League of Melbotis

Saturday Night

Just proving that either old age is setting in, or that the Arizona sun has finally melted my brain... I've come to enjoy baseball.

Originally I watched the sport to humor the in-laws and because I like hot dogs. And I'm lazy and like sitting still for hours on end. Then I sort of got into the whole Americanness and nostalgia factor. Baseball is a common thread from generation to generation, it's been there across three centuries, and is simple proof that people really like to watch people in funny pants while they enjoy a beer and peanuts. Then I kind of started digging the idea of The Cubs. The League loves an underdog, and if you want to find a perennial underdog... hey, why not the Cubbies?

Baseball is also on TV 24 hours a day for six months of the year. So it's accessible. And each team plays like 800 games a season. And it's mind-blurringly slow, so you can turn on a game and sort of wander in and out of the room and do other stuff while the game is on. Initially I couldn't get past the fact that it's not the rapid-fire style of play like basketball where you can see change on a half-second by half-second basis. I've slowly come to appreciate the flow of the game, the challenge of each pitch and the face off between each pitcher and batter. Also, I like the Taco Bell taco race in the 5th inning.

We've been to a few games this season. Tickets are $10 a seat, so how can you go wrong?

Anyway, this evening we saw the Astros beat the tar out of the D-Backs. I can now say I've seen Roger Clemens pitch, and I've seen my first grand slam. Good game. For Astros fans.



Our process for evacuation is slow going. But ongoing.

We've had a lot of people walk through the house. It's sort of depressing as realtors and people walk through the house and you never hear anything afterward other than "your house is too cluttered." Well, we're working on that.

The Fortress of Nerditude is slowly being disassembled. I've packed all my graphic novels and toys away. Most of the pictures have been pulled down. So now it's mostly empty shelf space and a half-assed blue paint job. I have no doubt we'll continue to get those same comments. Apparently humans and realtors alike fear blue walls. I haven't quite yet decided that I need to paint the walls yet. I'm willing to wheel and deal. I'll negotiate. But I also don't want to paint walls if the people plan to paint them a different color later, anyway.

It's all very irritating. Who wants people who you don't even know walking through your house and thinking you're insane? Because you have blue walls.

Anyway, the realtor today called and said "we'll be there between 11 and 12". And then showed up at 2:30 when I was talking to a new potential landscaper in the front yard. After the realtors are an hour late, you sort of give up on them. But, if you want to sell your house, you have to act like a trained monkey every time they want you to hop.

No, I am not enjoying this process. I had always dreamed of just going ahead and buying a house in Austin, moving into it, and THEN putting the house up for sale. You could then actually clean the house and it would stay clean. You wouldn't have to worry about buyers having no sense of spatial relationships as they "can't imagine their furniture in your house." And you're sort of standing there wondering how anybody ever @#$%ing sold a house before when that's what everybody says.

It's a couple of rooms and a toilet. Try to use your imagination.

Must be patient. Must. Be. Patient.

Anyway, I'm going to bed.

Goodnight, Leaguers.