Boy, why are you crying?

It has been quite a while (okay, 7 months) since I have posted something on this blog. As I mentioned in my blurb about it, only the extraordinary gain mention. I do not post something every time I go on a date with a "tall, like a model" 20 year old barista or fall head over heels for a celloist called Claire. These are ordinary things in my day to day, drama filled (mostly fictionally fashioned) life. I give them the same emotion that I give everything else but I would hate to bore you with it all. I had a massage {nothing inappropriate} yesterday which was for the most part an average massage (by average I mean ahh-ha-may-zing). The end of the massage always gets me though; she massages my face. This is usually too much for me. I usually laugh when something is too much for me, in this case I smile, suppressing laughter. I always lose, almost willingly, this battle. Yesterday was different in that afterward she asked "Why do you laugh?" Much like wendy asks Peter Pan, "Boy, why are you crying?" Making me laugh then and even now as I write it. I tried to explain, telling her that the hands on the face were just too much for me. She misunderstood "You don't like it?" "Oh no its a good thing, almost too good." And we laugh as we discuss it. Maybe we laugh to hide the awkwardness of the ordeal. She menions it is called Raki (?) an energy exercise. I like the energy it gives or maybe the fact that it proves laughter is my energy. As I am leaving, we make eye contact and laugh again. "It makes me laugh when you laugh." she says. "Good." I chuckle back. Since then all I have to do to smile is think to myself about this story; a treat I hope you enjoy as well.

Adam

So this is the post. A post unlike my others; mainly of memory and reflection as opposed to the usuall witty composition. The things that have traveled through my mind over the past weekend. This post also comes with a dedication. To Adam McSween (those he loved and that loved him). He was my college roommate and friend; killed in Iraq on Friday, April 6, 2007.

Adam

seemingly and almost surreptitiously
with the loss of love
comes the gain of memory
increasingly and more there after

though very well and definitively played
i leave the rest of the world to labels
Christian, Father, Husband, Son, Brother, Soldier, Friend
brave, loving, strong, caring, so and so forth

beyond all things imagined
i choose a different way to remember you

in a paper towel toga
bearing a proud, sincere smile
atop a borrowed motorcycle
ready and willing to serve

...and it is with the encouragement
i gain from this, from you
that i strive to make a difference too.

kids these days

I love their perspective on most things and may even write my own blog about it all. Regarding age, I do enjoy asking my campers (ages 4-6) to guess my age and I get everything from 20 - 77. How wonderfully amusing! My favourite quotation comes from a young man I was sitting next to at a ball game not too long ago. The 5 year old was amazed that I was 27. I told him I was 5 once and some day he would be 27. He said,"Yeah in like 50 years." I love it.

...the above was taken from a comment I left for Debbie. debbiedawn.blogspot.com

Marching onward, kids are just great. My camp ended well and Harrison (or let's be honest, it may have been his twin Zachary) just loved it. He said, "It was Awwwwwwwwwwwwweesome! Awesome! Awesome! Awesome Awesome! I'm going to do it next year and the next year and the next year and the next year and the next year and the next year..." I was, by the end of the week able to tell them apart but it was by their hair and in my memory of the moment all I can see is the young man's smile as he jumps up and down. In other words, I have a very rewarding job.

One final note on the perspective of children and last week's camp is the Countdown. Any time I needed them to get a move on (and this includes not only the 4-7 year olds but up through 14) all I had to do is countdown from any given number, usually 10, and they would come running. Kids are like that, always motivated if they are being timed or tested. They never question what happens if they don't make it. They just go. I wonder when it is that they stop responding to the countdown...

...or really, rather, if we ever do.

rules; laws; members only

There are two things you can count on from women (2 rules girls follow; aka the GT rules):

1) Girls talk
2) Girls are territorial

...these were both originally brought to my attention a couple of several years ago by a group of young men that I had the pleasure to reside with (shout out to prologue; 14 flag rd). The rules made sense, at first, and actually allowed many other things in my life to make sense as well. They have also been proven over and over and over again.

