long. He opened a cabinet in front of us, inside of which were many small rolls of paper, like those used for receipts. Without stopping he stepped right into the metal cabinet, having to somehow stand in one box that was sitting at the bottom of the cabinet while stooping slightly under the shelf above him, and then sort of diving into the other large box set next to the one he was first in. It was comical. He set about rummaging and sort of tossing/launching anything that was in his way. The whole thing was pretty feisty, for no reason that I could see. He's pitching rolls of paper this way and that, and finally comes up with a small box no longer than his forearm, shaped like a square but long like a rectangle. He stepped out of the cabinet, shaking one foot as if there was something on it that shouldnt be, very cool-guy-ish. Petey came over to me and held the box up for me to see- it was weathered, brightly colored- a boardgame. I looked at him like, That's what we came through this whole building for? A little box, a game? I remember thinking, wow, that is SO random. A little boardgame buried in the middle of a box of receipt paper, in a utility closet/room in a school which I've never been to and feel lost in.
We walked out of the utility room, Petey holding the game, and I must have said something- either about his difficulty with the rolls of receipt paper or something else equally as playful- because he replied in very Pedroia form (cocky, dramatic, think little dog yapping at big dogs) something like, "Well I just about got killed to death." I know, doesnt sound like a punchline- believe me, it was more masterfully delivered at the time, and must have referred, again, to his fight inside the cabinet with small rolls of paper so he was being defensive and that's the main point, the way in which whatever moderately funny line he chose was delivered. I tried to fight the smile that immediately started to spread across my face, but I couldnt- I was too happy and amused to be hearing him be this way- and in no time i was laughing uncontrollably at how ridiculous he is. As laughter bubbled out I watched him out of the corner of my eye.. he was trying hard not to crack a smile of his own, but after 5 seconds of my outburst he grew his own little smile that told me that yes, he understood just how absurd he is sometimes.

Then I woke up.

Kazmir

I got to see Scott Kazmir pitch tonight/last night/Friday night! Up close and personal. He was pretty strong through 6 innings... broke down at the end. What a game.. went 10 innings... some back and forth... the opposing starter struck out 10 Quakes in 5 innings... the matchup was an Angels affiliate vs a Dodger affiliate which was fun, people were into it. I had a great time. The ride there was horrible, almost 2.5 hours because of traffic. The ride back was about an hour, 60 miles. Gotta find a closer park. So tired now......

Happy that things are in full swing again. Really, I am.

MLB.TV has been horrible. I havent been able to get the site to allow me to access games. Thankfully, someone pointed me in the direction of a video client called Boxee, by way of which i can channel the MLB.TV feed to watch. However... I miss out on all of the cool things that I'm paying for, like fantasy baseball player stat tracking, a live in-game twitter feed showing everyone who's watching and talking about the game I'm watching, and the option of having up to 4 games open at once. I splashed out for the Premium package (which, when broken down, is worth the splash) and so far I havent been able to take advantage of all of the REGULAR PACKAGE's features. I've spent about 4 hours on the phone with dimwitted (truly, dimwitted) customer service reps. And I'm not the only one experiencing this issue. It's a joke, and it's robbery.

