Three Days?

"Everybody's working for the weekend
Everybody wants a little romance
Everybody's goin' off the deep end
Everybody needs a second chance, oh"
--Working for the Weekend, Loverboy

I haven't known the true meaning of a weekend since before Fox started Saturday baseball up last spring, which essentially means that since the beginning of May, I've literally been working for the weekend (and yes, I just quoted Loverboy to start my blog). The most recent run was one of the longest, spanning 12 straight days (and who knows how many hours) before a break on Saturday, which came none too soon and came accompanied by a Sunday and Monday off as well. So how would I respond to such an uncharacteristic lapse in the work schedule? Would I be a fish out of water, unable to adapt to my new "time off" habitat? In animal terms, I think I went into hibernation, at least on Saturday. I didn't leave the house until 10 p.m., and from the time I woke up until that departure, I did about as many unproductive things as I possibly could: X-Box (first FIFA, then a brief stint on Ghost Recon, then extended Heroic action with Side on Halo 2), computer games (my campaign to bring Everton to the top of the premiership hit a snag with some fitness problems for young superstar Wayne Rooney--kid's got talent, but he needs to run in practice), movies (discovering that my powerbook can also act as a portable dvd player: priceless; so I watched Garden State in bed when I got up--definitely worth all the build-up and advance reviews I'd heard from people; we also watched "Good Will Hunting" with the commentary--Affleck, Damon and Gus Van Sant--very funny stuff), television (Wisconsin-Illinois, and then one of the better college basketball games I've been able to watch all year, Duke and Maryland--I'll get to college hoops later), and radio (listening to the Bruins tank in the second half against Arizona, bolstered by loud cries of anguish from the living room, where Phil and friend were lamenting the same performance). A few more productive elements were undertaken as well, including some guitar playing (following up a tremendous jam session with Bernie on Friday night) and some progress in that Red Auerbach book. Needless to say, I felt entitled to be a lazy bum and be completely unproductive that day, and it worked.
Driving home late that night from Hermosa, I encountered one of the stranger things I've ever seen in my life: Chi walking down the street, accompanied by two girls, jumping into a shopping cart, and getting pushed down the street in said cart by said females in the general direction of Beaches. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised by anything from Chi, but I certainly needed a double-take in this instance. A nice capper to an uneventful day.
Sunday was basketball-ful, and made the quality of weekend days two-for-two, with flying colors. Drove up to Brentwood with Michael and Side for some pick-up ball with guys from work, split four games (and nobody got hurt, which is always a bonus), then headed home for turkey sandwiches and a re-airing of "Garden State," my second such viewing in a little over 24 hours. A little downtime after that and then over to Aviation gym for the second game of our rec league campaign. Looked like it might be a little challenging, but a Mike Stephens-inspired 23-2 run closed out the game and we won by 29. Not too shabby.
Spent much of Monday in La Canada, including a wonderfully long lunch with Darren at Baja Fresh (pretty much the only place west of Ocean View at which I'll eat), a quick stop at Mom's to pick up skis and poles and boots (can't wait for Mammoth this weekend), and then an extended stay at Side's for Halo and dinner with his parents (dinner with his parents, not Halo, if the sentence structure there provided any confusion). Watched 24 at Christi's on the way home (is it bad to have hung out at the home of an ex-girlfriend on Valentine's night?), which represented my second consecutive week watching this enthralling drama (and no, I'm not just saying that because it's on Fox). I also obtained the season's first six episodes on a VHS cassette, so I'll hopefully be making time for that shortly.
So a quick update on Project College Basketball is in order, after the first weekend that fell under the guidelines of this dramatic undertaking (see last Tuesday's blog for a complete explanation). Perhaps it's due to the extended (read: normal for most people) time off, but I was able to watch more college hoops this weekend than I have since last year's tournament, including a pair of great games involving ACC teams. Duke-Maryland was outstanding, going back and forth all game long and getting into overtime before Duke's whole team fouled out and they were left with Patrick Davidson and Patrick Johnson on the court for the game's final minutes. The two Patricks, as they're known in some circles, played a total of 11 minutes, combining for five personal fouls and no other recorded statistics. That's some serious production. Shelden Williams (23 points, 16 rebounds), Daniel Ewing (23 points, 4 assists, 2 steals) and Shavlik Randolph (no points, but he's big) were all disqualified, leaving the Maryland big people with ample room to operate inside and the Terps' defenders with nobody to guard except J.J. Redick. Redick stunk it up at the end of the game, too, forcing some bad threes and shooting 5-for-19 (he was 7-for-21 in the previous meeting between the two teams) on the evening. I don't think that any single player in America matters more to his team than Williams; the Devils have no inside game when he's not in; he completely changes the game when he is present. Averaging 16 points, 12 boards and four blocks, he's been one of the most consistent big men in the country all year.
UCLA-Arizona wasn't worth a full description; the Bruins are young and inconsistent, meaning the more experienced Wildcats played their game and ran away from us in the second half. I figured that one wouldn't be the best one for me to attend, so I'm looking at the SC game a week from Thursday at Pauley.
The second ACC-related game was Sunday morning's non-conference tilt between Carolina and UConn, a rematch of a great regular season game last year. Raymond Felton was sweet for the Heels, Jawad Williams came up big, and Rashad McCants struggled, but still came up with a few big buckets. For the Huskies, Josh Boone and Charlie Villanueva continue to be solid inside, Rudy Gay blocked a ton of shots to go with his usual consistent jumper, and the young guards played okay. The fact that I'm actually interested in bench players on random top 25 teams makes me happy; the rediscovery is in full effect.
Started this in the morning before the meeting, finishing up now as rehearsal gets underway, so a final note before I get back to the set: Side's moving back to China for reals tomorrow, and though it was great to have him around again for the last week or so, it's a bit sad to bid him farewell yet again. Spent some time thinking in the car on the way home from 24-watching last night, and came up with a lucid thought or two. There are a ton of people that we come across in our lives; some remain therein for longer periods of time and some come and go quickly, but everyone has a purpose and a role. Side has had many purposes in my life (most of which have involved Halo somehow), but the most clear and the most relevant in the recent past has been this: a strong reminder not to take myself, or life, too seriously. It's a thought we've discussed in bible study on occasion, but it's brought home (literally) by the take-it-as-it-comes attitude I see from my good friend and the easy ability to laugh at anything (ourselves most definitely included). It doesn't mean that life's a joke, because friends and family and relationships and God (and I could go on, but you get the picture) are all incredibly important and should be treated as such, but it's being able to step back and enjoy things, not to get too caught up in what you're doing or who you're trying to become. It's always been there (quite present in the constant reminder of my most embarassing moments, perhaps overly so in the running gay jokes that have plagued me since my employment at Abercrombie, spread so eloquently by Suss over the years), but has been more evident in those week-long sojourns onto U.S. soil over the past several months. It (and he) will be remembered, for sure, but certainly missed.
Sports Guy took a dig at Best Damn today (and a pretty funny one at the now-defunct "I, Max" as well), which is sort of an honor, I think? We'll live through it...peace