Just recently, some of us were hanging out at The Tavern. We were enjoying each other's company and a few drinks. We had one waitress, Paige, and the other waitress, Bethany, had every other table on the deck. It wasn't necessarily that Bethany was better looking than Paige but more that she was just better; she was involved with her customers, seemed to care, efficient, and wasn't having a smoke break every 15 minutes. A couple of guys showed up later than us but joined us at our table and immediately flagged down Bethany. When Bethany brought them their drinks, Paige gave her, our two friends and us the look, but said everything was alright. Bethany came back a few minutes later only to tell the guys they had to transfer to our ticket. They declined and Bethany went along with but knew there would be trouble. She was right. We ended up closing out our tab with Paige (as a matter of principle) and joined the other guys with Bethany. Girls are territorial. Just be aware of the fact that girl's talk. Too much trouble may spawn from any other conversation on the matter.

Of course, women do not record their rules and reg's (but there may just be millions that all have memorized) like the men do in their Man Laws because, if for no other reason, that would make things a little easier on us guys.

Here are some we came up with that night at The Tavern:

*If there is a movie about/with pirates, man must see it.
*If a man is a beer drinker and watching sports with fellow beer drinkers, said man must drink.
*Man must buy his wingman drinks.
*If a man is at a sporting event and a player from the opposing team comes at him, he must get a cheap shot in(...assuming of course, the man is watching men in competition, if it is women he is watching, depending on the sport, man card violations must be taken into consideration)
*If a man's food is left unattended for 10 minutes, it becomes fair game.
*Should a man come across a woman in his Top 10 Ever, he must ask her out.

Disclaimers... and a PSA

I) The rules of the man card are not exactly clear to me (even if they were I could not relay them here). I may have had mine revoked a few times to be honest with you.

B) I am not at all claiming to know all there is to know about women. I am only claiming to know the 2 GT Rules.

3) The only reason I was allowed/able to reveal the man laws is because there is actually a website www.manlaws.com, open to all, that displays tens of thousands of them.

PSA: So whomever you are, male or female, and whatever you do, be careful out there.
...and men, Keep It Sacred.

a little means so much

Last Friday, we were finishing up a week of soccer camp. At camp I worked with the 4-6 year olds the first half each day and moved to the older group for the rest of the time. On Friday, Parker(a 5 year old) ran up to me and handed me a card. I said,"Thanks Parker." He said I was welcome. I responded, "Can I open it now?" "Yes" So I did.

On the front of the card it shows a boy drawing with crayons on the wall "Thank you very, very, very much!" the inside reads "Just couldn't wait to tell you!"... Then in bright red marker I HAD FUN, ThANk You, PARKeR MOORe. Also inside the envelope was a dime size soccer ball bubble magnet.

I told him thank you and he went on his way(or the rest of the group's way, as they were warming up). After practice, his mother was asking some questions about Parker and what he can work on, etc. I told her what I knew and also thanked her for the card.
She said,"Oh, no that was all Parker, All week he has been like,"Mom, I want to give JD something, like a soccer ball", and I told him "Honey he probably has plenty of soccer balls". So when we saw the magnet he just had to get it; he even used his own money."

I thanked her for sharing and told her that it meant so much more. It did and does. Thank ~YOU~ Parker.

irony?

All of those who read these scribblings must know that my purpose is not to brag or even illustrate my amount of free/leisure time. It is the events that occur within/because of/through that I mean to pass on...

Today at the pool, I enjoyed a witty, well-written paperback while taking in the mid-day sun and the occasional dip into the cool refreshing water. During one of my turns in the water I noticed a moth, still alive, yet struggling to stay afloat. Now I have nothing wrong with stepping on a bug or swatting a fly, etc. but in this case I saw no reason for this moth to continue to suffer. I cupped my left hand and scooped the light brown winged creature from the pool. I set him up on the ledge and watched his damp wings flutter in an attempt to dry. The sun was working quite quickly and I blew an occasional breath his way to move things along. Soon enough he would fly again. After a mere minute things looked near dry and i was sure he was ready to get going. All of the sudden a mockingbird swooped down("not good" i thought), landed, (and in the next few seconds) looked towards the moth(in the predatory way of the bird featured in the movie "A Bug's Life"), took two hops forward and pecked, snatching the moth up and off he went. The moth did fly again, just not the way I anticipated.

