Recently, I've started reading at an unusual (for me) pace. The lack of cable and frequent trips to the library with Addie are making it happen. Here are just a couple things I was thinking about tonight as I read...
I just finished Marc Acito's How I Paid For College. Though it's written like a high school theater geek would write and that occasionally annoyed me, it's still very funny and very fun and if you are looking for something light and high school-y, I recommend it.
Death? is currently reading the Twilight series and she said the same thing about it's writing. But in the end, both of us enjoyed the story enough to look past that occasional annoyance.
I read the sequel to How I Paid For College - Attack of the Theater People - first without knowing it was a sequel. It's also a lot of fun, but it would've been better had I read the first book. Although, I don't know, maybe it would've been a letdown.
Dave Zirin has quickly become my favorite sportswriter. The People's History of Sports in the United States is a fascinating look at how closely politics and sports are and have always been connected. And if you think sports is just fun and games, you have been thinking wrong. This book will seriously open your eyes.
I think for the first time the Civil Rights Movement really hit home for me while reading The People's History. I knew a lot about it, but it was never put into a context time wise that I could really visualize. To put it into a sports context brought it home to me and made me completely realize how it didn't take place eons ago like it seems to me but just years before my birth. These horrible, terrible things were still being done in my parents lifetime and even into mine. Also, it's hard to imagine a time when athletes were politically involved in a good way, but it did happen. Anyway, what a fascinating book.
I finally got around to reading Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas. I always thought that Fear and Loathing would be a glorification of drugs, so I was not prepared for how in the end it turns out to be a indictment of and a eulogy for the 60's drug culture.
I also watched the movie, and the only thing that I thought the movie lost was that feeling that this book and Thompson's experiences were really about the destruction of an era.
People kept trying to add me as a friend on Goodreads.com and I ignored it because I didn't feel like updating yet another review site. But I need somewhere to document these books I'm reading so I've got my account going again and if you want to add me, please do.
I'm currently reading Douglas Coupland's The Gum Thief.
Two books that I kind of hope will be made into movies: How I Paid For College and Coupland's All Families Are Psychotic. All Families Are Psychotic is already basically a screenplay.
Oh, and in case you are wondering, I have not read the Twilight series and for now, I'm avoiding them. I don't want to get sucked in.
FYI - No Blog Culture Box this week. Since I took a few days off from blogging, I don't want my blog to become nothing but Blog Culture Boxes, so we'll space it out a bit this week. Plus, I have put no thought into it at all and I usually get it done on Tuesday.
I know everybody loves these weekend recap type posts, soooooo heeeeerrrre we go...
Saturday, in particular was quite the mishmash of activities. It started with Addie and I going to the University of Washington vs. the University of Pacific men's basketball game. UW won handily, 72-54, but more importantly, Addie had a great time. On Friday, we went to the women's basketball game and I discovered that she would put up with it enough to take her again on Saturday to the men's game. She watched a little bit of the basketball, watched all the videos on the scoreboard, liked the cheerleader's pom-poms and just about freaked out a couple times when she saw the mascot Harry - she actually got to meet Harry after the game and didn't like him as much up close. She did poop out by the end, in fact, at the end of both games she got super tired and restless and hard to handle and when we got in the car, she crashed hard. But I learned that it's possible for me to take her to basketball games, just difficult, because I can't do anything like go to the bathroom, have something to eat or concentrate on the game when I'm with her by myself.
After basketball and a quick stop at Taco Bell (I know, but I was so hungry and it's the only drive-thru on the drive home), we came home and met up with Death? and her friend in downtown Edmonds for the Edmonds Christmas tree lighting just after they saw a matinee of Twilight, so of course they couldn't shut up about it (kidding Death?). We saw Santa momentarily, heard some middle school jazz choir sing some carols and saw them light the skinny ass and less than impressive tree. In future years Addie will be all about the downtown tree lighting so now we know what to expect.
