Unfortunately, with this scenario, once it started getting dark, the lights didn't turn on over our field (they turned on everywhere else, but I guess we were just lucky like that). We could still see enough to play, but it made it increasingly difficult to see when the ball landed in fair vs. foul territory. Unlike with previous weeks, this team seemed to be missing one of the key concepts of the kickball league--that it's supposed to be FUN! This team, even before the lights were an issue, was disputing every (and I mean EVERY) call the refs were making, and just weren't a lot of fun to play against. You can't even say that the amount of fun we have is based on how well WE do, because having lost every game, we still had fun even when we lost by several runs. But not with this team. They also had an insane pitcher who seemed to chuck the ball super hard at you, which wasn't terribly fun to kick against.

At any rate, at the end of the 5th inning, we were still tied, and so the other team informed us this meant that we do an extra inning. We wanted to go to a neighboring field that had lights, but the cones had already been taken away, so we had to stay where we were. We weren't exactly thrilled, since we couldn't see and we knew they would just keep disputing. But, we had a chance to take the win, so we went for it.

Continued reading The Game Where We Fought to the Bitter End...

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Today we are having a BBQ after my sister gets off work. It was originally going to be at her house, but plans changed, and it will now be held here. Hopefully it will turn out well--there are now a few more people coming than originally expected.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!

We started right after work, and a few of us stayed pretty late. One of the guys had his fiancee show up after awhile, and then the invitee and I accompanied the couple to another bar where some of their out of town friends joined in. What started out as happy hour didn't end until like 1am. So, it was a long evening, but it was entertaining. It was also very cool that our team got together on a non kickball night to hang out--shows we have some sort of team spirit and enjoy hanging out together. I'm still hoping that combination will work well for at least one of our few remaining games.

Speaking of surprises, looking at my checking account today I saw that my economic stimulus money showed up!! Hooray for being $600 richer (well, once the pending transaction clears anyway)! Although, sorry government, I'm not a crazy spender to begin with, so I'm afraid I'm not going to blow this money on frivolous things I didn't need or want before I had the extra cash. Instead, I'm most likely going to do something even more exciting--invest in my future. That's right, this money is probably going into my Roth IRA, woohoo!

So, while I might not be helping to give a false illusion of an economy on a comeback, I suppose I am still banking on the market in general. My IRA has recently come back into the black after being red (along with the rest of the market) since like December or something. It's not ahead by much, but up is up and considering how long it's been since that's happened, I can't complain--especially when I'm doing better than things like the Dow and NASDAQ.

Happy Friday, everyone! :)

We were the first team to kick, and I was the leadoff kicker. I got out on a bunt that the catcher picked up and chased me down the field with. Oh well. By the time we were done kicking in the 4th inning, we were up 4-2!! We had some good plays, including a homerun. In addition, we did some awesome fielding that kept the other team from scoring--one guy kept making these amazing catches while practically doing flips and other crazy moves in an attempt to wrangle the ball. We were pretty much playing super awesome, and I think the other team must've been surprised and maybe even a little worried.

Continued reading The Win That Almost Was...

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Today is once again the 5th of May, which means, you guessed it: white people drinking lots of tequila and possibly donning sombreros.

I don't have any real celebration plans, but tonight is kickball, and I think there will be margaritas involved. Some people might dress up, but I will not be among them, because I do not own any such attire and today is probably not the day to find any. We're playing the undefeated team in the league tonight so I don't expect any victories from us, although, how awesome would it be if this was the only game we won?? Maybe there is an correlation between margarita consumption and kickball performance? Guess we'll find out!

So, it's entirely possible they are just coming in the front door, but it's still annoying. I mean, there aren't like hundreds or enough to form a swarm or anything, more like the occasional one here and there, but when they decide to fly near your face (why, oh why do they insist on flying at my face??), even one is too many! I try to kill them when I can, clapping my hands together in the hopes of smooshing one (totally gross, but I try not to think about that, since they are tiny). I've caught a few in this way, but it always seems that shortly after, another is flying around to take its place.

Enough with the gnats!

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!

I spent Saturday at the beach, since even though it was still hot down there with not a lot of breeze, the water is really cold. All you need to do is wade in for a bit--it's amazing how much cooler you feel when you make your feet go numb from the icy water.

Yesterday I decided it was definitely time to pull off those flannel sheets from my bed, but in the middle of that, I decided to run some errands. I hopped in my nice air conditioned car and headed to some air conditioned stores. Unfortunately though, I didn't time this for peak heat hours, and so when I got back, I still had to wait out a few hours of the hottest part of the day. Next time I will have to not leave until it starts to become unbearable--I left before it even felt too hot.

I spent a good portion of yesterday evening spraying myself with water and then standing in front of my fan. Luckily the temperatures are supposed to drop this week, so things should hopefully be back to normal soon. I mean, it's not even May yet! I like hot weather and all, but I do admit to disliking sitting in a room where the temperature is like 100 degrees!

Anyone else experiencing a heat wave?

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! :)

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.

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

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.

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.

Continued reading Dinner in Ventura...

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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!