the dreaming tree

now i can no longer say i’ve never gotten a speeding ticket. i was just coasting down a stupid hill at 40 in a 25. now i’m pissed at myself. i was coming home from a chevelle concert on campus that was pretty cool, but this has put me in a bad mood. to cheer me up, here’s another random quote from joan…

“i come bearing gifts…”

dontcha love stuff out of context? hehe.

well tonight we split our softball games, winning the first and losing the second. once again i played first base and was mostly bored. i did get one grounder, though, so that was nice. i do like grounders. also, i hit a homerun…that didn’t count. you see, softball has this rule of a three-homerun limit per game (by one team), and we had already hit three homeruns. so when mine cleared the fence, all it was worth was a strike, counting as a foul ball. i was a little upset, but at least i did hit it over the fence again. that’s always fun. the bad news is that my shoulder is re-injured from baseball and everytime i throw it feels like my arm is being ripped off. seriously excrutiating pain. so yeah, tomorrow i’m getting x-rays and everything, and i almost hope that they find something just cause i would be annoyed if my arm keeps getting hurt for no apparent reason. i used to have a pretty decent arm, and i’d like that again.

so the softball games tonight were terrible. we had chances to win both games and basically threw it away because of horrendous defense (though not on my part…i mean, what can i do standing at first base while those in the outfield drop balls or miss grounders?). my hitting wasn’t too sharp, though, so i’m not fault free. i was o-fer in the first game and 2 for 4 with a walk in the second. not really a fun time, but i still managed to grab some laughs. and i don’t wallow in this sort of thing, so i was fine by the time i took off my cleats. and that’s this week in softball.

well friends, romans and farmers, i have exciting news for…me. i have joined forces with a new band to bring yet more musical sweetness to your ear. the band is switchfoot. ok, it’s not…but the next best band looking for a bass player was father maple, in dear old arkadelphia…yes, i am returning to the land of my first college experience, and if everything works out like i say it will, i will be with them this weekend for two shows in arkadelphia: friday night at thrio’s, and saturday afternoon in the park…somewhere. i hope at least one of you is there. but seriously, it’s a great honor to be asked to play with these two guys, and i’m really, really (really) looking forward to rocking some faces off with them. yes, it will be delightful.

earlier tonight i was in a tux, and i meant to take a picture for all of you, but i forgot and i don’t want to put it back on now. i was dressed for a senior recital that i took part in, but the funny thing was that i was the only guy wearing a tux. everyone else was wearing a black suit or even just black pants and shirt. i felt weird. and stupid. but anyway, the recital went well for the most part. we all got lost at one point in the piece, but somehow managed to find our way back together again. i don’t think the audience could tell, either…unless they were looking at my red face. but my embarrassment died down after i just kept saying to myself, “they don’t know…they don’t know.”

and that’s what i did on sunday.

also, i highly, highly reccommend maria rita, a brazilian jazz singer. just brilliant stuff. and even though i don’t understand what she’s singing, it’s really sexy.

say whatever you want
as long as it’s real
and i won’t pressure you
to reveal the slightest thing
but you should know
that i’ve got a sneaking suspicion
that things aren’t quite how they seem

c’mon now, i don’t wanna dance
in a clumsy two-step forever,
leave me out
or let me in,
but this lie isn’t befitting
of who i thought you were
so don’t play this game
cause i’ve seen all your cards
and you’ve got an empty hand

this post is brought to you by the letter j, the number 3 and non-green food.

i hope to one day have my very own celebrity playlist on itunes. or maybe one of a band i’m in. that’d be pretty cool. except i don’t know that i could narrow the list down to less than 67, unless i put all the songs in a bracket and did coin-flipping. so maybe it’s better to not own a celebrity playlist…but how to spread the word about my favorite songs? how will people know what music to listen to and buy? this is not a light dilemma, friends.

