Manny Ramirez, a freeway series and domestic violence

As a much needed diversion from boxes, researching appliances and trolling Craig’s list, today I will be at Chavez Ravine for a game that hopefully goes better than last night’s. And hopefully better than the NLCS game I went to in 2008. With all of this talk of a freeway series looming, I suppose we ought to worry about winning the pennant first.

I was, as probably many other Dodger fans were, ecstatic when Manny Ramirez hit a homerun last night – perhaps the slump is finally over? I can’t help but wonder every time Manny is up to bat if my feeling is at all similar to what women in abusive relationships feel right before their partner’s come home. (I know I just lost most of my readers right there.) This feeling is amplified at the stadium – Mannywood in our line of sight, #99 jerseys are everywhere and the ubiquitous dred lock wigs – but as he heads to the plate, I know I feel a twinge of, “this time it is going to be different,” and instead of striking out, the Manny we fell in love with last season, pre-suspension, will, well return. How we all loved saying and celebrating Manny being Manny last year. Today, I hope instead of striking out, Manny doesn’t let us down and things continue to be different.

Don’t think I am not also very aware that our Trojans are in South Bend gearing up to beat the Irish. And will Obama hang with W this weekend? It is the most wonderful time of year, indeed.

Chaos

Today is the last day before the chaos begins. I am moving in exactly one week and tonight instead of packing like a mad fool (or at the very least organizing/pre-packing) I am instead, for one last night savoring my dear little apartment. Never again will it be as it is now – my feeble attempts at décor and organization will all begin to unravel within 24 hours. Soon my life will be flooded with boxes and the pursuit of boxes, packing tape, markers, incomprehensible disarray and the looming hope/fear of will I in fact get all of my deposit back. But for the time being, I will try to ponder the four (or has it been five?) years I have lived in this little apartment as they are slowing drawing to a close.

In the time (four/five years) I have lived in this crappy two bedroom two bath apartment (praise God my apartment living days are nearly over) many crazy things have happened. I have changed roommates, marrying one off (so-to speak), I have changed jobs (but that topic has been really over done on my blog), I have changed computers, I have changed phones about eighteen times finally landing on an iPhone, I have changed presidents – but really so has everyone, right, and well those are about all of the notable changes I can think of. Oh yeah, and I am finally on a diet after all of this moaning about pants not fitting I have finally decided to make a change and to date I have lost 3 pounds (OK, 2.5 but 3 sounds so much better).

What is it about moving that brings on such nostalgia? I believe I am one especially prone to be overly nostalgic – friends have heard me say at casual gatherings things like “we will never all be together again.” And maybe this particular move as it is not only a huge milestone – for the love I am buying a house – but it coincides with my birthday, which there again is always an occasion I tend to fret over for weeks prior – has upped my schmaltzy factor.

I wish I had some eloquent and elaborate direction for this blog, I don’t. On the ride home I agonized over blog topics wanting so much to keep my posting consistent but hedging off the chaos was the best I could do. I thought about a blog on Manny Ramirez but the right words just couldn’t seem to come (maybe tomorrow in anticipation of going to game 2 of the NLCS). I thought blogging about a Michael Scott-esque antidote that happened at work yesterday but decided it is too risky as, well, too many of my readers would quickly know exactly who I was talking about. I thought about blogging on Jesus’ 33 years on earth but figured I could do it next week. I thought about blogging about the communities, small group and videos but decided I didn’t have the moral fortitude to go there, perhaps in November. And, TK, I also thought about blogging on the museum of miniatures but as that would be such a short post, I figured I could squeeze that in over my lunch break one day when I am totally out of material. And so this entry will end, I will try to pick up some of the loose ends I always seem to leave when I feel inspired.

Smiles

A lot of days I think I am the least professional person in the history of the world, generally terrible at my job, in a nut shell a failure – well, if you read my blog you’ve heard my excessive self-deprecation theme. But today was not one of those days. Allow me to share a delightful tidbit from my work day.

