Another Xmas is in the books. My big present this year is my season's pass to Stevens, which I hope to take full advantage of this ski season. The most visual present this year went to my mom--a wii. I've read a handful of other bloggers opening wiis for the first time this Xmas as well, and I agree with them that these systems are a ton of fun! My mom really likes the Wii Sports games, primarily golf and bowling.
Wii Bowling brings out the sports competitor in my mom, and as soon as she saw my sister and I bowling a few frames she broke out all the bowling lingo (which I'm sure ZOOKS is familiar with). I can't remember half of what she said, something about being too heavy on the head pin. My sis said, "Mom, I think you're the only person I know who cringes when the ball is heading right towards the front pin." Of course, mom likes to retell her stories of growing up, and how her dad hustled people by averaging 180 with his right hand, then switching over to his left-handed 220 average when money was on the line.
She told us how her dad would have her spend hours on one and two-pin split shots. If you bowl many open frames against my mom, you don't stand a chance--she's a surgeon out there on the Wii Bowling front.
In the spirit of my mom's dad, who I never really got to meet (he died when I was two), I am rolling left-handed.
I had a pretty dull weekend last week. The highlights were rock climbing, attending UW volleyball games and... playing online bridge with my mom. That's right, playing bridge with my mom was probably THE highlight of my weekend, and that fact made me rather depressed Sunday night. I stayed in Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, and I felt like a pretty big loser.
Then Monday hit. I'm not really sure what happened Monday that pulled me out of my funk, but instead of viewing last weekend as a waste, I felt very fortunate. Sure, I'll probably have more fun this coming weekend--drinks on Friday with classmates, partying on Saturday, Seahawks game with friends on Sunday--but on Monday I realized that my time staying with the folks will come to an end soon. Staying in with one's parents all weekend probably is not many 26 year olds' idea of fun. But when I think about last weekend in the context of my life, and wondering how many more weekends like that I'll have, it makes the weekend feel much more special.
We're finally getting some snow in the Cascades! Ski season approaches, and I spent too much time this week working on mix CDs for my trips up to the slopes. Other than anticipation for skiing and boarding this winter, this week was also busy at school, and my Mom's foot surgery was Wednesday. The surgery went well, and besides being groggy from the pills, she is doing great. Dad and I are fixing all the meals and running errands for her while she recovers, and he has not even complained (much) yet!
In a weird coincidence, my cat Ichi hobbled in Thursday night, not putting any weight on his front right paw. I wasn't sure if he was making fun of Mom, or if he actually hurt his paw. He also had a gash on his ear, which did not look pretty, so either another cat or a raccoon got to him. We visited the vet today, because Ichi still was not putting any weight on his paw. He got checked out and the doctor thought his paw was either sprained or had a small fracture--but did not recommend an x-ray because there was not a big difference in treatment for where the sprain/fracture is located on his paw. The cut on Ichi's ear was actually a bigger surprise, because it went all the way through the ear, and after the doc cleaned the cut out, the hole was big enough to see through! Ouch! He'll be an indoor cat for the next few weeks.
School is steadily picking up. We've got a ton of work coming up at the end of the semester--right when the Stevens Pass will be opening. I'm trying to get as much of the work done before the ski resort opens. We've got papers, lesson plans, digital vignettes, parent-teacher conferences--all sorts of crap! Interesting crap, though.
Today is the Apple Cup: UW vs. WSU, and both teams are winless in conference this year. The anticipation for the game is probably higher than most years, because UW has not gone winless in their 100 year history, and it would please WSU more than any team to complete a defeated season for UW. I've got action on the game with one of my skiing buddies. I got 10:1 odds on a pushup bet that I could not refuse. If the game goes to overtime, he has to do 100 pushups. If the game does not go to overtime, I do 10.
Tonight is also poker and birthday night at Casa De Chako! I plan on bringing a present that is over 100% of my income... alright, the jig is up, my income is $0. I'll also try and dig some information on the current state of Dr. Chako's bankroll on Full Tilt for our side bet. I'm down a bit from where I started at the beginning of the month, but the losses aren't too bad.
After poker, I'll probably head down to T-town and get some Guitar Hero World Tour in with a guy who doesn't like sleep. Apparently he's got the place decked out with the drum stand and everything--get ready to RAAAWK!
