Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Losing a Roommate

This summer, I've had three roommates.  There have been four of us in my two bedroom condo.  That means I've been sharing my bedroom and bathroom again.

Last night, the roommate I share the room with walked into my office just before quitting and said, "Guess what.  I'm moving out tomorrow."  Long story short, he's still a college student and discovered he still had to live on campus.

I keep thinking about having my room back to myself.  He moved a lot in the night, and that made the bed creak, which would often wake me up.  There are lots of benefits.

But I'm bummed.

Yes, it was nice to have the extra income I was getting from three roommates.  And one of the others might bolt at any time (and I knew that going in).

But it's more than money.

As has been the case for the last couple of years, I genuinely like my roommates.  We have fun hanging out together, although we don't hang out too much outside the condo.  Still, we laugh together.  This particular roommate and I have the exact same sense of humor, so when we were both home, it was a blast.  I'm going to miss him for that reason.

Of course, I often feel sad when a roommate first tells me he's moving out, even if I know who is moving in.  I'm usually okay by the time they actually leave.  I think the speed this time just makes it harder for me.

It makes it a little better that he's mentioned a couple of times how he wishes he didn't have to move out.  Again, part of it is money.  But part of it is because he gets along so well with all of us.  That really makes me feel good.

So we'll see what happens and if I wind up going from three to one in a month or less.  Hopefully not, but things are so up in the air with the other one that you never know.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Hot Wet Weekend

No, I wasn't in the middle of Hurricane Irene.  I was home in Southern California.  But I still had a hot, wet weekend in other ways.

See, after a summer of mostly low 90's, it's decided to get HOT.  We're talking a reported high of 111 on Saturday.  Yes, that's three 1's.  I love hot weather, but that's a little hot even for me.

We'd actually had heat like that for the better part of a week, but that didn't keep me from being stupid Saturday morning.  I went for a run at 9AM when it was already well over 90.  Yes, I completed 4 miles, but it was slow and not pleasant.  I started sucking down water as soon as I got home.

Saturday afternoon, I headed to the beach with a group of friends, including former roommates Daniel and Luke.  It was in the 90's in Santa Monica, but it felt great.  The water was a tad nippy but pleasant when you got in it.  Unfortunately, the water was a bit rough for prolonged swimming, although three of the group had a blast boggie boarding.

Sunday, I finally had my friends Josh and Beth over to swim.  They don't have a pool, and I keep promising them they can come over and swim.  Unfortunately, Josh had to leave not too long after they arrived, but Beth and Josh's younger siblings stayed and we all had fun.

And that's the way to beat the heat, stay wet.  Plus it's a very fun way to stay cool.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Weekly TV Recap for August 27th

Royal Pains - So we finally know what Paige's secret is - her mom's depression.  And that explains a lot about the character this season, even the comment about how little she was around during the winter.  For once we got to see Evan be smart and use his head (the exact opposite of last week) when he deflected everyone's questions at the fundraiser.  I can understand his anger at Hank, but I hope he forgives him soon.  Meanwhile, the General is being stupid at his refusal to allow Hank to help them at all.

Necessary Roughness - An episode I actually enjoyed.  I loved her kids following her on her date, and the scene where they confronted her was funny.  I saw the repressed memory thing coming, but I figured it was sexual abuse instead of physical abuse.  And is TK actually turning a leaf?  Probably not, but I can hope.  We'll just see how things progress next week.

Melissa and Joey - Well, that was a short relationship, although if they'd aired them over three weeks, it wouldn't have seemed quite so short.  And we get Christopher Rich back again in the second episode.  Meanwhile, Ryder's girlfriend is so annoying.  She's almost funny, but not quite.

Burn Notice - I love it when they make Madeline part of the action, and she was a big part this time around.  Obviously, Jesse job wasn't going to be easy, but man that turned out to be something else with the hostages and all.  I had no clue how Michael would get them all out of it.  Meanwhile, I'm waiting to see how they will leave us hanging at mid-season because it sure seems like they are about to solve the murder.

Suits - I really feel like for the first time Mike is seeing the consequences of the lie he is living.  As much as I love the show, I'd hate to be in his shoes for that reason.  The main plot with the accountant who turned out to be right about stolen money was fun.  And, yes, I gasped at the kiss.  Louis is pure evil, just as a side note.

Wipeout - Really?  We have to have such obvious ads for Aflack?  Of course, I also think that's the furthest I've seen contestants get all season.