alright, here’s the deal: every tuesday night i play softball, so after each night of games (two per), i’m going to post my hitting stats. tonight:
1st game: 3 for 5, 2 R, 2 HR, 6 RBI
2nd game: 2 for 4, 3 R, 2 RBI

and yes, i went yard for the first time in my life. (it says two, but one was an in-the-park, which statistically counts, but isn’t quite the same as hitting it over the fence.) it was a beautiful thing, although i didn’t sit and watch it after hitting, i started running. because there have been at least 5 or 6 times when i hit the ball hard and thought it was gone, only to see it hit the fence…so i didn’t want to look stupid again. but it was definitely a shot. cleared the fence by at least 10 feet, so it was probably about 325 or so, which actually isn’t the longest i’ve hit a softball (or baseball), i just always happen to hit it to the longest part of the park. one time i one-hopped the fence in a softball game, to the deepest part of the park, where it was at least 400 feet. i’m serious. i’ve never seen anyone hit it over the fence there, but that one, and others, was a homerun, cause the fence is just so far, and no one is really playing that deep. anyway, i’m bragging now, i guess. but it does feel amazing to have finally cleared the fence.

i have a confession to make: i think the lord of the rings books are incredibly boring and laborious to read. i’m sorry if this offends you, but maybe you offend me by claiming these are literary jewels. i do think it’s impressive that tolkien invented several languages. i don’t think his storytelling is impressive. you would think that hanging out with c.s. lewis all that time would maybe rub off on him and make him a better writer. and if you’re wondering, i have actually tried to read and enjoy these books more than a few times. feel free to crucify me now. but i rest easy knowing i’m not alone in these thoughts.

i’m getting really tired of seeing replays of the boston red sox winning the world series last fall. ok, we get it, they won. for the first time in 86 years. good for them, but can we please move on to the 2005 season? i feel like every pre-game show i watch, they’re talking about the 2004 sox. today there was a story about a guy who has been a life-long red sox fan, only when they won their title last fall, he was in a coma, so he missed the whole thing. i’m sorry, but that doesn’t interest me.
and another annoying thing is that every time i see a replay of all the red sox players going nuts, it makes me sad that i’ll never get to experience winning a championship like that. (it happens when i see other teams in other sports going crazy, too.) maybe i’ll win one in adult league baseball or church softball, but that won’t quite cut it. i guess that’s what i get for not entirely devoting my childhood to getting to the show. now my only hope is to be a rockstar. then maybe some team will let me work out with them in spring training, like garth brooks has done in the past.
one last thing that doesn’t have to do with sports, and that is about more crying. or at least almost crying. everytime i see something on tv or a movie related to being a father, i start to tear up. i don’t have anywhere to go with that, but it’s happening. i wish i knew for certain that i was going to be a father, and that i would be a good one. we’ll see, i guess.

so i’m sitting at my computer listening to the first single off of the dave matthew band’s new album…and i start…crying? i don’t know, i guess dmb epitomizes my dream of being a rockstar, especially when i listen to or watch a live concert. they’re having so much fun, and it makes me emotional for some reason. i want to play on a stage and look out and see people dancing and singing along, with a smile on their face. what a beautiful thing.

well, tuesday night started this summer’s church softball season. our first game was a forfeit victory, which is just really annoying. our second game we lost 12-9 after we scored 8 in the first inning. that is just more annoying. as to individual performance (cause hey, it is, if not all, a lot about me…right?), i went 1 for 3 with a walk and fielder’s choice at the plate; scored one run. the hit i got was a triple that hit the fence in the deepest part of the field, with the wind blowing in at like 15mph. i was disappointed, cause i thought it was gone off my bat. i played first base and did well there, too. i caught this one line drive that left quite a bruise on my hand, too; made some scoops on bad throws; no errors. man, i miss playing baseball, though. softball just isn’t the same, mainly cause there is no pitching. it’s just “here’s the ball…smack it as hard as you can, please.” yeah, i guess that’s all i have to say. and here’s a picture of my new haircut…