Bang The Doldrums

Yawn.

Hey it's fall. It was like 26 degrees yesterday, and it really doesn't feel like fall.

My team has had the start of the season pushed back two weeks, and we finally start this sunday in Victoria. The boys are pretty amped up for the start of the campaign. I have to admit that I am too. In the past, I've only ever begun training a month before a season starts. We've been preparing formally for 8 weeks. So we're more than antsy to get going. I have absolutely no concept of our opposition, which kind of hinders our preparation. Doesn't really matter. I expect that we'll do reasonably well this year, even though we are very young and inexperienced. In 7 exhibition games we went 4 wins, 1 loss, and 2 ties. Which, like NHL preseason, means nothing.

My weeks are really structured now. It's kind of weird getting back into the idea of looking forward to weekends as the reward for my week. Sunday's are when we play our games, and that's going to be the day I look most forward to every week. It's interesting to change from this summer, when day to day plans were really unstructured, and I never really looked forward to anything. Here we go though. Tomorrow's going to be a good friday.

I have an interesting dilemma. Well, dilemma might be a bad word. I want to move to Victoria. Not like next month or anything. But next year, like apr/may/june 2010. I have no problems walking away from any job(s) that I'll have then. But I don't know how tough it'll be to move away from my parents and friends. To be fair to my friends, I don't see them very often, and think that moving away from the same city as my parents will be kinda tough.

How do I balance this situation?

I guess I have to weigh the reasons why I want to move. In my opinion, I have more reasons to leave than to stay. This city is too small for me to continue to deal with what I've created in the last 5 years that I've lived here. That sounds bad. Ex girlfriends, people I don't like, places I don't like, trends I need to escape, and an atmosphere that I find choking are good reasons to leave. Not 'deal-maker' reasons, but contributing factors. I'm just plain old sick and tired of running around the same old town. That's allowed to be good enough for me.

Victoria seems like the perfect sized city for me. I couldn't handle a city as big as Vancouver, nevermind somewhere like LA. I'm not major city material. The greater Vic area has 300K people, like 4x's the size of nanaimo. I don't need to live in a 1M plus population.

Anyway, that's a ways away. Somehow I already miss my friends, like I'm already moved. Oh well.

'If you want to get out alive, run for your life'

Growing Old Is Getting Old

I'm back in the busy swing of things. I'm working two jobs pretty regular now, and soccer is taking up 3-4 pm's a week.

I have started 3 of my 4 kids programs at the community center. It's pretty neat, and the kids are completely awesome in their innocence. All they want to do is play and play and play. I am required to structure two of my programs, and I'm kind of disappointed that they haven't been received well. Some kids are two shy to step out of their shell, while others are too rambunctious to cooperate. My programs go until April, giving me ample time to figure shit out. I am meeting a ton of new people, which is nice.

I sometimes see people as potential cogs in my machine. Maybe they have opportunities for me. Maybe they know people. I think that meeting 100 new people in a month is going to do wonders for me.

I had a 'what-the-fuck-are-you-doing-with-your-life?' moment last week. It hit me at 1am last friday night when I was drunk and maybe high, and it kind of wrecked my night. I like running around with the boys sometimes, doing guys stuff. I asked myself the same question the next morning as I hunted around for the tylenol. I came to the conclusion that I don't really care what I'm doing with my life right now. It doesn't bother me that I'm not saving for a mortgage. It doesn't bother me that I'm not doing things that are life-productive. I'm not exactly being counter productive, I just like to spin my wheels sometimes.

I remember last september really well. I was living out the last of the small summer fortune I had made, and I was kind of puttering around on fumes for a few months until I finally got my shit together late October. I am super stoked to not be in that position this year. God damn. I am busy, I am banking, and I am not puttering. I'm really excited about 25 being a good year. 24 was more or less forgettable for me, with a few exceptions. It doesn't really matter why. But I'm optimistic about 25.

Thanks for reading.

'I've been now sauntering

Out and down the path sometime

Come on, it takes me nowhere, which I knew'

The Road

09/09/09. Spooky.

Wow I haven't blogged in a while. I'm not going to dwell on that. I'm probably going to continue to post fairly infrequently. I'm pretty busy these days, and I don't feel the need to write as much anymore.

I just wrapped up my summer with a roadtrip to DMB at the Gorge in Washington. It was an interesting trip. I made the same trip last year, and I felt it was more fun than this year. There were plenty of good times and crazy memories from this year though. Me, Jen and Amanda saw DMB play both saturday and sunday night. I was kind of skeptical about hearing DMB's new stuff live, but I actually was blown away at how awesome it sounded. The concerts themselves were definitely the best part of the trip for me. The first act on Saturday night took the stage at 6pm, and DMB played past 11pm. It was pretty sick.

