Ugh! I'm stuck at work. Seven days in a row. I guess I’m supposed to be happy not all the days were eight-hour days. Two were four. And, today, will probably be three. But, I'm not. You know, thanking the powers that be I haven't put in seven straight eights. I"m just not following this line of logic. (i'm an emo girl if you hadn't noticed. This frustrates logic, who has to bop me in the head every once in awhile - to keep me on track.

soooo anyway, where was I? oh, yeah, I was being ungrateful. After all, I still had to get here. Still had to shower - okay, I’d do that anyway - still had to bring food to eat here, still have to answer the phone, rent courts...blah, blah, blah.

Let's see, um, the good. Yes.
It's a beautiful spring day outside. Laney is hitting w/ two boys from her school - getting ready for tomorrows region tournament.
I have soy strawberry yogurt and a soy cheese sandwich to eat - I know, this is debatable...whether or not such food contents can be listed on the Good Things Side.
The Sunday paper is here. Ah, I’ll hit headlines in a few.
The place is already clean. I made sure yesterday, when I came in for a few hours before the rain.
Speaking of rain, it poured yesterday. Washing away inches worth of pollen!

I'd still rather be at home. I know, I’m such an ungrateful person.


 

I won my match last night. 5:4! Yay me! I played well except for my serve. It sucked. I can’t remember a match where I double faulted four times. I drew the short straw and had to serve into the sun. I get an F in Serving Into the Sun. Does anyone ever get an A here? If you have tricks or tips, please pass them along. On the bright side, I poached more times than any other match!

Laney’s team won! Against the rival school. Yessssss. One more match to go and they are off to state. Laney missed yesterday though, down w/ a respiratory infection. The doctor put her on a three-day antibiotic, allegra, cough meds and something else. She’ll be resting in her bed for a few days – Individual regions are on Monday. She wants to be well by then.

So, I’m purging files at work, and I came across the Same Game. (lame compie game but highly addictive) Did I highlight and click delete? Hell no! I opened up the damned thing, started playing. Like I need another distraction. An addiction. Tugging at me. Heck yeah! I'm IN. I'm game. Bring it on.

 

I’m leaving work in a few minutes, will quickly head home(without speeding) and pack. Leaving for Savannah in the morning – yeeee-ha. (sorry for the sudden southern outburst. I’ll try to contain myself.)

I’m antsy. The weather is gorgeous. (I’m wearing shorts), and looks to remain so for days to come. And, the best part is…(drum roll) Invasion of the Insanity is on her way down from VA to visit.

I know, I will miss the games, but my teams were sliced in sweet sixteen so… Yes, I want Cinderella to dance at the ball, wearing both her slippers! But in reality, it doesn’t matter to me who wins. I love the action. And what sweet action it is. The sweat, determination, skill, and I just love the sound of squeaky sneakers on wood.

If it weren’t for Noah, I’d be a Gator –hater. Being a Georgia Bulldog fan, I’m bound by fan code 574 section C2 to do so. Wear my hatred on my sleeve. But I can’t. Jenayé Noah’s dad – Yannic Noah was tennis player. He won the French Open in 83. (fyi, he also is a musician, published writer, and tennis coach.)

Sooo. I’ll keep my little eye on him. And if the Gators win the whole thing, I’ll cheer for Noah.

Regardless, I'll be in Savannah, walking down River Street, eating at Vinni Go Go's Pizza, and doing Jaeger bombs at Kevin Barry's....

 

The knots in both my elbows told me I was in for a bad pain day. Nothing new. Ever since the middle of February, I’ve had level five or more pretty much 24/7. But my stress level these past few days compounds my tolerance of aching shoulder, heavy forearms and, as I’ve already mentioned – these blasted f’en knots in both my elbows. Another factor, decreasing my tolerance is the Both Arms In Pain factor. While I’ve experienced this before, not at this level.

Okay, I’m done whining. My tennis lesson is tonight. Yep, I’ll be out there. You already know my philosophy on that one.

