Skip to main content
Sunday night and we’ve just returned from the Dodgers game. What a great night. We bought tickets online this afternoon and got to the game just as the National Anthem was being sung (about 5:10). The thing I like about Dodgers Stadium is that no matter where you sit you can see the game really well. The seats are very steep, but it makes up for it by giving everyone a great sight line. Our $6 seats were 5 rows from the top of the stadium. But it was really awesome. We sat in the shade and we were close to concessions. Plus, the game went really fast, with a run scoring 7th inning for the Dodgers.



With a 3 run lead in the 9th, Eric Gagne, the Dodgers unstoppable closer came in to the sound of G’n’R’s “Welcome to the Jungle”. I actually got chills. T was just a really cool sp[orts moment. Makes me want to kick myself that we haven’t gone to more games in the past. Steve always tells me hgow envious he is that we live in a city with a major league baseball team. Now that we know that the cheap seats are great, I think we’ll be attending more games in the future. Sophie likes going to them, too (more for the 7th inning stretch and the tradition of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”, but hey, it still gets us through most of the game, right?)



We drove home jammin’ to the Boss, all of us singing along to the tape I made Sophie months ago. To complete the night, I got a bootleg Dodgers cap for five bucks as we drove into the parking lot. I think I may have finally become a Dodgers fan tonight., it only took me nine years.



The rest of the weekend has been a mixed bag. Yesterday I ran 9 miles. The run felt great. The mental hurdle of doing 8 last week was gone. It really was like “Lord of the Rings”. I just needed to step over that line of the farthest I’d gone. I have no doubt I’ll be able to run the marathon. And the run felt great, too. When we finished, I checked out the times of the other runners who are doing a 4/1 and we were only 4 minutes behind them. So, we must be doing well.



The key to getting through the day was taking a nap halfway through the day. I was close to falling asleep at lunchtime. By about 1:30, Sophie and I laid down together and I was out like that. But, man, it really revived me for the end of the day. We went over to Budd and Karyn’s to watch a “drive-in” movie. One of their neighbors projected a kids movie on their garage for all of the neighborhood kids. It was really neat. It was like the childhood dream of growing up in a neighborhood that I always wanted.



The night got weird for me when we took out Jake’s vest and did his breathing treatment. It brought me down REAL fast. Budd and I had been high from watching the OSU Washington game, but the minute we brought out the vest… I got very sad. It was like, having them see it… I can’t describe it, really. It’s like, while it’s in our home, we can deal with it and it’s like part of OUR lives. But as soon as we showed it to someone else, then it makes it more real. I don’t know if that makes senses. The same thing happened the first time we took Jake’s breathing machine with us on a trip. Having everyone kind of stare at it in wonder makes me feel… sad.



I wish a day could go by, just one day, in which we didn’t have to think about it. I mean, we’ll always have to think about it, but I wish there was just some sort of escape from it when we’re outside the house. That’ll never happen, though, will it?



Look forward to having tomorrow off and hanging our new screen door. I predict I will be cursing it out within the first hour.





S

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

MARATHON FOOTNOTES (for those who didn't think I would really footnote a stream of consciousness thought): Footnote #1 Academy Award Winning Best Picture Films from 1969 to the Present: Midnight Cowboy, Patton, The French Connection, The Godfather, The Sting, The Godfather II, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Rocky, Annie Hall, The Deer Hunter, Kramer Vs. Kramer, Ordinary People, Chariots of Fire, Gandhi, Terms of Endearment, Amadeus, Out of Africa, Platoon, The Last Emperor, Rain Man, Driving Miss Daisy, Dances With Wolves, The Silence of the Lambs, Unforgiven, Schindler’s List, Forrest Gump, Braveheart, The English Patient, Titanic, Shakespeare in Love, American Beauty, Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind, Chicago, Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Footnote #2 Members of the band YES, from 1969 to the present: In 1969, Yes is formed with Jon Anderson on vocals Peter Banks on guitar, Bill Bruford on drums, Tony Kaye on keyboards and Chris Squire playing bass. This group records...

100 and Counting: Introducing The Epic Playlist

It started as all playlists do, an occasion that justified music for entertainment. In this case, it was a couples weekend getaway back in February. Super Dave proposed that he and I provide the tunes and we started a Spotify playlist: three songs at a time, no song repeats, no artist repeats. Dave would add his three, then text me that it was my turn. I would then add my three text him back. This cycle repeated until three hundred songs were compiled, and we drove off to Mammoth with our wives. A funny thing happened, though, it turned out we both enjoyed the challenge of trying to surprise or outdo the other so much that we continued building the playlist. We made a new rule of just three songs each a day and still no artist repeats. Soon, we came up with amendments to allow duets (The Emmylou Exception), multiple songs by the same band if said band had multiple lead singers (The Beatles Exception), or if there was a lead singer replacement that changed the artistic direction of ...

A Trip Through the "My 90's Tapes" Collection Pt. 6: Joan Jett and The Blackhearts "Up Your Alley"

Column 1, Row 6: Joan Jett and The Blackhearts, Up Your Alley In 1988, hair metal was on the rise and straight forward rock and roll was losing radio airplay. If the music wasn't a little slick and the mix didn't sound like the record was recorded in a sports arena, there was little chance of getting heard. There were exceptions, of course (Tracy Chapman comes to mind), but for the most part, loud and echoey was the sound of the day. At that time, Joan Jett and her latest version of the Blackhearts had been together for a few years and were clicking. The band members were Ricky Byrd on lead guitar and vocals, Kasim Sulton on bass and vocals, and Thommy Price on drums. Jett was coming off of co-starring with Michael J. Fox in Paul Schrader's film, Light of Day . Although the film wasn't a hit, it was high profile enough to bring the rock legend back into the public eye after years working the road and trying to rebuild the success of her early 80s albums, including the s...