This time todays author is Greeny. Enjoy!
Contemplating why, even though I am pretty active physically, certainly agile and most importantly not afraid to sweat I never was an athlete.
My father was active-strong, a hard worker, a very swift runner. My mother certainly in her youth was an ice skater, swimmer, boat rower, walking to and from her job or between friend's houses. Even in their parental capacity they were quite active physically.
My brother was one of the two top basketball players early on, a hard batter and swift in running the bases in baseball, and all around athletic. He made it seem effortless but in fact he was driven to be the best (I think I have answered my own question right here). He continues to this day to be a workhorse and powerhouse of strength in his daily job as a farmer. He is tough as shoe leather. Too bad his diet is so lousy. But we won't go into that...
My sister was predominately cerebral and continues to be. Not active physically which is not a great idea in this family. She never has liked to sweat.
Now to me. I always played outside and rode my bike, walked to friend's houses, climbed trees, helped garden (we all did), but when it came time to try out for basketball in 9th grade, I tried dribbling down the court and bounced it off my foot, stood there as it went rolling and bouncing away and thought-'SHIT' and never went back. I tried playing softball one year but instead of having a coach that worked up the lower end of the bench of players(my area) so they could support the better players when time, he let us languish there. Not having anyone to practice with, I sat the bench and played a lot of outfield and not well, I might add. I did round offs and cartwheels like nobody's business.
We had intramurals during lunch time and I excelled here. I was second in arm wrestling one year, my record for the 50 yard dash was not broken until a few years after I graduated, and I played intramural badminton and volleyball. I think we did other fun stuff like frisbee distance and accuracy throws and similar activities. Point is, I was good at a lot of things that took some athletic ability.
I remember working and working to jump on our pogo stick when I was young. Years I spent in frustration. Then about 2000, my mom and dad bought each of the grandkids a pogo stick for Christmas. We were all out in the farm shed on concrete trying them out. Low and behold- A Miracle! I kicked butt the first time I jumped! I was stupefied.
Another example- when I was in middle school, we would accompany my dad's first cousin and his family to a beautiful lake for weekends. Many, many times I tried with much tutelage I never could get up on water skis. Probably 3 years I tried. The last year we went I popped up the first pull the first trip down. That trip I also went to one ski. Then a year later I skied with the handle in my mouth- stupid I know but no dent istry was needed. Hehe! I just skied in Michigan behind my uncle's Wave runner this month in fact.
A few years back at a family reunion, we older cousins decided to play some softball. I am pretty good at catching but figured I would strike out when I batted. I stood there (again) when I hit the stupid ball in a high fly to center like I had been doing this my whole life. I did it time after time. So I had a swagger after that and my family oood and ahhhed.
I wasn't a team athlete. That is that. But I am athletic and as usual, a late bloomer in the sports that make one feel like an athlete.
It should be interesting to see what happens with my kids.
Thursday, 31 July 2008
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
He's had a good innings
Guest author: Charlie Naseweis
I played in my first 'official' game of cricket yesterday. (For our American cousins, cricket is a bit like baseball, only better ;-p)
I've always enjoyed watching cricket. Not as much as football, but if there's an England game on I'll try to watch it. When I was growing up, it seemed to be on the BBC all the time. I still vividly remember watching Ian Botham & Bob Willis tearing apart the Aussies in the 1981 Ashes Series. I always found the statistical part of the game quite fascinating....maiden overs, bowling figures, wagon wheels..... Later on, I recall watching Phil Tufnell's exploits, whilst I was supposed to be revising for my Finals. It's amazing how much time can be swallowed up watching an absorbing Test match.
Just recently, cricket has had a bit of a renaissance, in no small part due to the advent of 20/20 cricket. I still prefer the traditional full test match - call me a traditionalist. Last year I watched my first test match 'live' at Headingley (England vs West Indies); next week, I'll be going to the 1st day of play at the Oval for the final test between England & South Africa. I hope there's still something riding on the result!
Anyway, I digress. This Friday afternoon, my work is having a game of 20/20 cricket at Harefield CC, between UK & Europe divisions. As preparation, Europe had a practise match yesterday at Pinkneys (no seriously) Green CC near Maidenhead. The opposition were quite decent - in fact we were quite concerned when they all turned up in whites! We looked like a rabble in comparison, with our t-shirts, shorts & tracksuits. Luckily we have quite a few handy players within the ranks. Our skipper & opener is an Aussie, so he's bound to be good! Further down the order are a few guys who either played at school, or for clubs when they were younger.
