Blog

  • Soccer Travel Team and Sports in General

    So, over the weekend, the kid got an invitation to tryout for a youth travel soccer team. This is something that she has wanted for some time, and was excited that the club had kept her in mind. I mean, who doesn’t like being asked to dance, right? There was a flurry in our home of making sure we had all the right equipment, and socks, and shin guards. Not that you need to have perfect equipment to be good at a sport, (Is it not the bad carpenter who complains about their tools?) but having the right stuff sure can boost your confidence.

    In my parenting philosophy, I believe that kids should play a sport, up to the age of sixteen. It was the way my parents raised me, and I have to say that it did me good. I played baseball up until twelve, and then I switched over to tennis. No real surprise here, but baseball taught me the importance of teamwork, and working toward a common goal. I loved tennis because, I was all on my own to make it happen; just me versus the other guy – which left no room to blame anyone for a mistake, other than yourself. Both sports don’t use a clock, which I guess is why I enjoy taking my time at things?

    I hope that the kid makes the team, but I also know that it’s not the end of the world if it doesn’t work out. There are plenty of other sports and teams in the City, so she will get the experience of being on a team and all the joy, excitement and disappointment that comes along with it.

    Because learning to lose and not giving up is the biggest lesson one can learn. And there is also something wonderful about being on a truly awful team. And still showing up week after week, hoping that this is the day that your fortunes change, and you win just one.

    Maybe that was my experience…

  • Out for the Day

    Busy day; will write more later.

  • ODDS and ENDS: Cough it Out, An Empty Theatre, and NFL Predictions

    (How much do you commit yourself…)

    I wouldn’t go as far as to say that the kid has a cold, but she has something that has given her a stuffy nose, and a slight cough. And with this cough, it sounds all wet like she’s breaking something up in her throat. Except she refuses to cough and break that phlegm up. And, I know this might be hard to believe, but it makes me a little nuts. I just want her to cough, get it out, you know. But she thinks she’ll throw up, which creates a perpetual motion machine of frustration for all parties.

    For the record, being in an empty theatre, with a ghost light sitting on the deck, is about as close to a feeling of going to church that I can have.

    Commanders and the Bills in the Super Bowl. But I would also be fine with the Commanders and the Chiefs. In all honesty, as long as Philadelphia doesn’t win the Super Bowl I will be happy

  • No Short Story Review This Week… Sort of

    See, I read a piece that I really liked, and I wrote a quick review on it. But then I saw that Split Lip Mag publishes micro reviews (250 to 500 words) which is normally my word count for a review, and on a whim, I decided what the hell, and sent it off to them. Clearly I have not heard back, but if they do reject the piece, then I will publish it here, and ya’ll can go crazy on it. If they do publish it, I will put up a link, and let ya’ll go crazy, but on someone else’s platform.

    Anyways, here’s hoping…

  • It’s Cold and My Mind Wandered

    Man, is it cold here. Woke up and it was ten degrees. As of this afternoon, it’s only nineteen, and we are going to bottom out at fourteen tonight.

    Pretty cold alright.

    Not that I mind. You know, last night I had a sweater on, and then a cardigan over that. I was pretty warm. At the moment I am writing this, I have a flannel shirt on with cable knit sweater over that. I am comfy and toasty at the same time.

    It is seventy degrees in my apartment, but it feels way colder than that. It’s because two of our walls face the outside, and that cold just penetrates through the bricks. Oh, and the steam pipes and radiator come and go like an unwanted family guest. Believe it or not, it used to be worse in this building.

    When I get to experience days like today, I imagine that one day I will have a nice thick and soft tweed suit to put on. And I’m not talking some stylish American tweed suit. No sir! I’m taking about an old wrinkly Irish tweed suit; one that looks like it’s been handed down for a hundred years. The type of suit that is perfect to wear a bowler hat with. It would be my cold weather tweed suit that I would put on when it was particularly cold out, and then just sit around the apartment in it. Maybe drink some tea, see where the day took me.

    Anyway… It’s cold and I feel like taking a nap. Maybe reading a book. Or I could play the wife in Mario Kart.