Epiphany in Baltimore

2002-07-18

Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com

I wish today was Friday. It's been a great couple of days, and I just want it to continue without that darn teaching thing I got to do tomorrow.

Yesterday was an excellent day and an even better night. The day was highlighted by a decent run and a trip to Trader Joe's, which never fails to lift my spirits. I found that doing both caused me to run late for the big dinner with Goovie and Polishstreak. I left Towson at 4:08, put my perishables away, hurriedly showered, drove to Josh's, convinced him to drive, and we ended up getting there 20 minutes late.

It was all good, though. Polishstreak and her friend had arrived only a couple of minutes prior at Ze Mean Bean Cafe, and we dined on Polish beer and ate pierogies and had a great time. Goovie arrived at around 6pm, and the five of us had a lot of fun. I'll have to agree with Goovie, who said, "There's something wonderfully surreal about meeting people who know almost everything about you." And it was - something I'd never experienced before, and something I'd love to do again. I know other people in real life who read my diary; I think there are about eight or so people who read it that I interact with in real life, but that's different, as they knew me before. It's interesting to think about how others who know you just by your writing perceive you. I hope I'm not like Salinger, who was a topic of conversation. You know, someone who readers really shouldn't know about in real life. It's tough to look at Holden Caulfield the same way when you've heard that his creator drinks urine.

I don't mean to compare myself to Salinger. Please note that I gave up drinking urine a long time ago. (By the way, I don't know if that urine thing is true. I just heard it was in one of his biographies, which I've never read nor intend to read.)

Back to the dinner. I loved it. Conversation flowed nicely, we had a lot of laughs, and it was everything I'd hoped it would be. Except it went too quickly. Josh and I had a softball game to get to, so we had to cut it short. I hope we get to do it again soon. Goovie, I'm serious about getting a hold of me for those shows you go to all the time (though I know you're saving money now and will probably be cutting them down soon). Also, I hope to see you on September 14th for the 2nd season opening of Holden's Lair (if you're still in B-more). Polishstreak, make sure you come on back! I still feel like we're destined for a night of karaoke and shots sometime.

Both Polishstreak and Goovie described the dinner better than I could, so head on over there and read up if you so choose!

Then it was off to the softball game. Josh and I didn't want to leave the dinner, but we had to get to the game. It was at 7:15, and we arrived at 7:14. Oops. I'm the coach, and I told everyone to be there at 7pm so I could do the lineup. Oops. Josh dropped me off while he got parking since I was pitching and the game was starting, and he literally ended up running straight from his truck to third base.

It was my first time playing softball with alcohol in my system, which put me in the supermajority of the players in our league. I found that the three beers made me a better pitcher, with more consistent control and an ability to place my pitches high in the strike zone in order to induce popups. It made me a sucky hitter, though (I went 2-3, but only hit one ball hard). We were missing two of our better players, and we're not a good team to begin with, and we ended up losing. We played what was probably our most solid game of the season, though, and it was a lot closer than the 7-3 final score. It was a blast, except for the fact that I had to pee like crazy for most of the game. I tried running to the outhouse once, but my wonderful teammates kept yelling at me to hurry up, that I was up at the plate, so I had to cut the pee short. At that point, though, I had broken the seal. This was one time where I welcomed the hour time limit.

There are only two games left, and I realized yesterday how much I will supremely miss softball. I wish the season lasted six months. Hopefully someone will put together a touch football team. I don't want to coach that one, as I don't know the sport very well, but I'd be all about playing it.

After the game, we went to our usual hangout, Looney's Pub (sponsor of the league). Since Josh drove, I could drink, and I did. A lot. I'd never been drunk at one of our post-softball bar jaunts, but definitely got there last night. Our softball team's philosophy is that if we can't win our softball games (we're 0-6), we can win drinking games. And we did. Over and over and over again. And again after that. The game is Flippy Cup, and it entails drinking an inch of beer, putting the cup on the edge of the table, and flipping it over so it lands on its top. Once your teammate has completed the flip, you do it, and it's a race to the finish line. Not a complex game, but still a lot of fun. At one point, we had a nine-on-nine match. There were a few Michigan folks there, and it came out that I was a Spartan, and they said things like, "Oh, no one should try to beat this guy in a drinking game. He went to State." And, of course, I had to prove them right.

I must say, I'm a damn good flippy cup player.

Our whole team is good, in fact. We were playing this snooty orange team with an undefeated record in softball, and wiped the floor with them. At one point, they said we should go outside right then and play softball by our headlights so they could redeem themselves, but I think the most sober of us realized that this was a bad idea. Instead, they tried to incorporate changes into the game (using water?), but we argued that it violated the integrity of the game (like the DH rule, or like steroids), and were able to quash that.

Alas, it was a great night. My only regrets is not talking to the hot girl who joined our flippy cup game in the middle. She appeared to be alone, and had was understatedly attractive. I talked with her a little, got her name, made excuses to make conversation. I had thoughts of asking for her number, but the next thing I knew, she was gone. Yup, I suck.

Josh drove me home, and I woke up today with a bit of a hangover. But all was well. All these new teachers observed me teaching today, and that was a bit stressful. But I knew they were coming, and had planned great lessons - one around Alice Walker's "Everyday Use" (great story), and one around Catcher in the Rye. I only had three students in my first period (out of six), and one student in my second period (out of two), so they didn't get a very authentic exposure to real teaching. But hopefully it was still useful. I used a scene from Six Degrees of Separation for the Catcher class - the scene in which Will Smith tells us about his thesis about the book and the crimes committed in its name - and I think my student found it interesting. She's really a great kid - a very forthright, incredibly honest, dynamic person and a decent student. She'll say things like, "I'm not gonna front, Mr. E, but I don't remember that at all."

My sister is now up. She is a little hellion - 21 years old, a definite partier, belly-button ring and all. I'm sure we'll have a good time. The last time we drank together, in May of 2001, she ended up peeing in bushes and I somehow ended up at a bar in our hometown with my socks on. Hopefully things won't get that crazy this time. She got in today, and tonight was a light night of grocery shopping and cruising around. Tomorrow night will be our night around Baltimore, and I think we're going to drive to Ocean City on Saturday. I've never been there, and neither has she. I haven't been to an ocean beach in years, and am looking forward to it. I've also never been to a beach - ever - when I've felt in any way confident of taking off my shirt. I'm still not there, but am more confident than I've ever felt before. I wore a tank top in public for the first time ever tonight. Yes, ever. It was to the grocery store, but still. Go, me.