Why Should the Fire Die?

"I can't see my reflection in the waters
I can't speak the sounds that show no pain
I can't hear the echo of my footsteps
Or remember the sound of my own name"
--Tomorrow Is a Long Time, Bob Dylan

It just feels that way when I don't blog like ever, so it's become almost unfamiliar territory now, which sucks. The blog title is the name of Nickel Creek's new album, something I mentioned briefly last time, and a disc which has received constant play at home, in the car and at the office. The song here is covered by the bluegrass trio, and done quite well. Best song is "Doubting Thomas," a track I had not yet reached at last week's press time, and a song that I now skip to upon each listening. Pretty much three discs I've listened to all year (with very occasional exceptions): Jimmy Eat World - Futures, Coldplay - X&Y and now this one. It's like my food strategy: why branch out when you're happy with what you have every day? I used to feel that way about TV shows as well, but when "24" finally broke into my rotation and jumped immediately to the top, my world was shaken and I had to start considering other possibilities. Unfortunately, time has not permitted many new entries, but "Prison Break," despite its ridiculously unrealistic plot, continues to keep me in after three weeks.

Okay, so speaking of TV, I got on a random train of thought the other night on my way home from work about my priorities when it comes to sports on television. On Saturdays and Sundays, I have every baseball or football game in front of me (as well as relevant soccer, basketball, tennis or whatever), so there's no need to put one game in front of the other, but there are plenty of other times (at my desk at the end of the day, at home weeknights or some weekend days) where priorities are necessary. Thankfully, there isn't an unbelievable amount of overlap of the major sports, allowing for limited conflict between desirable events, but what if everything ever was on at the same time and I had to choose? It's a tough process, but I'm attempting to answer the question the same way the Sports Guy does his NBA player rankings. He asks if you would trade a guy for everyone above him (and not for anyone below him), and I'm asking if I would change the channel to games above a particular one, but not to games below it. A very limited example of what I'm talking about, though this is not by any means official:
1. Padres playoff game
2. Padres regular season game
3. old Padres game on Classic sports
4. other MLB regular season game
And so on...If I was watching a game from the '98 NLCS on ESPN Classic and I found out that the Padres-Mets regular season game was on ESPN2, I would immediately change the channel. However, if I heard that the Phillies-Marlins was on ESPN, I would not change it (unless Dontrelle was pitching--things like this make the whole process very complicated). So yeah, I'm going to be spending free time on this. Rather lame, but I'm okay, I swear.

Other important things occupying my rather limited free time:
- Reading: finished "Life of Pi," which was outstanding. I didn't think I would ever appreciate so many details about animals and the cannibalistic nature of castaways. It's a very inspiring story, full of religious questions (and some answers) on all fronts (Christianity, Islam, Hinduism). Started "The World According to Garp," by John Irving, who wrote the Owen Meany book I really enjoyed. Need to finish this one quick, 'cause there's a big line forming of stuff I've recently acquired (and a David Halberstam book on Bill Belichik coming out soon).
- Video games: had a nice four-player Madden session the other night, losing once and winning once with a quasi-Bills team that featured safeties Ed Reed and Sean Taylor (the brothers) and linebackers Kendrell Bell and Julian Peterson (the Scotts). My hometown team, however, has been the Karl Dorrell-led UCLA Bruins, playing amazingly well (at least offensively) in real life, and playing even better on my X-Box. After an undefeated 2005 season saw Maurice Drew win the Heisman and Marcedes Lewis join him on the All-America first team, we took care of Florida in the Rose Bowl and captured the national title. Drew Olson had a great senior season and Spencer Havner was my defensive go-to-guy, but all four of the above departed for the next season (Drew left early, the others were seniors), so an untested squad (and the nation's top recruiting class) started the '06 season ranked #6. Ben Olson has definitely stepped up, and Chris Markey makes me not miss Mo Drew at all. Freshmen starting everywhere means it's a bright future in Westwood. Unfortunately (and fortunately), I only have time to play on the weekends (kind of like the real team), so we'll see how long it takes to complete this run for a second straight national championship.
- TV: I already mentioned the "Prison Break" experiment, which looks like keeping me locked in for the whole season (though I'm trying to figure out how they're going to come up with season two once the guys get out--I'm assuming they get out; the show will suck if they don't and the guy gets the chair). Don't really have time for anything else now that Entourage is done (I feel like I don't have to use quotes for that show, not sure why), but "My Name is Earl" starts next week and Curb (no quotes here either) starts on Sunday the 25th, so something's going to have to give.

I do need to get to work, at which I think I'll be moving up again rather soon. I'm learning that moving up doesn't necessarily mean more fun stuff, but the best of the fun stuff comes with more hard work, so I'm definitely okay with that. Example number one: I was supposed to be going to our show on campus at USC on Friday, but now I'll be managing people back here in the studio, being of much more value here (to make sure there's the highest possible level of quality in what actually airs that night) than I would be there, probably just hanging out with the talent and the audience. A good wake-up call, actually, because I often do find myself valuing what's important to outside people (wow, you got to go to Connecticut--how cool) instead of what's really most important to the show. The powers that be recognize the latter, and now I'm starting to do so as well.

Bible study tonight, looking forward to it for sure. Blessings...