Wow, who knew people would enjoy the kickball updates so much! It’s amazing the power kickball has over people—perhaps it’s the fact that everyone remembers playing it, and so it’s a part of our childhood nostalgia.

At any rate, we had another game last night. One of the girls brought some pregame margaritas for us, which were enjoyed in some lovely plastic flamingo glasses. We had to wait a bit to start our game because the refs weren’t present—which was odd considering that they had just finished playing their game, so where could they have gone?

Eventually the game started, and while we did have better fielding, we still lost (sigh). We didn’t score as many runs as in the last couple weeks, which was disappointing. Some of that can probably be blamed on the ball, though. The ball we were using was kinda flat, so it was substituted out—but that one was way bouncy and weird, and no one could throw or kick it properly. So, then it was swapped back out again, with the original ball, after it had some air added to it. The ball issue definitely had an impact on our game, but oh well.

Next week we are playing the #1 team in the division, so I don’t expect to be writing to you this time next week proclaiming our awesome victory. Although, if this is the one time we win, how awesome would that be?? Hopefully the weather won’t be too unbearable—last night it actually cooled off a lot right around 5pm, but if the game had been held on Sunday night, we would’ve been miserably hot! Time will tell!

Posted at 1:16 PM | (1)

Last night I attended the mid season party for Kickball. There are only 8 games, and we’ve already played 4, so you get the idea! The party began at 6, and I arrived a little bit after that. When I walked in, I didn’t recognize anyone (it’s amazing how different everyone looks when they aren’t wearing kickball attire!) and called the girl who was responsible for getting me to sign up to see if she was there yet. She was on the back patio with her friend, so I hung out with the two of them for quite awhile until a half dozen or so more members of the team eventually showed up.

The night went pretty well for the most part, although the girl’s friend wound up irritating me to the point where when I left for the night, I didn’t say bye to her because she was talking to said friend. Pretty annoying, but the rest of the evening was good. We got cheap drinks and a bunch of free food—I ate a ton of mozzarella sticks and some taquitos and chips and salsa! Good stuff! :)

Posted at 6:29 PM | (2)

Last night I met up with Ben at the Sportsman—one of his friends just moved back into town and they were at the bar getting a few drinks and playing some pool. When I arrived they were already in the middle of a game with another guy and girl that Ben knows. I played one game, although I definitely did not play too well. I made one shot, but it was such a sloppy play that they were not convinced that I had totally figured out the geometry and MEANT to have the ball bounce off 3 walls and then hit a ball all the way on the other side of the table.

Still, even though I didn’t do so hot, it was nice to hang out and talk with the group of people. If they had challenged me to some foosball, perhaps this story would be different, considering that I really did pretty well when I played last time. At any rate, we didn’t stay too much past midnight, but it was a nice little weeknight excursion.

Posted at 5:27 PM | (0)

Ok, now normally I don’t really post about my knitting because I know that my readers are predominantly non-knitters. However, I just finished knitting a sweater the other day, and happen to think it came out really well. Of course, I started this sweater right around Christmas, and now it’s the end of April, which means that I finished just in time for warm summer weather to come and prevent me from wearing this for months! That’s ok though, I can always wear it at night, and there are some cool summer days here in SB.

Anyway, without any further ado, I present to you, my sweater:

Pattern: Thermal, Knitty Winter 2006
Yarn: 6.25 skeins Knit Picks Gloss in Pumpkin
Needles: US 2
Began: December 2007
Completed: April 2008

Posted at 4:35 PM | (4)

Tonight we had yet another game of kickball. We still lost, but we managed to slightly more than double our total number of runs again, and I think we only lost by one (2 at the MOST, but I’m not sure of the final score.). The most important thing to be gleaned from this matchup, however, is that I SCORED A RUN!!!

It’s pretty much a total fluke that it happened, because by all things logical it should not have happened, and yet, it did, so go me! I made it to first, amid much yelling that sounded a lot like “don’t go. The ball is foul. You’re Out.” things of that nature that sound anything other than “yay yay, keep running”. After first, I also somehow managed to make it to second. And then to third. While on third there was a play where the ball was caught, and I should not have run home. Since I had already left the base, I am pretty sure I was supposed to go back to my base, but the girl on 2nd had run as well and had already reached 3rd, therefore I could not go back to my base. The only option left was to run home! So, run I did. On the way, I got tagged with the ball—BUT….they pegged me in the back of the neck! You are not allowed to hit people above the shoulders unless they are diving, and I assure you I was most definitely not diving. SOOOO that means that I got to run home! Hooray for confusion and illegal tags!

