Again, I had a funny idea to write about something and now I can’t remember it.

I am convinced that I’m well over the legal limit of stupidity that one
person is allowed to have. Last night at the card game, Scott made
brats. I had one and took a few bites. I noticed it was a little
red/pink on the inside. I said to this dope Mike “Its pink? Will that
be ok?” He said “Oh yeah, they taste really good like that.” Me: “Won’t
I get worms?” Dope:”Eh, you’ll shit ‘em out.” Now, all day today I have
had a stomach ache. I don’t know if I have worms, I’m not hungry at
all, so thats a good sign………at least, with regards to a tapeworm.
Still, this might have been even dumber than the cheese incident. For
those of you that don’t know, in Dec 2003, I had frozen pizza at Jt’s
house. Of course, I always put parmasan (spelling please) on my pizza.
I did it this time and ate half a slice. I noticed the cheese was sorta
yellow and hard, but tasted fine. I poured some cheese into my hand and
examined it. I looked at the bottle. Experation date of May 2002! I
looked at the cheese in my hand and said “well, I have already had some
and it tastes fine, so how bad can it be?” and tossed it into my mouth.
Big mistake. I had a stomach ache for 4 days! See, and yet, I learned
nothing from this.

For those of you not from the midwest, we are in the mists of a
drought. So, our lawn is nearly dead. Except for some reason, the weeds
still grow? Can anyone explain this to me? Everthing else needs water
to grow, but not weeds? Can anybody explain this to me? And by anybody,
I mean Tyler, he is, after all, a man in the know about this sorta
thing. And if you don’t know, at least attempt to make up a believable
reason. Anywho, because of these weeds, I had to mow my fucking
driveway! Yes, thats right, the driveway. There are weeds growing out
of the cracks. Yet, the grass, I did not need to mow. What a topsy
world we live in.

Today was a rather interesting day. When I look back at all the days
this year, this one will stand out as being………….unsual. First
of all, I went to Bobby’s house today. He lives in a part of Joliet
that I have never been to before. And his house………..it was not
the nicest house around, but was a decent size. His bedroom is in the
basement, which was odd. It wasn’t like a normal basement bedroom, it
was like just had a section of the basement for himself. Sure, there
was a lot of shit around his area and you couldn’t see it unless you
were in that area, but it didn’t have a door. Its kinda tough to
explain. His area also has a very low ceiling. So low, in fact, that he
can’t even stand straight up. And it only clears my head by a matter of
inches. Still, it was pretty dark (at least if the lights were off) and
quiet down there. It would be a great area to sleep.

I felt bad for him, though. Friday night, he came out to his best
friend, who did not take it too well. He hit Bobby a few times and
kicked him in the balls. Bobby has known this kid since fifth grade, so
he aws pretty upset about this. His friend essentially doesn’t want
anything to do with him now. I told him that maybe he just needs a few
days to digest it, but Bobby doesn’t think this is the case.

We hung out for a few hours before I headed home. I stopped off at the
cematary on the way home. Yesterday (or Friday if you reading this on
any other day besides Saturday) marked the 25 anniversary of my
father’s death. Not that I’m dwelling on it or trying to be a downer,
but I just thought it was at least slightly significant. Although, I
didn’t know him well enough to fully miss him when he died, I sometimes
wonder what our relationship would have been like. I wonder what kinda
man he was, as I’m only able to form opinions based on what other
people say. I would have liked the chance to form my own opinions on
him. I would have liked to have gotten a chance to know him better. As
it stands, I had only 4 years with him, and most of those 4 years were
the worst years of his life, since my brother died when I was 1. I
wonder what my parents were like before my brother died. We were the
all American family or as fucked-up as we are now? I don’t like to rely
on what my siblings say about it because they are so biased. For
example, my one sister thinks things were just so awful, while my other
sister thinks things were great. I need to form my own opinion, and of
course, this can never happen.

Damn, I’m pretty fucking tired. I’m fighting to keep my eyes open as I type this, but I want to get all of this down.

