holidays

christmas in chicago was brief, but it was nice to be there. in retrospect, i wish i had spent more time at home with the family. on the other had, i made the most of my time at home, and made sure i got to do everything and see everyone i wanted to, with the exception of fatass. i'm kinda mad at myself for trying to plan to see her on xmas day and then not being able to drag myself away from the cousins.

but it was good to be able to spent some quality time with the fam. and all 7 of us kids were there, which wasn't the case the past few years.

aren't we cute?



clockwise from top, big al, duh, calzone, joanie, tsiny, me and renebow.

i *heart* my family

sad to say, it really is like a bad fall out boy song

mark prior was non-tendered today. since the previous attempts earlier this off-season to sign him to a one-year deal with an option for 2009 were unsuccessful, its pretty doubtful that the cubs will be able to do so now that he can sign with anyone out there willing to take a chance on him. he can probably get more money somewhere else. heres the story from cubs.com

im torn on how i feel about this. on one hand, baseball is a business. the cubs have spent millions paying prior and helping him rehab from his many injuries. and he repays them by asking for a raise in a year he didnt play in a single major league game, telling the press he was "just an employee" and making it known he wouldn't mind getting traded to san diego, despite his years with the cubs and everything the organization has done for him, and the fans, who, even up to opening day 2007, still thought of him as "the one." we had faith in him. ingrate.

but thats not how i really feel. i miss watching him throw. i miss the feeling of calm i get when watching him set up for a pitch. and everytime i see his name next to the words "non-tender" i have a fleeting thought of bursting into tears. i don't, of course, but its a thought.

mark prior was a critical part of my formative baseball years. the years where i was learning about the game while living less than a mile from wrigley. the year where the cubs came within 5 outs of the world series. mark prior was going to be the one to bring us there. this kid was going to write himself and the 2003 team into the history books. that was supposed to be our year.

thanks for the memories, even though they weren't so good

a local news station in chicago covering the arrival of mark prior to chicago in may 2002. they met him at the airport, unheard of for a rookie. he won his first major league start and the town took notice. things were going to happen.

i watched prior pitch a winning game against the mets in 2003, about a month before chicago got playoff fever. applesauce and i went to the the game with her then-boyfriend (now husband). we were excited to see prior pitch live. applesauce was sporting her band new prior t shirt, with his number on it. a month later, we were were in full playoff mode.

• it was the last year applesauce lived together, in our nicest apt in the city, a 2-flat in lakeview, off paulina and belmont. it was by far my favorite apt in chicago.
  
• game 3 of the NLDS, which we watched at a bar with her bf and his friends, taking down shots on an empty stomach while we nervously alternated between watching and not watching the game vs the braves. and then the 2 of us taking turns later that night praying to the porcelain god
• game 1 of the NLCS vs the marlins. my first live playoff game. applesauce, her bf, and smitty. the game went into extras. i was so exhaused by the end i didnt have the strength to applaud for every strike thrown. we lost. that was the longest walk home i ever did from wrigley. the single mile seemed like 10. maybe it only seems like longer when you lose.
  
• the infamous game 5 of the nlcs. where prior had a lead and the cubs were 5 outs away from going to the world series for the first time since 1945. and having a nightmare that night where the numbers 8 and 3 (the final score) were chasing me. ridiculous i know. 6 hours earlier, smitty and i were talking about how in the few short hours the cubs were going to be on their way to the world series. 2 days later it was over.
  
• and finally, the lull that took over the northside the weeks after the nlcs. the party vibe was gone, the enthousiam was gone. everything, even on a weekend night, was morbidly quiet. the whole city had gone into a depression, one that wouldnt end until the excitement of opening day 2004 gripped the populace.
  

in the fall of 2003, prior got married, and mlb.com speculated that this time next year, he would be celebrating both his 1st wedding anniversary, and his 1st cy young win. he was so close in 2003. amazing how wrong that prediction turned out to be. he only won 6 games in 2004, one third of the number he won in 2003.

in 2005, i went to my first cross town classic game at wrigley. it was me, gc and abby. we had an awesome time. prior pitched a great game and won 4-3. i still have the ticket stub. pathetic, yes. he took a hit that game, but seemed to shake it off and finish the game fine. it was a week before he would be take a line drive to the elbow and return to pitch way too soon (in my opinion).

and then of course 2006 and 2007. his few starts in 2006 were painful to watch as he struggled. he still had the quiet peace on the mound i loved to watch, just not the delivery to go with it. i thought it was all mental. maybe seeing alou freak out in game 5 of the nlcs has stuck with him, and that that the pressure that the city put on him to be the baseball messiah and bring us to the world series had taken its toll. if a single girl in chicago who had only been watching baseball for 2 years could have nightmares about numbers chasing her, what did that same situation do the pitcher who had grown up dreaming of pitching that game since childhood? and that line drive he took off his elbow -- was he really ready to come back when he said he was? had that injury not properly healing have something to do with his injuries over the next few seasons?