My teammates probably think I’m not very good, and they would indeed be correct, so at least I was able to bring in a run for them. I also joined them for a bit at the bar that officially sponsors kickball and we had a pretty good turnout. Many of them partook in a game of flip cup—but since it involves beer, and I do not drink beer, I did not participate. I did, however, take some pictures for posterity with my phone, so I suppose that counts for something.

All in all it was an entertaining evening. The last inning especially of our game was pretty exciting, as it is when we scored the most runs and also had lots of people on base (a not too common occurence with our team). We do seem to improve each week though, so I suppose it’s always possible we can win at least one game before the end of the season.

Posted at 11:17 PM | (2)

Last night Ben and I decided to drive down to Ventura for dinner, and also to catch a street event they had going because of the Ultimate Boarder contest. They closed off some of the streets and set up booths, a little skate ramp area, and also had some live bands both in the street and inside some stores and restaurants.

It was crazy walking around down there because there were tons of skater kids everywhere—I felt a little old walking around a group where the average age seemed to be 12, but it was cool to see so many people all hanging out and having a fun time. There were of course adults there too, including some you probably wouldn’t expect to find at such an event.

For example, there was a Sublime cover band playing and these two older people were totally having a ball doing some sort of jig and other random dance moves—seemingly completely oblivious to the fact that this could not possibly be their music scene. The older gentleman was totally rocking some loafers, a turtleneck underneath a pullover sweater, and topped off with a sport coat, while his lady had on some dress pants and jacket. They danced and danced and danced and were pretty entertaining to watch.

We watched the action for a bit before heading to a place to grab a drink while we waited for our table at this Italian restaurant to be available. Once inside the restaurant there was a live band playing a variety of music and added a nice ambiance to the meal. I got a pretty good pasta dish with some spicy sauce, and the free bread and spicy topping for it was good as well. We also amused ourselves here by finding all the instances of one guy with two ladies and speculating what was going on, which was pretty funny in the case of some pretty old people.

However, there was a table across from us that had a couple that was probably in their 50s, and sitting with them was a younger girl who was probably early 30s or so. We couldn’t figure out their relationship because they didn’t seem to be family, and when they walked away the dude held both their hands, and when they came back the ladies started like grasping each other’s hands enthusiastically across the table. I wonder if they saw us looking at them because it was pretty much impossible to focus on anything else. Another older guy sat down with the younger girl for awhile, but then left. Really not sure what all that was about, but it was fun to make comments to each other and speculate.

It was a fun evening, and it was cool to go all the way down to Ventura and mix things up a bit. Ventura isn’t normally so lively at night I don’t think, so it was interesting to see it so full of people.

Posted at 1:08 PM | (0)

A very merry blogaversary to my blog! One day late, but better late than never, right?? Yesterday my blog turned 6—it can now sing lots of random songs, cut and color shapes within the lines, skip, gallop, read, and looks forward to attending 1st grade in the fall!

Ok, but seriously, 6 years is quite a long time—well on its way to being a decade of blogging. Who would’ve thought I’d still be doing this after all this time—it was created on a whim because it seemed like a fun thing to start up. One of the best parts of blogging though is having a record of events—little things you might not have remembered otherwise. And of course, interaction with people I might otherwise never have known is pretty cool too.

Thanks to everyone who enjoys visiting my site, even when I only talk about the weather or what I ate for lunch!

Posted at 2:40 PM | (1)

On today, the 15th of April, better known as Tax Day, there are 3 things of which I am certain.

1. My kickball team, despite being undefeated in the losing category (translation: we have yet to win a game), will still make it to the playoffs! This may of course be because EVERY team will make it. Sooo, no matter how much we suck during the season, we could still win it all!
2. Today is indeed the 15th, the day on which my rent is due. Today is NOT the 16th, the day that my landlord thought it was when he knocked on my door this afternoon asking why I was late with the rent. After paying exactly on time every single month I’ve lived here, you’d think he’d double check the calendar. I guess he really needed the money if he came looking for it so soon.
3. I am debt free! Around the 15th of every month I submitted my car payment, and my last one was sent this month. I finished paying off my student loans a few months ago, so now I have no more loans! Think of all the money I can save up and all the expensive trips and things I can go on!