I left for the card game at Scott’s  house about 5:45ish.
Construction, although very needed and a good source of employment,
pisses me off somtimes and doesn’t make sense. Normally, I take 119th
street to rt 30. I went this way, but about a mile down 119th (after rt
59, that is) it was closed. I turned around and went to 111th, which
was closed as well, but this time there were signs before I even had
gone onto 111th. Instead I took I think 95th, which, as I got further
down, was closed as well. How can they close 3 streets for construction
that close together and going in the same direction?

After maneuvering my way around the closed roads, I eventually made my
way to Scott’s about 6:20ish. He already had the grill going and the
card tables set up in the garage. His garage has no AC, so this was
going to be a tough night. The humidity was very high, and it just wore
me out, that is one of the reasons why I’m so tired. Of course, the
lack of sleep can’t help much either. He was grilling dogs, brats, and
potato wedges. Everything was pretty damn good, but its food, so
honestly, do you really want to hear about it?

We started the first game about 7PM. We had 9 people (that hottie
Dustin was supposed to play, but never showed up. Its a good thing too,
because he is so hot that he is a distraction for me) and top 3 get
money. For some reason, we had set it up really bad. We put 2 tables
differently and akward shaped tables together. It was awful, but after
the first person went out, we all went to the same table.

I did so-so in the first game. I started off hot (as usual) but wasn’t
able to maintain. I think I finished in 5th place. While waiting for
the rest of the guys to finish, a few of us played that dice game CLR.
I must have won like $4 in quarters.

There was a locust/cicada in the garage. They are the same thing,
right? All I know is that there is this really old book that mentions
some stuff on the locusts and how they do something to the world.
Whatever. For tonight, though, this one had a death wish. It kept
flying around the garage. This one guy, Jeff, managed to catch it and
chase Scott around with it. During our second game, I swear, I felt
something bite me on the back. A few minutes later, I see the thing on
the arm of my chair. Fucking bugs.

Both games, I was seated next to this cute dude with hot legs. He was a
tad of a distraction, but I played through it. I was doing ok in the
second game when I got a pair of pocket queens. I didn’t have much, so
I took a chance and went all in. These 2 guys, Pat and Chris called me.
On the river, there was an Ace and a queen. I thought I was sitting
pretty, but slightly worried if somebody else had an Ace, although they
weren’t betting like it. The next card up was another fucking ace, and
I thought for sure I was done, as Pat started betting more aggresive.
As it turned out, Chris had pocket nines and Pat had pocket Jacks. I
win. Chris was then done and I lived on.

We got down to 3 people. It was me, Pat, and the dude I have mentioned
in previous posts, Paul. They were kicking my ass, but I had to do
something to get back in the game. So, I went all in on a pair of Aces.
Pat had a pair of Aces and a pair of sevens. I was done. But, I did
manage to break-even on that game and left there feeling pretty damn
good about myself……….at least card wise. It was my best showing
in a while, so, although I’m not satisfied, i was happy.

Well, I watched Million Dollar Baby tonight. For those of you that
don’t know, its the movie in which Clint Eastwood pays Hilary Swank a
million dollars  to be his baby. Wait. I think I got something
wrong. That wasn’t what the movie was about at all. Damn you people! I
want to talk all about the movie, but if you have never seen it, I
don’t want to ruin the ending. It was, however, very very good. I don’t
know if any of you remember, but back when it was in theaters it caused
quite a stink among those fucking Republicans. Damnit, I can’t give
away too much………..fine, I will just tell you. At the end of the
movie, Clint Eastwood turns into a baby and she has to change his
diaper. The controversy comes in because during one of the changings,
you get a quick glimpse of his nipple. Fucking Republicans. Its just a
nipple. Seriously though, see the movie so I can post about it.

Damnit, I had something really funny I was going to post today, but for
the life of me, I can’t remember what it was. And it was really funny,
nothing like the lame ass shit I wrote about the movie. I swear, I need to start writing this shit down. Damnit,
though………if any of you people remember what it was, please let me
know.