I had my birthday over the weekend, and I'm officially mid-20's. Awesome. I managed to get everything I wanted from my family and friends. I feel like I'm too old to be asking for things for my birthday, plus I'm not really needy.

I have my soccer team picked for the year. We are finally practicing alone, after 6 weeks of painful practices with 25-50 guys. The season officially starts in a week and a half, and I'm very excited and confident with my team. It's kind of fulfilling to create and guide something, and see success in it. That's talking ahead of things, because we haven't found much success yet as the season hasn't started. But I am pretty certain that we're going to do fairly well. I have a very talented team, and I feel like even a rookie coach like me can steer them into title contention.

Well that's basically it for my summer. Bookended by the two camping trips I took on May long and September long, I had an eventful and busy summer. I attended an amazing wedding, took in 4 insane concerts, and played endlessly with my friends at tennis courts, golf courses, volleyball courts, and the disc golf course. I worked very little, and managed to live within my means. I lived well, worked when I had to, and enjoyed the bulk of my time off. I began to learn how to coach, and met tons of great new people on the turf field. 17 of those great people are now under my leadership for the year, and I'm proud to call myself their coach. I drank too much sometimes, I ate too much others, and I usually overdid each thing I did to the point of exhaustion. In the name of having as much fun as possible. I think I'll look back on this summer as a memorable one. I'm happy that so many friends could be a big part of it.

Now that the weather is turning, and summer feels done, I'm going to grind out some work for a while. My roommates are both back in school, so things around the house will have a little more focus. Although fall will bring a few really fun activities - quadding, and the return of landon and court - I foresee a lot of hardworking days that start with me riding the bus, and end with me at the soccer field. I will be at the conference center a pile, and my community center programs start this coming monday (bring on the 0-4 year olds!).

I'm going to go think about sleeping. I'm in love with stephen king again, but I have a meeting early tomorrow. Dangerous balance to find...

'Oh and when the kids are old enough

We gonna teach them to fly'

Old Habits Die Hard

September is right around the corner. It seemed like summer just started yesterday when we went to Sproat for May long. That was almost 3 and a half months ago. Even though summer goes another month, I can't help but always feel like my birthday bookends my summer. I haven't decided whether I'm going to have a party yet or not, but I have decided what I'm doing for my birthday.

I'm heading down to washington for my birthday with a few friends to go camping and see Dave Matthews. It's the same trip I went on last year, but this year my birthday falls on the saturday of the trip. I'm getting pretty excited about it. If it's anything like last year, it'll be an absolute blast.

I found out today that Buzz Aldrin - yes, Apollo 11 Buzz - likes two things in life: space exploration, and hip-hop. Awesome! The clip I watched showed Aldrin jamming with Snoop, soulja boy, and a few others. It was a major sign of the apocalypse. Apparently he has a new single out.

It's kind of a rainy day today, so I thought I'd spend some time on my computer. Catch up on my blog/twitter/facebook/youtube. I email every day now that I coach a soccer team, and I'm sending 30-50 emails a week now. It's kind of weird being the sender, after years of only checking my email for received messages.

Speaking of coaching, I really can't get through to my players, even when I use really blunt terms. Some kids are going to be really dissappointed that they don't make my team, and they have only themselves to blame. I try to give everyone a lot of opportunities to prove themselves and make their presence known on my radar. All the guys that are questionable for making the team, don't show up more than 50% of the time, and then email me to find out their status on the team. 'Well buddy, I don't really see you with a place on my team'. I think that's just it. They think it's their team, and they can come and go as they want. It's not. It's all mine. I make the picks, I run the show. Oh well. Dissapointing kids is the least of my worries I guess. In a week I'll have my team, and we'll be going in the right direction.

That's it. 10 days until my birthday. It's all soccer and work these days. The conference center is ramping up again, and so is the community center.

'Hungry people don't stay hungry for long'

Help, I'm Alive

Strange days.

I'm in full coaching mode, and I've been busy with my u21's trying to make the perfect team. It's difficult with ego's, injuries, etc. I find myself lost sometimes trying to coach these guys. They aren't overly perceptive at taking direction - they talk the talk but can't walk it. The season starts in a month, and I have a lot of work to do before then. I really hope the regular season isn't this stressful.

