In Between Years

What is happening to me? I think I have been abducted by aliens and they implanted a different brain in me. I can not believe I am posting for the third time today. I just have this need to express myself I guess.

I made this discovery yesterday and found it quite amusing. What's in a person's age?

I just came out of a relationship with a younger person and noticed that I was always the oldest person in the group when we went out with her friends. And it was even worse because she would hang out with people that were younger than her. I would definitely start to feel my age and just didn't feel like I fit in at times.

Fast forward to the present and I am dating a woman older than me (older sounds so crude... maybe I should say "more experienced in life"). Anyway, she is an attractive woman and looks much younger than her age (Not that there is anything wrong with her age). I noticed that now I am the youngest person when I am out with her friends. I have flip flopped for sure. It's kinda funny and I didn't even realize it until yesterday.

Are all the people my age not on this planet? I find this kind of troubling at times. Why is it that I am always around people either younger than me or older than me? It definitely feels like the "In Between" years. I am in between everyone else's age groups. Maybe people my age don't exist? Twilight zone scenario for sure.

I know it's a stupid thought. But it's still kinda freaky when you think about it.

Purpose of Site

I was wandering about the web today and this thought occurred to me...

Does my site have a purpose?

I often view other blogs and notice that I particular like sites that are really about nothing. Seinfeldish in a way. "It's a blog about nothing." Hell, I even make up words from time to time (Seinfeldish being one of them). It's these sites that are so raw and real. The person places his / her thoughts out for the world to view and allow us to judge them accordingly. I think this is the purpose of my site. Or at least, the reason of the day. I may choose a different reason tomorrow, but I think this is why I post to this site.

I have noticed that some people visit this site and go about their business. But some people, view multiple pages of my site. I don't
know for sure what that means, but I do know that I have expressed my thoughts to these people and perhaps they want to know just a little bit more about me.

I have always thought of my life as a car crash. It's a terrible thing to witness, but for some strange reason you just can't look away. By no means is my life overly exciting that others wish to be me, but it isn't exactly sitting at home alone twiddling my thumbs (sometimes it is... but who doesn't like to twiddle their thumbs... come on now). And even when I am twiddling, I like to mix it up a bit... left over right... pause... right over left... you just never know how I might twiddle.

Okay, so know I'm rambling again. I would apologize, but it happens so often that I would be apologizing all the time. Hell, I'm rambling about my apology.

Anyway... I don't know why I post to this site. I like expressing little glimpses of my life on this majestic medium called the Internet (heh heh... "majestic medium"... nice alliteration I might add).

So this posting is for me. "Clap". Just giving myself a high five. I'm such a dork.

So Very Confused

Why is it that I get an extra hour of sleep, but I am actually more tired today than I was before the time change? I am in desperate need of caffeine. Oohh, the small space underneath my desk is looking mighty cozy right now. I want to just crawl under there and take a quick five hour nap...

The Next Step

When a person goes through a traumatic event in their life they go through five different stages.

DENIAL, ANGER, BARGAINING, DEPRESSION, ACCEPTANCE

Wednesday night I went through the denial stage. I just couldn't believe the Astros were not going to be playing anymore this season. Surely, something would happen and by some miracle we would be playing ONE more game.

Then yesterday came the anger stage. I was pissed that they lost game 4 and I couldn't go to game 5. I was extremely upset and questioned every decision they made.

I never really went through the bargaining stage. If it did occur, I was not aware of it.

I definitely went into a mini-depression stage last night. I couldn't believe they got swept. I didn't mind losing the World Series so much. But to be swept in the World Series, that was very depressing.

I think I am in the acceptance stage now. I think the season was a hell of a season. I am very proud of the Astros for what they have accomplished this season. Hell, to make it to the World Series is a fine accomplishment in itself. I will proudly wear my Astros gear throughout the year. In fact, "E" just bought a black World Series 05 Astros cap for me today. I will proudly wear this cap this weekend to show my strong support for the Astros.

So now what? Well, my next step is going to be supporting my other favorite Houston team. The Rockets.