 

I lost my match last night. Got my ass kicked, by a twenty-three year old – 1:1. OMG! Could it be any more humiliating? I told my opponent’s boyfriend, upon leaving the court. “Yeah, she whipped up on the old lady.”

To which my opponent politely replied, looking over toward her boyfriend. “She’ lying. She’s not old.” God I love this girl.

Her boyfriend then said to me – and I quote – “If it’s any consolation to you, just before the match, she came up to me and said ‘I have to play singles – against a really good girl.’

Yeah, at forty-two, I’ll take the consolation. Not only did she call my tennis skills good, she called me a girl! (As in, not an old lady. Or, even lady.) Yep, she earned some points in my book.

When you dissect the play-by-play. I didn’t do quite as bad as the score reflects. I can’t even remember how many deuce games we had. She could get to pretty much everything except my deep cross-court shots. So, of course, I hit a lot of those out, just trying to go deep. She loved to slice and chip the ball over. My feet just don’t move too fast from the baseline after a serve up into the service box. Boy do I need footwork drills.

Why did I wait till I was thirty-seven to pick up a racquet?

Overall, as always, I had great fun. So did she. Of course she did. Winning is always fun.

Oh, another consolation: She says she wants me on her team next season. I’m taking that a compliment.
 

FYI: Here is a picture of my starving cat. Her name is Tulip and she moved onto the farm about nine years ago - uninvited of course.

Click on the photo for a larger image.
 

That does it! Where the hell is Spring? No. I'm serious. It's 29 degrees outside! Is this the definition of spring in anyone's book?

The pets need food. Oh great. Where are my slippers? And not the sandal looking ones either. I want the slippers with the fur inside. They look like ankle boots. You know, I wore them this past winter!. Better yet, bring me my coffee; let me snuggle underneath the warmth of my toasty comforter. The Dobermans can starve. The cat too; there's plenty of field mice running around the farm for her. ‘Bout time she earned her keep.

But where is Spring?

Wasn't she supposed to report to work last Monday? On March 20th? Clock in time: 1:26 PM EST Bob Van Dillen said so, during his morning weather broadcast for CNN headline news. I was passing by the den TV, on my way to the laundry room when I heard his voice; his words bringing happiness to my ears. A tingly happy feeling fluttered throughout my body. I caught my breath. My heart skipped a beat. My eyes halfway closed in a satisfied moment of silence. Ah, I love Spring. Well, okay, I can do without the pollen. But next to Summer, Spring ranks second in my list of favorite seasons.

What happened? She only works twelve measly little weeks out of the entire year. She's barely shown her face since her shift began. I'm lodging a complaint. After all, I've been robbed. Seven days of seventy-five degrees or so. Instead, I've gotten cold winds, low temps, cloudy skies.

But then again, maybe she's sick. With the bird flu.

I can see it now. Calling into work...knowing you only have to perform 84 out of 365 days a year- yet you can't even make it in the first week. What's the boss gonna say? Spring reaches over, gropes for her cell phone on the bedside table.

"Um, yeah, Mom? ..." she's stammering. Nobody likes pissing Mother Nature off. "So...yeah, um, here's the thing," she says in the sickest sounding voice possible. "I can't come into work today."

Long dramatic pause

"My joints ache, my head hurts. I have a fever of 102," she pauses, coughing, "Plus, I barely got any sleep last night." She mumbles a few incoherent symptoms - for good measure.

The wrath of Mother Nature immediately melts. With images of her first born lying in bed, sick, and helpless, how can she express her usual crankiness?

"Can Summer cover for me?" Spring asks, her voice weak and hollow.

"No," Mother Nature says, "She's AWOL. Some concert in Japan or something. Don't worry. You just take care of yourself sweetie. I'll take care of things around here."

"Autumn?"

"She's busy. Off with her boyfriend."

With Spring down, Summer missing, and Autumn out of pocket, that only leaves Winter.

Sheesh! I'm going back to bed.


 

Now what am I supposed to do? Both my teams lost last night. (Zags, and WVU) How did this happen? Don’t answer that. I suppose, I could do something productive – like house cleaning, nah! Toss me another Hornsby and i'll remote them all on cable tv. relax and enjoy the talent.

