Don't let the title fool you. This won't be a preview of this year's World Cup. Hell, I'd have a hard time guessing more than a dozen teams that are in it much less predict just how good any of them are. I'll probably watch but for the same reason that I watch a major golf tournament: it will help put me to sleep on a Sunday afternoon. Don't get me wrong, soccer is a fine sport and I'm sure that I'm missing out on many of the nuances that make it the most popular in the world, but I don't have a history with it, I don't know the teams, the players, the coaches, so it's just not on my radar of things to do and watch this summer. Yet.
All that said, I'm still in recovery mode from a week spent learning labor and laboring over learning. Thus, I'm bringing back an update post that I tried about a year ago, one in which I use some of this blog's categories to bring folks up-to-date on what's going on in my world, a cup full of my world. Get it? I'm sure you couldn't be more excited:
Baby: We have a little over eight weeks to go. Am I nervous? More so about my participation in the delivery than anything else. I'm what you might call a hyperwimp when it comes to anything medical. I get queasy just smelling the inside of a hospital. Now I have to try to maintain my composure and be the calming influence for Elaine during her labor? I'm prepping for this by doing nothing. I figure I'll just let nature take over, allow my paternal instincts to kick in, hope that the floor is soft for my landing. Other than that, we're basically in a hurry-up-and-wait mode, slowly putting together what will be the baby's room even though we aren't even in the new house. I'm not worried at the moment, but check back with me in a few weeks.
Baseball: I thought about skipping this category simply because I don't want to comment on how horrible the Braves have been playing, especially the last two weeks but really the entire season. A very inconsistent team to say the least. I'm still holding out hope but it begins to fade with each swing and miss, and they seem to be doing a lot of that this year.
In non-Braves baseball news, I made my first trip to Zebulon, North Carolina, to see the Carolina Mudcats take on the Mississippi Braves. I did get to see this version of the Braves win, a small bonus considering the big league club was getting swept in a double header by the Diamondbacks. The highlight for me was seeing the mascot, a rather frightening looking catfish, take a lap around the field in his ATV. It was one of those truly great minor-league experiences seeing a catfish jump the bullpen mound, his odd looking tail trailing behind him as he soared through the air, flopping and flailing and waving to the crowd.
Hell in a handbasket: From Amsterdam: "An addiction center is opening Europe's first detox clinic for game addicts, offering in-house treatment for people who can't leave their joysticks alone."
Images: This is by far and still the best one I've ever posted here.
Madonna Causes Cancer: Madge is getting free clothes. Let's hope that she'll retire the leotards. Actually, what do I care? Keep the leotards.
Music: I'm in one of those ebbs in my music listening. Right now, nothing sounds good to me. Could be that my ears are adjusting to the South, but I can't get my groove on at the moment. Recommendations welcome. Of course, the new M. Ward could change all of that.
Raleigh: The newest category, one inspired by the move here in April. So far, I've nothing but good things to say about this area. Sure, it's not the postcard everywhere you turn that San Diego is, but when you consider that the city has everything one could want and it's much easier and cheaper to get and the potential here is unlimited, then you can see why I'll settle for an actual postcard from San Diego rather than spending my kid's college fund to live in the real thing. I have my complaints (freaking interminable red lights) but so far these are minor. Stay tuned.
San Diego: See above. And I do miss my friends, the view from my old office, and a good, authentic carne asada burrito.
Smoking: The less said about this, the better.
Sports: Right now, I'm all about the Carolina Hurricanes. Two wins and I'll be downtown Raleigh experiencing my first championship parade. Who'd a thunk it? Other than that, I've signed up for Tito's World Cup fantasy league, but I know almost as much about international soccer as I do about NASCAR. I've employed a strategy of the one-name players, but the rules state that you can have only three players from one team and all the one-name players seem to be Brazilian, Portuguese, on Angolan. I've had to branch out to names that made me laugh, but I did actually draft a few players who I've heard of before. Should be fun.
Weather: I love the weather here. Afternoon thunderstorms galore. I haven't signed up to be a weather spotter yet, but I'm thinking about it. There's actually weather to spot in North Carolina, it being one of those places that take a Storm Watch seriously, and that's a good thing.
That mascot is terrifying, indeed. He could crush the entire left field bleachers with one stomp.
I hesitate to recommend music to you--chances are good you're already on it--but Shearwater's new album is still in regular rotation for me. A really gorgeous record from front to back. A CYHSY-fan such as yourself might really dig Figurines, too.
Good luck to you and Elaine in the coming weeks. That breathing stuff is good for you, too, from what I hear. The rest of us are holding our breath for some pics of the newest Braves fan.
Posted by: TJ | June 09, 2006 at 08:23 AM
Programming Note: It's Hurricane Week on Storm Stories on The Weather Channel all next week. 8PM Eastern.
I'm making you a CD that's gonna immolate your neurons....
That is all. Go Canes.
Posted by: Jimmy Beck | June 09, 2006 at 01:39 PM
6 goals in the opener. This isn't your dad's world cup.
http://www.worldcupblog.org/ is pretty good. Too I can't access Espn360.com (or the BBC's stream) at work. I've been relegated to watching yahoo's scoreboard box and reading live-blogs for coverage...
Posted by: tito | June 09, 2006 at 02:33 PM
Four words: Flamin' Groovies. Teenage Head.
Posted by: Rake | June 09, 2006 at 06:08 PM