I have already been to a preseason game this past Sunday and I hope to make it to several of their other games this season. I think we have a good strong team this year and we should not have any problems making it to the playoffs again this year. Thank god we have such good baseball and basketball teams in this city. Now, if we could only work on our football team...

How to Slowly Kill Me

Give me a World Series ticket for Game 5 earlier this week and then have the Astros get swept to not allow a Game 5. I am literally holding the ticket right now and there is nothing I can do with it. It looks mighty nice and all...

How often do you get a chance to see a World Series game in person? I guess not to often.

Just one game was all I was asking for. I didn't want to be greedy. Just win one game and let me see them in person.

Oh mighty baseball gods, why do you mock me so?

Funny Bunny

These are hillarious. Check em out.
30-Second Bunnies

Drinking for the Bravehearted

I was hesitant to add this entry today regarding yesterday's game. In fact, I just wanted to forget it even happened and move on with the day. Fresh start so to speak. But no matter how much I drank last night (and I drank a lot), I couldn't seem to get the game out of my head. They were so close... What happened Oswalt in the 5th inning? And then to come back in the sixth and pitch like the Oswalt of old was confusing. And don't even get me started on Astacio... Garner, why didn't you put in Wandy instead?

Ooohhh... My head is still feeling the effects of my drinking from last night. You see what's happening don't you? The Astros are turning me into an alcoholic. I have to drink just to get the pain out of my head. It's either that or I poke out my eyes with an ice pick to keep the images from my brain.

Oh baseball gods, why have you forsaken me?

But I am a faithful fan non the less, so I will pull a Patsy Cline and stand by my man (men?). Oh crap, you get the picture...

I will not second guess Garner's decisions in the game. Hell, he got us to the World Series when no one else could. I just wish it made some kind of sense sometimes.

The eternal optimist in my wants to believe that we can still win four games in a row and win it all. Screw the statistics and history books. We have been defying the odds all season long. Hell, once again we weren't even supposed to be in the World Series. But I am truly a pessimist at heart. So all I really want is to not be swept in the World Series.

Come on Astros... Go out fighting. Swing for the fences and let's show 'em what were made of (I imagine painted faces at this point with a strong Scottish accent. My character will be portrayed by Mel Gibson).

Your gonna make me say this...

Okay, I'm tired of hearing all of the crap lately. I haven't mentioned the Astros in a while because I didn't want to jinx them. I even trimmed my goatee for the change similar to the Astros trimming their beards into goatees. This series is far from over and playing in Houston is completely different than playing in Chicago. I am a true fan.

So this is for all the fair-weather fans out there.

SHUT THE HELL UP ABOUT BRAD LIDGE.

He is one of the main reasons we made it to the playoffs in the first place. Yes, the two home-run incidents were unfortunate, but I do believe them when they say they would give the ball to him again if the situation comes up. He is our best closer and a hell of a pitcher. I think the weather got the best of him the last game (Honestly, can anyone say that they would not be affected by rain and freaking cold-ass wind). Our boys are from Houston and we are not used to weather being below 60 degrees here.

Anyway, I hope the situation comes up again so we can put Lidge back on the mound. Then maybe these naysayers would shut the hell up and follow some other team. They don't deserve to be called Astro fans and we sure as hell don't want them following our team.

Dammit, look at what you made me do. I was trying to be all nice like and they had to bring it out of me.

Pumpkin Carving

This past weekend my daughter and I carved a pumpkin for Halloween. It was pretty cool, but of course we had to pick a pretty hard pattern to use for the pumpkin. There were several close calls, but the end result was pretty cool. I thought for sure we would have "the great pumpkin tragedy" of 2005, but two hours later we had a perfectly carved pumpkin. This has been a tradition for my daughter and I over the past three years. I think she really enjoys the carving and hopefully this will be another memory to add to her "old man" memories.

The part my daughter likes the most is pulling out the seeds and we usually bake them as a special treat. This year the pumpkin we picked was really freaky. It was sorta dried out and we discovered the seeds were sprouting inside the pumpkin. The picture above shows how long some of the sprouts grew. It appears around four of five inches on one of the sprouts. We decided that this year we should hold off on the seed baking. Freaky stuff indeed.

On a side note totally unrelated to pumpkin carving...