Alright, enough of that. Today was the first day that I really questioned what it is that I thought I was doing in moving here. I'm sure this frenzied panic I'm feeling at the start of this baseball season will subside, will dull. Ugh, i dont want it to.. I like strong emotion, I think it's a good thing, that it tells us about ourselves. But as long as I feel this way, I feel like I'm lacking objective perspective. Have I been like this for the past 2 years? Because if i have, then I think that's something I should explore further. If those of you who would know would say that this baseball thing has come in concentrated fits of passion, well, then I'll wait for it to cool off and have faith that it will; that it'll feel ok soon enough.
The Paw Sox season started today. I listened to the broadcast- Paw Sox blew Rochester away 11-3. I had emailed one of the voices of the Paw Sox, Steve Hyder, and to my delight, he read most of my message on-air. He read it so well. I had written it of course, but the way he spoke it made me laugh, made blood rush into my cheeks, sent a wave of warmth wooshing through me, and made me ache. It also made me feel like the Paw Sox missed me, too- as funny as that sounds. So, silly me, I sit here listening to a mix of songs that largely defined my baseball excursions last year (doesnt this just sound like a breakup? sitting on the floor against the wall with tissues and ice cream, putting on a mix cd of all your favorite songs that remind you of him or her..) ...Michael Bowden wrote on my Facebook wall this morning. I guess it's all just been a bit too much for me, everything this week. Fenway, Red Sox, McCoy, Paw Sox, players traded, fantasy teams picked, MLB.TV working and not working, Dodger Stadium being a let down, the game i'm going to tomorrow in Rancho Cucamonga... I've been watching baseball all day since I got MLB.TV. I watch starting at 10am, throughout work on and off, till I'm done for the night. It's so familiar. Someday when I miss home, and I feel like crying about it, I'll go to the MLB.TV archives and watch the beginning of the second Red Sox vs Yankees game. Before it started, they showed about 60 seconds of a view of Boston from a blimp or helicopter that was above Fenway. I could see the river, I could see up near Boston Common, and it was just stunning, my Boston. And then the views of Fenway during the games this week have been the most familiar thing I've experienced since I've been here. It's mesmerizing. I spent so much time in that place, in and out and under and through and all around it. I see security and field attendant friends and acquaintances on camera during the games. Every view evokes a memory. It's acute and it's overwhelming, overstimulating even.
I think I just realized today (not for the first time) that there are certain things that cant last. For instance, how long until Fenway isnt mine anymore- till half or more of the team I loved for the last 2 years is long gone, till the bullpen catcher Mani is no longer with the team, till Mike and Mike arent on the security team, till Dave isnt reselling tickets every game outside the park...? And I doubt that I'll ever again have the experience of sitting at McCoy with Victor, or Mehdi, trying to keep my eyes on the game while they sit beside me, updating me every few minutes on the progress of Michael Bowden's stares. Their reminders, in teasing and excited tones, always faux-annoyed me while giving me a sense of triumph. Of course, a great portion of Pawtucket's 2009 team has dispersed, so that certainly cant and didnt last, but that's how the Minors go. Still, I miss Charlie Zink and his knuckleball- watching him allowed me to experience the fascination of the knuckleball. I'd watch him warm up in the pen before his starts, could stand directly behind him or behind Dusty Brown, his catcher- and had a great view either way of how he gripped the ball, how he released it, how it traveled through the space between the mound and the plate.


Well. Clearly I just want to talk baseball. Reminisce.
Man do I miss the T. :)


Ok, some good things. Well, work is going just fine. Tomorrow I'm leaving home at 4 to get to Rancho Cucamonga for my first Quakes game. Scott Kazmir is slated to pitch as part of a rehab assignment (Kazmir is a pitcher I really like who has played for the Rays and now for the Angels in the last couple years). Very exciting. And, I imagine that my scorebook will arrive before I leave for the game- I had it shipped from Maine, haha- so I'll be all set, and it will feel good to hunker down at a minor league park and score the game. Maybe I'll fall in love with the Quakes. That would make life easier for me.

Last night Nadine took me to Louise's Trattoria. Lovely little Italian cafe. Guess what I had? "Cajun Jambalaya". Had a definite italian twist to it of course- and there was nothing that was recognizably Cajun about the dish. Still, it was stellar. Then we ended on an even higher note by splitting the largest square of tiramisu I'd ever seen served in a restaurant or elsewhere. It was perfect. Soft, light, fluffy-ish, and the non-cake parts were oh so smooth. Delightful meal.

