"A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find that after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us. Tour masters, schedules, reservations, brass-bound and inevitable, dash themselves to wreckage on the personality of the trip. Only when this is recognised can the blown-in-the-glass bum relax and go along with it. Only then do the frustrations fall away. In this, a journey is like a marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it. I feel better now, having said this, although only those who have experienced it will understand it."
-John Steinbeck
Why is it that we are never settled, or if not "we" that I am never settled?! Why do I keep looking, keep planning, keep wondering what I am missing? And just when I feel like writing it all down, I find that someone already has. Yes, Charley is a French Poodle which is somehow distasteful to me, but the journey is already recorded adn I wish I'd read it before my own US odessy. I suppose now I'll just have to take another...
Monday, October 31, 2005
Friday, October 07, 2005
October
The very best month of all!! Humidity in STL is history, the postseason in MLB is in full swing (and I have tickets!), the leaves are changing, and according to the RFT Best in STL poll, October is the best month to visit/stay in St. Louis. I could not agree more.
I've been back from Asia for 3 weeks, the reverse jet lag is gone so I'm again tired in the AM and awake all night long. The difference with the jet lag was that I never got tired at all, and that made me terribly productive. I've unpacked my entire house almost all by myself, while also managing both full and part time jobs and going to all but one of the last 7 home Cards games. The only one I missed (9/28) was their only loss in the last 7, so my record remains excellent. The Cardinals finished the regular season 100-62 and are 2-0 in the postseason. My final number of games attended, which included Cardinals both in and out of STL, was 25, with a 18-7 record. I saw every starter 5 times but my boy Mulder who I saw 4. (Carp and Mulder once each in the NLDS). The remaining start was Eldred vs the Nationals in DC, a bullpen game that we won. With any luck, I will be at 3 more games and maybe more this season.
Finally, there will be a Cardinals game on my birthday for the first time since 1982 (Game 3 of the WS v. Brewers, we won 6-2). Twice in a lifetime- so far. Game 3 of the NLCS and by then, the Cards will be due for a loss so I'm going to have to be satisfied that they are merely playing, and I hope for a Suppan start. He deserves a game 3 start in SOME series, and TLR is obviously delusionally allowing an undeserving Morris the opportunity tomorrow in San Diego. Bad move. We'll likely still win, but bad move.
I think once we win a world series, be it this year, next, or in 4 years, I need to scale back the obsession. Its time consuming and really does no one any good. I should focus my energy on figuring out what I REALLY want to do for a living longterm, or perhaps planning extended travel or working for really important causes. People are suffering, and I spend time memorizing the stats of minor bench players and researching whether the Giles are related (they are brothers). I need to get a grip.
Next year. I swear. Once we win it all and its impossible for me to get/afford tickets at the new Busch, I'll have to divert some energy elsewhere.
Maybe.
Since I returned, there has been another hurricane, a new Chief Supreme Court justice and another nominee to the court. So far, their records are both clear as mud and aside from not being affiliated with any Arabian horse management, very little is known. Bush is either scared of his sliding approval numbers, owing favors, or a friggin genuis for slipping through 2 evangelicals that no one can call evangelicals to legislate us into the 14th century. I doubt he's a genius, so it's either of the first two. Harriet is the kind of woman Bush seems to love- older, very, very well educated, married to her work but no other person, of ambiguous sexual orientation and values, and likes to kiss him. She and Condi could be two of a kind, but we are aware of Condi's fondness for unjust war and unnecessary death so truly its hard to discern how alike they will be. The whole confirmation process will be interesting. Even Repubs these days are Bush-haters, its entirely possible that this woman could end up supported by the Democrats and rejected outright by Bush's own party.
All I know is that my clients are all getting their gas and electric turned off. Its an epidemic. My suspicions are that the agencies they (and we) usually find to help them through lean times are all Katrina-ed out and have nothing left to give my clients who are still poor and sick. Its a vicious cycle, as the poor and homeless of New Orleans need cash too. What can you do?
At least they can live without needing heat or AC in October. This brings me back to another reason why October is the best month of all. Viva octubre!
I've been back from Asia for 3 weeks, the reverse jet lag is gone so I'm again tired in the AM and awake all night long. The difference with the jet lag was that I never got tired at all, and that made me terribly productive. I've unpacked my entire house almost all by myself, while also managing both full and part time jobs and going to all but one of the last 7 home Cards games. The only one I missed (9/28) was their only loss in the last 7, so my record remains excellent. The Cardinals finished the regular season 100-62 and are 2-0 in the postseason. My final number of games attended, which included Cardinals both in and out of STL, was 25, with a 18-7 record. I saw every starter 5 times but my boy Mulder who I saw 4. (Carp and Mulder once each in the NLDS). The remaining start was Eldred vs the Nationals in DC, a bullpen game that we won. With any luck, I will be at 3 more games and maybe more this season.
Finally, there will be a Cardinals game on my birthday for the first time since 1982 (Game 3 of the WS v. Brewers, we won 6-2). Twice in a lifetime- so far. Game 3 of the NLCS and by then, the Cards will be due for a loss so I'm going to have to be satisfied that they are merely playing, and I hope for a Suppan start. He deserves a game 3 start in SOME series, and TLR is obviously delusionally allowing an undeserving Morris the opportunity tomorrow in San Diego. Bad move. We'll likely still win, but bad move.
I think once we win a world series, be it this year, next, or in 4 years, I need to scale back the obsession. Its time consuming and really does no one any good. I should focus my energy on figuring out what I REALLY want to do for a living longterm, or perhaps planning extended travel or working for really important causes. People are suffering, and I spend time memorizing the stats of minor bench players and researching whether the Giles are related (they are brothers). I need to get a grip.
Next year. I swear. Once we win it all and its impossible for me to get/afford tickets at the new Busch, I'll have to divert some energy elsewhere.
Maybe.
Since I returned, there has been another hurricane, a new Chief Supreme Court justice and another nominee to the court. So far, their records are both clear as mud and aside from not being affiliated with any Arabian horse management, very little is known. Bush is either scared of his sliding approval numbers, owing favors, or a friggin genuis for slipping through 2 evangelicals that no one can call evangelicals to legislate us into the 14th century. I doubt he's a genius, so it's either of the first two. Harriet is the kind of woman Bush seems to love- older, very, very well educated, married to her work but no other person, of ambiguous sexual orientation and values, and likes to kiss him. She and Condi could be two of a kind, but we are aware of Condi's fondness for unjust war and unnecessary death so truly its hard to discern how alike they will be. The whole confirmation process will be interesting. Even Repubs these days are Bush-haters, its entirely possible that this woman could end up supported by the Democrats and rejected outright by Bush's own party.
All I know is that my clients are all getting their gas and electric turned off. Its an epidemic. My suspicions are that the agencies they (and we) usually find to help them through lean times are all Katrina-ed out and have nothing left to give my clients who are still poor and sick. Its a vicious cycle, as the poor and homeless of New Orleans need cash too. What can you do?
At least they can live without needing heat or AC in October. This brings me back to another reason why October is the best month of all. Viva octubre!
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