Do you think stupid people realize they are stupid? Why is it that everyone thinks they are intelligent when they are obviously not intelligent at all? I met some people lately that thought they were extremely smart (not somewhat smart, but genius intelligence). In reality, they were dumb as dirt. Not that I am Mensa material, but I am somewhat intelligent. I truly believe these people thought they were smarter than me.

Hold on... maybe I am one of these people that think they are smart when they really are not. Wouldn't that be ironic if I am creating this post about these type of people and I am actually one of these people? Oh man, my head is starting to hurt.

Puppy Sitting Be Me

I have taken on a new side job starting yesterday. I have added puppy sitting to my repertoire. This morning "E" had a 25K trail run up in Huntsville (88 miles from her place), so I volunteered to watch her 11 week old Boston Terrier puppy. This allowed her to get some rest and leave early in the morning. So last night I picked up Pugsley and jumped into the deep end of puppy sitting.

If you have never raised a puppy, let me explain how different it is from raising a full grown dog. I was fortunate to have adopted my current dog and didn't have to go through the whole puppy stage. There is the potty training and the endless amount of energy. The puppy does nothing more than eat, sleep, play, and poop. In fact, the thing is a poop making machine. You ever wonder where the poop of people who are constipated go? It goes to the puppies in the world. They poop enough for all the living creatures in the world.

And it's not a normal dog turd. Nope, it's a massive amount of dog crap. You know the fake rubber dog poo that they sell in gag stores? This is the poo they used for the mold. It's about a third of his size each time and it keeps coming out non stop. I know I keep focusing on the poop, but you have to see it to believe it.

Anyway, the puppy is still alive and hopefully I can return him in one piece so that I have other puppy watching chances. If not, there is always duct tape and maybe she wouldn't notice.

Beware the Ratman

This is way too funny...
CAUTION: You should go to the restroom before viewing this link. Otherwise, you may have a laugh so hard pee all over self moment.

Scare Tactics

Who's going to the World Series... Oh Yeah

All those going to the World Series take a step forward... ah not so fast Cardinals.

Oh my gosh. We totally owned the Cardinals last night to advance to the World Series. I don't think we could have played any better and we have this momentum going into the game on Saturday. This is not your grandma's Astros of yesteryear. Nope, these Astros are new and improved (Version 2.0 if you will). And what's with all the no love from the national media? We have given them a hell of a series between us and the Braves and then another good series between us and the Cardinals. And we get like five minutes of air time this morning. And all of the bitching and complaining of the "phantom tag" call.

WHATEVER....

Yes, it was a bad call. It happens sometimes and it has happened to us in the past. You get over it and move on. If that was truly the one thing that changed the game yesterday then they didn't deserve to win anyway. We could have let that crushing defeat on Monday bring us down, but we didn't. We are resilient and scrappy. We are the modern day Rocky Balboa.

I have been doing my part with the whole beard thing. Well, actually I can't grow a full beard. I have the same issues Biggio has and it looks all patchy (extremely pathetic... you'll have to trust me on that one). So, I have refused to trim my goatee until the Astros win the World Series. I have been doing this since the postseason began. And I'm starting to look pretty sad to tell you the truth. I have this whole Shaggy (Scooby Doo) look going on. I have like five hairs that are growing long, but the rest is still short. Oh well, every fan must endure some pain to do their part for the team. But at least I can solve mysteries and I have my Scooby Snacks (And by "solve mysteries" I really mean sit on my ass. And by "Scooby Snacks" I really mean beer).

ZZZZ (Or lack thereof)

I remember once upon a time when I would be up until all hours of the night and wake up to go to work with no problem what so ever. Those days are long gone my friend. I am soooo tired and I am getting more sleep now than I did before.

The cause... a shift in my circadian rhythm (internal clock for the non-scientific people). I used to be up until 3:00 in the morning and have no problem waking up around 7:00AM to go to work. So four hours of sleep was plenty for me. Now, I'm getting around five hours of sleep, but the difference is my bedtime has shifted. Instead of staying up until 3:00AM, now I go to bed around 11:00PM. I don't know why it's affecting me so easily.

But every problem has a solution... And alas my good dear longtime friend "caffeine" has come to my rescue. In fact, my friend has decided to set up permanent residence in my system to help me make it through these difficult times ahead. Ah, caffeine, so many memories together and I'm sure many more pleasant memories to come.

Of course, this problem is pretty severe so the normal daily caffeine methods will not suffice. After all, coffee and energy drinks will only get you so far in life. So, I think I will break down and go for the big guns. This site sells what I need man. They's got my fix and are willin to hook a brotha up...

I have decided to get the caffeinated mints and chase them down with the bawls drink. Mix them together to get a serious case of fizzling blue bawls (grin). Oh my... I think I'm blushing...

Life on the Run

Lately I have been running around like a mad man (very appropriate for me since I am quite insane) between several side jobs and my personal life. I have been quite exhausted and was sitting there this evening dreaming of some down time. I tend to do this to myself and schedule too many activities at the same time. Then I get exhausted and do nothing for a few weeks. This evening I was washing my hands when I noticed a small ant on the counter.

SQUISH... I smashed the ant into oblivion.

Then I started to think about what I just did... why would I kill a defenseless creature just because I was like 1000 times his size? What if we are small ants to some huge sentient life form out there that is 1000 times our size and we don't know it. In an instant I could be squished just like the ant. This is why it is important to live life to the fullest each day. You never know when the almighty gods would smash us just for the fun of it.

I know this has turned into another one of my rambling posts, but don't worry here is the cliff note version of what I was trying to say.

Live life to the fullest and I need to be more efficient regarding the scheduling of my time.

Section 110 Row 17 Seat 14

I know it's been a while since I have last posted, but it has been a extremely busy weekend. The best part was attending Game 5 of the NLCS last night at Minute Maid Park. This has to be one of the best experiences I will have for a long time to come. The crowd was crazy and the hype was unexplainable. The worst part of the night was the extremely heartbreaking loss for sure, but I still have faith in my Astros. They have two more games to get us to the world series. You don't think they will now just roll over and die do you? Please...

Don't get too happy St. Louis, were about to bring our "A" game there and kick some serious butt.

Self Torture

So I mentioned yesterday that "E" now knows about this site. Well, today was the first time she actually started reading some of my previous postings WHILE I WAS ON THE PHONE WITH HER. I think the sheer terror of her reading some of my postings had me on the edge of blacking out. It was all a blur and I was feeling extremely awkward about the whole situation at first. But as she started reading some of the postings, it actually started to feel pretty good. She laughed at several and some she was trying to understand why I felt that way at the time. I couldn't give her a rational answer other than, "I don't know. I was thinking kinda crazy at the time" (Actually, I didn't say those exact words. So really I shouldn't have put quotation marks around them. But as I mentioned earlier, I was sort of in this hazy black out state, so I don't remember my exact words).

I do this a lot to myself. I am always harder on myself than other people are on me. In fact, the only comment she made was that I need to add more pictures. I have never known what it was like to share very personal information with someone and it not be used against you. This is definitely a new feeling for me. I know it's a good thing, but it still pretty scary.

I feel the same today as I did a few days ago, so I seriously doubt that her reading my postings will negatively influence any of my postings. Even if I did put something down and "E" did not like it, then I would have to put my foot down show her who's the boss (And if your reading this "E", then I'm just kidding. "Please Mommy Dearest, not the wire hanger"). I have my manly side, but I'm no fool.

Yeah Astros

Like a thief in the night, we stole one away from the Cardinals. They didn't know what hit them...
One down. Three to go...

The Cat's out of the Bag

It's finally been done. I told "E" last night about this site and I'm
sure she will eventually take a look at my postings. I don't know why
I'm so fearful of people knowing about this site. I know I'm afraid
that it would influence my postings. I hope this is not the case. I
cherish the fact that I can express my true thoughts and emotions on
this site without feeling judged. I guess I always figured that if
someone out there judged me on my postings, I wouldn't really care.
But if it's someone that is close to me and they judge me on my
postings, I don't know how that would affect me.

