Let’s Catch Up

Well hello! It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I told you that posts would be few and far between. I know, I also said that I’d try to post via email, but man that’s just a pain. Do you have any idea how hard it is to type 500 words on a keyboard the size of a credit card? It’s just not fun.

Anyway. It’s been an interesting couple of weeks. Not much has really happened, except for learning that there’s nothing good on broadcast TV between the hours of 9am and 4pm. Ellen and Oprah and The View can all go away and never come back as far as I’m concerned. I’ve also learned how to cook a lot of new things, and how to build a replica 19th century chest of drawers, thanks in no small part to PBS. Somebody could learn how to be a French chef just by watching PBS in the early afternoon. And don’t even get me started on Barbecue U, that dude is my new hero.

And then there’s the recreational life: OSU football is still choking in the big games, the Red Sox are chugging along, chasing down the AL Wild Card, and then there’s the Crew.

Ah, the Crew: 23 games unbeaten at home; first place in the league; working their way through Champions League; and breaking ladies’ hearts while making men jealous all season long. If you’ve got a North American soccer team that you think is good, bring ‘em to Columbus and we’ll sort it out. Seriously, I’ll take the Crew against any other team on this continent. Which is lucky for me because that’s exactly what Champions League is: The best from the USA versus the best from the rest of North and Central America.

In addition to being the only championship team in Columbus that is still playing like champs, the Massive are giving me a creative outlet in the form of The Offside. I get a lot of enjoyment from watching the beautiful game and from writing, and over at The Columbus Offside I get to combine those two passions. Go check it out – even if you’re not a soccer fan, I promise you’ll like it.

A teaser:

Never, EVER, beat up on the home fans’ favorite young player when you are less than ten feet from the most boisterous, most rowdy, most likely to come-out-there-and-rough-you-up fans in the stadium. I’m pretty sure that if just one punch had been thrown at our beloved Cabbage Patch Kid, the stands would have emptied and quite a few of my friends would be facing assault charges. Thank God Steven scared those defenders away on his own, I don’t have enough money to bail that many people out of jail.

So, yeah. Go read my stuff, I need the pageviews.

Also, keeping with the sporting theme, I’ve been recruited to be the keeper on a “7 versus 7″ soccer team. This is a big deal for me for two reasons: 1) It’s a more competitive league than I’ve ever played in, and 2) They asked me to play. I showed up one day to just kick around with them and after the game they were begging me to come back and be their full time keeper. I’m not trying to brag or anything, it just feels good to be wanted, ya know?

And then, in my first outing between the pipes, I came this close to posting a shut out. Had it not been for a PK and a total defensive breakdown, we would have won 6-0.

Also, that game was was the first time since high school that I got knocked out. Literally. I remember seeing the guy coming at me, diving at the ball, getting kicked in the head, grabbing the ball and standing up, and then nothing. I guess I was on the ground for about a minute, or at least that’s what they tell me. I don’t know if I was out cold or just dazed, either way it wasn’t a good feeling. But at the same time, it was the best thing I’ve felt in a while.

I like to think that the pain, and then the aches, are a good thing. They mean I’m still alive, that I can still get out and move around. They mean that age, though she is chasing me, hasn’t caught up yet.

So, all in all, unemployed life is good. Stressful, seeing as I’m not sure where my income will originate after next Wednesday and I’ve still got bills to pay and a girl to take out, not to mention a meals to eat. But overall, I’m not worried. I’ve never really worried about anything, I’m a creative guy and I’ve always figured things out.

Hey, this is America: Land of Opportunity. I’m 27 years old, extremely flexible, a fast learner, and desperate. If I can’t find a job with those things going for me, I might as well stop looking.

Or win the lottery.