swamped

this blogger has just been feelin' wiped out for weeks now. go figure. in the absence of more energy i suppose this will have to pass for blogging.

out with soccer, in with basketball. Loren showed up and played a good game- i he got plenty of in-bounds touches, but only got near the ball a couple times. some of the other kids that have played before look like they could learn to dish it once in a while. i don't think getting a chance to take ONE shot is too much for a player to ask. still, he got in there and boarded it, ran the floor. his team (the Knights) have practiced a grand total of 3 times. they took the entire week of Thanksgiving off, the second week of the practice schedule. then they practiced twice more, now they're skipping practice on monday. they nearly got soundly beaten in their first game, but they came back hard in the second half to only lose by 7 points. not too shabby for playing a team full of showboaters. i got the impression the other coaches have spent more time with their team, and the impression most of the kids on the other team have more experience than many on Loren's team. i hope Loren enjoys it enough to stick with it because i'm certainly impressed by his skills in the time i've played with him.

christmas shopping is begun. i gotta admit i'm still a little stumped about what to do for people this year. it'll work out, it always does.

there's going to be a Christmas party at work in a couple weeks; people will bring food and booze and there should be a pretty decent jam session. gotta make that ;)

kinda been a little antisocial lately. don't really know why; i'm keeping my suspicions to myself.

more when i've got more steam i guess.

psyonaribaderciao

new REM craziness

Scene:
Loren and I were in a starship, surrounded by the black void of space. we were approaching a cloud of tiny fast-moving objects. as we got closer, i could tell the cloud was hundreds, if not thousands, of small off-white robots. their motion seemed anything but orchestrated but somehow they were all managing to converge sequentially upon a single point. moving closer still, we approached the center of the whir of motion. it was a single robot, working alone, making minor repairs to ALL the other robots. its movements were so fast they were a blur. its workstation was floating in space and the myriad other robots were flitting in and out of contact with this single robot insect-like.
[end]

waited too long to write it down....there were a few more changes to the scene but i can't remember them now :(

off to make BRUNCH for m'boy. then the Seahawks play the 49ers this afternoon. and i still have TWO more days of weekend to get stuff done. LOVE planning ahead.

i'm OUT- peace.

the Granite Falls Flames lose in a downpour

the GF Flames dropped to 1-4 this morning with a loss to the Golden Eagles at home. Our Favorite, Loren, started the game at left midfield, and made some excellent plays before being pulled for a breather about halfway through the first half. the Flames seemed a little out of focus for the first half, playing loosely, without much organization. Coach Rusch called the team far from the parents and spectators during halftime. Loren's report of the halftime speech was that Coach told them, "you're playing like a joke, you need to play better or else you're going to lose every single game." the forceful speech must have taken hold, because the Flames came out charged up and played with much greater unity. the drizzle became full-on rain by halftime, and steadily grew into a downpour by the end of the game. the two teams stuggled on a field that was at times more lake than ground, and the Flames pulled out a winning second half, outscoring their opponents 1-0. unfortunately for them, it wasn't enough to secure a win. driving back to the car, Loren made the observation that he was the only Flame to come off the field with a smile on his face, and mentioning his happiness to have been able to play soccer this morning. that's m'boy. he's played through 3.5 seasons of soccer now, without ever scoring a goal, and he goes out there and tries his best every game (granted his first two seasons he spent playing defense). here's hoping when he does finally score one i'm there with a camera at the ready!

here's a couple from today's game:

2004.10.09.09.09.50
the ball just came off Loren's foot


2004.10.09.09.13.10
great shot of Loren on the sideline a little before halftime


2004.10.09.09.13.44
another great shot of Loren, gettin' a smooch from his mom


2004.10.09.09.30.30
Loren making a play on the ball


2004.10.09.10.17.38
Loren shot me driving home from the game- soakin' wet, water dripping off my ear!


as always, all the full size shots and some short videos are in my online album.

can't resist posting the link to this khoul little vid Loren shot and entitled "the crap video", in which he said "crap" a million times in a row.

enjoy :)

the Granite Falls Flames get a win!

playing an outstanding game on the road in the 4th week of the 2004 season, the Flames played a tough hour of ball against the Panthers, capturing their first win with a final score of 6-1 or 7-1....where's the offical score-keeper when you need him?! our hero Loren made fine play after fine play and took a great shot on goal early in the game, which was ultimately blocked by the keeper. Loren started the game and played the majority of the first half, and was sent back in for the entire second half. He played a solid game for 50+ minutes of soccer at midfield and forward.

thanks to both my sisters, both my nephews (including guest photographer Ethan) and Mom, especially for the use of an extra memory stick when i'd completely filled my 64 Mb stick. 95 pictures and short videos of the game are all posted in my online album; i'll post a few of the better shots soon, when i've had a chance to edit them down to web-size.

friday at last

sometimes the week just can't go quick enough. picked up Loren from soccer practice and now it's time to hang out and spend some time together. cigarette's finished and so am i.