For some reason, the AC is working again. I left it off for a few hours
Sunday night and things were fine. Whatever. Just keep working, damnit.

Last night’s episode of 30 Days was good, but not as good as the
previous 2. In this episode, 2 city slickers had to live in an
extremely eco-friendly community. Of course, this made me think. As far
as political issues, I have really let the environment go by the
wayside. It used to be my number one issue, but other social issues
have moved to the forefront. I still feel it is very important, though,
however, the people in this community took it a bit far. I mean,
recycling your own shit? I think I would have to draw the line there.
Honestly, good for them, I’m glad they are willing to make sacrifices
for the earth, I’m just saying I wouldn’t be willing to crap in a
bucket and save it, thats all. Still, more people need to recognize the
way they live and the choices they make have serious consequences on
the earth, in particular, the use of gas. When I went shopping for a
car over 4 years ago, I wanted a car that got good gas mileage, mainly
because of its effect on the earth. A lot of people drive SUVs with no
regards for how it might affect the environment. Now, some people have
got legit reasons for the larger vehicles, such as having a family. I
can accept that. But, there are too many people driving too much with
these gas guzzlers. People complain about high gas prices, but I for
one, am ok with paying them. Sure, for my own selfish reasons, I want
gas prices to be lower, but that helps me and not the world as a whole.
The higher the prices, the more likely people are to try to find other
means of transportation or drive less, which in turn is better for the
earth. Its also good because if less people drive, thats less support
of foreign oil, but thats a topic for another day.

We are to a point where the earth is starting to be affected by our
over-use of oil. We need to take measures to wean ourselves off the
oil. As I learned in last nights show, (and as I have read in other
articles over the past year or so) there are other alternatives to oil,
its just a matter of it catching on. Of course, the oil companies don’t
want us to use those other sources, but sooner or later, we won’t have
a choice. Before I got laid off last year, I was looking at buying one
of those hybrid cars. I can’t afford it now, but the next time I buy a
car, it will be a hybrid.

As for the show, these tree huggin’ earth lovers were waaaaay out
there. So much so, it would frighten the anti-environmental people, or
make others that are on the fence lean towards the anti-earth people.
These earth hippies have to try not to come on too strong to others, as
it can alienate people and hurt their cause. On the other hand, I bet
they grow tons of pot there. I picture them spending most of their days
stoned out of their minds. Damn, that really makes me sound like a
stoner.

Just to let you know, in case you want to stop reading now, this whole
post is going to be about baseball. The All-Star game was tonight and
it gives me a chance to vent about the thing that pisses me off most
about baseball: the team with the best record doesn’t get home field
advantage for the World Series. Instead, it goes to the league that
wins the All-Star game. Thats complete bullshit. For example, last
season, the Cardinals had the best record in baseball. The AL, however
had the home field advantage. As it stood, the Red Sox, the AL’s wild
card team, had home field advantage. To make even less sense, they
didn’t have home field advantage in either of their American League
playoff series, yet when they got to the World Series against the team
with the best record in baseball, they got home field advantage. Now,
the Red Sox are my second favorite team, but even so, I still found it
to be bullshit. This makes the All Star game the most important game of
the year and it is supposed to be an exhibition game. The commishoner’s
reasoning behind this is to make the game more important as improve
ratings and avoid a repeat of 2002, in which the game ended in a tie.
Yet, this means that home field advantage is decided by players who,
most of them, won’t be anywhere near the post season. In my opinion,
and in the opinion of many others, the best record should get home
field advantage. My solution is to give home field to the best record
and use the All Star game as a tie-breaker, in other words, if 2 teams
with equal records meet in the World Series, the league that won the
All-Star game gets home field advantage. It rewards the team with the
best record, while still putting an added importance on the All-Star
game.

