Bubble Bustin

Last night the mojo wore out for our team's magical postseason run. Old Stoner Park rivals, the Shizz, lit our collective asses up. Personally I think we were one player short of fielding our best lineup. Not that one player would change the score but it would have given us more confidence. Still when you break it down, nobody hits, nobody wins.

Tonight the mojo wore off for Mike and Sean's VCA squad as they came up about 5 runs short and had to settle for 2nd place on the Westside. Speaking of which I wish we had a 3rd place game in our division. I know we coulda beat the Koreans.

Cool thing tonight was seeing all my teammates showing up, unannounced. We just gravitated to the park at 9pm to watch Mike and Sean. Showing up and making a tough game a lil better were Eric, Martin, Bret, Carlos, and Angelyn. We never have a chance to just sit in the stands and just cheer anymore since the old GR team shut down. It was nice.

On the other field our "friendly" rivals, the Shizz got shutout in their quest for the city championship. I was down for them. I went to visit after the game and they're all pretty cool. They got a dopeass BIG trophy too for coming in 2nd on the Westside. Shit. 21 more runs and we could be holding that right now.

Tonight my Brother and our friends left to spread the ashes of our friend who died on his motorcycle back in May up in Mammoth. I really wanted to go but it's going down at 7am tomorrow and we're shorthanded at work with my Manager starting his vacation. I think I want my ashes spread up there too. Remember Horseshoe Lake. That's where I want mine.

Game Day

Rolling Rolling Rolling

Another night, another game, another win. Facing a team that won their league the GR mojo prevailed once again.

Giant Robot 14
Morning Wood Lumber Company 12

Before the game I got into it with 2 of the hood's resident haters and the only thing stopping blows from being thrown was the timely intervention of the crew from the fishing store up the street. I was that fucking pissed. Don't talk shit about my team. Fucking has-beens and never weres.

Down 6 heading into the bottom of the 6th inning with one inning left to play it wasn't looking good. But I still had a good feeling. 6 runs in softball ain't shit. We've blown bigger leads then that. Way back when we used to suck.

Bottom of the 6th and everything fell into place. 9 runs. Chi struck the killer blow that took out their shortstop when the SS lept for his liner, had it bounce off his glove, and crumpled to the ground with a twisted knee.

Despite giving up 12 runs early the bats came to life and the defense was there in the clutch. Next game is Thursday at 9.

Looking down I see a nasty abrasion covering my right shin from a hasty slide and my 4th tore up knee of the season, this one coming from diving for a foul tip. Back to Savons to reload on Liquid Bandaid and Neosporin. I love bleeding.

No special hero's tonight. A total team effort, top to bottom. I think our fans were more surprised by this win then we were. We expect to win now.

Special props to the fans that came out tonight. Susan, Angela, Happy and Cooper, all of whom come to every game win or lose. The Eric cheering section, his Mom Margie and GF Amy. Plus all the Old School GR heads that showed up and cheered and coached, Michael, Sean, George, and Herden. Throw in Pryor and Mikey from VCA and thats quite a fan base.

Karma is a motherfucker.

I Think Only Martin Would Care

Besides me and Martin I doubt if anyone will care about this happy development.

TEEMU IS BACK WITH THE DUCKS!!!

Now somebody please explain to me WTF Kariya is doing in Nashville? Local sports have been a drag of late on end. Dodgers suck. Lakers? Aaron Mckie? Yeah he'll bring home a title. My beloved Clippers added Cuttino Mobley and Sam Cassell, 2 one dimensional head cases. The Kings picked up Jeremy Roenick, one of my favorite players ever, about 5 years past his prime.

But all is right withthe world now. #8 is back at the Pond.

Moving On

Tomorrow at 9pm GR Softball takes the field to continue it's magical post season. The opponents? Morning Wood Lumber Co, a team that won their league and once scored 33 runs in a game. Being the underdogs fucking rules.

Looking out on the half of the team that showed up to practice tonight, I wonder how long this week will go on. Win tomorrow, play Thursday. Win Thursday and play for the Westside City Championship Friday night. Win Friday and it's onto the City Championship vs the Valley Champs Sunday. I hope it's going to be a long week.

