Rollerblades and hilarity.

I'm a pretty coordinated person. I've trained in Kung Fu and other martial arts for nearly 30 years, still play lacrosse, and can generally catch anything that I accidentally knock off a shelf with ninja-like speed and dexterity. However, I look like a total and complete fool on Rollerblades.

Our pug, Boba, likes to run. Yes, I know that's odd, but he can't seem to get enough of hauling his cinnamon roll tail down the street at top speed. It's a bit unwieldy for me to ride a bike and hold his leash at the same time, so I figured I'd just dust off my Rollerblades and go from there.

One of my few and inspired moments of wisdom slapped me in the face this morning when I thought, "Hmmm....I should try these out by myself before attempting to walk the dog in them."

That thought most likely saved my life.

I put the dog in his kennel, squeezed into my 'blades and accompanying pads (elbow, knee, and wrist) and stepped out into the driveway. It was immediately apparent that over a dozen years has passed since I've worn those skates, and I very nearly killed myself several times. In the driveway. Not the street, the driveway. I didn't actually make it to the street, where I would have been walking the dog at top speed and dodging cars at the same time.

I'm thrilled that my time on this earth has actually taught me something. As a younger and more foolish man, I probably would have just thought "Hey, I'll be fine! Let's go, dog!" and then been dragged down the street by our 4 month old pug, scraping every exposed piece of skin on our gravely street, screaming like a little girl. Chalk one up for experience, friends.

So rather than suffer the indignity of a pug-dragging, I'll just ride the bike again. Maybe some snazzy new skates will help...or at least, I'll get dragged down the street in style.

Quiet. Lots of quiet.

It's an odd sensation, sitting here in on my couch and hearing...nothing. Maybe some light snoring from Boba, the pug, but that's it. Wife and son are on a large boat, headed for Mexico. Brian is on his way to Austin after a short visit. Larry is in Fort Worth learning cool Krav Maga type stuff. And so, I'm home alone, listening to the silence.

I don't often have this opportunity, and I'm not complaining. Unless everyone in the house is asleep, there's always something going on. Even then, it always feels like there's something about to happen. Busy, busy, busy, yes sir. But with everyone gone, I finally have a chance to be alone with my thoughts, and it can be a bit daunting. There's quite a bit rolling around in my head, tons of things I'd like to get done, projects I'd like to start, things I'd like to write, watch, read, and the like. What to do?

Actually, it's been so long since I've had time by myself that I decided to do something that's exceedingly rare for me...I took a nap. And no one woke me. Having accomplished this, I'm thinking of taking the dog for a walk, and maybe working on one of my short stories later on. Honestly, I doubt I'll achieve anything of great import this afternoon, but that's ok with me. Naps are good.

This was a busy weekend up to now. Mark and Mike competed in the Animal Fightwear Submission Championships on Saturday, and both performed admirably. It was a well-run event, and it was good to see old friends and watch the competitions. During a couple of 'Superfights', some folks showed that their arms were just not as susceptible to armbars as ours are. Ouch! Our guys enjoyed their matches, and although they didn't win, we've found some directions in which to take their training. Cool.

Afterwards, Brian and I stopped off at Pho Mai and had some fabulous noodles for lunch. Then back to my house, where we chatted, caught up, and watched fights on Spike. Nothing of import, but as always, it was great to have BB down for a visit.

So now I'm here alone with time on my hands. As usual, the idea of having total freedom to do whatever I want leaves me in a puddle of inaction. There's so much to do, so many choices that I end up doing almost none of them. So I'm going to peel myself off the couch and take the snoring dog for a walk. If anyone wants to give me a holler this weekend, please do.

Lacrosse news and goofy knees

As I walked up to the field for our first lacrosse game two weeks ago, I noticed a twinge in my right knee. My legs are generally strong as tree trunks, so I was concerned. However, after a decent warmup, the game went fine (as chronicled in my last post). Of course, the knee started throbbing immediately afterwards, but didn't get any worse.

I had two weeks until the next game, and I fully intended to be running sprints, distance intervals, scoop drills, all to get ready for our game against Northwest. Sadly, my knee flared up quite a bit the first week, and barely started to recover during the second week, so at gametime, I was no better off than I had been for the first game. In fact, I think I lost a step.

Nelson, the goalie, did come out of the cage early on, and I happily laid into him with everything I had...neither of us went down, but I think he may have dropped the ball. Mission accomplished! However, there's a lot more to a lacrosse game than hitting folks, and I really wasn't that effective at that either. I did the best I could during the rest of the game, but never really felt like I was 'in the zone'. Driving away, I felt more than a little disappointed.

The knee’s still bugging me, but I’ve still managed some productive running workouts this week. I finally went back to Massage Envy and found a suitable therapist (I miss Amy E. something awful), and I think I’m on the right track. Hopefully, my knee will return to its usual strength soon. At the moment, I’m running only a bit faster than my pug puppy, and we both make the same wheezy, snorting sounds.

This week, I’ve got another game on Sunday Feb 15th at 2pm. I’m being specific because I would absolutely love some company out there. Our team is on the smallish side, and we hardly ever have a cheering section, so I’d like to invite anyone who’d like to see us play. This is your chance to possibly see me get knocked on my butt, so bring a lawn chair and some goodies for yourself, and come out to see us beat the crap out of each other! Cheer for the brave souls of Bayou City Lacrosse!!!

From Mason Road or Fry Road (Cinco Ranch area), go East on Westheimer Parkway, pass the kiddie soccer fields on your left, keep going, and then look for the adult soccer fields on your right. We’ll be the only guys running around with sticks.


Next week will bring an arrival and a departure…dear friend Brian will be arriving on Friday, but then my darling wife and son will be departing on a cruise on Saturday morning. Brian will only be down for a couple of days, and we’ll have some sparring and merriment. Wife and son will be gone for a week as they head south to see the Mayan ruins in Mexico. Cooooool. Next time, I’m going along!