Everything that I have posted in the past has been based on real
experiences and thoughts in my life. So when I was telling "E" some
of the things I have posted in the past she was kinda surprised. I
don't think it really bothered her, rather it intrigued her. So, it
will be interesting to see how this affects my postings.

Even worse, what if she freaks out about my internal thoughts and
never wants to see me again? Well, I'm only expressing my private
thoughts and hopefully she would be accepting of me (even my freaky
twisted mind). I guess I'll have to wait and see...

Never Fear... Underdog is Here

Well, Today is the first game of the NLCS and I think we have a really good chance of beating the Cardinals. We might be a different team from last year, but I think we are actually better this year. We lost a lot of power hitters, but we are more scrappy this year. There is more fight in us and we are not dependent on the long ball anymore. Garner has this wonderful ability to manufacture runs out of nothing. So let them think we are the underdogs. I like it that way. That way it will be even better when we kick their butts and they have no more excuses. We were not supposed to beat Atlanta in the first round. Hell, we weren't even supposed to be in the playoffs according to the media back in April. So, to be still playing in October is a special treat that I will never forget.

Where have my thoughts gone?

Sometimes I have so many ideas that I would like to share on this site, but I do not have access to the Internet at the time. Then when I get to a computer, I forget what I wanted to post. This really sucks sometimes because I know there are some really good thoughts (at least I think so at the time). The reason I mention this is because this happened to me three separate times today. And now all I have is this stinking post to share. I really should apologize for this pathetic posting, but I'm not (feeling kinda pissy about it).

Anyway... If I can remember any of the stuff from earlier, then I will post it. Otherwise, I guess the world will never know the thoughts swirling around in my head. Actually, maybe this is a good thing because some of these thoughts should never be made public (even on the Internet).

Ok, here's a thought for ya...

Today I was eating dinner at Chick-Fil-A (chicken sandwich restaurant) and made this observation. All of the employees working the front counter were white. There must have been around eight employees. And then I noticed that there were three employees in the back making the sandwiches. And all of them back there were Mexican. What's up with that??? Perhaps it was just a coincidence, but it was very obvious. This restaurant is also very religious. They are closed on Sundays because of the whole "not working on the Sabbath" thing. So I think I made a new correlation....

Chick-Fil-A is religious. Chick-Fil-A is discriminating. Therefore, religion is discriminating against Mexicans. Seem like a stretch? Perhaps, but at least it helps me justify my anger towards organized religion. How's that for a messed up thought?

Rollercoaster of Emotions

Where do I begin...
This weekend has been an extremely pleasant and fun filled weekend. I think I'll sum it up real quick similar to ESPN's Sports Center and then come back for the details. Let's see... there was a fun filled bike ride, haunted house, and Astros.

It all started this past Saturday morning. I challenged myself by riding in a 43 mile bike ride that I thought I could easily accomplish. Normally, this amount of distance is not a problem for me, but I was unaware of how many hills were on this route. I was dying by the end of the ride. It was pretty pathetic actually, but the important part is I finished the ride and in a somewhat decent time. The last few hills, I was literally going 5mph up the hill and there were kids running up the hill next to me. That was such a humbling moment. Of course, those stupid kids didn't just complete 40 miles worth of bike ride before running up the hill. If I had enough energy, I would have chased them down and smacked them just for the principality.

Wow, where did that anger come from? Ok, back to sanity now... Later that evening my daughter wanted to go to her very first haunted house. How could I tell her no? So off we went to the Carnage haunted house. This one was definitely cool. It was "E", my daughter, and my youngest sister. Neither my daughter nor my sister have ever been to any of the professional haunted houses. I knew this was going to be good...

