Goodnight Now

"So sorry it's over
So sorry it's over
There's so much more that I wanted and
There's so much more that I needed and
Time keeps moving on and on and on
Soon we'll all be gone"
--Man Overboard, Blink 182

A thrilling end to a spectacular season of 24, and I had to do an incredible amount of work to avoid watching the show all day--it was seriously on from about 9 a.m. until 6 (at different times) in various edit bays throughout the building. There's no way I wanted to ruin any of it, having now been invested in the show for a few solid months, and wanting to enjoy the two-hour season finale to its fullest. Needless to say, it was well worth it. (Quick note: I shouldn't have used that phrase, because I hate it when people say "needless to say" and then say it anyway. If it goes without saying, then please refrain from saying it. Thanks). So yeah, great episode, tying almost everything together (nuclear weapon shot down, bad guy dead, Chinese wanting Jack dead, so they "kill" him), but setting the stage for another great season almost right away. Jack pretty much has to disappear, because the Chinese (and even the U.S. government) need to believe he's dead, so it'll be interesting to see how he's able to re-emerge at CTU (or anywhere, for that matter). I now have a few months to catch up on seasons two and three (which are evidently available at a very marked-down price here at the studio store, so I might be making a purchase this afternoon). Bottom line: I'm glad that I broke down and added a show to my list of necessary television viewing for the week (previously just one--West Wing--on said list), and it's starting to look like "The Shield" might be next. We'll see.
So today's a dark day, which often means less to do and definitely fewer stressed-out people around here, and I've got one thing to do the whole day, so it should be nice. I essentially have from 10-6 to get one 30-second thing done, so I'm not too worried about my prospects. Getting out of here early means a chance to get back home and have a birthday dinner with Michael and Mom (her real b-day is Thursday, but this'll work) at Mama D's--never a bad choice. Today is a preview of next week, for the duration of which we are dark again. There's a lot I've been putting off, so it'll be nice to get some things done--DMV, car repairs, seeing friends, Padre games, etc.
It always ends up that I have to wait until Tuesday to recap the weekend, basically because Monday is the longest of long days (made even moreso on the back end by the "24"/youth baseball editing combo--I might be able to get an editing gem in here before we're done--if you're lucky). Friday night began with a trip to my buddy's place in Venice, where we watched the Mavs-Suns game and Steve Nash's third straight "This is why I am the MVP" game. He was ridiculous. Walked from there over to a place called Baja Cantina, which seems to be a pretty happening establishment over there on Washington Boulevard. Our show was on at the bar, which was a pretty weird thing--watching the show open I cut, airing in front of hundreds of oblivious people. One hilarious thing, though, was a comedy bit that this guy Jonah did where he played Reggie Miller (he's black and skinny, so it worked), and he was also there in attendance at the Cantina as it aired. One of our other guys made sure to point out to a couple girls that this guy right here is the guy up on the screen, and after a moment of disbelief, they got all excited. It's amazing to see the power one has when one is on television. I don't get it. Left a little bit early in order to secure some sleep for the first session of Saturday baseball.
Work was fun Saturday, getting back with the crew and kicking back to watch a few games, nothing too exciting. I had the Cubs-White Sox and Rangers-Astros contests, the second of which was pretty much just a home run derby. The 'stros gave up eight homers to the Rangers, including four in the second inning alone. Some games are hard to write, because there aren't enough highlights to make a good package. This game was tough because we had to eliminate like six homers from the list to make it manageable. They ordered pizza for us for lunch and then had a nice big barbecue at the end of the day to celebrate the kickoff (though that's technically a football term, so I'm not sure what the correct one would be) of the season. Back home in time to watch another Galaxy victory before heading over to Stu's house to hang out with Big Stu (and Gary Swaner and Daniel Niemann and about 25 Pepperdine people I didn't know and didn't meet) before he headed back to D.C. for the rest of the summer. Good man, Stu.
Sunday was so lazy, I love it. Grocery shopping in the morning and then nothing of substance until church at 6 (saw about a hundred La Canada people there, kinda cool and weird at the same time) and our game at 9. Our third game of the season was our third 20-point victory of the season (give or take a point or two), and I really don't see us being challenged except by the same squad that beat us in last season's semifinals. I've been encouraged by my individual improvement over the past few weeks, taking the ball to the hoop and actually finishing, and also making a few free throws. It's hard to be consistent when you're only playing one night a week (and now we're off for three weeks, so it'll be even less), so I liked to do the Brentwood thing on Sunday afternoons to keep fresh. However, this recent run has coincided with a break from the Brentwood thing, so maybe rest is better than getting all worn out in the afternoon and trying to recover by the nighttime. I suppose it's just part of getting older. Oh, by the way, 24 is on again on the closed circuit! I don't have to say goodbye to Jack just yet. I love this place!
Time for a couple youth baseball nuggets, real quick:
- "The only things hotter than the blazing Saturday sun were the Yankees' and White Sox' bats.": I'm sorry, I didn't realize Jim Murray or Bill Plaschke started writing these summaries. I don't mean to mock the attempts at creativity, because the vast majority of these coaches err at the opposite end of this spectrum, but this one's a bit cheesy, I'm sorry.
- "The Giants continue to improve. This game saw lots of 'outs.'": I would guess that unless the game went deep into extra innings, it probably saw the same number of "outs" as any other game in that league, but maybe I'm being shortsighted here. I mean, the Giants are improving, so maybe they're getting so good that they managed to get a few extra outs past those little league umpires, who knows.
I'm not as jaded by the summaries this week, because I wasn't even thinking about them as I worked, throughout the two hours of 24. It'll be a shame to have to do them unaccompanied next week, but I'll manage.
Time to get some work-related writing done (as the rebroadcast of 24 continues...)