Expedition Impossible - Teams one and two I am perfectly happy with.  Yes, I was really, truly rooting for the Gypsies, but I would have been okay with No Limits.  And Fab 3?  I'm glad I'm not going to have to put up with their bickering any more.  I would have been seriously upset if they had followed the Gypsies, let them do all the work, and then sprinted past them at the finish line.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Word Association for August 25th

Here's this week's word association.

Running :: Training
Hot :: Summer
Neighbor ::  Close
Reported ::  Police
Horrific ::  Tragedy
Supplies :: Trip
Grammar :: English
Back to :: School
Righteous :: Holy
Next door :: Neighbor

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Summer League Tournament

Wow, is it really already Wednesday and I haven't talked about the tournament from Saturday yet?  Yikes!

Okay, to recap, we went into the tournament in 8th place out of 8 teams.  We had won one game out of the entire season.  I was expecting to play two games and be eliminated.  (Two games is the minimum).  In fact, the only reason I headed out to Pomona was to say I played in every game this season.

Since we were in last, our first game was against the top team in the league, the team we lost to 6-17 the week before.  Games at the tournament were to 13, and I wasn't expecting much.  Therefore, I seemed to be the only one excited by our 9-13 finish.  Yeah, it was still a loss, but it was much better than anything I had reason to hope we'd score.

So that immediately sent us down to the losers bracket.  I hadn't played much in our first game because it was closer than I expected it to be and we had 15 people there.  But I was prepared to play lots in game two.  And I did.  And we won.  I honestly don't remember what the score was, but we were all pretty exstatic.

That meant we actually got to play a third game to determine 5th place.  We were playing the only team he had beaten during the regular season.  The second time we played them, we turned a 9-3 win into a 16-18 loss.  And we lost a few players before this game started.  And we pulled off the win again!  It wasn't easy (none of our games were), but it felt great.

So we finished in 5th place in the league.  And we won twice as many games turning the tournament as we did during the regular season.

Obviously, I had fun.  Winning every so often does that to you.

Oh, and that first place team we lost to in the first game?  They lost their next two games to finish in 4th.  Mirror records for the day.

Once our last game was over, I hit the pool there at Cal Poly.  Played some pool ultimate (which is hard) and diving (or jumping in my case) into the deep pool for discs.  It was lots of fun and felt great.  Then I watched the co-ed finals and went to the party before driving home.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Weekly TV Recap for August 20th

Wow, I lost three shows and my week got much lighter.  Basically, I've only got shows on two days a week right now.  This is me not complaining since I still have way too many shows and I still watched a lot of stuff on Friday.  Anyway, here's what I thought of this week's batch.

Royal Pains - Have I ever mentioned how much Evan can make me cringe?  Well, he was doing it big time this week.  Granted, not all of it was his fault at all.  And it looks like next week we'll find out what's up with Paige.  Can't wait to find out about that.  Meanwhile, who is after Boris?  The idea that his disease might be part of a family feud is very interesting.  I'm anxious to see this develop.  And I'm wondering how much longer Divya will keep her secret at the hospital.

Necessary Roughness - I have a feeling I'm supposed to think Dani's best friend leaving is a bad thing.  Personally, I'm ready to see her go.  I have never liked her character.  This new therapist TK is seeing is very interesting.  The main storyline with the golf pro was good although again I felt it fell into a formula.  In fact, I saw the ending coming by the half way point.

Melissa and Joey - I know last week I wasn't that impressed with the show, but I enjoyed both of the episodes this week.  Some actual funny lines and not over the top with sex.  I liked how the sub-plot carried over as well.  Poor Ryder didn't have much to do, however, although his scene coming back from the store at the party was pretty funny.

Burn Notice - What a jerk.  I can't help but root for them to take the guy down.  The scene with Michael holding the security guy hostage was actually pretty funny.  And the ending.  I know they'll have some twist with the murder storyline for the season finale (I'm guessing in three weeks), but for now it appears everything is going along fine.  What's the twist going to be?

Suits - The comment from the woman about Mike and Rachel dating was too funny.  It's obvious they are going to get together at some point.  I loved how Mike went out of his way to clear Rachel, although I'm surprised she agreed to go back.  Okay, she's a main character, but I'm still surprised she agreed to go back.  Meanwhile, Harvey was awesome with his fake out.  I knew he wasn't serious, but that was still a great scene.

Wipeout - The winner called it early on.  Usually, those things don't happen, but this time it worked.  I figured he had it when he was the only guy to make it to the Wipeout Zone, but the last contestant gave him a really good run for his money.

