Losing

It was three O’Clock on a Friday afternoon and I was alone in my classroom. I just got the Raiders Chiefs game cued up on the big screen when Luke walked in. We sat in a state of languid excitement and watched the game, both of tired from a long day, week, semester. The Raiders were outplayed in every aspect of the game. They couldn’t get their offense going. Their defense game up a few big plays, so much so that the Chiefs scored 21 second quarter points and the Raiders, despite a few turn-overs were looking lack luster. Scott came and went and we were eventually joined briefly by Ian.


It wasn’t the celebratory win I was hoping for and now, just like that, we are in second place in the AFC West. There are still three games left and there is nothing certain in the incestuous AFC West, but this would’ve been a good win. It was disappointing for sure. Just goes to show that the happiness that sports giveth, can just as quickly be taken away.


Quiet Friday night. Dinner at Alt pizza and Mairin is off to a party and I have a date with my bed and Bojack Horseman. The foot felt pretty great all day, but now there are some weird aches and pains.


The Trump cabinet picks and magazine covers and victory tours and inability to get anyone but Kid Rock or Ted Nugget to play his inauguration make the United States feel more and more like some dystopian fantasy. It’s like opposite land, where every department is run by the person who hates the field the most and who has spent the longest time trying to destroy it. Labor, EPA, FDA, Treasury all run but people hell bent on dismantling the very departments they have been charged with running.


Maybe the GOP is finally going for broke and will dismantle the federal government once and for all. Reality TV will no longer be a haunted house mirror reflecting life, but the other way around- life will mimic the bizarre world of scripted reality TV. I am still holding out for which department Trump will let Gary Busey lead.


The weekend is here and after that four and half more days of school and the last few days of 2016. I am in a pretty good head-space at this point, the worst of my injury behind me I hope.


I am looking forward to some fresh thoughts coming my way.

We Friday Nighted Like Champs

We taught kids.
We talked shop.
We at lunch.
We taught kids.
We watched a social.
We ate dinner.
We drank wine.
We laughed.
We talked.
We drove around in a taxi.
We didn’t go where wanted.
We drank beer.
We drank whiskey.
We talked school.
We talked Trump.
We talked Vegan.
We talked bacon and Cesar Salad.
We walked in the hood.
We listen to music.
We talk music documentaries and Smashing Pumpkins.
We talked HD and grit and Taylor Swift.
We played darts.
We walked the streets.
We laughed.
We hi-fived.
We were hard and mean.
We hugged and said good bye.
We lived.
We Friday nighted like champs.

Wrestling and Build-A-Bear

That was a big Friday.


It is almost 1am and a night of wrestling has got my throat hoarse. It was a good time as usual watching the SPW (Singaporean Professional Wrestling) but now is not the time for the compete post about the experience. We left straight from the school kid’s trick or treat event and hung out a bit at a hawker for a few beers after.


Ran a meeting in the morning, taught a few classes on mentor texts, caught up on email, tried to pick up the reigns from Karl Wilcox and get Movember going this year, and then trick or treat and wrestling. That’s about all I have in my tank.


My bed is calling and tomorrow is not messing around either. Skyelar's never ending birthday continues with her friend's party at-A-Bear.


This whole Oregon acquittal and the Dakota pipeline stuff has got me angry something fierce, but will hold off on writing on that till later too.

Edison Bulbs

It feels like someone scooped out my throat with a ice cream scooper. It was Friday, but I inched across the finish line. The smart man, would have gone home straight from school and crawled under the covers, but I chose to shred and burn, then have a few beers at Burps, then walk the Frolf course with the dudes, then head over to Steven and Katy’s for some group Stranger Things viewing with Keri-Lee and Miles. Had some chips, olives, wine and port.

It was an afternoon and evening of mellow conversations, sunsets and television. Two days off and not much to do, but hope I don’t lose my voice completely, because although I always dreamed of losing my voice as a kid, it is actually pretty inconvenient.

…

The other day I was in Off Tangent with some students and one girl on the design team was sketching out some optional new covers. She had drawn some light bulbs and while looking over her shoulder, I said, “That would be a cool image. Have you ever heard of Edison bulbs?”

“You mean the ones in all the hipster coffee shops?”

Yes. Yes. That is exactly what I mean. We teach some crazy wicked cool kids.

…

Good night world. See you tomorrow.

We Are Young

It’s kind of sad how excited I am for what is happening right now, and what might follow the next three hours. It is 8:37pm on a Friday night. I just got home from a pool party with some friends, where I had a few beers and Pina Coladas. I am nursing a gentle tired buzz, but nothing drastic like a drunk. I have hit play on song one on Lemonade by Beyonce and I have nothing to really do or worry about tonight, expect for trying to capture a few words that you might nod your head at.


I might watch some random youtube clips when I am done, or I could commit to a full movie- Deadpool is begging to be watched. I just read some lit on The Big Lebowski so I am dying to watch Barton Fink or the Hudsucker Proxy. If a film is too much commitment I could read a few essays from Bad Feminist by Roxanne Gay or if all else fails I could just shut the whole show down and go to sleep before 10pm. The point being- I gots options, and none of them involve me getting of the couch.


Shift from Beyonce….to The Strokes. Just found out there is a new EP out and three new songs out on Spotify. I am still a big fan of the boys from NYC…


We drove up to Boston from NYC. Ari, David and I. I can’t pinpoint the geography but somehow we stopped at Yale to visit with Jeff. I have no idea whose car we took. Could have been a bus. I have no recollection. I just know that we were in Yale for a night before the night of the show. We had driven up to Boston to see The Strokes at the Orpheum. 2004? 2005? Not sure. We drank at some local Boston bar across the street from the couch where we were staying- a friend of Dave’s. We were out of place but we belonged.


The night of show, we partied pretty hard. Can’t get into the details as this is a family post, but we were feeling pretty good as we entered the show. I think the Kings of Leon opened, but I don’t remember if we arrived to see them. We were sitting in row AA front and center. That means that there were 26 other rows in front of us, but there was a path that started from the center of the stage and ended in front of my seat.


The show started and everyone was on their feet singing and jumping about. Then around the sixth song, Casablancas leapt from the stage and started to walk down the path. The song was Under Control, at least that is how my memory has constructed it- he was headed straight for me. Then before I knew it he was sitting on my lap and we were sharing the mic. The spotlight was on us both and I was screaming at the top of my lungs:


I don't want to change your mind,
I don't want to change the world.
I just want to watch it go by.
I just want to watch you go by.
We were young, darling
We don't have no control
We're out of control…


He smelled of leather and sweat and he is a much bigger dude than you might think. He returned to the stage after a few bars. It was a good night.


These new songs aren’t bad on first listen. It’s been sixteen years since The Strokes, the darlings of hip NYC rock renaissance started, and they are still making pretty good jams.

Friday

Long week.
Drinks at Burbs,
Mairin​ out of town.
Frisbee golf.
Taxi home.
Asleep by 12:37