March 31st. As in the last day of the month of March. As in I have 2.5 weeks of teaching left and 5 weeks in Europe left.
It's pretty much a done deal that the Indians are going to suck this season (seriously, for me a good season is going to be if they break .500), but the thing that leaves me just the slightest bit optimistic is that Travis Hafner hit multiple home runs this Spring Training, so he seems like he might be returning to his 20-30 HR and 100+ RBI form, after two really off seasons hampered by injuries. Also Jake Westbrook and Fausto Carmona seem like they might be able to return to their old selves. The one problem is that they're our No.s 1 and 2 pitchers, and they're both sinkerballers, that could get really interesting, really quickly. And when the ace of your pitching staff hasn't pitched in a major league game in two years... well, it's not something that inspires confidence at first glance. (For the non-baseball savvy, I apologize for the semi-technical parlance. For the non-Indians fans, I apologize for talking about players you've probably never heard of, and won't hear of until they leave the Indians [*cough* Jim Thome, Manny Rameriez, C.C. Sabathia, Cliff Lee, Victor Martinez... *sigh*] For the New York Yankees fans, do not pass GO, do not collect $200, and go straight to direct path of the LHC beam. Maybe then you can Hulk out without having to do the steroids that 2/3 (slight hyperbole) of your team did. And just remember
even Jesus hates the Yankees. For everyone, I apologize for the bitterness.
To a certain extent I hate catching up with TV series. I love watching them (especially without commercials) because you can fit so much more plot into a TV series than a movie (which is the main reason I'm a big proponent of mini-series for book-to-screen adaptations... you have time to fit the plot into the thing. There's a novel idea {pun totally intended [come on, I seriously have not been able to make puns for 6 months, cut me some slack]}). Anyway, when it's a series that's been completed, catching up means that the story is over (although sometimes that's a good thing for the series *cough* Scrubs *cough* ) and if it's a continuing series, this means that I am now subject to the week-long waits between episodes, and the hiatuses throughout the year. I definitely find the latter more irksome than the former.
Apparently, I was more of a hit at karaoke than I initially thought: I randomly ran into the bartender on the street (neither one of us was driving, so it was ok) and he told me that he was upset that I left so early, and that I get a free beer next time I'm in the pub.
Booked my train to Rome, and Dad and my tickets back here.
Big 3:
Best: Started listening to Train. They are completely and totally awesome, and I did not realize the extent to which they rock.
Worst: Forgetting to send e-mails back because I formulate my reply, but don't have time to actually reply, and then later think that I did reply because I remember what I replied.
Funniest: I was talking to my brother and had called him on the home phone. While I was talking to him I could hear the air since he was driving with the windows down. Now are you sufficiently confused? I was. So I asked him what the sound was, and he informed me that he had the fan on because he was cooking. When I inquired to the nature of his future meal, he replied "it's one of my concoctions." This gave me reason to be simultaneously nervous and jealous. What was this concoction, I asked... he was deep-frying ham, pepperoni, salami and cheese, to then put on a sandwich. My brother is awesome. And probably going to die from cardiac/cholesterol issues.
Godspeed