Today marks day one of my three week summer break. Like most people, I enjoy a good break. A prolonged break from school or just a bathroom break in the middle of a long day at work--both are welcome opportunities to spice life up a bit. Breaks give me time to investigate what it is I am actually doing and how that is different from what I want to be doing. With this break, I've already realized that I am taking school less seriously than I originally intended, and I would like to be more serious about school in the Fall. This break is the calm before the storm. Fall Quarter is going to be tough, Winter Quarter is going to be tougher, and Spring Quarter I student teach for two months.
In addition to reflection and attempts at temperance, breaks give me time to have fun, and I fully intend to have fun for the next three weeks. I've already got a few camping trips planned, I'm heading to Lake Tapps tomorrow, and I hope to ride the ninja up to Canada to possibly meet up with Schaubs for some much overdue B.C. poker. Today started the break out great with a bit of Warcraft, a successful trip to the library, and a splash of Team Fortress 2 sniping. But the highlight of the day was going to the driving range with my folks.
My mom taught me how to play golf when I was a wee one, maybe 9 years old. We would go to the little par 3 courses around Seattle and I would tee up the ol' 5 wood for Greenlake's behemoth 115yd 5th hole. I remember being giddy for my 12th birthday, because according to mom, 18-hole courses had a minimum age requirement of 12 to play. For my 12th birthday we played the Jackson 18-hole course in North Seattle. It wasn't until I was old enough to drive that she let me know there really was no such thing as a minimum age requirement--she just didn't want to walk 18 holes all the time! Oh to be young and gullible.
That story pretty much sums up my golfing history. Whenever the family gets together to play, we play for fun and try to prank each other every chance we get. Favorite pranks include shifting the golf carts into reverse for the high-pitched squeal in the middle of someone's back swing, and replacing dad's golf ball with an exploding golf ball that has a thin cover with just flour inside, or a snake ball on the green that has a weight inside it and goes anywhere but straight.
Our golfing went from once a week in the summer to once a year when I hit college. The only place we've played for the past ten years has been Bear Creek golf course over in Winthrop, WA. It is a spacious 9-hole course conveniently located near Sun Mountain Lodge, which is where the parents would go to get away for a few days each summer. The course is cheap compared to normal greens fees, cheap enough for us to get golf carts for the round--which is, of course, the most important part!
We're heading to Sun Mountain on Wednesday, so last night I suggested we hit the driving range to warm up for our high-stakes golf match at Bear Creek later in the week. Mom's been doing physical therapy for her shoulder for the past few months, and dad has a foot problem that has forced him to cancel our summer hike this year--so I was a bit doubtful about our chances at getting a round in at Bear Creek this year. Those doubts were put to rest today at the range--we had an absolute blast!
It was a blustery day today, with 15-20mph winds whipping across the range. Fortunately for us, the wind did not affect our shots, as we had trouble getting the balls up in the air. I secretly brought along my camera to take pictures and video of dad golfing, because he has a hilarious swing that just had to be captured on film:
I got my sports skills from my mom, as you can clearly see with her smooth swing. Dad improved remarkably as the video progressed--he went from missing the ball, to hooking the ball, to not being able to get the ball out of the ball rack, to slicing the ball and then he fished with a straight and true right down the fairway rocket.
THE GOOD: I have to give credit where credit is due. We were all swinging pretty well today. Mom corrected her "trying to swing too hard" complex about halfway through the bucket and finished with some nice strokes. Dad was hitting the ball in the air more than 50% of the time, which is unheard of for him. I was crushing the ball and actually hitting my driver in the air, straight, which hasn't happened since I was 13. I also sunk a 40ft putt uphill and into the wind to win our putting challenge--and mom gets credit for calling it from the moment it left my putter.
THE BAD: Well, dad didn't hit all the balls he aimed at, but that is to be expected. He is 6'5", after all. Unfortunately, I too missed a few with powerful whiffs that undoubtedly altered the course of our universe and may or may not have created tsunamis in Japan tomorrow morning.
THE UGLY: The ugly is my dad's category, he is the king of ugly when it comes to golf. He had some absolute prizes today, but the single swing that had me laughing the longest was when he took a big swing at the ball and just BARELY nicked the ball. So softly in fact, that it wound up in the ball holder just to the right of the driving range mat. I can honestly say I have never seen that before. I have trickled the ball off the front of the mat, I have ricocheted the ball off of the screen behind the ball holder--hell, I have even hit the roof of the covered driving range before, but I have never hit the ball so gently, on such a strong swing, to get the ball to rest peacefully back in the ball holder with the rest of its round, white friends. Kudos to dad for doing the impossible. Kudos.