Posted at 7:20 PM | (1)

Last night Ben asked if I wanted to join him to go see Bra Boys, a documentary about a surf gang near Sydney, Australia. He came over, and then after a quick detour, we headed to the theater to catch the movie. We were able to use the free tickets I had obtained from the grocery store, since they were valid for any movie. Gotta love free movies!

The film was interesting—I didn’t even know this group existed, nor did I know about the politics of being allowed on the beaches in Australia through the years. There were apparently some crazy laws back in the day! Ben also learned stuff from the movie, as he only knew about some of the infamous run-ins with the law, not about the whole culture that went behind it. And man those dudes are pretty crazy.

Today the weather has been sooooo nice and warm. It’s the type of weather that is good to be outdoors but that is pretty stifling if inside my apartment. I think it was at least upper-80s today, and with that in mind, I headed down to the beach for the peak hours of sun.

The beach was surprisingly not TOO crowded—though there are so many beach options, it’s entirely possible everyone was just somewhere else along the coast. I brought a book and just chilled, read, and people-watched. I also got to see the dolphins and pelicans that are always out in the water. I put on a bunch of that magic sunscreen of mine since I’ve long since lost my color from last summer, so while that probably made me safe from burning, I am hoping a few rays were able to get in and not make me look so scarily pale.

Tomorrow is forcasted to be more of the same, so I am thinking I might have to do a repeat of the beach—down by the water it was perfect—not too hot and a nice breeze making it very comfortable to just hang out in the sun for hours. Much better than a stuffy apartment. On that note, it’s still hot in here, so I am thinking I might go see where else I can stay cool!

Posted at 3:22 PM | (0)

My mom gave me a call today to let me know that my dad was involved in a car accident earlier this afternoon. His light was green and he entered the intersection—only problem was the guy who had the red light decided to enter as well and my dad wound running into the side of the guy’s car.

Luckily both parties involved were totally fine—although the state of the vehicles involved is apparently another story. My mom thinks my dad’s car will be totaled—it was kind of old and had a lot of miles on it. Kinda sad since he loved that little car and it took him on all his long commutes to work over the years. Now that he’s retired he probably doesn’t drive nearly as much as he used to, so this accident was probably a shock. Even more shocking is the fact that my dad’s airbags didn’t deploy—he was going fast enough and hit head-on, so he’s lucky he wasn’t in a situation where those airbags would’ve made all the difference. Ultimately, the fact that he was able to walk away is the most important thing. I’m sure he’ll be plenty sore in the days to come, but at least he is all right. And hopefully insurance will allow him to get a new little car to get him around town in his retirement.

Posted at 6:04 PM | (2)

Because our team is very new in terms of number of players who have never played in the league before, and because we are so far 0-2 for the season, we decided it would be beneficial to have some practices. A practice was held yesterday after work, and I was one of I think 7 people who attended.

7 was a decent sized number to get in a circle and practice catching and kicking and throwing, and then doing a little mock game like we did before our match on Monday night. I think it helped, and even if I’m still not the greatest player, at least it’s fun. The team we are playing next week is pretty good, so we will still probably lose, but maybe we’ll make it a close game!

After kickball 4 of us girls headed over to the Sportsman to grab a few drinks. It was pretty dead when we walked in there, and so after ordering something to drink, we headed over to the foosball table and played as many rounds as we had quarters for. I found out that I totally suck at the game if I am controlling the goalie, but if I’m the middle players, I am actually quite decent!

I hadn’t eaten too much before the practice, so when one girl’s boyfriend showed up and announced he was hungry, I took them up on their offer to have people join them for dinner. It was after 9pm, so as anyone who lives in SB knows, the choices of where to dine at that “late” hour were pretty limited, but we did find that Chase was still open, so that is where we ate. Best of all, their soup of the evening was chicken noodle! Dude, I LOVE when the soup of the day is chicken noodle! I am so picky it’s one of the only soups I will eat and most restaurants almost never have it and instead offer super fancy kinds. Yay chicken noodle!

Posted at 4:48 PM | (0)

Last night was our second game. We arrived a bit earlier so that we could get in a little practice throwing the ball to each other, catching it in the air, and kicking. We also did a little rotating game, where 1 person would kick while everyone else tried to field the ball, and then that person would go out in the field while someone else would kick. As we practiced we could totally see a lot of improvement and were more confident that we might actually have a shot at winning.

