Happy October Day!!!
I had, seriously, written 90% of my October Day email yesterday, on time and on topic. And then it got erased. Through nobody's fault but my own. I would have been better of sending it away incomplete - but it's just so hard to publish when something's not finished. So I ask again for forgiveness for my tardiness.
When I started writing on time, yesterday, the Minnesota Twins had just clinched the AL Central Division Championship with a win over the talented Chicago White Sox, who just one year ago won a much-deserved and long overdue World Series, paired with an unlikely loss by the AL Central leaders throughout almost the entire season, the Detroit Tigers, at the bats of Spoilers du Jour, The Kansas City Royals, who completed their third consecutive 100-loss season and recently had the dishonor of having Detroit and Minnesota each clinch playoff spots against them within 24 hours. Revenge is sweet. And the players might appreciate the bottle of Dom Perignon promised to each of them by Twins center fielder Torii Hunter.
Yes, this is the fourth Division Championship for the Twins in the last five years. No, we haven't won the World Series in the previous three. No, we haven't been to the World Series since 1991. But this year we ended up with three teams in our division with at least 90 wins. And we have the 3rd best record in all of baseball, behind only the overspending Big Apple teams (and yes, the Mets were good, but they weren't exactly in a tough division either). Even if we don't win the Series or even advance to past this week winning the Division actually means something.
If you don't care about baseball, be thankful that these only come out once a month.
Just thinking about it, I feel exhilarated. I'm feeling more optimistic so far this young October than I was the entirety of last month. Other things adding to my optimism: the Day Fire, which has been raging south of here since Labor Day and making our air quality even worse than normal, has been mostly contained. This is thanks in no small part to the weather changing from sweltering to merely warm (though natives and people who have been here longer than a year are shivering in front of their fireplaces reflexively since the sun hasn't been out in two days) and we've actually had rain two days in a row, which is a modern era record for the month of October. Today in the office it's been hard to judge the passage of time, as the natural light hasn't really changed all day and the only temporal cue I've had is what my stomach tells me.
But, amazingly, here we are barely a week into Autumn and it actually feels like Autumn. I needed that congruity. I needed something to make sense. I needed an expectation met. We'll probably hit 90 degrees (F) again before the month is over, but I'll enjoy the respite while it lasts. October is a good month for that. Look at the changing color of deciduous leaves. Look at the massive amounts of orange and black and yellow candies on sale everywhere. And, before the month is out, look for human larvae in unbelievable costumes begging from door to door. Sure, the faces change, the costumes change, the time changes (you didn't think I'd neglect that, did you? Don't forget to fall back at the end of the month), but there are always things you can count on staying the same.
Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!!
When I started writing on time, yesterday, the Minnesota Twins had just clinched the AL Central Division Championship with a win over the talented Chicago White Sox, who just one year ago won a much-deserved and long overdue World Series, paired with an unlikely loss by the AL Central leaders throughout almost the entire season, the Detroit Tigers, at the bats of Spoilers du Jour, The Kansas City Royals, who completed their third consecutive 100-loss season and recently had the dishonor of having Detroit and Minnesota each clinch playoff spots against them within 24 hours. Revenge is sweet. And the players might appreciate the bottle of Dom Perignon promised to each of them by Twins center fielder Torii Hunter.
Yes, this is the fourth Division Championship for the Twins in the last five years. No, we haven't won the World Series in the previous three. No, we haven't been to the World Series since 1991. But this year we ended up with three teams in our division with at least 90 wins. And we have the 3rd best record in all of baseball, behind only the overspending Big Apple teams (and yes, the Mets were good, but they weren't exactly in a tough division either). Even if we don't win the Series or even advance to past this week winning the Division actually means something.
If you don't care about baseball, be thankful that these only come out once a month.
Just thinking about it, I feel exhilarated. I'm feeling more optimistic so far this young October than I was the entirety of last month. Other things adding to my optimism: the Day Fire, which has been raging south of here since Labor Day and making our air quality even worse than normal, has been mostly contained. This is thanks in no small part to the weather changing from sweltering to merely warm (though natives and people who have been here longer than a year are shivering in front of their fireplaces reflexively since the sun hasn't been out in two days) and we've actually had rain two days in a row, which is a modern era record for the month of October. Today in the office it's been hard to judge the passage of time, as the natural light hasn't really changed all day and the only temporal cue I've had is what my stomach tells me.
But, amazingly, here we are barely a week into Autumn and it actually feels like Autumn. I needed that congruity. I needed something to make sense. I needed an expectation met. We'll probably hit 90 degrees (F) again before the month is over, but I'll enjoy the respite while it lasts. October is a good month for that. Look at the changing color of deciduous leaves. Look at the massive amounts of orange and black and yellow candies on sale everywhere. And, before the month is out, look for human larvae in unbelievable costumes begging from door to door. Sure, the faces change, the costumes change, the time changes (you didn't think I'd neglect that, did you? Don't forget to fall back at the end of the month), but there are always things you can count on staying the same.
Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!! Happy October Day!!!