 A couple of other things that should be corrected, but aren’t of
utter importance, is managers of the All Star game. The current system
has the managers being the same managers that were in the previous
World Series (this year, it was Tony LaRussa of the Cardinals and Terry
Francona of the Red Sox). This, once again, doesn’t make sense. The
All-Star game rewards players having the best seasons, so why not
reward the managers having the best season, in this case, it would be
Ozzie Guillen of the White Sox and Larussa. After all, both of them
earned it. Also another thing I would change would be to have the DH
used in each All-Star game, instead of the current system of only in
the AL parks. Normally, I hate the DH, but this is the damn All-Star
game, (not that they don’t pinch hit for the pitcher in the All-Star
game as soon as he comes up, but just in case there is a big first
inning like last year) nobody wants to see the pitcher bat. It also
gets another player a chance to play.

As for this season so far, of course, I’m disappointed with the Cubs,
although to be honest, I’m not suprised. The big culprit is their
bullpen, it has been awful (except for a stretch in late May-early
June) and regardless of injuries to Prior, Wood, Garciaparra among
others, they would still be where they are right now, which is pretty
much a .500 team. I don’t want to officially give up hope on them yet
this year, but I know they are going to lose. They need to make too
many improvements to the bullpen to be able to make a difference. I
will continue to watch, though, on the off chance that they do
comeback. Plus, Derrick Lee is too fun to watch right now, as is Mark
Prior. Last eyar, the Astros were really bad in the first half, yet
they came from out of nowhere and won the wild card. This is reason
enough for me to still have hope for the Cubs. As for Derrick Lee, I
see no triple crown for him and maybe even no batting title, but he
should continue to put up some great numbers and even make a run at NL
MVP, especially if the Cubs are able to contend.

If you are a White Sox fan, you can pretty much just sleep until
October. It woudl be a major suprise if they somehow missed the
playoffs. If by some miracle the Indians or Twins win the division, the
Sox still have the wild card to fall back on. For them to not win the
division, they would have to have a collapse of biblical proportions,
and for them to miss the playoffs altogether, well, that is near next
to impossible. Right now they are on pace for 112 wins, although that
is not likely, it certainly is possible. Of course, a lot of that
depends on Jon Garland, and I just don’t expect him to keep up what he
has done so far. Sure, he is really cute, but each year, there seems to
be some players that overachieve in the first half only to have things
come crashing down on them in the 2nd half.

As for Barry Bonds, fuck that dick. I hope he never plays again, that fucking ass!

Fucking lovely. The air conditioner is dead. Sears came out yesterday
to do some preventative maintenance on the damn thing. It was working
fine before then, today we got home and it was on, but over 85 in the
fucking house. I HATE HATE HATE HATE sleeping without AC. Now, I’m well
aware that lots of people don’t have the luxary of a home, led alone
AC, but damnit, it sucks. And, to make matters even worse, the earliest
they can be here is next fucking wednesday. Of course, we are gearing
up for a week of 90s and high 80s. Should be wonderful.

Today, my cousin Tony (you remember him, he was the one I have written
about that is a dick to me) had a baptism for his 2 month old son. It
was at a Catholic church in what ever town that was that we were in.
Each time I’m in a church (especially a Catholic church) I feel less
and less comfortable and more and more out of place. I could not wait
to get out of there. I was bouncin’ up and down just chompin’ at the
bit to leave. I think this was the last time I will be in a church for
a long long time. Sure, I’ve got a wedding to go to coming up in
October, but I’m giving serious consideration to skipping the ceremony.
I don’t want to be where not only am I not wanted, but where they think
of us as sub-human. The thing is, nobody made any comments about gays
at all in church today. Even so, I still HATED being there.

After the church we went back to Tony’s mother in law’s house. She has
got a rather large basement, complete with a 2nd kitchen down there.
Shit, if she really wanted to, she could rent it out as mini-apartment.
Of course, being a gathering, we had to play beanbags. My first game I
had John as a partner and we played Tony and his brother Matt. I did
so-so, John, however, was awful, but I don’t like to blame my teammate,
shit, you win as a team and you lose as a team. I think he and I played
2 or 3 games together, losing all of them. Next I had Dillon as my
partner. We lost again.

After that game, we went downstairs to eat. Lots of Polish food, and it
was all pretty damn good. Damn, I love sauerkraut. Hell, I love Polish
food. And there is something about a Polish guy……….they are
usually sorta cute, but are ALWAYS hung. ALWAYS.

After eating, we played bags again. This time I had Tony’s neighbor
(longtime readers would remember him as the guy that re-shingled my
roof) on my team against Tony and Matt. The day had gone by pretty good
so far, as Tony had not made a rude comment…………..yet. We were
in the process of beating him when he said to me that “you know, you
throw like a girl.” What a fucking prick. So I shot back “yeah, a girl
thats kicking your ass!”. He said “No you’re not.” My next throw I put
the damn thing in the hole for 3 points and said “Hows that for a
girl?” He chose to ignore this comment. After we beat him, he dissed me
as I stuck out my hand for handshake. What a prick. Finally, something
I’m better than him at and he can’t handle it. Well, fuck him.

Next, we played some other dude and his girlfriend and kicked their
asses. They had never played before, but did pretty good for rookies.
After that, we played Tony’s wife (Harriet) and her brother in law.
Harriet kept talking a lot of trash, while her bro in law kept kicking
ass. He said he has not played much at all, but it didn’t show. He was
awesome and they barely beat us by about 3. Anywho, I’m gonna quit
rambling on about beanbags. Shit, this can’t be too interesting for you
all to read. Hell, I bet you have stopped reading by now.

Man, it seems like I haven’t updated in forever. First of all, Friday I
opened the paper and found out that Corey Patterson had been demoted to
AAA. This was a shock (not like it was undeserved, though) because I
never thought they would actually send him down. The bigger shock,
though, was that I first found out about it in the paper. As far as the
Cubs go, this was pretty big news, and with the access to information
on the web and on tv, its not often these days that I can get breaking
news from a newspaper.

Last night, I had a date with Josh. It was decided that I would drive
down there to see him and we would go to dinner. I have heard lots of
bad things about Wilmington, (I have been there one other time and that
had to be back in, oh, about 1987 or 88) such as it being just a bunch
of trailer trash living there and it being a dump. I have to say,
though, it wasn’t nearly as bad as claimed. Sure, it wasn’t like
driving through Naperville, but it has its charming areas, like the
whole downtown area.

I arrived at Josh’s about 7:30. I rang the bell several times and he
didn’t answer. I was beginning to think he might have blown me off when
he finally answered the door. He said that he didn’t think I was coming
since I didn’t call first. Anywho, he let me in and showed me around
his house. He has got a tiny dog that seemed starved for attention, or
at the very least, excited to see company. After being there for a
little while, we decided to get something to eat. It was on the way out
that I met his grandma. She was very friendly and seems like she would
be very talkative.

We ate at some local Greek family resturant. I had the veal parmasean.
Why do I always get veal from Greek resturants? I mean, it was good,
but shouldn’t I be getting Greek food? Actually, to be honest, the
spaghetti was so-so and the gravy was a little too peppery for my
tastes. The veal itself, however, was very good. Then again, veal is
always good. Josh got some sort of open-faced beef sandwich with mashed
potatoes. It looked good. We decided during dinner that we would catch
a movie.

We headed towards the movie theatre in either Bradley, Bourbanais, or
Kanakee, depending on who you ask. It was about a 20 minute drive, but
it was down a pretty rural road. We drove past a farm and through
woods. Honestly, the whole time I was in Wilmington and the other area
(its too much to type) I felt like I was a long way from
home…………you know, sorta like when we used to go camping in
Wisconsin. I saw a lot of things that weren’t like here in the Chicago
burbs. For example, on the side of the road next to the forest, there
were a TON of lightening bugs, which looked really cool. Also, driving
past some farms we got a whiff of that wonderful farm
smell………..you know, the smell of freshly laid  manure
decomposing in the fields. Ahhhh, breathe fresh country air. Be one
with it. Inhale it. Now vomit!