I also have experienced a number of other quirky abnormalities that have made this week strange. My roommate just got a puppy this week, then took off on vacation and left his sister in charge of the infant animal. Nice. After a difficult evening, I'm now taking care of the puppy. Perfect. I love dogs. But I don't want a dog. I also love sleep. Not getting much of that though.

There's a party at my house tonight, and I won't be anywhere close. I have to work, then rescue the puppy from the mayhem after my shift is done. I totally wish I could just fast forward to tomorrow morning. The thought of living another week in this house like the week I've just had makes me want to kill someone so I could enjoy life in a prison. And that's before tonight even happens. YAY!

Oh pessimism. When all is said, the puppy is super cute, and I'm pretty good with it. I have a soccer game tomorrow morning, and I'm pretty excited to have my boys play better.

'You can't always get what you want'

Can't Run But

I'm loving the PETA vs. Michael Vick saga! I love it when sports transcend sports and tickle the depths of humane issues. It doesn't happen very often that there's a story like this in the sports world that is so important. Very reminiscent of the Mike Tyson rape trial and the Pete Rose gambling circus.

The background facts of the issue are this:

1. Michael Vick was involved in a dog fighting ring where dogs were tortured and killed.

[bias] I like dogs [/bias]

2. Mike was found, charged, and served time for his crime. Regardless of the term served, it was a term decided by the federal court in Virginia.

[bias] I have faith in the justice system, and therefore faith in second chances, rehabilitation, etc. [/bias]

3. Vick was re-signed this week, and reinstated into the NFL, where he'll be a football star again, after being suspended since 2007.

4. Vick is working with local humane societies and with authorities to uncover underground dog fighting rings, and to help stop cruelty to animals.

5. PETA is off their fucking chain about it.

PETA is disappointed that the Philadelphia Eagles have chosen to sign a man who hanged dogs from trees, electrocuted them with jumper cables, held them underwater until they drowned in his swimming pool, and even threw his own family dogs into the fighting pit to be torn to shreds while he laughed. What sort of message does this send to young fans who care about animals and don't want to see them be harmed?

This is super interesting to me. And PETA is super intense imo. It's my opinion that PETA has no faith in the justice system, or in second chances in human beings. They obviously believe in second chances for animals. The kind of message I get from PETA is that they believe in the ethical treatment of animals, not the logical treatment of humans.

The kind of message that I get from Vick is that he's paid the price with his prison term, he made a mistake in his decisions, and he's working hard to make sure other people don't fall into the same pattern of behaviour. I get this message because I'm watching him say it on a live press conference.

Anyway, I'm not going to be a big hater of PETA. A lot of things they do point to stupidity without me having to do it.

Interesting story. That's all.

'Go write your message in the pavement'

Drift and Die

Busy weeks. Things are moving fast now that summer has hit it's peak. Weeks are more or less flying by. It's kind of hard for me to grasp that it's Thursday today. It felt like saturday night last night.

I spent the last week doing tons of really fun things. I had my first game (albeit exhibition) with my U21 boys on friday night, and we crushed our opponents 3-0. I actually didn't have much chance to watch the game, so I didn't really get a chance to give anyone a good look. I was too busy figuring out line changes, talking to parents, and telling guys how to play soccer. Seems straight forward - playing soccer - but guys make it really complicated sometimes. It's my job to dumb it back down to 'soccer'. Run pass shoot score. Win. We won.

I spent Saturday in Qualicum for Nicole's wedding, and it was a blast. Everything went really well, and it was fun to hang out with my friends. Sunday I really don't remember what I did. Monday I went to Campbell River to hang out with Jen and her parents. I checked out the Filberg Festival in Comox, and while I was pretty sceptical about artisan and crafts type stuff, I actually had a pretty good time.

I got back into town yesterday, and it's back to house sitting for a few different people. Which is kind of a nice gig. I don't really need to hang out much, and both places are near my house. My parents took off on a 2-3 week vacation, and I get full reign on their house/food/car. Which is pretty sweet.

I've been keeping crazy busy, and to try to report on everything would take a while. The summer is going really well, and while I'm squeezing in a ton of fun this summer, some of it's repetitive and I wonder if i'll get certain things in. I really want to get out and kayak around, and the weeks just kind of keep ticking by. Hopefully soon. I haven't spent enough time on the water this summer.

Anyway, I'm off to Qualicum again tonight for soccer. Tomorrow is another game with my U21's, and saturday I'm hosting a BBQ. Not a bad way to end a week.

Thanks for reading - comments are always welcome.

'When I was young I knew everything'