One of the odder aspects of my life is how, although I love sports and have written about them for money over the past 7–8 years, I watch a lot less sports than I used to. I still watch a lot of football and basketball, but significantly less than I did a decade ago. I watch/listen to probably 80% of Royals games. But I almost never watch the NBA or golf anymore.
It’s becoming habit that I wait well into the new month before I share the list of books I read the previous month. Which, as I always say, makes it hard to write about the books I read six weeks earlier. I’ve been doing this over 10 years, and I still always put off writing my summaries until well after I have finished the book. Old dog, new tricks, etc.
A few random notes. Swimming The girls swim season is off to a solid start. L moved up an age group this year, and is now swimming full, 25-yard lengths of the pool instead of the 6-and-under, 12-yard lengths. It’s been a good challenge for her. We were especially proud of her last night. The team we were swimming against has a family that we’ve had a minor conflict with over the years.
The first lake weekend of the summer was a success. It was just about a perfect weekend, weather-wise. It was up in the high 80s, low 90s both days without being too sticky. The water was still surprisingly cool, but was refreshing given the air temp. Saturday night was clear and beautiful. We had three families from St. P’s down, so nine kids total. They were all pretty well behaved for the most part.
Summer got off to a quick start for us. The girls wrapped up school last Wednesday. Thursday afternoon we were flying to Boston for our summer trip. This was my third trip to Boston, but first one that I would be spending most of my time in the city proper. Overall, we had a fantastic vacation filled with several firsts and lots of great memories. The first first of the trip was our family’s first Uber ride.
I realized last week that I hadn’t documented my thoughts on the Royals season since early April. Which isn’t much of a surprise given it took me awhile to get into this season. There was missing the first week of the season while we were on spring break. There was the coming home to four nights a week of practices and games, which meant the girls stayed up a little later than normal, which meant some nights I flat forgot to turn the game on.
We had a very solid, if slightly less hectic than usual, Memorial Day weekend. L and I kicked it off Friday with her class field trip to [Conner Prairie]. This is the one field trip I’ve done with all three girls. As always, it was a lot of fun. The forecast has us worried we would get wet, but the storms never popped up and while it was warm, it never got super hot like it did for M and I four years ago.
I can’t seem to sit down and knock out a couple of the ideas I have for longer posts. I have a few projects around the house. I spend some time each day on my sports coordinator activities. And, let’s face it, I’m an epically lazy person; I can put shit off with the best of them. So rather than finish one of those ideas this morning, I’ll take care of something else I have not done in far too long: share links!
They’re the worst. Two stories of awful people I’ve encountered recently. A couple weeks back I was at the grocery store. I rounded one aisle and turned into the next. A woman - probably 45–50ish - was looking at some items on the shelf. She had her cart parked so that the entire aisle was blocked. The way she was facing, she should have been able to see me clearly; it’s not like I’m a small dude.
Finally back to mixed media. Our Spotify playlist features some fine tunes for your listening pleasure and our vid is a (very) old-school jam that is sure to brighten your day. open.spotify.com/user/224a… “Save Me” - Fernando. A pretty fabulous rootsy track from the Argentina-born, Portland-based artist. REM alum Peter Buck helped out on his latest album, and this track. “The Only One” - the boy i used to be. These cats are from Portsmouth, England, UK.
You know what you all need? You all need a damned spring sports update, that’s what you need! Kickball This was our first season with two kickballers. Which made for all kinds of scheduling fun, believe me. Fortunately, thanks to having friends on both teams, the girls always got to all of their games, even if S or I couldn’t be there. M had her best season yet. She was very excited that, since no St.
Well, well, well, we now have two double-digit kids in the house! C turns the big 1–0 today. A birthday divisible by five means you get a big party in our family, and C cashed that in on Saturday. She had five friends over for the requisite pizza, cupcakes, and then a very special spa evening. After a week of thorough cleaning and a couple well-placed tarps on the floor and against an especially grungy garage door, our garage was magically transformed into a nail salon and spa.
I had a very busy Friday; I left the house with the girls in the morning and didn’t return until after school. Then I had to dive right into the yard work as C’s birthday party was Saturday and we had a softball game plus bad weather to work around. So apologies for not sharing any music Friday. To kick off this week, I thought I’d share this mini-movie of the scenes before a recent Tyne-Wear Derby: the rivalry between Newcastle and Sunderland in the British Premier League.
Yikes, I forgot to share my April books. Which is kind of understandable, as it was just a two-book month. A beast followed by a palate cleanser. My Struggle, Book 2: A Man In Love - Karl Ove Knausgaard. My feelings about this mirror my feelings about Book 1: I keep wondering why I’m enjoying it so much. Why am I spending three-plus weeks to wade through Scandinavian navel-gazing? Something about it is compelling, that’s for sure.
Last weekend was a very important one on the family calendar: the opening of the Local Vacation Spot (LVS for you newbies) and the putting-in of the boat. These weekends are often good for a laugh or two, as S and I bump up against our many limitations in mechanical knowledge and ability. I’m happy to say the weekend was an almost complete success. We picked the boat up and got it down to the lake without incident.
Ok, I think the Internet is officially done. Someone has created the perfect website. There’s no need to try anything else, because this one simply cannot be topped. How Music Taste Evolved
On the rare occasions I go see live music, it is always a big event. Probably a little bigger than it should be. The easy way to fix that is to go to more shows, obviously. But there’s a part of me that likes going only when it’s a band that I really want to see. Friday night was the perfect example of that. My favorite band of the last 7–8 years, Frightened Rabbit, made their first-ever stop in Indianapolis.
A classic bait-and-switch subject line! You might think I’m about to drop some thoughts on the races for the Democratic and Republican nominations for president, as we are on the eve of the Indiana primary. You would be thinking wrong, though. My interest in and passion for politics has been beaten up, brutalized, and nearly destroyed over the last eight years. Most of that is a result of the toxic political climate we live in, an era where it isn’t enough to disagree with someone and work to prevent their policies from being implemented.
I’ll run through a whole spring sports roundup next week. But one quick, funny story worth sharing now. Wednesday L had soccer practice and C had a softball game at the same time, at the same complex. I dropped C off at her diamond, walked L over to her field, and then returned to the softball side and dropped my chair beyond the left field fence. The girls were still warming up and I heard a group from the other team talking, in excited, high-pitched voices, about something that had to do with the Indiana Pacers.
I’m already getting pre-show nerves for the Frightened Rabbit show tomorrow night. I first heard the band on June 20, 2008[1] and pretty much since then they’ve held the title as my Favorite Current Band[2]. I’ve seen them on TV a few times, listened to a few streamed shows, but this will be the first time I get to stand in the same venue as them and hear them play. Can they deliver on nearly eight years of build-up?