I just knew the Zags had it – with their huge lead for 37 minutes of the game. Morrison was great. (24 pt; 5 reb) What a comeback by UCLA though. The Zags dozed for like a minute and bam! Can’t go to sleep here if you want to make it to the Elite Eight.

What about LaMarcus Aldridge? He had an amazing night. (Pittsnogle’s performance wasn’t too bad; Aldridge was just all over the ball (26 pts; 13 reb). What a way to end the game for Texas though….deciding three pointer shot by Paulino.


Pitsnogle and Aldridge


Kevin Pitsnogle


First half action


What more can I say?



 

Poor Laney. She blew her winning streak. (She's 7-1 for her high school season so far). She sooo wanted to get through the season undefeated, but she lost yesterday. At the number one singles position too. I felt so bad for her. And if that weren’t enough, the girls lost as a team too. Now, they are tied for first w/ our oh-we-hate-them-so-much rival school. (how did this happen?) I know those girls are celebrating our loss. But hey, the win, (when our girls get to go to state) will be all the more sweeter…ya know?

I lost my match last night too – (I won last week in singles – did I tell you guys?) so, anyway. We won the first set 6-4, lost the second 5-7 and never even showed up for the third, loosing 6-1. Shame on us! In our defense, our opponents are college students! They should be able to beat to forty-somethings…right?

Anyway, I’m tired and don’t want to work today, wishing I was at home, vegging our in front of cable TV eating chocolate soy ice cream.

 

Okay it’s official. I’m old. Yeah, I know, I look younger but the ugly fact is out. No more denying it. Unfortunately, it’s my slang getting in the way.

I remember, not too long ago, a buddy of mine shot me an email, telling me about his ‘killer’ something or other (the object of the killer description irrelevant.) I hadn’t heard the expression in a while and it’s use made me laugh. Later, I asked my teenager, “Laney, what would you think if someone called something ‘killer’ like as in a ‘killer song’?”

Without hesitation she said. “Old.” Nothing else. Just the word ‘old’. Not even worthy of a complete sentence. Whew, Thank goodness I haven’t used the expression, ‘killer’ anything in a long while.

However, today, Autumn calls. We make a few jokes, cuz she’s my daughter and you can’t be related to me without making sarcastic remarks about something during the course of even one single conversation. During our exchange I said the phrase. ‘Get the heck out of dodge.’

She stops me, “Mom. Why do you always say that? Get out of dodge…?” like I’m the only one. “What does that MEAN?”

Yeah, pour salt on the wound Autumn. (My email buddy used the dodge phrase just weeks ago)

So, being the ‘old’ lady I am, I had to explain the figurative meaning of the DODGE phrase…Sheesh. Has anyone seen my walking cane?
 

oh yeah, its a good day! laney won two matches - she'll play in the finals tomorrow and, the Zags are in teh sweet 16! c'mon Morrison, get your game face on baby!

Pittsnogles still in it, sweeping SI yesterday!

yeah baby!
 

Laney won! her seventh high school match. she played number one doubles again, and i know she wants the singles spot...it's just the girls keep winning and the team is really on the road to state...so, i know the coach is afraid to change things up. i'm just worried, if she doesn't play singles, will she even be eligible to play in the regon tournament there? or will she have to go in as a doubles team?

 

I went bowling during my Cali trip this past February. On Super Bowl Sunday: the day Pittsburgh beat Seattle 21-10, the Rolling Stones performed the halftime show, my fingers gripped on a martini glass, and some fifty-five year old guy from New York begged me to walk across the street with him, so he could buy me a lingerie outfit from Victoria Secret.

Fat chance.

Nonetheless, he kept trying. I kept saying no. For him, knowing I was sipping on my third Cosmopolitan, gave him confidence to ignore my refusals. I stood firm, despite my inebriated state, and he finally left me alone.

So, anyway…Lucky Strike bowling alley was within walking distance from the hotel and we got carded at the door. What? Since when did bowling require ID? Turns out, the place is a 4-in-1 establishment; resturant,bar, bowling alley, dance club. Yessss! More drinking. No dancing for me. It’s been an eternity since I’ve been clubbing. Maybe a drink or two ago I might have, but not now.

