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.

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.