We wound up watching Batman Begins. What I was so amazed at this movie
was that it was filmed in Chicago. For the most part, you couldn’t even
tell it was Chicago. I mean, some things sorta stood out, but they did
a great job of making it look exactly like Gotham, however it is
supposed to look. The movie itself was good, it was interesting to see
how he got the bat-suit and the Batmobile. I mean, who knew the
Batmobile was a former drug dealers car seized by the government? And
did you know the Batsuit (help me out with the spelling here, people,
clearly I have no idea on this one) was originally used in a mid-evil
gay pride parade?

Oh, I almost forgot, since we had already ingested a meal, there was no
need for food at the theatre, but was a need for water. I bought a
large water from a cute boy behind the counter. This was $4.fucking50!
Now, that reminded me of Chicago, having to pay for an over-priced
drink.

After the movie I took him home and whatnot. I had a nice time, he
seemed to open up more then on the previous dates. I think I might be
able to have something with him.

Today, I hung out with Uvon. We did a matinee. No, not a play or show
or anything like that, but we hung out during the day for the first
time. Parking didn’t seem to be nearly as bad, and I didn’t feel the
need to get home and in bed. We talked about a wide range of topics,
politics and religon of course but also football and tv shows. We
always have such good conversations, which is always cool.

Thats all for now, people. Lets hope the Cubs can………..ahhhhh fuck it anyway!

I watched the episode of 30 Days (F/X Wednesdays, WATCH IT DAMNIT!!!)
where the conservative Christian had to live with the gay guy in San
Fran for a month. I have to say, this episode was all that it was
cracked up to be, even almost as good as the Muslim-Christian episode.
Now, I’m going to go into specific details about this episode now, so
if you haven’t seen it and don’t want me to ruin it for you, I suggest
you not read any further.

First of all, I give the Christian a lot of credit for doing this. We
might disagree with his beliefs, but it takes a lot of balls to not
only live with some stranger who you think is an abomination, but also
to show your beliefs on national tv like that, I mean, everybody he
knows is going to see this. At least he was open minded enough to give
this sorta thing a chance. He should be commended for that, even if he
had not changed his views at all. But, he did change his views, even if
he still sees it as a choice and a sin. And you could see the exact
moment when he got it, right when he was talking to the father with the
gay daughter. Now, if only we could get the millions of other
close-minded Christians to live with us for a month.

The one thing I didn’t like about it was the pastor chick. She didn’t
do a very good job of convincing him. When they were debating it, he
made more sense then her. Of course, I also had much contempt for
religon, but still, she could have come up with something better. And,
the big argument I was waiting for us to bust out was the whole “did
you choose to be straight?” argument, as that one is usually pretty
effective, it usually reaches them, at least somewhat. Yet, we never
said it. Still, I think it was a very interesting episode, we really
made an impact on him. I hope he can stay changed.

The thing that really upsets me with all of this, is those disgusting
gay haters, the ones standing on the side of the road with the signs.
How can they be so hateful? Although, the bible (which I do not believe
in and think is man made) says being gay is a sin, Jesus never said
anything about says and surely didn’t say that gays should be hated.
And, doesn’t the mere hate they preach go against everything Jesus
stood for? By the way, don’t these people work? Do they have nothing
else better to do then sit on the side of the road spewing hate? That
is disgusting.

And how can we reach them? A certain percentage we can never change
their minds. As for the rest, we have to show them we are just like
them. Most of their beliefs are based on fear, much like how whites are
afraid of blacks. We have to be like Jackie Robinson. We have to beat
down the stereotypes and show that we are not any different, just like
many blacks have done with whites. I mean, just look at how much better
off the straight guy was because of his open mind. Thats all for now. I
will have to get into this more later.

Damn, the Cubs are just flat out pissing me off, but not in the
heartbreaking, gut-wrenching kinda way. They just aren’t doing shit
right now. They can’t score. The pitching has been so-so, but they just
aren’t getting timely hits at all. The funny part is that all the
national experts (like on yahoo, ESPN and Steve Stone, although he is
sorta local) are picking them to win the wild card because they are
healthy now, but I just don’t see it. Honestly, if they had been
healthy all this time, I still think they would be right where they are
now. Their bullpen is awful, they strike out too much, they don’t get
hits with runners in scoring postion, and they rely too much on the
home run. They are a .500 team.