After dropping this keyboard I've come to the realization that I'm in need of a replacement. The return key doesn't work unless you hit it in exactly the right spot. This is taking way too long. Sucks. I got it as a combo with the Apple wireless mouse a few Christmas's back and the mouse id already dead at the hands of a overzealous 5 year old.

Over the weekend I got a early B-Day gift from my homegirl A. She got the date all mixed up and thought my B-Day was the 13th. Dsylexia rears it's ugly head. Cool gifts though. One guide to California fishing (that I already owned and had lent to Mike) and a book detailing fishing spots in Southern Cali. I really wannna fish now but the only things really biting down here in the summer heat are the big mutant catfish that are planted in all the local put and take, pay $20 at the entrance lakes. I'd be down for that but none of my friends are. Wussies.

Happy B-day to Dee tomorrow. Fuck if I know what to get her. Leashes for the monsters?

Weekend Update

Been a long weekend.

Friday, up at 6am, ready to fish. Mike discovered a new fishing hole, Piru Creek. By 6;40 we were off. Mike, resident videographer Pryor, and me.

Less then an hour we're at the end of the road. Literally. For the next 2.2 miles it was hiking time. That wasn't as bad as it sounds considering it was on a nice flat abandoned road. For such a desolate, isolated spot there were plenty of signs of previous visitors. The first thought I had upon seeing the corn cobs and broken Corona bottles was, "Awwwww Mexicans".

Like I said the hard part wasn't the hike. The hard part was getting up and down the embankment to the creek. Thru the bushes and over the rocks. Ouch. Fishing was actually pretty cool. I caught 2 tiny teenie weenies as soon as I got a line in a small pool. The part that sucked was the realization that in my efforts to lighten my load for the hike I'd forgotten that most basic of fishing tools. Pliers to remove hooks. Somewhere in that creek are a pair of lil guys with hooks down their throats. I read somewhere that a hook passes thru a fish's system within a month. I hope it's true. Mike hooked up with a monster. Mike needs glasses.

Later that night it was back the field of dreams for the VCA/Rudeboy game. Like the night before the good guys sucked out the win, especially good since it was our old rivals whose season got ended. Awwwwww. Sucks to be them. I have a game next week bitches.

Playing over my usual limit I came in 2nd and won $1500 in a poker tourney. The key? Waiting for good cards and putting the brakes on my usual agressive play. I think the $500 buy in made me a lil less reckless then usual giving me the sense to pick and choose my spots instead of trying to impose my will and run over the table like I'm usually prone to do. I was sitting on pins and needles around about the 3rd stage watching my starting chips being blinded away and praying for decent starting hands. By the time we got heads up I was a 6,000 chip plus underdog but managed to whittle his lead down to 1200 chips before my all in pocket K's were outdrawn by his trip 7's. 2 words. Thats poker.

Tonight was spent at the batting cage and Denny's. This week's goal. City softball champions. Next week? World domination of course.

Underdogs

Sometimes it's magic. Round 1 of the City softball tourney is over.

Final Score

Giant Robot 11
Bitchass Westwood Frat Boys 10

All thanks to the play of the year from the ice cream man pictured above.

More to come but I have to crash. Fishing at 6:00 am tomorrow. But the GLOW won't let me sleep.

*EDIT* 3 days later.....

In the end all that matters is the final score. Watching Hap racing toward the plate with the score tied and 2 outs my heart was in my stomach. Everytime I think about it I get the same butterflies.

Eric led the offense with 2 doubles and crucial RBI's. That reminds me. I still owe him a B-day gift.

Martin's pitching had them chasing their tails all night long. It was awesome the way he kept the ball up. Higher, higher, higher. They told Sean after the game they never saw anything like his delivery. They probably never will.

Sky and Bill ruling the infield, snuffing out all threats with numerous double plays. Bill's backhanded stab of the hard grounder will be forever etched in my mind.