This weekend I'll be attending a women's brunch in Westwood, put on by a church that I visited a few weeks ago. I figure that it'll be a good way to make friends in my area, even though I dont go to the church. That's Saturday AM... not sure what I have for the rest of the day. I'll definitely be outside at all costs, either at the beach, or hiking, or jogging (fancy that). I recently found a great site giving a solid list of free things to do in LA. Unlike with most lists of this sort, I found that this one had some really legit, interesting suggestions. Actually, not just some. The whole list is great. The plan is to check off everything. There are times where I've got nothing to do, but dont really know what to do to remedy that... well, now I've got some choices set out for me.
http://discoverlosangeles.com/play/activities-and-recreation/activities/free-things-to-do-in-los-angeles.jsp

Also, I havent checked this list out as extensively, but it too will be a source of inspiration I'm sure.
http://discoverlosangeles.com/play/activities-and-recreation/activities/100-free-things-to-do.jsp

Ok, ok, now I've worn myself out. Another beautiful day here in Los Angeles. My friend Tiffany comes in 2 weeks; my friend Jayne comes in about 3. My family+others come in June... maybe I can get Victor over here for the Angels/Red Sox series. I'm hoping to visit my cousin Mat up north, maybe next weekend even. Hardly a dull moment. Loving having a piano here, realizing that I should find a song to learn as I've been emoting solely through all the songs I already know. Time to add to the repertoire.

Good night Neverland.

Easter Recap and MLB 2010!

Easter was lovely. Dinner at the country club was extremely nice, very impressive. Most of the family was there, along with Rob W, who i had met once before when the Ackers had invited a handful of 'young people' to Nadine's about a month+ ago for dinner. The food was incredible, and it was great to be with the Ackers, who have all made me feel very welcome. The biggest excitement of the dinner was when one of Nadine's Easter gifts, sitting in front of her almost in centerpiece position on the banquet table, caught on fire. The flames blazed maybe a foot high before the waiter who was refilling water glasses doused the blaze. Almost no one noticed at first, including myself.

Well, actually, the biggest excitement of the dinner was the updates that Kathleen and Andrew would sneak to me. Negatively charged excitement. They were pretty much all the same- seemed like the Yankees had scored another run everytime they checked the score. I was wallowing but trying to concentrate on other things. Trying to be a good sport, trying to act like it was just a game. By the time I got home, i figured it would all be over... but instead, when i arrived home 3 hours after the first pitch, it was only the 7th or 8th inning! AND, the Red Sox were ahead! There's no describing how the next 45-60 min went for me. What a come from behind victory!!! It was so good to see the guys on the team, so comfortable catching glimpses of the park from all different angles. I felt at home. So much familiarity.

Of course, things havent gone the way Sox fans would have wished since that game. But what more can we ask for than long intense games vs the Yankees? I cant stand the statement that that ump made- about how the length of the Sox/Yanks games are a disgrace to baseball, are embarrassing. That doesnt make sense to me at all. I get so much enjoyment out of that matchup- I'd watch for longer than 4 hours, I'll tell you that much.

Lunch break just ended. Chad Billingsley and CJ Wilson were incredible today, kudos to them. Tough loss for the Rangers after CJ's great debut as a starter. And there's something wrong with this picture... the Nats are beating the Phils.   ???




PAWSOX OPENING DAY TODAY! I'll miss watching you from the stands, Michael Bowden. Maybe you'll miss that too. Cant believe that Jeff Natale and Sean Danielson have moved on to different teams. The minor league teams are so shifty, it's insane of me to get attached to players. They come, they go.


PS, MLB.TV is terrible. but at least i can see the game. more later. they need to fix their issues, i'm paying too much to only be getting a fraction of the product i paid for!

MLB

i am so happy.
i dont need to make any new friends anymore. i have the mlb.tv premium package and can watch every game (minus dodgers/angels games) this season if i want to from my lovely macbook. i can watch ones i've missed, or rewatch games that already happened. i can keep "the game" (any game that's playing) on while i work. i can even get an adaptor and watch from Nadine's huge flatscreen if i want to. it's just awesome. awesommeeeeeeee. i may or may not have a tear in my eye.
ok, just kidding, i'm still making friends. but i am also loving this.

Lake Erie Rainfall

Well hello.

Honestly, there hasnt been a whole lot to report on lately. Things have calmed down quite a bit, in some respects. I worked from home all week, and I stayed close to home for most of last weekend. Jennifer Love Hewitt was doing a book signing at The Grove last Saturday, so my mild interest paired with the knowledge of a much stronger interest on the part of my friend Victor was enough motivation to get me over to the Barnes and Noble to check it out. She wasnt very personable. Just my experience of her. The next day, it hit up Reality LA for church and then spent the rest of the day up the Pacific Coast Highway on a small section of beach in Malibu. It was delightful. I read, and didnt get sunburned. Yes, that's right, I remembered sunscreen. This is no small thing.