we'll never know. whatever prior is going to achieve in baseball, it won't be in cubbie blue. i hope he succeeds. i hope the sport recognizes his talent, and don't just refer to him as a kid who could never meet expectations. i hope he manages to get over game 5 of the nlcs. i hope one day i can get over game 5 of the nlcs.

wait til next year...

oh, and i really hope he doesnt end up playing for dusty bottoms baker and the reds. that man has done enough damage to his career already.

the yankees are stupid

the yankees announced today they are going to pay latroy hawkins 3.75 million dollars next year to blow games for them. heres a link to the article.

dude are you kidding me? that guy was good riddanced out of chicago 2 years ago for being an overrated has-been with a noodle arm. when rosenblog reported this past season on carlos marmol blowing a game, he referred to him as "la troy marmol." that guy is still a joke in chicago, the city that forgets players as soon as they are traded (a la michael barrett).

i thought the yankees spent money on good players. its moves like this that allow the boston red sox to win 2 world series in 4 years while the yankees have won none in recent memory. i bet dusty baker is wishing he signed on to manage an AL east team right about now. having been on the losing end of hawkins' noodley arm, wins vs the yankees (especially comeback wins) would be easy-peasy for baker to manufacture. geez.

old and lame?

hey you, cuz and i went to see live 105's "not so silent night" show last night. the lineup was promising -- spoon , paramour (bands i have never heard of, but people seem to like them), then the bands i have heard of -- jimmy eat world, angels and airwaves, and modest mouse. for all you chicagoans, its the bay-area version of Q101's twisted christmas (although i think they dropped the "christmas" a while ago).

general points
the show was ok, for the most part. hey you and i went mostly to people watch. which did not disappoint. in addition to playing thats your boyfriend, we also played thats your outfit. cuz fell asleep, not once, but twice. amazing, cos the music was so loud, you could actually feel the bass echoing in your knees, and we were sitting pretty high up.

modest mouse
music was mediocre. i only knew the "famous" songs that are overplayed on the radio. angels and airwaves and jimmy eat world sounded fine. its hard for mainstream music to be really bad live, as long as they don't try to be different. just play it the way it sounds on the radio? ok thanks. it was easy to feign excitement and sing along loudly to the 4 songs i recognized.

im not a fan of modest mouse. but so many of my friends really like them, so i really wanted to see them. i thought that maybe i just needed to see them live in order to truly appreciate them. that many people can't be wrong about them, right? WRONG. they suck live. and since i thought they sucked on the radio before, now i think they just suck all around. i was tired from the week, but i would have stayed if the music was decent. it wasn't even decent.


late night
the show didnt go too late, especially since we left early. after dropping off hey you at the west oakland bart, cuz and i were home by 11:45. a far cry from thursday night (a week night, no less!), when we got home at 1 AM. the only difference that was friday we were at a hip rock show, while thursday night we had been at kohls in colma, trying on super-affordable clothes and looking at all the 40% off merchandise. cuz said she might have had a better time on thursday, illustrated by the fact that she stayed awake the whole time that night.

are you old and lame when you stay out later at a discount department store than at a rock concert? i'm thinking yes. gc was right. i was too fucking old to go to the show.

today's morford column

i read morford every wed and friday. im usually very entertained and a little disillusioned after reading the column. but today's column was SIMPLY BRILLIANT.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2007/12/07/notes120707.DTL

the rake's progress

summarized in one word -- huh?!

tom loves anne, and wants to marry her. i am not sure why she agrees, as he wears low-quality wrangler-looking jeans and denim jacket. not sexy. however, she comes from a rich family (you wouldnt know it based on the homely blue gingham dress she she runs around in), and he is of course your typical impoverished protagonist. or so you think.

before they marry, tom is lured away by a stranger, shadow, who tells him he has inherited a vast estate from a dead previously unknown uncle in london. tom leaves anne, and promises to send for her when hes ready to get married (and she falls for it. not the brightest crayon in the box, are we?).

tom goes gallivanting about with some random whores (including the head cougar whore), then becomes a coke head and marries a bearded lady (sick dude). anne comes looking for tom, but he rejects her. then tom tries to kill his bearded lady wife, and goes financially insolvent by trying to sell a machine that turns rocks into bread (what a moron). anne comes looking for tom again, and follows him back to america (what a sucker she still is).

shadow, who has served as tom's assistant for a year by this time, finally reveals himself to be the devil/a demon (im not quite sure which) and demands tom's soul as payment for his services for the last year. yeah, like you didn't see that coming. old dude was creepy as hell, and looked kinda like a vulcan. tom wins a card game to save his soul (seventh sign style) but the devil takes his sanity (a crappy consolation prize, if you ask me).

tom then ends up in an insane asylum, and thinks hes adonis (yes, the famous greek lover/god). he awaits his lover, venus (weird, cos adonis was greek and venus was roman. did someone not study up on their ancient pagan history? yes, im talking to you mr. stravinsky) anne visits him and pretends to be his venus for a few minutes, then leaves him. tom stays crazy. end

oh, and then the epilogue -- "idle hands do the devil's work." what the hell does that mean? maybe i am not smart enough for this particular opera. it was even in english and all. the flow was weird, and i never cared a lick about any of the characters. they never mention any interest in greek/roman mythology at any point in the show, so even tom's insanity is fairly random. all i can say is huh?!