Hap and Sky on the bases. Double trouble. I had Sky pinchrun for me twice. Not that I'm that slow. Just that he's so damn good.

Hot bats from Hap, Chi, Bill, and Eric. 11 runs had to come from somewhere.

After the game while the team was celebrating I wandered alone to the bathroom, changing out of my gay baseball pants in the dark. It didn't matter that there's no light in there. I had my own glow going on.

The Waiting Is The Hardest Part

Awhile back I was moaning and groaning about the lack of hobbys in my life. Sure there's softball and poker but well, somehow that just wasn't cutting it. Looking back at growing up I had lots of stuff to do. Collecting shit like baseball cards, stamps, and comic books. Hitting up the walls in the hood at 3 am with elaborate graffitti burners. Skateboarding and surfing. But for some reason none of that translated well to the 21st century. Then there was fishing.

Back in the day fishing was the shit. Wake up at 4 am, drive for hours, hit the spot right as the sun came up, and basically freeze your ass off, pole in hand. Or once we hit the 7th grade we'd set out on our own. Wakeup at 5 am, hop on the bikes, and ride from West LA to Redondo Beach, poles in hand, to rent a boat and use our ultralight trout setups to catch bonito in the harbor then selling them for bait to all the rich White people going deep sea fishing. At the handsome rate of $1 a fish that was enough to keep us in corn dogs and arcade games until it was time to make 20 mile ride back home.

A few weeks back I recaught the fishing bug up in Mammoth. Throwing out the line, sitting on my ass, getting sunburned and mosquito swarmed, and every once in awhile bringing up a fish. Life is good.

Since I've caught the fishing bug Mike and I kept talking shit of the, "lets go fishing" variety. Today was the day following my early arrival home, an impromtu AIM convo, and an even more impromtu self inflicted hair cut. Within an hour he was at my door and we're off.

Destination. Castaic Lake, right past Magic Mountain and less then an hour away. Following a pit stop at 7-11 for drinks and fishing licenses it was on.

After our first spot which required travel along a rocky bank, scrambling up and down rocks, and trekking thru mud didn't exactly have fish jumping on our line we moved back to the dam where we sat on our asses and got sunburned til sunset. Of course our hopes weren't all that high since it was hot and trout like cool weather and water. Not to mention the fact that the last trout plant was back in May. We were chlling with nature. Dammit.

It could have been worse.

The highpoint of the day was watching Captain Carp in action. Just an old guy chilling, throwing his line out with a single kernel of corn. He was a little ways down from us and his epic half hour struggle with one fish caught our attention. After landing it he brought it over so we could get a pic of him with his monster fish. A fucking carp. I was in awe, having never seen a carp outside of Animal Crossing. I didn't even know there were carp in the lake since while fishing for trout Mike was secretly hoping for a striped bass while I had my heart set on a big ugly catfish. Carp?

Nightcap after steak at Cocos and a trip to the Walmart in the boonies. Grizzly Man!!!

You have to respect the guy for doing what he believed in even if was a froot loop. It was cool seeing all his bear footage, watching the foxes following him around, and watching him tell all the animals how much he LOVED THEM. But it was a downer hearing all the interviews with various people about his demise. I just wanted to see bears, dammit, especially after my close encounter with the bear a few weeks ago.

Tomorrow. City softball tourney. Round 1. Oh boy......

The Kids Are Alright

Sitting in at a $10 sit and go tourney I met the most interesting poker players I ever met online. Pokerwise that is.

It's so boring sitting and folding hat I'm always down for conversation. So I'm friendly and one of those affable folks who actually answers in the chat box. But the table talk from the other night takes the cake.

The remarkable thing about my 2 tablemates? Their ages. 10 and 12 respectively. The 10 year old was from Australia, sitting in for her Dad while he was cracking Macadamia nuts for her, and actually playing well. Besides the fact that she had the fun habit of announcing whenever she had a big hand pre-flop. I doubted her the first time she announced her hand and called her but she indeed had the nuts and I was smart enough to stay out of her way after that. Some of my silent tablemates weren't as observant and got owned.