I tried to build up the hype and get them all worked up before we got there. I told my daughter that they grab you and run sometimes, but that started to really freak her out. She said she would start to punch them in the face if they tried to grab her, so I had to tell her the truth that they would not touch her and she could not "punch 'em in the face". That seemed to calm her down a little bit. It was pretty funny, because somehow I ended up in the front of this four person scared train in the haunted house. There were certain parts that were pitch black and the hallways were constantly turning. I kept feeling my face flatten against the wall because the certain unnamed individuals behind me kept pushing me forward. So of course, who was first when the people would jump out? But revenge can be bitter sweet because they would wait until I passed them and jump out later when my daughter or sister was below them. They were really good. They popped out of stairwells and pictures. Some of the special effects were definitely Hollywood quality and I thought that was the best part. I highly recommend taking your children to a haunted house and watching the living poop get scared out of them. The best part was watching my daughter get freaked out by the guy chasing her with the chainsaw. It made me so proud to see her have this "screw everyone" attitude and just care for herself when she took off running to leave us behind with the chainsaw guy. Yeah, I might have been cut into a million pieces, but she would definitely never know because she was hauling ass out of there to safety. Ahhh, I install such fight or flight patterns in my child. What a proud dad I am...

And how can I not mention the Astros. Oh my gosh... They kicked butt on Saturday and needed just one more win to advance on in the playoffs. So what does that mean? Of course, they have to get all dramatic and win in a record setting 18th inning on Sunday. And what about Roger Clemens? This man is a machine. He comes in on the 15th inning to pinch hit and has to relief pitch in the 16th inning. He had three consecutive shutout innings to help us seal the deal for the win. The homerun by Burke just capped off the best baseball game ever played. We were down 6-1 until the 8th inning. I thought for sure we would have to play a game 5, but nope the Astros are not down and out until the game is over. Ausmus hit the homer with two outs in the ninth to put the game into extra innings. The game lasted like 5 hours and 50 minutes. We played 23 players in the game and used all our pitches except two of our starters. This is definitely one for the history books. I love this game.

So, that was the majority of things going on this weekend. There were a lot of other events that occurred, but they can not compete to these events. I am extremely sore and tired today, but I would not change one thing about this weekend. And for the record, I can safely say that I am in no way unlucky to the Astros. I was either watching the game or listening to the game this weekend and they won both games. I can't wait until Wednesday to play the Cardinals. I almost forgot the best part of the game yesterday. I was watching the game when they showed a banner someone brought to yesterday's game. It read,

"He CARLO$, how do you like the view from the couch?"

I thought that was the best part of the game (other than the 18th inning win, of course).

Bad Luck

I have to believe that I did not give the Astros bad luck yesterday and jinx them. They fought hard and stole one game from the Braves at their own home field, but I did feel a little guilty for my post yesterday. I think they are still playing pretty well and I have not lost my faith in the team. I wish them the best of luck the next couple of days.

On a related note, I am not a superstitious person normally except for sporting events. I know some people that freak out when you spill salt on the table or do not walk under ladders. Oh, and don't get me started on breaking mirrors or black cats walking in front of them. I have always tempted fate regarding those things and believe that if something bad is going to happen to me than what the hell. I probably couldn't stop it anyway. After all, who knows, maybe that was supposed to be my destiny anyway. Maybe by being superstitious I am altering the course of my fate. Then I am living a life I was not supposed to be living. Scary thought isn't it?

I have always been an "Even Steven" type of guy. I have never really had a long string of bad luck nor good luck. I have won my fair share of small lotto tickets and won small amounts of money at casinos. Usually, I make back the amount of money that the people I am with lose on that trip. And I have had my fair share of bad luck, but it is not nearly as bad as it seems at first. I guess that is a good thing in my life and that's why I'm such a big believer in karma. Because I practice the principle of giving to others what I would expect in return. It almost always works out for the best everytime. I know, I know, I'm starting to sound like some kind of Disney movie.

"Hakuna Matata"

Can't you just imagine me running around in the jungle eating grub worms and singing joyous songs outloud. I'm one step away from being a missionary (and I'm more of a woman on top type of guy). Did I just say that out loud? Oh my gosh, and I can't even blame it on any alcohol. What would the neighbors think?

Next Stop ... World Series

I didn't want to go there, but I think I must. The way the Astros played yesterday was just amazing. Who needs stinking Beltran? Taveras is a much better deal anyway and we have learned to play small ball instead of relaying on power hitters. Hopefully we can win today and steal two from the Braves. If we do, then it will be a good sign for us to advance on toward St. Louis (That's right... the Padres don't stand a chance against St. Louis).

