Lucky Number Seven

"But look around
Hear go the sound of the wreckin' ball
Boom and Pound
When I shut 'em down
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
What I use in the battle for the mind"
--Shut 'Em Down, Public Enemy

We're not quite up to nine yet, but the Pads have been shuttin' 'em down in a big way of late, reeling off seven straight wins and 16 victories in their last 19 games. They're finding a different way to get it done every night, and I continue to be amazed at their resilience. My boy Khalil Greene (uniform #3) hit two three-run bombs yesterday, Adam Eaton gave us another tremendous start (he's 6-1) and Trevor closed it out for save number 13. We've got the week of Memorial Day off here at work, so I'm hopeful that one or two games will be attended that week, with the Cubbies in town (I don't know how the pitching matchups will shake out, but a Prior-Peavy duel would be sick). Padre talk complete.
In response to a list compiled by my friend Dan Washburn--no, not that one, the other American Dan Washburn living and writing in Shanghai--in regards to his top five (six) songs at the moment. It makes me think of a deleted scene from "High Fidelity," continuing a scene that was actually in the movie where main character Rob Gordon was interviewed for a magazine article, and was asked his top five songs, all-time. His initial response yielded six, and then he thought about it and gave five new ones. In the deleted scene, he's talking about it with his girl and gets all pissed at himself for forgetting a bunch of songs, so he rethinks it and comes up with a whole new list. It then cuts ahead to him walking out to a pay phone with an entirely new set, which ends up being six long (again), and he finishes that call with, "This is a little embarassing." So yeah, it's pretty tough to whittle all the music in the history of music down to just my five favorites, but I'm going to do my best.
5) Hope I Don't Fall in Love, Tom Waits - Covered by Hootie & the Blowfish (which is where I first heard this gem), it's a great story of a dude in a bar looking for love, and though it's not a typical situation for me, I can certainly identify with the on-and-off thought process that goes along with courting...
4) Off He Goes, Pearl Jam - From the unheralded "No Code" album, it's about a character who has been away for some time, then returns to enjoy a great time with his old friends, only to take off one more time. Again, there are parts of this aloofness and desire to run away that I can identify with...
3) I'm Movin' On, Rascal Flatts - More autobiographical than I could ever have imagined a song not written by me to be. In my transition from church employment to nothing and eventually to this amazing job, I've experienced almost every single word of this song...
2) I'm In the Moment, Sister Hazel - From their latest disc, it's a praise song or a friendship song, or anything in between, just attempting to put into words an epiphany or an awakening, things that occur to me from time to time...
1) tie between A Praise Chorus and Kill, Jimmy Eat World - Praise Chorus is actually similar to #5 on the list ("I want to fall in love tonight") and Kill is a tremendously emotional song, triumphantly proclaiming in verse three, "I can't help it baby, this is who I am," which is just part of a great declaration of self-worth and individuality. I have never been a bigger fan of these guys than I am right now.
Again, this list has been cobbled together rather quickly, and I might find myself on a pay phone sometime later today, attempting to scramble up this list. We'll see.
I need also to quickly defend my assertion about Nina Myers in Tuesday's blog, since assailed by my dear friend Side. First of all, I've never been an Elisha Cuthbert fan, so I'm leaving her out of the equation. Second, I don't know who Kate Warner is (maybe I'll find out when I get season two, hopefully soon), so she's out. No way Michelle Dessler is hot, but maybe that's just me. I'm not saying Nina (actress Sarah Clarke) is the most beautiful woman on the planet, but I am saying that she does it for me. It's a personal preference thing, that's all. I IMDB'ed her and evidently she was in "Happy Endings," a recent Tom Arnold film, as well as an Emmy Award-winning Jetta commercial, but nothing else memorable. Also, she's married to Xander Berkeley, the actor who portrays George Mason, which is kind of funny. Anyways, she reminds me a lot of a girl I used to date, and since she's on TV, I can picture her without the negatives, so that makes it nice, you know? I guess I can look forward to seeing Kate next season, so we'll see how she matches up when the time comes. And oh yeah, I can almost say I want the weekend to end quickly so that Monday night (and the two-hour season finale) to be on. Almost.
Last thought, brought up in bible study last night in our discussion about commitment. Johnny said that one of the things you need to have in common with someone who will (hopefully) be your spouse is mutual admiration. Basically, I'm going to want to be like my wife, as strange as that may sound. Out of all the things that were brought up last night, that's what stuck. And as I tried to think back to my recent relationships, I suppose I'm glad that none of them have lasted much longer than they did, because as much as I liked these girls, I don't think I ever really admired them or saw something in them that I wanted to emulate. That's sad. I can only think of one female in my relational history (and just a friend, at that) whom I've admired and seen personality traits I desired for myself. It's a different mindset for me as I approach another relationship...