The 12 year old was from the old favorite spot, the Big Island, Kona side, and claimmed to always play on her Father's account since he was always out drinking and she always made money for him. She too played pretty well, killing my full house with quads, since I didn't heed her advice that I really ought to fold. I should have learned my lesson after tangling with the 10 year old. She was really into the fact that we were both JA's and she spent the rest of the night following me from table to table.

The 3 of us had a pretty fun conversation about surfing, MTV, and why Bush sucks. Nobody else at the table said a word. All the while this thought was burning a hole in the back of my mind. I'm getting owned by little girls.

Final results.
1st ~ 12 year old
2nd ~ 10 year old
3rd ~ My stupid ass

Where was online poker when I was 10?

Welcome Back

Kinda hard to get back into the routines of life. All that important shit I do. Waking up, going to work, playing with the kids, batting cage, watching softball, playing poker, saving the universe. All that shit.

Tonight was a return to the Valley with Mike and Jay. Important thing we learned tonight. If you want to hit opposite field you have to swing twice as hard as you would normally. No wonder I'm so good at grounding to 2nd.

Everyone asked me where the fuck I was last week since I didn't exactly announce my vacation or my plans. My best answer.....

"I got a 3 month sentence but I only had to serve 7 days cuz of prison overcrowding."

The fucked up part is that they believed me. Imagine that.

Vacation Over

Things we did on the holy week off from the Blvd.

2 nights of Obon. One day I swear I'm gonna dance again. Then again maybe not since I kinda laid off the drinking. Alcohol always makes you a better dancer, even if it is traditional Japanese dance. Too bad my Bachan isn't around to pay me for doing the dances like she used to when I was like the only boy dancing with a bunch of girls and old people. Sadly I didn't spend a penny either night. I just stood around talking shit with the homies, watching the dancing with my lil 5 year old homey,and talking more shit. Michael and I did halfway suceed in hookinh up Big Poppa J with the resident Blonde Goddess.

One late night trip to San Manuel, local Indian casino. I made the usual 1 1/2 drive in under an hour. Like thats hard to do after midnite. No Poker, just fun and games playing my favorite video slot, Reel'Em In. Almost $200 lighter we got back around 6am. Not we. I got back at 6am. I as in degenerate gambler who goes to casino with oneself.

Tuesday. Softball practice. Tiring. Sweaty. Major need to hurl for the last half hour. Good thing I live across the street from our practice field. Tournament next week. With just 9 players?

Weds and Thursday. Impromtu trip to the desert. Palm Springs. No casinos in an effort to prove to Miss stalwart Travelling companion that I'm not degenrate gambler. She didn't know about my field trip earlier in the week. Stayed at the old family condo, now in the possesion of my Aunt. She doesn't know I have a key. Shhh. Outlet shopping. Date shakes. Nostalgic trip to ice skating rink where my interest in ice hockey blossomed. it was either that or golf when I was a kid. Pool. Jacuzzi. Nothing better to do so we'll get busy even if it's 115 outside. Much sweat. Sunburn.

Fri - Sunday. Get back around midnight Thursday to pack to leave for fishing in Mammoth the next morning. Lots of Fish. Hot. Thunderstorms. Hook up with my ex's best friend who's relocated to the Sierras. Found her working in one of my favorite restaurants in the area and got greeted with the classic line, "I knew you'd walk in here someday". Defintely the highlight of the trip. When I asked her why she didn't kep in touch and tell me she was up there I got this for and answer.

"You changed your cel at least twice that I know of, God knows how many email adresses you've been thru not to mention AIM sn's. Like you you can't call?"

My bad. Lost $50 Sunday to Miss 5'2 Amazon in training. We had a fishing bet since she had the day free and loves to fish. I lost $10 for not catching the 1st fish of the day. Another $20 for not catching the biggest fish of the day. Plus $20 more for not catching the most. OWNED!!!!
Note to self. Self control is a good thing. Even if she did call tonight.

Oh and I saw a bear. Least the fucking bear doesn't take my $$$. Just the bag of snacks I left on the rock. Duh.

LA sucks.