So this is my official "good luck" posting for the Astros and I'll make sure to do my part as a fan and go out there tonight to watch the game. I'm going to the sports bar across the street from the stadium. I know it's an away game, but just being close to the stadium makes it feel more right. If anyone is at the same bar then you will immediate notice me. I'll be the one drunk and screaming for my beloved Astros.

I love this game...

Name your Price

Everyone has a price. And for the people who claim they don't, your a bunch of liars. EVERYONE has a price.

What's my price? I'm not sure yet, but I am realistic and know that I must have some price. I work for an educational institution and am not paid nearly enough to match my living expenses. So what do I do?

Well, the way I see it I have two very simple options...

1.) Lower my quality of living lifestyle and live off of cat food, vienna sausages, and tap water (You know it's bad when you can't even afford Ramen noodles. All I can afford is Ramen's cousin - Ramon's noodles. You know the ones you find in the dollar store like twenty for a dollar).

or

2.) Find a different job that will pay enough for me to enjoy my current lifestyle (Crack is an expensive habit you know).

As much as my internal instinct is leaning toward option 1, something in me is actually leaning toward option 2.

What to do, what to do....

Weekend of Champions

Wow, what a crazy weekend. Between the Astros winning the National
League Wild Card and my retreat, I am flat out exhausted. I made it back this weekend just in time to witness the last three innings of the Astros game yesterday. I had no Internet or TV all weekend long and was going crazy because I couldn't see any of the games the last few days. Isn't it amazing that they were able to pull it off again this year? And in typical Astros fashion, they kept us in suspense until the last game of the season. I really like our chances this
year for the post season.

Anyway, don't want to talk too much about the post season because I
don't want to jinx the team....

So this weekend was exciting and tiring at the same time. These
campers had a blast and I would like to think that I had something to do with it. I was dancing with them all night (you know how I like to shake my groove thang) and playing basketball with them on Saturday and Sunday. They kept me up until 3:30 on Saturday morning and then I got up around 6:00AM to have my alone time while I ran. I was flat out exhausted, but I had to find the energy to make it through the day. Then they had a dance / party Saturday night and they were up until 2:30 that night. I tried to get up again at 6:00 for my run, but that didn't happen. Which was fine because I really needed the
rest. I receive so much satisfaction watching the campers have fun and enjoy themselves during the weekend. For some of these people, this is the only opportunity for them to be independent (even if it is only for a couple of days). Every year, after I volunteer, I have this sense of appreciation for the wonderful blessings I have in my life. Now don't get me wrong... I'm not getting all religious on you, but I do understand that I should not take the little things for granted in my life. The ability to walk, talk, think, and feel are something that no one should take for granted because it can all be taken away from us at any moment. Some of these people did not even know they had epilepsy until they were in their forties, so it can happen to anyone at any time.

Of course, the first thing that I had to get out of the way was my whole ex-girlfriend thing. This was brought up several times throughout the weekend. I figured it was best to just be upfront
about the whole situation and get it out of the way. It wasn't that bad and actually they other counselors were very supportive about the whole situation. So there were jokes made throughout the weekend and I took it in stride. The only hard part was that there was another couple of counselors there that were a "couple". It was actually kind of funny because they are in their early twenties and they were all in "love" throughout the weekend. Aaahhhh, to be young and in love. Such naiveness and ignorance... It's such a beautiful thing. Until reality smacks them upside the head and the wicked truth about love
comes strangling upon them....

I know most of you are probably thinking, "This guy is just mad at the world because of his last failed relationship". Well partly, but that doesn't make it any less truthful... Love is a double-edged sword that can easily slice off vital organs of anyone that doesn't know how to handle it properly. Trust me, I know this one all too well. I thought I had a good firm grip on this crazy weapon called "love" and got cocky with it. I was flipping it all around and being careless with it. Then it happened... "love" sliced me open with no remorse and left me standing there with my bowels on the floor. I was in disbelief that love could actually turn on me like that. But what do you do? I just took it as a lesson learned and one day will pick that sword back up.

Is it me, or is this posting starting to make no sense whatsoever...

Oh well, I think the fatigue is starting to catch back up with me. I will just end this now before it gets any worse.