All that to say... today I fed a bird.

wonderfully beautiful

originally posted on 05/18/06 on myspace

What a wonderfully beautiful day!!

I spent part of it on town lake in a kayak amidst the serenity of nature, the warmth of the mid-day sun, and getting quite the workout. This is what made for the beautiful day. The use of the adverb, wonderful, was not made certain until this evening.

Tonight I went to a Round Rock Express (AAA baseball team for the Astros) game. What made it great was not my getting in free because someone had an extra box seat ticket; it wasn't the fact that the Express won 8-3; it wasn't the free pizza I won due to the row I was sitting in... it was because of a 5 1/2 year old boy named Brandon. It wasn't just Brandon himself, the stories he shared about hummingbirds, rainforests, the horrible smell of beer, it being past his bedtime, the game being his sister's first baseball game or the bats circling the lights to eat moths... it was the look on his face and how he lit up for the rest of the night after I gave him the foul ball I caught.(he even gave me a hug when they had to leave) A close second would have been his dad's reaction and reactions the rest of the night. And third would be the reaction of those around me. Making other people's day is what makes mine. That is who I am and who I want to be. What a feeling of sensational completeness...

back blogging

originally posted 05/05/06 on myspace

It has been a while since I have blogged. Which I am sure is no news to you; you can see the date of the last one and do the math. Just because I havent blogged does not mean that I havent experienced blog worthy events. So I will go over briefly the past 4 fortnights and highlight the wonderful things that make my life amazing. (Or at least give mention to the vehicle situation, my soker life, and the rest of the story music)

Car: Volvo s60, I love it. The pick-up is amazing, the ride is smooth and I really have to watch my speed. It makes driving in traffic less of a chore and more of a spoonful of sugar. The dealership here has been super helpful and friendly. Of course, I miss the Durango. What guy wouldnt miss a truck? We had good times and I will never forget it.

Soccer: I took on 2 new teams which took on more of my time. I now coach the 93 and 95 girls and the Academy (96/97) boys and girls. The 93s played up a division this spring and paid for it dearly. The clubs management thought it would be good for them but now see they were mistaken. The 95s had an impressive showing finishing one game out of 3rd place, which comes a long way from not winning any and only tying twice in the fall to keep them out of the bottom rank. The academy girls have come a long way and are having a good time with it. The academy boys, who had my best showing, went 3-1-1 since I picked up the team, leaving them 4-3-1 for the season.

Running: I hadnt been in training due to an injury I suffered in the fall. I couldnt pass up the opportunity to run in the Austin American Statesman 10,000 (a big 10k run through downtown Austin). I did alright. I ran it in 48 minuteswith 7:52 mile pace. On Wednesday, I ran for an hour, a little over 7.5 miles, so it would seem like I am recovered and back running. Hopefully, I can stay that way and run a ½ or full marathon in the fall.

Music: SXSW(South by Southwest) Snow Patrol (Martha Wainwright even sang a song with them), The Subways, Metric, Vega 4, Battle, The Magic Numbers, Mogwai, Belle & Sebastian, The Charlatans, People in Planes, The Duke Spirit, Art Brut, Big Blue Hearts, Rogue Wave, Polytechnic, Of Montreal, Mystery Jets, and attending the Jane magazine and Stuff magazine parties. It was quite the experience.
Other shows since then: Maria Taylor, Zykos, Death Cab for Cutie, Franz Ferdinand. I am now very much looking forward to ACL fest

My last blog is focused on the death of the Durango while on a soccer trip. That licensing course was the NSCAA National Goalkeeping Diploma. Those results are just now getting back to me (which may be why I am just now getting back to you). I am on the waiting list for this summers USSF B course at the Home Depot Center in California. I already hold the second highest license in the NSCAA (National Soccer Coaches Association of America) and the B license is the second highest within the USSF (United States Soccer Federation). So that is that...

Well I know it wasn't the best piece of writing ever, but now that you are caught up, maybe we can get to that. Have a sensational Cinco de Mayo!!