Expedition: Impossible - I so want Fab 3 gone.  I really hope they don't win.  Their whining over the Gypsies rooting for No Limits is unbecoming, especially since they'd be the other way around if it was the Football players out there.  I hope they come in last.  Meanwhile, No Limits make it to the finals just barely.  It will be interesting to see how they do next week.  This is really still the Gypies to lose, and I hope they can pull it off.  They've been the strongest team so far, and I'd love to see them win.  If not them, No Limits.

New TV on DVD Reviews:

Friday, August 19, 2011

Three Nights of Ultimate in a Row

I have played ultimate Frisbee the last three nights.  Yes, I am totally taking tonight off.  (Got to catch up on TV.)

Tuesday and Wednesday were my last two summer league games.  Surprise, surprise, we lost both of them.  Tuesday was 6-17 against the first place team.  Wednesday was better at 13-17.  We were even ahead 9-7 at half in that one.

Tuesday, I felt like I was contributing something on offense.  The guy who was supposed to be guarding me was poaching big time, so I was able to come back and let them swing it to me.  Of course, on defense, I was scored on so many times it wasn't even funny.  It was frustrating, however.

Wednesday was a disaster for me.  I was scored on several times and I threw it away both times I caught it.  I was definitely feeling low.

Which is one reason why I went to my pickup game here in town last night.  And it was exactly what I needed.  Okay, so I still am pretty bad at defense, but I scored several goals and made good plays elsewhere.  A roommate came with me, and we both had fun.

I also didn't go because of the back of my left knee.  It's been bugging me off and on all summer, and was killing me driving home Wednesday night.  But I popped some Advil and then iced it good and it's been perfect since then.

So tomorrow is the tournament that ends summer league.  We go into it in last place, which means we get to start out against the team we lost to on Tuesday night.  I'm not holding my breath that we'll make it very far.  We'll probably be playing the losers bracket right away.  Gee, can you tell how unenthused I am?  We'll see if I stick around after our second game.  We go have access to the nice pools there and part of my fees go to the party that will happen later that night, so I might stick around.  But if I'm too bored, I'll just come on home.  We'll just have to see who is there and how much fun I'm having watching instead of playing ultimate.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Double Feature Weekend

This weekend, I went to a double feature.

Okay, so that's very misleading, but I said it that way on purpose.  :)

I saw two plays this weekend, specifically two musicals.

First up, I went down to Glendale Centre Theatre for a matinee of 1776.  I'd watched the movie version a few years back, but I'd never seen the stage version.  Turns out I'm not a big fan of the show period.  But that's not to say the cast wasn't phenominal.  Considering how many people they had to fit on such a small stage, it was great.  I love the intimate setting of that theater.  They also had their season for next year announced, and I'm already looking forward to several plays there.  And we're going back in a few weeks for their next play.

Anyway, that finished up in time for me to drive back to town, grab some dinner, and make it to the evening show of The Music Man.  I've fallen in love with the movie version of this musical (specifically the remake), but I'd never seen the stage play.  As soon as a local theater company announced they were doing it, I knew I wanted to see it.  Then it turned out some friends were in it, so I had to see it.  One of them was even Marion.  It was great!  I loved every minute of it.  They did it at the performing arts center at the local community college, and that auditorium is amazing.  I enjoyed every minute of it.

Plays are wonderful.  I don't know why some people who love movies hate them, but I am glad I finally have a friend who loves going to them as much as I do (although I did go to The Music Man by myself since I'd pretty much forgotten I'd need to go that weekend until the last couple of days).

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Last Week's Game

We're winding down Summer League.  Just got tonight's last official game and then tomorrow's make up game before Saturday's tournament.  Since we have only won one game so far, I'm not exactly going to miss it this year.  Hopefully next year I'll be on a team that at least has a 50% record going into the finals.

Anyway, I've already given away the ending of last week's game.  We lost in over time 16-18.  What's worse is we were way ahead at half time, 9-3.  What happened?  They stopped messing up and we started messing up.  That's pretty much all there is to it.

Not that I was really helping.  I got scored on a time or two and either didn't catch it or couldn't pass it on when it was thrown to me.  Not one of my better performances.

Our games this week are against two of the better teams.  Then on Saturday we'll start off by playing the #1 seed (we're 8 out of 8).  So I'm expecting to have four games of summer league left this year.

Still can't believe the summer is almost over already.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Word Association for August 15th

Wow.  I'm doing the word association on Monday.  What's up with that?

Eating :: Dinner
Cowboys :: Indians
Nightmare :: Elm Street
Impress :: Date
Year :: 2011
Kiss :: Date
Corn :: on the Cob
Humping :: Dumping
Mirror :: Wall
Brains :: Smart