Kind of a Downer

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

Well, as the title might tell you... this one's going to be a little different... but hey, I'll be sure to keep it somewhat light. First off, Thursday was not the greatest day ever. Work was extremely busy... and towards the end of the day, I was the only one in the office. About that time, I got a call from the dermatologist, my results were in... and they weren't horrible... but they weren't peachy. Basically, that thing on my cheek was more than a thing. It was basal cell carcinoma, which is really nothing per se. It's very treatable (they usually just cut it out with what's called a Mohs procedure) and since it's been there for a while, they'll check to make sure they get it all. Then again, we're talking about a little cancer... the other c-word, right next to my eye... so I was a little frazzled to hear about this at work... but hey, I'll survive & it could've been a lot worse.

About that time, one of the managers came in and... long story short, I wasn't in the mood for certain criticisms... and I kinda snipped at her. Nothing major & it may very easily be forgiven & forgotten (I did apologize) but then again, you never know. We'll see. Not proud of myself at all... but it happened. Can't take it back, right? So yeah... not the best day at work.

After work, was a basketball game... and this game was pretty good. We were down early by about 20, but then we figured out a strategy (and they finally gave me the ball down low) and we pulled back to within 4... but then the referees screwed us. It was seriously one of the worst officiated game I've ever seen or been a part of (and that's a statement). I came out of the game looking like I joined Fight Club... and made it to the line once. We were playing spectacular defense & not even coming close to touching them... and we'd be called for fouls. It was ridiculous... and we lost by 8... but we also know that when we have a strategy, we can win... if the refs don't dry f**k us over a barrel. Whatever. F**k em.

Friday was much better. Still busy at work, but I didn't have the ten hour day that I was expecting, just the standard constant eight hour day. Still gotta go in Sunday morning for a few but hey, that's what they pay me the big bucks for, right? Speaking of which, watched a movie called "Outsourced" the other day & it was pretty good. It's about a guy who's office gets closed because the jobs have been outsourced to India... but they want him to train his replacement in the new office. So he goes down there, learns the culture, meets the people, finds a woman, the usual movie stuff... but it's pretty good. Go check it out.

Okay, so as you all know, there was the recent 10th anniversary of September 11th & the tragic attacks in New York & DC. Since I didn't do this blog back then, let me give you a little background into who I was at that time. I was 20 years old, bit of a nerd, funny, virgin, scary intelligent sometimes, yet naive... you know, like most college sophomores. I was an engineering major (because I was great with math & physics, but didn't really care for it), was on the practice squad for the University of Utah men's & women's basketball team, no scholarship but made my money with this full-time job that wasn't too bad but paid the bills & had great benefits. Maybe I'd just do it while going to school. They even had sent me to Jamaica for five days for a business trip in which there was very little business. The flight back was on Monday the 10th. I had the world by the BALLS!!!

That Tuesday, I was getting ready for school. I had just moved back into my dad's basement because he was only charging $200 a month for rent in a place that I was only there to sleep & the dorms were over four times that for a shared apartment. Took a shower, was wearing a towel, nuking some pizza from the night before for breakfast, typical morning. I was about to head downstairs to get some clothes when I got a phone call from my stepmom. She was a little frantic but told me to turn on the TV... so I did... you can guess what I saw. It was like a bad movie. Only it was really happening. How could I tell? The reporters were all struggling for words. Even in the bad movies they have some cheesy line of exposition... but nobody knew what was going on. My first thought: China! Don't recall why exactly... but I think right before that we had a spy plane go down in China & maybe it was retaliation for that or something. It was a first impulse. I didn't know what to do... so I gathered myself a bit... and went to class. Class obviously was pretty focused on the events... and I remember one of my professors breaking down from an engineering perspective HOW the towers fell... and how it was suspicious because (referring to the book) the burning temperature of the gas is this... and the melting point the steel in the girders is this... and with reinforcement, blah blah blah. You don't care.

So... what has changed since then? Well, obviously I'm 30 years old now... and where my job used to send me traveling, now I have to travel to find my job. I'm still pretty nerdy, funny, super intelligent sometimes, downright moronic others, still pretty naive... but I cashed in my v-card. There was about 7-8 years where I didn't play basketball much... but I'm getting back into it. I've had a lot of friends, coworkers, colleagues, acquaintances come & go... and I've honestly forgotten most of them... unless they're on Facebook. Oh by the way, I know how to use the internet now. Didn't really back then. Did I ever tell you that I had never seen the internet or used email until I was in college? Just never really happened in high school. We didn't have computers that did more than word processing for our creative writing classes. Gotta love public education even back then.

When I was 20, I had these aspirations that by the time I was 30, I'd be considering an early retirement from basketball to save my knees or something... after a few championships, millions in contract money, movies, advertisements, business ventures, wife, three kids, make sure all the family & friends are set too... cuz it ain't no fun if the homeys can't have none. Obviously it didn't turn out quite that way. Played semi-pro ball for about a month before the team folded, bounced around majors until I settled on Marketing Management after 7 years of school (and tens of thousands of seemingly wasted dollars). Oh... and that job for while I was at school... I had my 11th anniversary with them... and have worked at five different offices in three western states.

Where will I be ten years from now? Who the f**k knows? The Apocalypse is apparently coming next December, the global economy is in ruins, there are still crazy religious sects with nuclear weapons (including us, there, I said it), global warming, possible pandemics, all these big things that could destroy us any day. Then again, I'm crazy & self-indulgent enough to just say "phukit" and go about my daily life in spite of threats on all fronts. Let's see, ten years from now, I hope to cross off a whole bunch off my bucket list. It'd be nice to have a family... but there's honestly no real prospects at this time. Kairi & Vinny will be teenagers... so hopefully that won't bring about the Apocolypse. The parents will be older too... and I worry for them... but hey, it's not going to change anything. When your number's called, your number's called. I guess... I'll just live one day at a time, take a few chances, see what happens. Wish me luck!!! Have a great weekend everybody!!!