My mind has been a blur lately, racing with a bunch of random things, so it’s been hard to sit down and write any semblance of sense here. Comic Vine has a featured article — I think it’s weekly, but don’t quote me on that — called “Off My Mind,” and I thought that would be a fitting type of post as there are tons of things I’d like to get off my mind. Continue reading
The audio/visual seems a little off on this one. Sorry about that. I’m still not used to my webcam, so I’m going to have to play with the settings a bit more before they come out perfect!
One of the downsides of dating Mike, I realized when we had been dating for a few weeks, was that he was a huge sports fan, and I was not.
I don’t mean that he goes to every single game and watches every single sport, but he is pretty into football, hockey, and occasionally basketball. When I met him, all I knew about football was that the ball was shaped like Stewie’s head and that you had to get a touchdown to score*. The longest I’d ever watched a game was one or two quarters of a Patriot’s** game when I was dating someone else***.
The only other sports knowledge I had was a tiny bit about basketball (which I hated), a tiny bit about baseball (which I hated), and a tiny bit about NASCAR (which I hated). I also knew a little about softball, which I liked but hadn’t played in years.
I quickly realized that I was going to be spending a lot of time watching football****, and 99% of that time asking endless questions because I had no fucking clue what was going on when the umpire called holding.
So I did what anyone else in my situation would do: I bought a copy of Football for Dummies and designated it as my bathroom break book. Everyone knows that the For Dummies series totally can’t be taken seriously, and neither can anyone who actually reads any of those books, so I hid it from Mike. See, I wasn’t teaching myself football to secure our relationship. I was trying to learn without asking a bajillion questions — especially the same questions every time, since I have the memory bank of a toaster — and making him crazy while he tried to enjoy his game. He always patiently answered my questions — and still does; I’m still not quite sure what offsides means — but I wanted to learn on my own.
I kept the book hidden in my living room, positive that he would never find it and laugh at me. I know I would laugh at me. After a while, I got sick of reading it (and found better bathroom material), and it got buried in the living room. I learned enough about football to watch a game (mostly) understanding what was happening, but not enough to know that I shouldn’t pick a team just because they are from Florida. I forgot completely about Football for Dummies until one day when Mike was over and he found it.
And yes, he laughed at me.
I’ve been a Colts fan for about three years now (and not just because Mike is, contrary to most people’s beliefs). My favorite player is currently Austin Collie, who amazes me (almost) every game, even though he’s still a rookie. I also love Adam Vinatieri, because kickers need love too, and so what if he used to kick for the Patriots? And of course, I love Peyton Manning, for his cool, calm focus under pressure. Some of Mike’s favorite players are Bob Sanders and Joseph Addai. Football is a really exciting sport, and I’m glad I took the time to learn it, instead of dismissing it just because I didn’t understand it. It’s something we can enjoy together, and I’m not bored when we go to the sports bar or sit on the couch watching the Super Bowl.
The year the Colts won the Super Bowl, 02/04/2007
My friend Brooke is kind of in the same position I was in. Her boyfriend is talking about joining a local hockey team, so she wants to learn more about the sport so she can properly cheer him on. Head on over to her place if you have any hockey tips for her.
What’s your favorite sport? How did you get into it? Leave a comment and tell me!
*I give myself a lot of credit for this, but most of that credit actually goes to my Uncle Brian watching football with his eyes closed on Thanksgiving after dinner when I was a kid.
**I have, however, always been annoyed by the Patriots, and the Cowboys. Most of their fans don’t even know anything about the game, and only picked the teams because of their popularity.
***This someone else didn’t know anything about football; the Super Bowl was just an excuse to eat wings, smoke pot, and drink with his family. Not that I complained at the time; I was fifteen!
****Hockey games, unfortunately, are rarely televised, unless it’s a Rangers or Devils game — which is unfortunate, because I’d really like to watch more of it and pick my own damn team.
I woke up this morning, hot and tired. Our AC bit the dust a couple of days ago and kind of works, so we’re only running it for a little while during the day. I also had another nightmare last night. This one was worse, because even though I wasn’t really me, in the dream my dad died. I thought it was real. At one point, I even told myself, “He’s with Popi now.” It’s really weird that I just had vivid nightmares two nights in a row; the night before I dreamed about killing some scorpion-sized centipede-like bug.
I have vivid dreams quite frequently, but it’s rare that they are nightmares. Usually they’re just really weird and I laugh about them when I wake up. The bug nightmare I laugh about now, because it’s kind of funny that a big, slimy black centipede oozing blood when I cut its head off scared me that badly. Last night’s nightmare, not so much.
This morning didn’t suck completely, though. As I was coming into the kitchen, I noticed what looked like a DS game on the table under my keys and a little piece of paper. What, did Mike play one of my games? I thought he didn’t like my games? Wait, maybe he used the case to write on that paper? Wait — is that a note?
I picked it up.
My anniversary present!
“He didn’t,” I said. We hadn’t talked about gifts or anything! I was just happy to know the date of our beginning, and hanging out last night was the best gift. Little does he know that I’m taking him out to dinner Sunday or Monday now, because I can’t not do anything for him! Especially since that note was so sweet!
Excuse me while I melt.
Anyway, it’s September. Which means summer is coming to a close, and football is so close. I’m always half and half this time of year; I’m sad to see summer go, but can’t wait to dress for game day and cheer on my Colts.
September also means it’s time for some new goals, and to look back at last month’s goals to see how I did.
My mission last month was to lose some kind of weight and to go to the gym every day. I also wanted to cut down on how much fast food I eat, but not cut it out completely, because I gave in way too quickly when I tried that route. I also apparently set a goal to write every night.
I’ve been going to the gym almost every day. I’ve only been allowing myself to skip out for good reasons. (For example: Monday I didn’t go because I pulled a muscle in my arm last week and wanted to rest it. Yesterday I only went to do the bike for twenty minutes because I was too hungry to stay any longer and didn’t want to end up getting sick. Stupid hypoglycemia. I also haven’t gone the last couple of weekends because I wasn’t in town.) I honestly love the gym and look forward to going. I’m not going tonight because I’m having dinner at Sandy’s house (for my birthday, yay), but will go tomorrow for my usual hour. I also have a session with one of their personal trainers scheduled in about a week.
I lost a little bit of weight! I managed to squeeze myself into my size seven jeans this past Thursday to go to the bar with some friends. I had to do a lot of stretching to get them to feel less skin tight and more like bootcuts, but they fit and I didn’t pass out from suffocation!
I’ve only been eating fast food twice a week! Each week, I write little goals in my notebook, and, “Eat fast food only twice this week,” is always one of them.
I haven’t been writing every night, but I did read two of three of the books about adoption I took out from the library. They’ve given me a lot of insight and I have made some notes of things I need to change in the novel. For example, my main character Gigi needs to feel more guilty about giving away her son. That guilt needs to drive her. She should also feel like she’s got a hole inside of her, and she should try to fill that hole with other things, like relationships that suck. I’m not saying that all birthmothers feel this way, but my Gigi should.
On to this month’s goals!
To keep with the theme of this very out of control and unorganized post, I give you some MSI:
