When The Cat's Away....

I have had an interesting two weeks. I spent one great week in Florida then returned early Tuesday morning and discovered that my house had been robbed (yes I know technically it was burglarized and not robbed)! Worse than that, thieves used one of our vehicles as the get-away mobile. As if that wasn’t enough to deal with for one day, later in the morning, I found out that my uncle had died and my aunt was in the hospital. I told myself bad things usually happen in threes, so the bad things should be over for a while. I don’t actually believe that is true, but I need as much optimism as I can muster. Fortunately, I had a ton of things to do this week that were not related to the robbery. My tasks distracted me during the day and kept me from dwelling on the bad things that happened to me. I am very happy that this week is ending because it was one of the worst weeks I have had during my 26 years of life.

On a brighter note, I hope to get a story update out soon.

Status: Done wishing ill to the bastards who robbed me and moving forward with my life.

Optimism

I’m trying really hard not to comment on The Finals. I confess that I have been keeping an eye on them. I couldn’t stay away :-(. I haven’t watched an entire game though, just parts of games.

I’ve been fairly busy this week preparing for my real vacation, which will occur next week. Florida here I come! I still have absolutely no idea what I’m going to do there. I know Disney is off the list though. Whatever I do, I’m sure I’ll have fun and get some more rest and relaxation. I was hoping to post an update to the group before I left, but I only have one day to do it so the prospects aren’t looking too bright.

As for me, I’ve been feeling an odd mix of excitement for the future and sadness for the present. I have a really good feeling about the rest of this year, but my immediate life is not even close to what I want it to be. I’m not sure what you would call my current mental state. I’m not happy or sad. I’m just kind of here, biding my time until I’m happy again.

It seems I write a lot of poems inspired by relationships. I’m not sure where they come from. Anyway, here is another poem:

Good Friends

We’ll be good friends
Someday in the future
After the cracks are sealed
And the broken parts are swept up and thrown out
It will be like starting over
Without the drama of ending
Or the effort of making repairs
We can continue from where we are
Constantly moving forward and moving on
With short stops to reassess and redefine
But never to turn around
We won’t regret or miss what we once were
Instead, we will embrace what we have become
And appreciate the circumstances
That helped us heal.

Status: Procrastinating so I can do all of my packing at the last minute.

A Sunny Day Of Rest

I still have things to say about the NBA, but not today. I’m in the poem sharing zone again, so here is another one:



Lay-A-Way

I have chased you for as long as I can remember
Trying to reel you in as if you were a prize and not a person
As a child I was taught that you would be waiting for me
I believed in real life fairy tales and love at first sight
I thought seeing you and knowing it was you
Would be the beginning and the end of my search
But I thought wrong.
I have identified you and claimed you
I freely admit what I feel for you
I don’t hide my love when you’re around
Instead I proudly wear it on my chest like a medal of honor
But you return my feelings as if they are undeliverable
You say that you want no parts of the package I’m selling
You tell me fairy tales are for children and love is just a myth
So I follow you and try to change your mind
But my legs are getting tired of running behind you
And I am slowly dropping off of your pace.
I’ll never be out of your reach
Because I don’t know how to stop chasing you
But I’m going to take a couple of steps back
And I’ll be ready in the future,
When you decide to take me out of lay-a-way.

Status: I have a slight headache, but I’ll survive.

Media, 1. David Stern, tbd. (AKA The NBA Commissioner Caters to the Media)

So the media had a field day with LeBron’s unsportsmanlike behavior, especially the part where he had the nerve to not speak with them, I mean that was just beyond redemption. The NBA originally said that it wasn’t going to do anything to LeBron, this was the first time he had ever snubbed the media, so the NBA was letting it slide, but the media couldn’t let it go. The media made a big story out of what should have been a small side note and as a result, the NBA reconsidered its original decision and changed its mind. LeBron James was fined a whopping…wait for it…wait for it….$25,000! Wow, I mean that fine is really going to teach LeBron a lesson. I don’t think LeBron would ever do something like that again, not because he was fined what amounts to about twenty dollars to him, but because of the huge media storm that ensued. I thought the media would be obsessed with the fact that Orlando won, but they weren’t, instead, the media still found a way to talk about Kobe and LeBron instead of Kobe and Dwight. Now that LeBron has been fined and issued an apology, which is funny considering who delivered the apology for him, hopefully we can move on. The Finals have started and I’d like to go through them, without hearing about LeBron every day.

Since I’m on the subject of the NBA, I think the league’s one year removed from high school rule is a bunch of garbage and everyone knows it is. I’d actually be fine with the rule if it applied to all players, but the rule does not apply to international players. Either the rule should apply to everyone, or the rule shouldn’t exist. I actually have more to say about this though. Maybe I’ll write it later, because I really should rest now. I had a tooth pulled today :-(.

Status: About to relax.

I Can't Believe I'm Blogging Again...This Week!

I’m on a blogging roll this week! Here’s a random poem:

While In Bed

He whispers I love you,
I listen to the softness
If I thought he meant it,
I’d listen to the words.

He’s sweet and loving,
Just before and during
He won’t stay this way for long
Just like before, he’ll leave quickly.

He wants to be with me,
On his terms, not mine
So I make it easy for him
By sticking to his terms.

He’s slowly pulling away,
I feel it first then open my eyes
In a few minutes, he’ll be gone
I always feel it first.

He would never stay here,
Not with me, not like this
So I let him go as he pleases,
Always not with me
Until the next time
We’re like this.

Status: Still breathing :-).

LeBron James Says He Is A Winner....After His Team Loses to Orlando

Okay, so LeBron spoke the other day and said, “I’m a winner…If somebody beat you up, you’re not going to congratulate them on beating you up.” Um, okay. That still doesn’t explain why he walked off the court and refused to meet with the media after the Cavs were sent packing. I wish he would have just told the truth, which probably would have sounded something like this, “Look, I was disappointed in the loss. I expected so much more from my team and from myself. It hurt like hell to lose and they always say, if you don’t have anything nice to say then you shouldn’t say anything at all. I was in the heat of the moment and I knew my comments would not have been appropriate, so I opted to keep my mouth shut. It was hard enough to swallow the loss without answering a bunch of questions about it.” I think something along those lines would have been more appropriate than the short speech he gave. At least he said he sent Dwight an email to congratulate him.

I might have had a problem with LeBron’s reaction if it wasn’t for one fact: Orlando talked a lot of shit all the way through the series. The team and coach jumped on the bandwagon with their fans and complained that LeBron was getting too many calls and Orlando was being disrespected by the media with the LeBron-Kobe hype. I guess I should be the one to break it to them about how things work. The media wants the matchup between the number 1 and number 2 teams in the country. They would want it whether it was Kobe and LeBron or as it was last year, Kobe vs Allen, Pierce and Garnett. Last year, from the tipoff of the playoffs, all you heard about was LA and Boston and their historic rivalry and yada, yada, yada. You should ignore that crap or use it as motivation to win. Orlando won, end of story, bye bye Kobe-LeBron Final. The world has not come to an end and the media is not dying, they’re simply picking up a new storyline.

And while we’re on the topic, Orlando was leading the series, yet Orlando fans were saying that the refs were trying to help LeBron win. I’d just like to say that if the refs were on LeBron’s side, then the Cavs would have won all of the close games, because refs can and sometimes do, determine the outcome of games. Look at the Denver-Dallas game and Carmelo’s now infamous three after he was fouled. If the refs wanted the Cavs to win, then they would have called some cheap tic-tac fouls at the end of the game, when it mattered most, and all the calls would have gone to the Cavs. I try not to be a conspiracy theorist when it comes to the refs. Let’s face it, the refs make bad calls on both ends of the floor and sometimes the refs swallow their whistles and sometimes they get whistle happy. Sometimes a tap on the arm that was ignored two minutes ago in a game is suddenly a foul when it is done again. I’ve given up on trying to figure out what the refs are thinking and how they decide to officiate games.

Now back to LeBron: It is better to be thought a fool then open your mouth and remove all doubt. He should have simply stated that he didn’t have anything to say after the game. I actually find it amusing that LeBron’s silence after the loss received more focus than the fact that Orlando won the game. I think that’s kind of funny.

All that said though, I love LeBron because he doesn’t accept defeat the way I do and the way a lot of other Cleveland fans do. He wants more and he honestly believes he will get more. I’ve watched his ego grow bigger and bigger and at first it annoyed me but now I’m starting to think that it might be just what this city needs. We need a star who thinks that he is going to be one of the greatest; a star who doesn’t even think the sky is the limit. He is no more arrogant than Kobe and both have the skills to back it up, so I’m biting my tongue on his big head for a while but I reserve the right to comment later.

I’d also like to point out that LeBron wasn’t the most hated basketball player in America until his team was in the number one spot. Hmm, kind of makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

Status: Wondering why I’m still talking about the Cavs.

I'm Back

So I spent the end of last week in South Bend, New Buffalo and Chicago partying with friends to celebrate my birthday. As of May 28, I am 26 years old. Wow! I’ve been waiting a whole year to get to this age. I spent my entire year of being 25, thinking and saying that I was 26 until I realized my error and corrected it. I must have looked like an idiot on countless occasions, telling people I was 26 and then saying, “Oh no, I mean, I’m 25.” I have a really good outlook on this next year of my life. 26 must be lining up to be a great year since I spent so much time trying to pretend it was already here. I can be a little superstitious when it comes to things and sometimes I read too much in to things. I hope I’m not reading too much in to this.

For those who live under a rock, the Cavs lost to the Orlando Magic, as I said they would. I’m not disappointed in LeBron for walking off the court or not speaking to the media. I get it and everyone who watched him play in the playoffs this year should get it. He left his heart out on that floor and now he has to pick it up and do it all over again next year.

I’ve been having a very good, unproductive day. Tomorrow I will be back to the standard humdrum. I finally saw Miracle at St. Anna, last night. It was long as hell and a bit slow in parts but it wasn’t that bad. The actual story had many layers, which I like to see in a movie.

I feel really happy today for no good reason.

Here’s a random poem:


Pocket Full of Daisies

He was never one to stop and smile
Never one to appreciate the beauty in the here and now
Until he met her
She freed him from the cloud that hung above him
Then she made the sun come out
He finally stopped to look around
And noticed the little moments
He held tight to the memories they made
And clung to them once she was gone.

Status: Enjoying my day.