So there I was juggling my normal balls of tutoring precocious eight-year olds, encouraging volunteers, building relationships with teachers and school staff (as a side note today that included buying a popsicle from the JCREW model-esque teacher some of the moms call Mr. Hot) and generally putting out fires during program when the cutest thing happened. This is just our second week of tutoring and in that time I’ve begun to banter a bit with one particular boy who for our purposes (because his name is so unusual) I will refer to as Andre (not to be confused with our own Andre Ethier).

Andre has the kind of smile that lights up a room. The banter between us has to do with me going on and on about how great his smile is. Trust me, if you met Andre, you couldn’t help but also notice his contagious smile. The banter makes him smile more sort of fuel for my fire in terms of teasing. Today after having come from an ad hoc meeting with his teacher, I said to Andre something along the lines – “I don’t see how anyone can pay attention to anything in your class when you are smiling.” To which Andre replied, and this is the part that made me a bit misty, “I only smile when I come here.”

Maybe I won’t make a million dollars, and more than likely I won’t get a promotion anytime in the next decade, but I believe I will sleep better knowing, even for the briefest of instances, I made Andre smile.

The big news is…

Ladies and gentlemen, with no further adieus, the big news is, cue drum roll, I bought a house! And not just any house, it was the earlier described avocado house. Through twists and turns, it looks as though I will be moving in by the month’s end, around the time of my upcoming birthday. No doubt this milestone will be a topic of many, many blogs.

Immediately I am painfully aware that homeowners ought to have buckets. What I mean by that and/or where I am going with the bucket line is there are a lot of little to medium size items (for example buckets) that you just have to have when you own a house. In an apartment they are impractical and unnecessary, but in a house, well, you have to have a bucket. You never know when you will wash your car, pick avocados, need to wash out something – you get the point. With all of these little looming things on the horizon, I am starting to feel like any left over money I have will be spent on buckets and so forth.

And still no NL West Champs.

Magic Number: 2!

2!2!2!2!2!2!2!2!2!2!2!2!2!2!2!2!2!2!2!2!2!2!2!2! 2!2!2!2!2!2!2!2! 2!2!2!2!2!2!2!2!2!2!2!2!2!2!2!2! Of course, my excitement with 2 revolves around the Dodger’s magic number as of approximately nine o’clock PST. One Dodger win + one Rocky loss opens the door to the possibility of clinching the NL West tomorrow if today’s trend of Dodger win/Rocky loss continues. Indeed, it is the most wonderful time of the year! Keep an eye on those box scores, and no, this is not my good news, stay tuned.

Travels

Last weekend I flew into Denver, Colorado just in time to see my beloved Trojans fall to last year’s winless Washington Huskies. Gone are any BCS hopes USC might have had in a way all too familiar to the last few seasons. But otherwise, my time there was amazing! Including a visit to the biggest REI Store I have ever seen, much good beer, Jason Mraz @ Red Rocks, quality time with friends, two wonderful days in Boulder and a comprehensive training to coordinate a mentoring program that I am completely excited about it. Big news around the corner ladies and gentlemen – stay tuned!

David and Goliath

Tonight I am packing for yet another trip to Colorado. I should be excited – and I suppose there are pieces of this trip I am looking forward to Jason Mraz at Red Rocks, catching up with dear friends, and being trained to lead a mentoring program that I think is amazing – I am sort of tired of traveling. I never thought I would get to this point and I suppose it doesn’t help that very recently I traveled to the Rocky Mountain State, but I am dragging my feet in packing.

I am also totally worried our beloved Trojans might lose tomorrow. I know the Huskies are a nothing team, but wasn’t it about this time last year they were able to beat Ohio State only to fall to Oregon State? Please never schedule a Thursday game again Mike Garrett (or whoever decides these matters). But consider our past few regular season losses – obviously Oregon State ’08, Stanford ’07 and Oregon State again in ’06 and lastly and perhaps most painfully UCLA ’06. Rankings or not, USC has a Goliath complex and we all know how that story ends.

And of all people, I believe Steve Sarkisian (who I was happy to see go last year) would love to beat his former boss tomorrow. He knows this team; he knows these players and this win would make his season. All other eyes might be on the swamp or such places but I hope Goliath keeps an eye out for small boys with slingshots (aka Steve Sarkisian’s Washington Huskies).