 Hmm. This week I located a few other Trader Joe locations. Received a package of Easter candy (thanks parents!).. paid lots of bills. On Thursday, I went to my first game at Dodger Stadium. They played an exhibition game vs Cleveland, and I was first and foremost hopeful that I would come across Justin Masterson. No such luck- he was nowhere to be seen. This was, frankly, a huge disappointment. And in all honesty, my first Dodgers game was not a great experience. I sat in the Left Field Pavilion- think left field, bleachers- as in one long concrete plank to sit on, and a similarly-sized concrete plank as a back rest. I was in agony for most of the game, and i'm only exaggerating a little bit when i say that. I could NOT get comfortable, and had to shift every 5-10 minutes once the position I was in became unbearable. I'm talking pain here. I wont sit in that section again. Strange, but I noticed, from that vantage point, that much of the seating behind the plate and baselines was not very well-lit. Some downright dark sections, including an area that ranged at least 15 sections left to right in the Top Deck (I think that's what it's called.. the top-most level). By comparison, every place in Fenway is right in the lights. Hmm, what else? The bullpens are inconveniently wedged into either corner of the outfield, so unless you're seated in the very right-most or very left-most seats in right or left field respectively, you dont see anything that's happening in the pen. The seats directly behind the Sox pen became my favorite places to sit last season, so I had hoped for a similar sort of view at Dodger Stadium. Alas. And I'll end my complaints by saying that finding my car at the end of it all was next to impossible. The parking around this place stretches much farther than the eye can see, on different levels of the hill that the Stadium sits on. A concrete wasteland. However, the nighttime view of downtown LA from one particular side of the parking expanse is incredible. I had to stop and gaze for a few minutes.

All in all, I'm both pleased and distraught that Dodger Stadium doesnt hold a candle to Fenway. It was baseball- and granted, the game wasnt even a regular season game- but it held none of the beautiful intensity that I had become so accustomed to at Red Sox games. I'm not giving up, and I'll surely go back... but I left the park that night feeling  emptier and more sorrowful than I had in months.

...Didnt mean to bring such a depressing tone to this entry. Last night I took Nadine to Yogurtland, which was a nice little excursion. We had a good time but it was a chilly night, not the best for frozen yogurt consumption. Today I spent my morning and early afternoon on Skype drafting players for my rotisserie league team. It's a keepers league, so I only had 7 open spots on my roster to fill. I think things went very well, and I'm pretty excited about this team for 2010. Last year I heavily favored my other two fantasy teams, which were both Head To Head format. This year, we'll have to see. I'm in one other league, a Head to Head league. Not extremely fond of my team, nor am I satisfied with how they were drafted (automatically, by the computer... which landed me with some strange results, one of them being that I received NO reserve pitching (many people DID get reserve pitchers, some people got 3 1st basemen drafted to their team, and there were some other weird phenomenons)). Anyhow, the draft was a lot of fun even though I couldnt physically be there in CT with everyone. I didnt realize until later on how good it felt to interact with familiar faces. Sometimes I'll go into a store here, and get lost looking at clothes or books, etc, and forget where I am until I head back out to the street and find myself in the thick of this place they call Los Angeles. I felt that way today when I left my room after the draft- reentering my LA existence- as well as when I left the thrift store I visited today. Speaking of which... well, here are a couple new acquisitions. The dress was purchased at a nice clothing store in the mall... was on a rack of similarly pretty dresses and shirts that were "last call" kind of items, all $9.99. What a steal! And I found the Dodgers shirt at "Out of the Closet", the aforementioned thrift store. Awesome, because I've been looking for a Dodgers shirt when I visit thrift stores, but it's tough to find ones that arent tacky and that ARE my size. This was exactly what I wanted- simple Dodgers T with a decent player's name on it. BONUS: Furcal as #15. Dustin Pedroia is THE #15 in my life. Anyhow, some lazily-taken pics:

Like the coat? I loved it, over the top though it may be. My phone doesnt capture detail very well, but the coat was a likeable shade of crimson with gold trim. I wish I was brave enough to buy it, and then brave enough to wear it. Actually, I AM brave enough to buy it... I'm just not sure how long I would continue to think the coat was cool.