Yeah. I’ll take another cosmo.

I suck at bowling. No really, having only bowled twice in my life ever, I wasn’t ashamed to admit my lack of skills here.

“Don’t worry” Steve, the parks and recreation guy, in our party, told me. “Drunk girls usually bowl good.”

Isn’t that well? I almost splashed him with my fifth drink.

Smiling, I said, “Yeah. Right.” I knew better. Knew I shouldn’t be out there, with my T.O. S. arms, trying to hold a twenty-pound ball, (okay I’m exaggerating) –tossing it in the air like a Pike Place fish market employee. But the vodka clouded my judgment. WTF. Who cares if I didn’t even know how to pick out the right ball? I can do this thing. Right?

Wrong.

Getting some quick advice from Mr. Parks and Rec, I walked up with my ball, did the arm swing and released. Not too bad. I knocked a few pins down. Yay for me.

Next frame; Gutter ball. Moving on, my fingers dove into a different ball. A smaller one. Would it help? Hell no. Same result. Double gutter. There goes my fleeting hope of beginner’s luck glory, down the um, you know…gutter.

A few frames in, and you could see me do the happy dance cuz I managed to knock a few pins – like three or four – down. Even still, I kept returning to the gutter ball. Wow. The drunken girl was on a roll. Can I hit more than seven pins down? Strikes were out of the question. In fact, if I wanted strikes, I needed to head to a baseball field, where racking ‘em up would be a synch. And besides...Why break my GB streak?

All in all, with the help of five martinis, I enjoyed myself. From a novice player’s point of view, bowling seems to be about skill, mixed with rhythm. If I ever go again, I’ll cut back on the alcohol - one, maybe two drinks max since there is that GB –to- drinks consumed correlation thing to consider.

http://www.losangelesrestaurants.com/restaurant.cfm?res_id=616
 

I finally created my Rapid Rally Flyer. About damn time, I know. I think I mentioned earlier, my mental block. Once I figured it out, I was on it. So, I guess I have to admit the hang up huh? I blame the software application. Word. I used to use Word to create what I thought were super fantastic flyers but not since I created a flyer from Microsoft Publisher. Here’s the idiotic part; I forget I have this application installed on my home computer- To further underscore my stupidity, I have a vague recollection, floating in the outskirts of my consciousness, of my ability to produce a real super fantastic flyer.

I feel out of synch, sitting in front of the blank monitor screen, watching the blinking curser…”Get Busy! Get Busy! Get Busy!” it screams. And yet, I can’t. Well, okay, I do, but all my efforts look horrible to my eyes.

Then, last night, it dawns on me, ‘You have Publisher.” It says. ‘On your notebook!’ So, my laptop came to work with me today. Neil Young’s Greatest Hits CD blared from Windows Media Player, and I created. Pulled in tennis graphics, typed up program descriptions, and boom! A finished product. YAY me!

Oh, btw, Laney played number one doubles – in a doesn’t count match – against a school from Americus – and won, 3;1. she was on her game.

 

The lawn guys are out here, and the ice guys. I’m inside the facility, sanitizing. Oh joy. We have a huge tournament coming this weekend. The Bullfrog. It’s what’s called a Southern Section tournament. Nine states are involved. The draws are full – or close to it 60 plus players in each division. I’ve walked the courts earlier and taken care of a few minor issues.

Regardless, this has set me back from my Rapid Rally schedule. – ugh. I really need to work up a flyer and for some odd reason, I’m brain dead here. Sheesh what’s up w/ me anyway? Never mind, don’ answer that.

Laney won her second high school match. She played the number two position. All singles levels won, so the girls won as a team. They really have a chance at the team state thing if they work hard and don’t loose focus. She plays again this afternoon at the other tennis center. Again, I will miss it. Not sure if Bryan will be able to make it either. oh, the boys won all five of their levels!

