I'm Broken...

Surprise, surprise all... I haven't been here in a while. Some updates...

First off. Baseball - fake baseball. We ended up in 2nd place in the Central League this year. We finished with a record of 16-5-1. A marked improvement over our 7-14 record of the previous year. I also had a much improved year. As the starting catcher, I hit .426, slugged .638 with an OBP of .565. In 47 at bats, I had 20 hits, 21 RBI, 16 R, 6 2B, 2 3b, 15 BB and 5 SB. A fine year for me considering I only hit .235 last year. My shoulder held up throughout the summer as did my legs for the most part.

We made the playoffs as the #2 seed and were able to go into the final week of the season with nothing really to play for other than momentum and stats. I knew I didn't want to catch so I played CF in the first game of the weekend and it proved to be costly for us. Our two backups had... troubles. To say the least. We lost to one of the worst teams in the league in pretty embarrassing fashion. This prompted our coach to demand that I catch the next game because he didn't want us to hobble into the playoffs with a 4 game losing streak... Begrudgingly, I agreed to catch. Little did I know I would be punished for such a moronic decision.

Not 10 mins into the first inning and we are already faced with the situation of having a runner on first with no one out. That man tries to steal off me - something that has not happened often this year mostly due to the fact that stolen base percentage against me was very low this year. Well, as I pounce to throw him out, the batter swings... Broken finger on my glove hand. He had to hit the one finger that was exposed. Out for the season...

Only I didn't know that yet. I thought it may have been a bad bruise. I kept catching that inning. I ended up throwing out the next two guys to get us out of the inning. Back on the bench my finger was so swelled that I had to demand that I get pulled. We only had 9 guys so I was forced out into LF. Putting my glove on was like slipping on a sheath of pain and discomfort. I'm an idiot...

Well, an ugly win and two hits with a taped-up, broken finger later I was headed home. Luckily, two days later, thanks to a very convenient meeting my parents had with a doctor at a party, I had an appointment for free x-rays near Andersonville. There, my fears were confirmed that my outer phalange was, infact, broken. *Sigh* Out for the season just 5 days before playoffs started. We played a team in the first round that swept us in the season. Not a very good playoff setup, I'll admit, but we weren't going anywhere without me behind the plate (no offense intended, White Sox, just the truth). We made 12 ERRORS... In the first game of the series! 19 in the double-header!... I could not believe how bad it was. It was '2005-Rebels' bad on the infield.

Sufficed to say, we were swept. I'll spare you the grim details of how we ended up with the lead going into the bottom of the 9th and gave it away because frankly, if I had been there - ANYWHERE ON THE FIELD - it would not have happened. Embarrassing. Really.

We could have won that series. But no. I HAD to catch that final, MEANINGLESS game of the season. Damn.

Baseball aside, normal functions of everyday life (including typing - MY GOD) are much more difficult with my index finger in a splint. It should be off in a few more weeks and then I will have more (hopefully free) x-rays to see where I am.

Please god no more therapy, is all I have to say...

Other than that - Vicky and I are vigorously looking forward to moving out to L.A. in May. Not because either of us have any specific desire to stay there longer than we need to, but because it will be yet another adventure for us. It will be great - I hope.

I completed a partial reel. FINALLY. Some snags having to do with 'Statler's' marketing scheme has disallowed me to leave it up in public domain which means I can only show it to specific people until the film is released... Fuckin' producers. Fucks.

iTunes just gave me an update which made my iTunes run like shit and I am pondering downloading a previous version just because these updates are so horrible and bloated. That said, I should get back to reading 'The Half Blood Prince' for the second time...

Now Playing: Duran Duran - "Save a Prayer"