Then it was off to Seattle for one of the best Seattle Thanksgiving traditions, Taj Mahal at Jazz Alley. For that last ten years or so, The Taj Mahal Trio plays two sets a night all week leading up to Thanksgiving and the weekend following. This is the third time we've seen him over Thanksgiving, though we'd have probably gone every year if we wouldn't have moved to California. He's one of the greatest bluesmen alive and always puts on an amazing show and if you don't know him, here's one of his best songs...
Following an amazing, beautiful, romantic, fun show by Taj Mahal, what could we do to finish the night off and make it any more perfect? How about watching Pink Flamingos! I'd never seen Pink Flamingos, I'd only heard about it, but nothing that I heard could possibly prepare me for just how obscene Pink Flamingos is. Holy shit! John Waters is sick...awesomely sick. I don't even know what else to say about it other than....Whoa! That is one fucked up movie.
So basketball, tacos, Christmas, blues music and asshole contortions. Now that's my kind of Saturday.
We've been thinking recently that maybe it would be good to get Addie into a daycare so that she can be around other little kids. Being home all day with daddy is great, but she needs some socialization. An hour here and there of baby story time just doesn't cut it. There is a particularly good one close to Death?'s work that her co-workers use and love and we'd probably both feel comfortable sending her there.
Of course, that means that daddy would need to reenter the job market to help pay for the daycare and because, simply, that I would have nothing productive to do all day if I'm not watching her. While I'd like that for about a week, I'd be pretty bored after too much longer.
Problem is, I have no idea what I want to do. I've been scouring the Craigslist listings and whatnot and nothing at all has jumped out at me. We're not in any kind of rush to get me working, so I have the luxury of taking my time and finding something that is a good fit, but what's a good fit?
My last few jobs have been in the e-Commerce field - customer service, shipping, warehouse, etc. - and while I've enjoyed those jobs, it's not what I ever really wanted to do. My "career" just kind of evolved from a job that I took when I moved to Seattle. So while I'm most qualified to work in that field, I don't really know if I want to.
What I'd most like to do is work in sports or write, but each of those has problems of their own. Sports, generally, is a massive time committment for very little pay. That was the problem when I decided against a job that would've given me an office in Husky Stadium at the University of Washington. I'm not a fresh out of college kid anymore. I can't take a job that pays nothing and live at the ballpark all season long anymore. I'm not willing to give up that kind of time with Addie.
And don't even get me started with writing. First of all, I'm not that good of a writer, so finding a writing job would be hard anyway. But with newspapers failing and the few paying blogging jobs paying peanuts, there really isn't much of a market for writers right now.
Then there's the problem of having a boss. Though my last boss was great, and really all of my bosses have been great, I don't know if I can take directions from anybody anymore. Being my own boss since April has kind of spoiled me. Not taking directions from the higher ups has been amazing. Not dealing with office politics and people's bullcrap all day....so great. (Though, my current boss - Addie - has been the toughest boss of all time, and I have to deal with her crap constantly.)
And honestly, I don't know if I can deal with the prospect of worrying about my job all the time. I have been laid off far too many times and I just don't know if I want to set myself up for yet another layoff. I'm seriously starting to get gunshy about this. With the economy like it is, I've heard of a lot of people losing their jobs lately just in the blogosphere or at least companies that people I read work for. It's not fun getting yourself entrenched in a job and then having it pulled out from under you without much warning. Trust me, I know.
So what the heck am I going to do? Perhaps I should go back to school, become a student. That's kind of like having a job. But what the heck would I study? That's a whole 'nother post in itself. I have no idea.
Luckily, like I said, I have the luxury of taking my time. Addie will be fine without going to daycare and I love being a stay-at-home daddy so it's not like I have to make a decision or settle on something I'm not excited about, but it would be nice to know what I should be looking for even. It would make it all a lot easier and a lot less confusing.
