Yummy or Crummy?

Recently I got the pots back from my first clay class ever. I knew the class would be a challenge (and it was), but I really enjoyed it. As I was trying sloppily to center those clay pieces, I figured out why ceramics — and maybe glass blowing — attracts a certain type of people. I wouldn’t presume to know what all potters are like, so I’m not trying to generalize and give some stereotypes here. But rather, what I’m trying to say is that the art appeals to those people who enjoy making something functional out of materials from this earth. There is something spiritual about being able to take earth (clay — and glass, that makes up the glaze), water, and fire and end up with a wicked-looking bowl that you shaped yourself. Now, not only do I have a newly founded appreciation for someone like Lucretia, who can make big pieces and make it look easy, I have a new perspective on the art form itself.

Canstruction art competition

Art made entirely out of cans.

My dad and his wife just got a puppy, and named it Tommy. I immediately reminded me of my mom’s cat, Timmy. It’s a pure coincidence that my parents who have been divorced and out of contact for some years now decided to give their pets really similar names. But I think it probably shows what name people consider to be “cute” and appropriate for pets. I’m not sure if this is universal or not, but people tend to think that anything that ends in the long “y” sound is typically cutesy and cuddly. Could this be true? Let’s see… my first cat’s name — Jerry!

A pregnant woman came on a train full of commuters, and she stood there for 10-15 minutes, before a seat finally opened up for her to sit down. I usually sleep through my train rides, so I had no reading materials — for all I know I was the only one who noticed this. Everyone else in the her proximity and could have offered her their seat in a conveniet manner was either too consumed with reading a book or just pretending not to notice. (Now it may be presumptuous of me to think that a pregnant woman would wish to sit down rather than stand — in fact, she didn’t seem strained in any way. But her pregnancy was rather visible, and I always think it’s a good idea to offer, so they can accept or decline the seat.) The interesting thing about it was that all but one of the seated people — those who chose to ignore the standing pregnant woman in front of them — were women. I know the stereotype goes that some women are socially competitive with each other and all that, but isn’t pregnancy something they should all sympathize with? And as far as social taboo goes, are men supposed to be MORE sympathetic with the hardships that go with pregnancy than are women? I feel pretty ignorant in this area, so I wish somebody will enlighten me here. I will definitely bring this up with Lucretia for a discussion….

There’s been a particularly intriguing thing about all the panhandlers that I’ve encountered in the last week. To be precise, on three different occasions, I was asked if I could spare 80 cents for them. They didn’t say, “spare change?” or “help a brother out…” or any other generic panhandling lines. All three of them specifically asked for 80 cents. Could there be anything special about asking for 80 cents? Did they, either through some social experiment or the years of experience, determine that is the amount that people are most likely willing to give up?

Lucretia was with me when one of them asked us for 80 cents, and her theory was that this person already had a dollar, and having 80 more cents would give them one ride on a CTA plus a transfer ($1.50 + 30 cents). There may be something to that, but I’m still not convinced.

If anybody out there has a clue about this, please let me know.

The Team Imperium arrived on Friday in Belleville, IL like a storm, and left two days later with an insatiated appetite for a goal — and a bad hangover. I expected the weekend to be a learning experience for me, but not for the whole team! Some of these guys are the best I’ve played with, and no doubt this was a humbling weekend for them.

In summary:

The good: The weather was not stinkingly hot, and people generally had a good time without breaking any bones (well, except for Mike’s nose). We didn’t lose the competitive spirit until about 10 minutes were left to go in the last game, when we were down 0-4. We all believed we could hang in there — which we did very well for the first half in all three games.

The bad: We were held scoreless for the entire tournament. Our defense (where I played) allowed 9 goals in three games. Which is worse? Hard to say. But it’s easy for the offense to get frustrated when the defense keeps allowing goals, and it’s not exactly easy to run at 120% to defend your goal when on the other end we’re hardly attacking the opponent’s.

The bottom line: I’m grateful that someone asked me to participate, and I’m glad that I said yes. Exposing myself to higher caliber of players made my weaknesses crystal clear, which gave me new motivations to improve and well-defined goals to shoot for.

I’m going to join the Team Imperium in soccer at the annual Prairie State Games. We’ll play at least 4 games in 2.5 days against some of the best amateur teams in the state. Fortunately for us, the temps won’t quite hit the 90′s according to the weather forecast…. With no rain in sight, it should be a beautiful weekend. I’m not expecting much, just to have fun. Wish us luck!

Considering how they were playing before the Confederations Cup began, everybody will agree that Japan played better than expected. But the goal was always to advance to the next round, and now that was not achieved, will JFA act to make some changes, or continue to sit on their asses, proclaiming the blind support for Zico?

This victory was, of all the things, most relieving for the Japanese fans. We were scratching our heads trying to figure out how this team managed to get so much worse in so little time. This game showed us that Nakamura and Nakata ARE a class above the rest, can control the game, and score when they need to. It gave a glimpse of hope that Zico just might be able to motivate these players enough to take the team somewhere. Considering that they scored only two goals total in their previous three international matches, their comment about wanting more goals (after they scored three in this one) is an encouraging sign that these players are hungry.

NBC has been airing arena football games on weekends. Just the fact that it’s on national TV would have you believe that the sport is gaining popularity in this country. I mean, how else would the game be broadcasted against such powerhouse program as golf??

Arena football, I realized, is quite the opposite of my favorite sport, soccer. It is a derivative of American football, but all the rules that inconvenience any effort to score have been changed to promote high scoring. The game is fast paced, and rarely do you see a team execute a running play, so all elements of surprise and strategy are removed from the game. It’s just a series of throwing, catching, and guys who aren’t good enough to play in NFL celebrating in the end zone before you know what really happened. It probably would be a similar experience to watch a modified basketball game where the hoop is 5 feet high and about 20 feet wide.

It is no surprise that this ridiculous excuse for an athletic event gets a national coverage, while U.S. men’s national soccer team — the guys who represent this country in the most popular sport in the world — almost never receives bigger exposure beyond ESPN2. In fact, the only place that I could find showing the friendly match against New Zealand this past Sunday was a Spanish speaking channel.

The American public has no patience for soccer. The American public is unable to respect and appreciate the beauty that the rest of the world somehow manages to fall in love with. The American public is embarrassingly ignorant about its position in the world and how it is regarded by everyone else. The American public deserves arena football, all day, everday.