Ok, one more section and then off to bed. Sorry, this isnt going to end on a happy note. Baseball's Opening Day is tomorrow. More importantly, Easter is also tomorrow. I have to say that I feel like I'm being robbed of the amount of celebration I should be experiencing in light of the fact that 1) it is Opening Day! and 2) it is Easter! Another way of putting it- I'm experiencing what it's like to have December 25 as my birthday. Not exactly the same, but you see what I'm getting at I hope. I suppose that the problem REALLY only exists in the fact that, on the West Coast, Beckett will throw his first pitch from the mound at Fenway to Yankees batter #1 (Jeter?) at around 5pm.
Which is Easter dinnertime.
It's still a weird thing to have Opening Day on Easter, no question, but if I was back home... well, at least the game would start at 8pm. Church, fellowship, dinner, family.. there would be more than enough time to devote to these things. And once the day was through, it would be completely acceptable for the family to sit down together and tune in to NESN.
I dont mean to whine, I really dont. I know that most people wont understand why it's so important, and consequently so devastating, this Easter day start of the 2010 regular season- the fact that this commencement has an added bit of epic flair with the Red Sox and Yankees being pitted against each other makes it that much more exciting. This is not a problem with Easter- it's a problem with whoever was in charge of putting baseball in the midst of Easter and creating this conflict!! Honestly! I'm not the only one in this boat... there are millions of people in non ESTzones who will be celebrating Easter and spending time with family when their teams start playing- there's really no choice to be made, the priority is clear, but why on earth should we have to choose at all?? After diehard baseball fans everywhere have waited since November for this day (not a long time, but it can feel like an abyss when you're waiting for something) shouldnt we be able to enjoy Easter as Easter, and Opening Day as Opening day- the two being separate occasions as well as separate reasons on very different scales for celebration. Unfortunately, I will come away from tomorrow having participated in no real baseball game viewing- text updates re the game from friends and family would be nice, but I'll be having dinner at Bel Air Country Club starting at 5, and will be driving someone home before arriving home myself after the fact, so watching is not a possibility. April 4 2010 is Easter, and Easter alone. And that's enough- Easter is MORE than enough. I just wish that in a couple days, I'd also get an Opening Day.

Thankfully, there are thousands of baseball games to be played over the next 6 months.

But it doesnt feel good to put it into perspective like that, so I'll just assume that this will pass in about 2 days' time.

I didnt write about LOST. That's probably ok, because maybe 2 of you, if that, watch the show anyhow! I've heard that "next week, the conversation changes" and that has me very very excited. Still clueless, but loving the intrigue more than ever, still riding off of Richard's and Ben's respective episodes from the past month.

Reality LA tomorrow! Thank you Jesus for what You're doing in this city and for what You've done for everyone everywhere.

Parting thought... someday I'd love to have a grand piano. or a baby grand. do i ever see myself having that much $$? no. but the dream remains.........

i havent written because nothing too out of the ordinary has happened. I'll try to write tomorrow.

But for now, I had a great dream. We were on the Island (yes, LOST fans, the Island), and a lot of the LOST characters were there! I wish I could remember enough of it to tell you the sequence of events, but a lot of it has faded already. I do remember being on the beach, and it wasnt necessarily like we were waiting for impending rescue, but more like we were waiting for the impending "end" (of the show). And we were chatting about what had brought us there, and then Richard said something about his gift from Jacob, and about Ben's. Whatever he said about Ben's got me excited (think overdramatically excited Maggie, wide eyes and big teeth-showing grin) and I started to playfully call to Ben something like, What's Ben's gift! What's Ben's gift! He started walking toward me, and like he often looks on the show, had this expression of seriousness on his face like he knew that this was weightier that I knew it to be. And, still a few yards away, stopped, leaned in my direction for emphasis, and mouthed what looked in my dream like "Chimney Sweep". I woke myself up with two real chuckles.