Today is the annual game between the University of Washington Huskies and the Washington State Cougars - better known as The Apple Cup. Unfortunately, this season, it's being referred to as The Rotten Apple Cup or, so I just read, The Crapple Cup, since this is a football game between two of the most pathetic football teams in the country. Rivals.com has done a great job putting it into perspective...
"• The teams are a combined 1-20 overall and 0-15 in the Pac-10. The only win was Washington State's 48-9 victory over Portland State on Sept. 20. Portland State is 3-7 as a member of the Football Championship Subdivision (i.e., Division I-AA).
• Of the 120 Football Bowl Subdivision (i.e., Division I-A) teams, Washington ranks 118th in total offense, 118th in scoring offense, 111th in total defense and 117th in scoring defense. Washington State ranks 119th in total offense, 119th in scoring offense, 113th in total defense and 119th in scoring defense. Washington is 117th in turnover margin, Washington State is last.
• Washington has been outscored by an average of 26 points per game. Its shining moment was a near-upset of then-No. 15 BYU. Washington lost 28-27 when quarterback Jake Locker was flagged for a questionable 15-yard unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty on a late touchdown run. BYU blocked the ensuing 35-yard extra-point attempt.
• Washington State has lost every Pac-10 game by at least 25 points. That includes three shutouts and two more games where the Cougars' only score was a field goal. The defense has been just as bad. Washington State has allowed at least 60 points in four Pac-10 games this year and went through a four-game stretch where it allowed at least 58 points in each game.
• Washington State has allowed a Pac-10 record 533 points this season. With two games left, it's likely the Cougars will break the dubious FBS record of 566 points allowed, held by Eastern Michigan's 2002 team.
• Washington is facing its first winless season since 1890. The Huskies played one game that year – a scoreless tie at Washington College.
• Never before has there been a Pac-10 game between teams with at least 10 losses."
Wow. Even I didn't realize it was that bad. But I'll still be watching. In fact, this might be one of the most competitive, interesting, fun games to watch in Apple Cup history. Nobody wants to lose this stinker and cement themselves as the worst team in the history of the game. It might be an all our war.
Or it might be the greatest stinker of all time. A 2-0 final score wouldn't really be much of a surprise.
Friday morning I brought a Diet Cherry Coke with me to work. I drank a little bit more than half of it before setting it on my workstation and forgetting about it. We had a leak in the roof above our area and had to move a bunch of boxes around so that our building manager could figure out the problem.
While moving these boxes I must have bumped my workstation ever so slightly and knocked my soda over. I went to the restroom and did some other work and about half an hour later I returned to my workstation and was stopped dead in my tracks by what I found...
Completely freaked out I ran into the other room and yelled at my coworkers to come see what I found. Everybody accused me of setting it up and didn't believe that it could just happen randomly.
Of course this phenomenon is easily explained. But before you start spouting off some kind of scientific crap about center of gravity and whatnot, let me set you straight. It obviously was Magic. I must be magic. There really is no other explanation. These powers that I possess are strong. So you'd best not cross me or else you might find yourself a victim of my magic just like this can of Diet Cherry Coke.
I'm really just a wannabe advice columnist. I don't know why I haven't pursued my true calling a long time ago. Kind of stupid, don't you think. I could be giving Dear Abby a run for her money by now.
I did, a few years ago, attempt to become an advice columnist with my occasional feature "Ask The Pantsless Pontificate". I don't know why I ever stopped.
So here's your chance to get some top notch advice, free of charge. All you have to do is submit your question below and I will be answering questions later in the week. You can remain anonymous, if you like, or you can give me your name or whatever. If you wish to remain anonymous, use my email address (downwithpants@gmail.com) in the email portion of the form...
I can't promise that it will be great or helpful advice, but I can promise that I'll listen and tell you what I think. And isn't that all that we really need sometimes?
I'm a 32 year-old dude who is happily married to his best friend in the whole world and just welcomed a beautiful little girl into our happy family. I love playing softball, basketball and soccer despite my amazing suckiness at all sports. I'm a shining example of what one can accomplish after six years of college without earning a degree.