so far, im 0-2 for the operas i wanted to see. i thought macbeth and the rake's progress were going to be great. neither moved me. i hope le petit prince next year isn't a letdown. that would suck.

detroit trades for marlins

e-love told me this. and i agree. detroit already has pudge, maggs, and jacque jones (who's going to have the typical i-sucked-with-the-cubs-and-then-was-traded-and-will- now-have-a-breakout-year). if they get cabrerra and willis in trade with the marlins,

the white sox are not going to win the AL central for the next 100 years.

this is provided, of course, that cabrerra doesnt put on another 100 lbs in the next 2 years or that willis doesnt have to serve jail time for another DUI. or both.

ohman trade

so at the MLB winter meetings today, the cubs traded bullpen pitcher will ohman and omar infante, who we just got for jacque jones in the trade with detroit, for Jose Ascanio, a pitching prospect for the braves .

i dont know much about ascanio, but people think hes going to develop into a pretty decent setup/relief guy. and infante never played a game, so who knows what he could have done right/wrong?

im torn about the trading away ohman. i know he was persona non gratia (did i spell that right) after his statement about the trainers letting him get demoted even though he was "injured" and had to retract it later. but before that, he was a leader in the clubhouse (maybe not as much as d-lee or demps). but a leader nonetheless. on the other hand, i never thought he was a very good pitcher. and he always looked so scraggy, like they picked up a homeless guy off the street and put him in a uniform. wuertz is much better in short relief. and doesnt nearly look quite as scraggy.

i can still picture his combination look of pain and scowl when he gave up a homer to barry bonds last year. thats all i really picture him doing. kinda reminded me of homer simpson in some way - DOH!

austin powers

i love the life i have created for myself out here (with some help from cuz, of course). this morning i had one of those moments that reminded me how lucky i am.

b, bbq and i made plans to go to the oakland farmer's market this morning (per me and b's in-town saturday routine). somehow, the idea of a personal theme song came up, and bbq played his for us, as it was handily available on his iPhone. its the theme from austin powers (the musical number at the beginning where everyone dances in the streets). fitting right?

anyways, when we heard the music, the three of us suddenly started dancing on the sidewalk in oakland near b's house in the wacky austin powers fashion. we weren't synchronized, or very good at re-creating the movements from the movies. i actually think those movies are not that funny and kinda lame. but we were all laughing and completely unashamed in our goofy dorkiness as we walked over a major bay area freeway in full view of saturday morning traffic. we were simply 3 people having a good time with good friends.

it was a great moment. not to say that it couldnt have happened at some point of time in chicago, but it definitely wouldnt have happened this weekend as its in the 20s and 30s with icy conditions and biting wind in the greater chicagoland area right now. my laugher wasn't just over the situation, i laughed out of sheer joy and happiness (who even knew i was capable of feeling those things?). that doesn't happen very often, and i'm glad i was able to recognize this instance for what it was.

:)

a night with the cast of dallas

last night was weird. seriously weird. but not for the apparent reasons.

bbq and i made plans for me to venture into the city last night, and for the 2 of us to make an appearance at adrian's going away happy house. we figured we would show up, have a beer, and then head to the gym for some friday night climbing. then we would partake of yummy sushi at blowfish, bbq's new favorite sushi place in the mission.

things didn't quite go as planned.

what ended up happening is that we skipped climbing, tried to change our reservations to 4 people to include larry hagman and sue ellen, and ended up going someplace else altogether for mediocre mexican food.

i knew larry hagman was going to be at the bar. i was looking forward to seeing him, since he's going through the rough patch, as i will choose to refer to the current state of affairs. what i didnt expect was for sue ellen to be there. and for the 2 of us to have an awesome conversation at mars bar that culminated (organically, as b says) in me asking if the 2 of them wanted to join bbq and myself for dinner. i was sober (mostly), so it wasnt the liquor talking. i really did want to continue to hang out with them. they did end up joining us, even though we were not able to have blowfish sushi. we ended up at some other place (JB something?). later, i dropped them off at home as the 2 of them felt as though neither was capable of driving.

it should have been weird and awkward. the weirdest part of the evening was that it wasn't weird at all. the 2 of them are a great couple and a ton of fun to be around (especially when both have a few drinks under their belts).

im confused. i felt a little disloyal to cuz for thinking that sue ellen was so nice. but she really was. i really enjoyed hanging out with her. i dont understand why this rough patch is what it is. everyone involved is a rational, logical, intelligent adult.

i did tell cuz about everything, and of course she was great about it. i think she may be just as confused about the situation as i am. which means im not alone in my confused state. and i have to say, she's handling every thing with dignity and poise. i should get a separate tutu (from the one hey you is thinking about getting her for when she climbs) for her for the gracefulness she exudes in dealing with everything marcus throws at her. she deserves it.