New Stuff

Me and the woman I married. She's the one without the beard.

Of the previous eleven posts on this blog, seven have been repeats of one sort or another. This is not a repeat. This is all new stuff. That's not to say the repeats have ended. The next post will be another repeat (and not only will it be a repeat, it will be stupid as hell.) Meanwhile, here are some things I've had on my mind that didn't quite fit in anywhere else.

1 - The Boston Celtics have two players on their roster who have had heart surgery. I'm pretty sure this is a record for a professional sports team. As medical science advances, of course, this record will be broken. For now, though, I can't think of another sports story as amazing.

Jeff Green, with scar

Chris Wilcox, more modestly dressed

When I was born, heart surgery was pretty much a medical fantasy. Until recently, a diagnosis of heart problems was the equivalent of a death sentence for an athlete's career. Now players can have surgery, come back, and play a rigorous professional sport. Put this together with athletes such as Oscar Pistorius, who ran in The Olympics with no legs...

... and it seems the future may someday be limitless for any athlete with the guts and determination to overcome the obstacles placed in his or her path.


2 - MY WIFE heard a radio commentator say that he liked Dolly Parton as the new choice to be on The View because it was nice that they gave it to an older woman. MY WIFE's response: "Older? Older than what? Context, please!"


3 - I'm rooting for Notre Dame in the National Collegiate Football Championship on January 7th. I'll stop short of making a prediction, but only because I have an almost unbroken track record of putting the jinx on any team I publicly declare will win any particular game.

Come on! How can you root for an elephant against a leprechaun?

I can't say that I have anything against Alabama per se, but I'll almost always root for the underdog in a game wherein none of "my" teams is playing. Notre Dame has shown great heart this season, playing exciting ball, and those games I've witnessed have been a lot of fun to watch. Alabama, meanwhile, has been anointed since the beginning of the season as THE TEAM THAT WILL WIN IT ALL. They aren't evil, but still, rooting for them is like cheering for Potter in It's A Wonderful Life.

If you're not an Alabama alum, or at least from a region where SEC football (Alabama's conference) is played, and you're rooting for Alabama, you were probably the sort who pulled the wings off of flies when you were a child.


4 -  A Very Monkey Christmas is a decent animated holiday show.

I sat and watched this on Christmas morning with MY WIFE (and no children present) and I really enjoyed it. The fact that MY WIFE can do a spot-on Curious George imitation helped matters, but I think what truly put it over for me was the scene where The Man In The Yellow Hat runs down the street shouting, "I understand my monkey!"

(MY WIFE and I collect random phrases from TV shows and movies. We utter them to each other at odd times. Someday, in the not-too-distant-future, MY WIFE and I will be in a nursing home. She will quote Henrietta Pussycat getting snippy in the kitchen with X The Owl: "Meow cooked before!", and I'll reply, "I understand my monkey!"  We will then have our medications doubled by the staff. I'm looking forward to it.)


5 - MY WIFE and I played the lottery when the jackpot grew to be a half-billion dollars. I had not heard the winning numbers yet. She came out of the shower, dripping wet, with her head wrapped in a big towel that hung down over her eyes, and said: "We're not millionaires and I have a towel in my face..." She then turned around and walked into the bedroom making sad small animal sounds.


6 - I've come to the conclusion that I no longer really care as much about the Red Sox as I once did.

Sorry, Papi. I can't help it.

(This does not make My Mom's gift to me for Christmas, of a Red Sox coloring and activity book, any the less loved. Yes, My Mom gave me a coloring book for Christmas. She knew I'd like it, I wasn't insulted, no one else in my family was the least bit surprised, and if you are, you haven't been here long enough.)

Anyway, I was once a fanatic. I loved the Red Sox. Now, I still like the concept of the Red Sox, but the reality doesn't do much for me. It's a combination of things, most of which come under the heading of "Old Fart Complaints About How Much Better Things Were During The Golden Days Of My Youth"

(I actually wrote five paragraphs full of complaints, but I deep-sixed them. You're welcome.)

Oh, well. I guess I'm not the demographic anymore. I still have the M Street Softball League. Sitting in the stands there is free (and stress-free.) The players play for the love of the game, and I'll take a doubleheader at M Street every time, these days, if I have to choose between there and Fenway.



7 - MY WIFE, bemoaning a lack of anything she felt like wearing to work, said: "I had beautiful clothes when I was younger. I wish I had crummier clothes then and lovelier clothes now. Growing old stinks. Nobody will remember that you had lovely clothes when you were young."


8 - The Mets traded R. A. Dickey to Toronto.

You either know that this was a hideous move on their part or else no amount of explaining will ever make it clear to you.


9 - MY WIFE, while visiting her brother in New York, attended a Brooklyn Nets game. She now has somewhat divided loyalties between that team and The Boston Celtics. While at home with me, we watched a show on The Food Network extolling Brooklyn as a locale with great gustatory delights. Then a Celtics game came on wherein they were playing The Brooklyn Nets. MY WIFE said: "Foodtown! Brooklyn! Number One in the ACA... uh, NAB... The... uh... Oh, heck, let's see Rajon Rondo marry a Kardashian!"


10 - Did I mention the next post here will be a repeat? Well, it will. In the meantime, though, to finish this off, here are some photos from this Christmas.

Tree (with color wheel), many cards, bear with Santa hat. If you don't see your card on the door, it's because you didn't send one you lazy slug.

Crummy photo, as is usually the case when a camera finds its way into my hands, but here's the coloring book My Mom gave me. And you thought I was kidding.

This is an angel face made by my niece, Ava, in one of those nail art thingies. It looks much better in person, but I figured I should document it before the time inevitably comes when one of us knocks it over and ruins it while dusting.

And that's that. My brain is now cleared. Thank you for listening and saving me the fees for a therapist.

Soon, with more better stuff.