a trophy on the line

Here's an image for the approaching end of summer. This weekend marks the end of summer kickball with the playoffs and a BBQ. Should be quite entertaining. As the one piece of competitiveness allowed in an adult co-ed city kickball league, everyone is gunning for the ONE annoying team that took everything way too seriously the entire season. I'm anticipating a few attempts to bean one particular dude in the head (a no-no in the rule book).

Wish us luck, people. There is a trophy on the line and it does travel from winner to winner over the seasons.

On a side note, the lovely J made a quick trip last weekend and shared his plans to take over the world. You'll all be informed of your roles in due time. Until then, my friends, fight the power with booze, bunnies, and kickball.

The Game of Life

I had quite the exciting weekend: big trip to Costco, high school reunion, David Gray concert, kickball. Now I know that those four things may sound like the Seventh Level of Hell to many of you, and quite frankly Costco almost achieved that for me, but the rest was grand. Well, it was an interesting version of The Game of Life, writ large. People married just out of college? Check! People with lots of kids? Check! Doctors? Check! Lawyers? Check! Let's get to the lists:

High School Reunion, how time was spent:

1. ignoring the asshats
2. "I'm doing well! How are you? You look fantastic!" (rinse and repeat)
3. find more interesting people on fringe
4. talk with German exchange student (yes, he came specifically for the reunion)
5. convo breakthroughs! after you slog through the initial ritual conversation, you move on to other, more entertaining and interesting, topics. hold the phone, people, a real conversation is possible!
6. talk about kids
7. win award for "most unusual job" because you're the only one who entered... who am I kidding, they saw my title and walked away with their heads in their hands because they knew they couldn't win
8. gauge everyone's level of drunkenness and determine how that correlates to their born-again christian ethos

David Gray, in all his awesomeness:

1. nicely cut 60s style suit
2. fantastic new songs (he's so awesome he can pull off new songs in concert)
3. my own personal greatest hits as the set-list
4. piano & guitar, nothing else needed
5. le sigh, David Gray

hot pants

This song has been in my head as of late. No real explanation. I was first introduced to "Hot Pants" waiting for a graduate seminar to start when I was a young, enterprising undergraduate. The fellow who told me about it had long gray hair and played in a band that occasionally covered Jimmy Buffet songs (just to give you a mental picture). He had a deep and abiding love of James Brown, going so far as to burn me a copy of James Brown Live at the Apollo just so I could experience a bit of the joy. There's no footage of the 1962 concert, only audio. And that, my friends, is almost a sad fact. Because, soup to nuts, that recording is an amazing listen. I wonder if seeing him jumping around on stage, falling down on his knees, and whatnot would distract from the music. Mayhaps it's more powerful because you're forced to work out what's going on when the crowd SCREAMS and HOLLERS. And believe me, they scream and holler. So, be content with this bit of Hot Pants.



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