I knew what the word horny meant before learning the meaning of the word corny.

Well, I didn’t get in trouble at all because of that situation at work
Friday, in fact, it was pretty much a non-issue, although I have to
admit, it was in the back of my mind the whole weekend. Thats all for
today, kids.

I was watching this thing on tv today about the American Revolution.
Imagine that, a thing about the American Revolution on tv on the 4th of
July! Anywho, they had those little re-dramatazations that they always
show. The thing that cracks me up about these things is the guys
playing the drums. Why do they have drummers? Is it to keep the morale
up? You wanna keep the morale up, hows about picking up a weapon and
taking out an enemy solider. Or, is the drum considered their weapon?
How much damage can you do with a fucking drum? I mean, honestly. What
are you gonna do, play off beat until they just can’t take it anymore?
All around these drummers, people are dying and being wounded, and all
they can do is stand there playing a fucking battle song. Now, I’m not
taking anything away from them, because it does take a great deal of
concentration to still play while the guy in front of you is on the
ground bleeding to death, but I just think they can be of better use
by, oh, I don’t know, picking  up a musket and shooting it in the
direction of the opposition. Shit, even if the drummer is a bad shot,
they can still do some good by making the enemy duck and not shoot.
Imagine saying “yeah, I served in the war………..I beat on a drum!”
I mean, just think if we had drummers today. Can you just picture
soliders in Iraq playing instruments while their comrades are under
fire? “Well, we lost 15 men today, but boy did that band sound great!”I
mean, who the hell thought of this? Is this some sorta elaborate way
of getting more people involved? Damn, I’m thinking about this so much,
now I’m not going to sleep tonight.

Man, I’ve had a few busy days. Yesterday, I went to Rene’s for a bbq. I
arrived about 2:30. We sat around talking for a little while before
starting to play beanbags. We actually had 2 sets, so we were able to
have 2 games at once. I choose Heather as my partner. We kicked fucking
ass. Big time. We won our first 4 or 5 games before getting beat by
Keith and his brother Tim. This was the first time Tim had played (they
had won 2 other games) and call it beginer’s luck, because he kicked
ass. We jumped out to a 15-7 lead and they went on a roll after that,
scoring the next 14 points and beating us. We played them again a while
later and put quite the hurting on them, I think it was something like
21-1.

Rene’s 19 year old son Tony and his friends were playing too. Ok, I
should clairfy here. Tony passed out watching tv and his friends played
with us. A couple of them challenged us to a game, but we never got to
play because of various reasons. Good thing for them too, because we
would have smoked them! One of them was moving around one of the boxes
I told him to leave it where it was. He said he was trying to make it
straight and I said “make it straight? Hey, you got the wrong guy for
that.” Now, I know they don’t know I’m gay so it went right over their
heads. Was even better, is that they seem to be the type of guys that
might have a problem with gays, being younger and trying to be hard
asses.

Rene had a sprinkler going for the kids and had also bought a bunch of
water guns as well. At one point, Bill came outside with all the
waterguns and gave them to the kids. They started squirting each other
and us with the guns. Logan had his gun and I asked him if I could see
it. He gave it to me and I promptly proceeded to squirt him.
Heheheheh………..kids are so gulliable sometimes.

Next thing you know, we were all running around squirting each other
and the kids with water guns. At one point, Bill came outside with a
bucket and poured it on Rene, soaking her. This made Logan cry for some
reason. Of course, Logan seemed to cry each time he got squirted. It
was great, though (the running around like children, not logan crying)
just being able to have fun like we were  6 again. After Bill
unprovoked (yet, very funny) water attack on Rene, this guy Joe decided
to get even will Bill. He filled up a bucket and went to throw it on
Bill. Bill slid out of the way and the whole thing went on Corina. She
started crying and I felt bad for her, but I have to admit, it was
kinda funny. This whole thing with the water guns went on for quite
sometime and we were all soaked.