I'm not sure why I hadn't really felt it since moving back to Seattle last August. The last eight months I've mostly spent my time re-acclimating myself to my home town. Everything is different through older eyes. Everything seems smaller than it once was, which is depressing in a way.
Riding the 1200 miles up from Tahoe on my motorcycle, behind Dad in the Explorer, I had lots of time to think about my future. I knew living with my parents was going to be bittersweet. I love my parents, and love living with them, but I'm also ashamed to say I'm 25 years old and living with my parents. Somewhere in the middle of Oregon, I remember tackling the pros and cons of living with my parents, and I had this great vision of walking down to a local pub with my parents for dinner. We would buy a pitcher or two of beer, play some pool, and have a fun and relaxing evening together.
Last night, we did just that. The three of us played a game of shuffleboard (shuffle-puck?) and on the first throw of the evening, with no warm-up, my Mom rolled the puck down the sandy counter and it stopped perfectly along the back edge of the counter for a 4-pointer. We didn't roll another 4 all night (although I think I did manage to knock her 4 off the board). Dad and I got a game of pool in after dinner, and he was confident that I would sink the 8-ball out of turn. This is usually a good bet to make, but somehow I managed to sink it AFTER hitting all of the solids in--there's a first time for everything!
Today was another one of those perfect Spring days in Seattle, where everyone and their mothers go outside to catch some rays. Greenlake was popping again this Saturday, and I got in a good three hours of ultimate. John from my teaching program was out at the field with his pregnant wife and her sister who is a beast at ultimate. The four of us headed to Baskin Robbins after ultimate, and I got a triple-scoop Chocolate Mouse Royale. Dear God it was good. I hadn't had Baskin Robbins for years, and I was ecstatic to find my favorite flavor still intact. I actually feel like I am throwing my money away if I buy any other flavor of ice cream at Baskin Robbins, because Chocolate Mouse Royale is THAT good. Dark, rich chocolate, filled with little shavings of hard dark chocolate--come on! How am I not gonna eat that?
Speaking of pregnant wives, when I got back to my cell phone after ultimate, I received a picture message of Marc's baby, Claire. I love that name, and he is the first of my friends to have a kid, so he got to snatch the name before any of us... bitch. Congrats, Marc and Sarah :)
I got a few games of Magic in with Tyler, then the two of us headed to Marshall to hoop it up. Tyler hasn't shot a basketball in six months, but he still won the first game of 21. He retired on top while I hopped into a game of 2v2. My teammate was the other guy playing 21 with us, and seemed to be pretty decent... until we started playing 2v2, doh. We started off ice cold and he threw up a number of air balls. I think the other team scored 5 points before we sunk our first bucket. We were down 5-10 and 6-11, then I caught fire. I remember thinking "alright, time to get hot." 8-11. 10-11. 12-11. It feels so good to play bball when your shot is falling, and it was raining 3's at Marshall this afternoon. We finished them off when I faked a 3 and drove baseline to lefty in a rare layup (I don't make layups... ever).
Life is good.
Seattle is still different in my mind than the daily view I take in, but days like this connect the past to the present. I remember the sunny spring days down in Tacoma (close enough), where ultimate frisbee out on Todd Field played out from about 3pm to 8pm. The players would come and go, and the girls bathing in the sun would do the same. In Seattle, I remember plenty of sunny afternoons in Springs long ago, playing basketball and baseball games until dark.
Spring might just be taking over as my favorite season. I've always said Summer, but with Spring you've got these rare, amazing days that are my favorite. You've also got the anticipation of Summer. With Summer, you've usually always got nice days, but you look forward to a wet Fall, Winter and Spring.
Today is almost over, and I'd rate it 5/5 on spirit, 5/5 on body, and 2/5 on mind. Time to go read!
I finally got a chance to see Ratatouille tonight. Dad is off at the railroad volunteering in the single-digit temperatures, so the house is just me and my mom right now. Mom got the ingredients to make ratatouille, then remembered neither of us has seen the Ratatouille film yet, so she picked it up at Blockbuster on her way home from the store. My parents haven't rented a movie from Blockbuster in about a decade, so she had to fill out paperwork (which makes me think she might not rent again for another decade or two!).
Had a great time cooking, eating and watching the very funny movie with Mom, now I've got some preparation to do for my interview tomorrow. I should probably clean up my room a bit too, this place is starting to get a little out of hand.