Alas though, that was not meant to be. We lost by 4 runs—though that is a lot better than last week where we lost by like 11! Perhaps this means we will win next week?? Our turns to kick lasted a bit longer, and I even got a chance to kick twice—last week I only got to kick once because the game was over before we got through the whole rotation!

The second time I actually made it to base, so yay go me! I am definitely not as good as some of the other people on the team, and I have yet to make any really cool catches or plays, but we’ll see—the season is still young, I suppose!

And, just for Ivette (and perhaps any other international readers who have not had the privilege to play this game when they were in elementary school), here is the Wikipedia entry on kickball. There is a little more to it than the short entry lists, but if you understand baseball, then you should be able to get what kickball is about—it’s a very similar game, just with a giant red bouncy ball that you kick instead of a small hard ball that you hit with a bat. You should try it sometime, it’s fun! :)

Posted at 12:46 PM | (1)

Today I had an appointment at ye olde dentist to get my teeny tiny cavities filled. Sure, I could’ve waited like a year or something to do it, but I guess I figured I would just get it over with (and I suppose not have them get bigger?). These were my first cavities ever, so I was pretty nervous about going in to do it, even though I knew the procedure they use isn’t supposed to hurt.

See, if you have small cavities, this place uses the air abrasion technique, which is akin to sandblasting your teeth. My teeth didn’t feel anything, but my tongue felt, well, like it was getting hit with sand. The experience was very….sandy! But the whole appointment was very quick and I was then sent on my merry way. The most painful part of the process was the blow to my wallet! I’m not sure where this dental office falls in terms of their pricing, but it definitely wasn’t the cheapest way to spend half an hour!

Anyway, it would seem I was all worried about nothing—although it still feels a little weird to bite down. That’s supposedly supposed to go away after a day or so, as I chew on things, so we’ll see. The cool part is that you can’t see that they are there (man, am I vain or what??). If you are a wuss like me, I highly recommend going somewhere that uses this technique—anywhere that allows you to avoid needles is awesome in my book! :)

Posted at 6:17 PM | (1)

Last night I picked Ben up and we headed out for dinner for me (he had already eaten) and drinks for him. We didn’t stay out too long because it was late, and also because he still had to pack and stuff for the business trip he is leaving on this morning. He’s had to travel quite a bit lately, so hopefully he’s nearing the end of it with this trip, since I’m sure it’s taking its toll. I’m glad I got to spend a little time with him, especially since he still had stuff to do and was tired. I’m hoping for his sake that he’ll be able to have time to relax and spend more than a couple days at home soon!

Posted at 8:12 AM | (0)

This morning I was awakened from a dream that had something to do with people who bought exotic monkeys as pets (yea, I dunno what that’s about either!) before 9am to the sound of my phone ringing. Since people don’t usually call so early on the weekends without good reason, I answered, figuring I was about to hear some exciting reason for the call.

“Hello, is Joanna there?”

Dammit, it was the wrong number! Wrong numbers are always a bit of a nuisance, but they are even worse when they wake you up. I wonder what this person wanted from Joanna so early in the morning. Apparently he still needed to wake up a bit, since it impaired his accurate dialing capabilities!

Posted at 9:38 AM | (0)

Well, I didn’t get around to writing a funny post or anything in time to make a joke worthwhile—I guess I will have to do some better planning if I hope to do it next year!

I have, however, been enjoying what my favorite knitting site, Ravelry, has been doing. Anyone who has posted in the forums now sees a silly hat sitting on top of their pictures. There are top hats, pope hats, parrots, witch hats, dr. seuss hats, and more! They were assigned randomly, but the creator of the site has also gone around and adjusted some for comedic effect (like if you have a cat picture, maybe now the parrot is sitting on top of its head). They’ve also made buttons that run away from you for a second before you can click on them.

The best part though is the library section. There, in the section where you can list what knitting books or magazines you have, they have added The Happy Hooker (which only SOUNDS obscene—it’s actually a book about crocheting), and a trashy romance novel with Fabio on the cover! Dude, so amusing. It’s great when sites can have a large community and not take themselves too seriously for fear of offending.

In closing though, I would like to offer you a video of hilarious muppet bloopers!

Posted at 5:50 PM | (2)