I lost my match last night. 3:6. We kicked butt in the second set though – just not quite hard enough. Especially since my serve was off too. OMG! I gotta work on it. But my net game was pretty decent. And my backhand shots were much better than last week. I’ve got team practice tomorrow evening.

Well, I guess I had better get back to work. I’ll be doing more court stuff – at least I’m outside on this gorgeous day – blue skies – high in the lower seventies!

 

I had to give up both my 2 mile walk with bonnie and my hitting session with adam. darrell at the other tennis center called in sick. i had to go cover. four days w/out exercixe and my emo self is pulled thin. i've got a match tomorrow night. soooo, i have to do something. maybe hit on the wall at lunch? we'll see. still in lots of pain so it's hard to keep motivated. that's what i like about the match. I have to play it. and i will. .

i missed my office today. my refridgerator. my coffee maker. but it was fun seeing lots of players i haven't seen in forever. it will be great to be back at my own center tomorrow.




 

I can’t even remember a day without pain. On top of my T.O.S pain, I woke up this morning with neck pain. The first five or so discs in the back of my neck and upper back hurt. This seems to make my T.O.S worse. I hate whining. I’m just so damned tired of it. Can I wake up tomorrow pain free? I’ll settle for level five.

You can bet your sweet ass I’ll still keep my hitting session with adam tomorrow. I’ve got a match Tuesday night and I need the practice. And besides, why give up tennis when I didn’t give up laundry chores, ya know?

I know.

I know the pain won’t go away. I know it may worsen. I know my spirit will thank me. I’ll be glad for the exercise, the distraction. Cuz while I’m on court, keeping my eye on the ball, my mind will not stray. Will not think about the pain. My body will barely feel the pain. When I walk off, I’ll collapse in my office chair and I may even call myself an idiot for even going out, but my heart and soul will smile.

And this is what I need.

 

I’m at work. Junior team tennis. Finally, a Saturday equipped with blue skies and sunshine. Perfect tennis weather, unlike the past three weekends of rain pouring down on my courts, forming gigantic puddles. Highs in the mid sixties too. Very little wind. What more could i ask for? The drill coach, that's what. He's out of town today. Everything can’t be perfect now, can it? Okay, so I knew he’d be out of pocket ahead of time. But my efforts to find a replacement were met with frustration when I discovered most of the coaches are attending the referee workshop held at the other tennis center - today. Oh great, now what? Finally, I got Diego to fill in. whew! Only he’s on court doing the USA 1-2-3 beginner adult classes until 1:30 and won’t be here till 1:45 or so. (the drills start at 1:00) See? More imperfection. Ahhh. Just what I need. So, I’m switching the sequence around. Matches first, than drills. Instead of warm-up drills, we’re calling them, practice drills. There. Problem solved, Right?

Oh, laney won her first high school match! 4:5. Yay laney. Her coach said since there are four strong players, she will switch them around and laney won’t be playing one singles but may play two, or one doubles. She’s up for the doubles thing. tomorrow the coach has asked them all to go to the other tennis center for some challenge matches to solidify her line-ups for the season.

oh, and her school won too - great way for them to start the season off.
 

I woke up at four AM this morning. I know I’ll be hitting the coffee pot in a bit. Sometimes, I can really do some creative thinking then. Not today. Try as I might – and that’s probably my problem – I couldn’t focus on a single string of thoughts. Random thoughts. Boring thoughts. These are what graced my mind at four AM this morning. No fair.

So, today, at work, I’m super busy. The elementary school across the street has a PE teacher who is a 4.0 tennis player. He brings all his classes over for week long sessions twice a year. Afterwards, I have sarah’s program and Fast Track, and I have high school matches. Laney’s first match – here- at my tennis center. (yay) I think she’ll play number one singles today. The coach said she may move them around this year, letting everyone get a chance to play doubles since the number threes don’t qualify for state. laney’s school has three solid girls. We should fair well.

After high school and fast track, the 3.0 men come out to play (whooooo whaaaaa!) I will be here on court w/ my teammates, trying desperately to improve my game before next Tuesday. I know I so will be lookin’ yes, I’m bad!