We continued playing beanbags and just generally having a good time for
quite some time. Even after it got dark, we moved the boxes so that
they would be in the light and we would be able to continue to play. We
eventually had a 4 team mini-tournament. I had Bill as a partner and we
did very well. We won our first round match 2 games to none. Then, we
took on Jt’s team. Of course, I really wanted to beat him. And to be
honest, it wasn’t even close, we smoked them! Even after that, we
continued to play until about 2:30 in the AM. Honestly, I think I might
have played about 40 games and only lost 4 times. I must have thrown
500 bags and to be honest, my arm was a little sore.

Bill had some cigars and he gave me one to smoke. This was the first
time in a couple of years I have had a cigar and to be honest, it was
awful. I didn’t even finish it, passing on to that guy Joe. Or was it
Joel? His name was a debate among us. Thats the problem with people
named Joe and Joel. I, however, blame the Joels because I’d like to
think the name Joe was around first………..or at least, I had heard
the name Joe first. Its the same thing with Greg and Craig. Too similar.

I left Rene’s about 3:30ish, much later then I thought it would be, but
I’m not suprised. Although we haven’t all hung out that late in a
while, it used to be pretty damn routine.

Today, we played baseball. We arrived at the park about 12:30, it was
overcast and looking like it might (finally!) rain. We had 8 on 8. Mark
and I chose teams. I actually took Jt on my team. When I picked him, I
said his name very low and Mark said “what?” even though I knew he
heard me. I then said loudly “all right, I take Jt!” Jt sorta laughed
and said “all right.” This was pretty much the extent of our
communication for the day. Sure, there were a couple of times through
the day when we yelled at each other (not in a bad way) to try to score
or stay at second base or calling for a fly ball or saying which base
to throw to. But, outside of that, we didn’t even acknowledge each
other. I didn’t say hi to him when I arrived, he didn’t say goodbye
when he left, and I think we are both fine with that. His sister did
play, however and I purposely took her before I took him or either of
his 2 friends. His one friend is a dick, and I know he is sorta sexist
and probably thinks girls shouldn’t be playing, so I made sure I took
him almost last, even though I know he was sorta good.

As for the game, it was actually pretty close. Both teams didn’t have
the usual defensive problems. People that normally drop balls were
catching them, such as myself and Brian. I did, however, mis-play a
ball Mark hit early on, but I made up for it by gunning him out at
second. Damn, I love getting Mark out.

A short while later, it started to rain. Not too hard, just a shower.
But, it was lightening out. This made me uncomfortable, as there is
something about waving an aluminum bat in an open field right next to a
metal fence during a storm that makes me uneasy. Still, even though it
was raining, none of us stopped playing, we continued on. My glasses
were all wet and it was tough to see out of them, but I still somehow
managed to catch a ball hit to me. I ran a long way to get it in the
rain and slipped and fell right after I caught it, but, I still caught
it. I even caught another ball John hit to me a few innings later, but
I wasn’t sure I caught it, so I had to look into my glove to make sure
it was there. Of course, judging by everybody’s reaction (John yelled
out “FUCK”) I was pretty sure I had it. See, I over ran it and just
stuck my arm up and hoped for the best Thats the thing, though,
sometimes, even though you can be the one to catch it, you are the last
one to know.

We went into the top of the ninth leading 14-8. Lance led off and hit a
ball to me. I came in and tried to make a shoestring catch, but it got
by me and rolled. I assumed Brian would get it, but he never saw it. I
had to chase it down and by the time I got to it, Lance was almost
home. They scored another run and then loaded the bases. Keith hit an
inside the park grand slam and they were only down by one, but with 2
outs. Lance came up again and hit another ball in my direction. I ran
in and thought about trying to shoestring it again, but thought the
better of it and let it bounce, wisely keeping it in front of me and
Lance at first base. John then popped out and we won.