hope you're in a better place now

this blog post was going to be about the Yankees winning again, spending a Sunday with the windows open and watching football. it was going to contain my thoughts on Boardwalk Empire and the series finale of Weeds. but after watching Sunday night football, checking my fantasy football scores (i'm somehow winning 2 of the 3 games), i opened up my email and found this:

http://foxchasereview.wordpress.com/2012/09/16/rip-james-d-quinton/

to say i was a little shocked would be an understatement. i'm really at a loss for words. i hope you're in a better place now my friend. my apologies for losing touch over the years. and i'm pretty sure i never thanked you enough for all the times you published me. especially the reunion issue, which was amazing. my deepest sympathies to Amy. i hope you find some peace or comfort, or whatever you happen to be looking for.

music today:

The Allman Brothers Band - At Fillmore East

"A friend who dies, it's something of you who dies." - Gustave Flaubert

as close to a slice of utopia as i can get

it's really hard to have a bad day when you get 2 poems published in the morning. then, spend a good chunk of your afternoon watching CR7 and Messi play while Ray Hudson provides the verbal gymnastics. (if you want a good laugh, look him up on YouTube calling some goals from Barcelona, fucking priceless.) now, if the Yankees can win tonight i will have a little cherry to go on top of my day. fingers are crossed.

thankfully, the horrible feeling i had yesterday evening was nothing. the horrible feeling was that my friend in California had died, but thankfully she called about an hour or so after the feeling started. of course there's plenty of back story that i'm leaving out. i will put that in the book one day. here's hoping you can have a relaxing evening my friend. you need it.

between my baseball this evening i will sneak in a little Big Brother, The Newsroom, Weeds and Episodes. if i truly get fucking bored for some reason, preseason NFL. if it comes to that, my night has turned to shit. you have been warned.

music today:

Leonard Cohen - Various Positions

"Temptation is a woman's weapon and man's excuse." - H.L. Mencken

what to do when the day starts with death

i must have been 9 or 10 years old at the time. i was playing with my best friend in the woods across from his house. we came across a trash bag that had a stench that was unbelievable. we went and got his father to open the bag. he did. inside was a dead dog. stuffed in the bag to die we all thought. that stench has stayed with me ever since.

fast forward to today. i go out to feed the cats. i open the side door to the barn most of them stay in. as soon as i opened the door i smelled that smell. i looked around and sure enough, there was my cat T.S. Eliot deader than dead. i last saw him 2 weeks ago and he was looking ragged but i thought nothing of it. he certainly wasn't the same after he lost his war with Neal Cassady over who was going to be the dominant male in the group. i shall raise a glass to you tonight my lost friend. hope you are in a better place, where ever the fuck that may be.

now for the cherry on top

i'm talking about 5 hours of mowing grass in 90 degrees with never being quite sure if i had mowed that part before or not. it was better the more weeds i saw. easier on my eyes. first time i have mowed since June. amazing how much dirt i was wearing at the end of the five hours. too fucking dry out here. chance of rain later in the week. not sure how many times i have been bullshitted by mother nature on that one this summer.

so tonight i plan on catching the rest of the Yankees game, a little Deadliest Catch (behind the scenes, i love that shit) and then Hard Knocks on HBO starts this evening. just about anything HBO Sports does is worth your time. and i'm hoping to avoid the sun shits and bad sleep this evening.

i'm hoping any betting people took my advice on the men's Olympic soccer. i said Brazil and Mexico would play in the final. and they are. don't ask me who wins, but if you like a future bet, that will be the final of the next World Cup as well. nothing like making a prediction a few years ahead of time.

music today:

only what was playing in my head while i was out mowing the grass/weeds. thank heavens i have listened to just about everything in the last 36 years. plenty to choose from.

"So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing." - T.S. Eliot

sunday dreaming

watched team USA (basketball) sleep through a first quarter where they couldn't hit the broadside of a barn. and, as always with basketball, play better defense and offense becomes easy. sure enough. a nice wake up call and then a blowout of France.

as that was going on i was watching Neymar  put on a show at the Theater of Dreams. while watching that, it was hard not to think of him one day wearing a Manchester United kit on that field. and with the back heel for the third goal, i really hope those dreams come true one day.

speaking of Man U, Giggs and Cleverley look to be in pretty good shape. nice win for GB.

a night of schizophrenic television awaits for me. Red Sox vs. Yankees, Big Brother, The Newsroom, Weeds, Episodes, Big Brother After Dark. thankfully i already know the results of the events (swimming, gymnastics, etc.) going to be shown this evening. i don't care for tape delay in a world where i can find out what happened in seconds.

speaking of Big Brother last night, finally an episode on Showtime where i could laugh my ass off. PLEASE, keep giving them tons of alcohol.

music today:

Melissa Etheridge - Greatest Hits: The Road Less Traveled
Florence & the Machine - Lungs

"Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names." - John F. Kennedy

Beethoven used to mean better things

i go to sleep every night with the radio on. what i listen to depends on whether the teams i follow are winning or not. if they aren't, the music changes until they are. yes, i'm a little fucking weird. but when i woke up to Beethoven this morning, i figured i was in store for a good day. fucking figures i was wrong.

i'll get to the Yankees in a bit...

what a choke job by Adam Scott. bogey the final four holes and lose by one stroke. with Tiger's old caddie. enjoy those nightmares.

the Yankees were in line to finally win a game on this road trip and then Rafael Soriano decided to throw nothing but sliders until he gave up the game tying home run. so, of course they lost in extra innings, the fourth fucking one run loss in a row. back to the old shit of not getting runners over, not getting timely hits, overusing pitchers and putting guys in spots where they can't succeed. what a fucking waste. off to Seattle and hopefully a fucking win.

some creative editing by CBS on Big Brother tonight. i always laugh when they take stuff that happened a week before and try to make people think it all happened in sequence. by the rate this cast is dropping out, the show will be over in mid august.

i'm really enjoying my Sunday night routine of The Newsroom, Weeds and Episodes. hopefully the shows continue to get better as the season goes on. The Newsroom might be one of the better shows i've seen in a long time.

music today:

John Mayer - Born and Raised

"All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath." - F. Scott Fitzgerald