We lost the toss and were put into bat first, and achieved a fairly respectable score of 104-8 (our captain had to declare at 25 n.o. to give everyone else a chance to bat!!). I was down to bat at #7 in the order. When I went out to bat, my targets were: (1) to avoid getting out first ball, then (2) avoid getting out for a duck. My boss was umpiring and he gave me the helpful advice "get your eye in first", which I did do, building up a good partnership with Batsmen #6. I found it a little bit intimidating in the middle due to the other team's banter around the wicket. In particular, their wicketkeeper was doing a running commentary of the game.... "they don't like your pace"...... "next ball, he's a goner" ...... "Oooh, I can smell a wicket coming!"..... not quite sledging, but it did a good job of distracting me. It's a lot harder than it looks, batting. I had to concentrate quite hard as each bowler I faced had a different bowling style, and varied line & length.
In the end I knocked up a respectable 7 not out, working my way through 4 different partners (fnarr). I'm not a big hitter, so left it to the other batsmen to hit the boundaries and build up our innings score. As it was 20/20 I took a few risks, and unfortunately ran out bat #8 in the process (ooops, it's just not cricket).
The other team tried in vain to chase our total, but fell well short. We had a tasty bowling attack, and rattled through their top order batsmen. Fortunately I wasn't required to bowl - in practise I was so bad that my team mates actually stopped taking the mickey out of me, they felt sorry at the number of wides I was bowling!!
Looking forward to Fridays game - I'm hoping for another solid score. One of me, eleven of you? I think it's Pimms O'clock!
I played in my first 'official' game of cricket yesterday. (For our American cousins, cricket is a bit like baseball, only better ;-p)
I've always enjoyed watching cricket. Not as much as football, but if there's an England game on I'll try to watch it. When I was growing up, it seemed to be on the BBC all the time. I still vividly remember watching Ian Botham & Bob Willis tearing apart the Aussies in the 1981 Ashes Series. I always found the statistical part of the game quite fascinating....maiden overs, bowling figures, wagon wheels..... Later on, I recall watching Phil Tufnell's exploits, whilst I was supposed to be revising for my Finals. It's amazing how much time can be swallowed up watching an absorbing Test match.
Just recently, cricket has had a bit of a renaissance, in no small part due to the advent of 20/20 cricket. I still prefer the traditional full test match - call me a traditionalist. Last year I watched my first test match 'live' at Headingley (England vs West Indies); next week, I'll be going to the 1st day of play at the Oval for the final test between England & South Africa. I hope there's still something riding on the result!
Anyway, I digress. This Friday afternoon, my work is having a game of 20/20 cricket at Harefield CC, between UK & Europe divisions. As preparation, Europe had a practise match yesterday at Pinkneys (no seriously) Green CC near Maidenhead. The opposition were quite decent - in fact we were quite concerned when they all turned up in whites! We looked like a rabble in comparison, with our t-shirts, shorts & tracksuits. Luckily we have quite a few handy players within the ranks. Our skipper & opener is an Aussie, so he's bound to be good! Further down the order are a few guys who either played at school, or for clubs when they were younger.
We lost the toss and were put into bat first, and achieved a fairly respectable score of 104-8 (our captain had to declare at 25 n.o. to give everyone else a chance to bat!!). I was down to bat at #7 in the order. When I went out to bat, my targets were: (1) to avoid getting out first ball, then (2) avoid getting out for a duck. My boss was umpiring and he gave me the helpful advice "get your eye in first", which I did do, building up a good partnership with Batsmen #6. I found it a little bit intimidating in the middle due to the other team's banter around the wicket. In particular, their wicketkeeper was doing a running commentary of the game.... "they don't like your pace"...... "next ball, he's a goner" ...... "Oooh, I can smell a wicket coming!"..... not quite sledging, but it did a good job of distracting me. It's a lot harder than it looks, batting. I had to concentrate quite hard as each bowler I faced had a different bowling style, and varied line & length.
In the end I knocked up a respectable 7 not out, working my way through 4 different partners (fnarr). I'm not a big hitter, so left it to the other batsmen to hit the boundaries and build up our innings score. As it was 20/20 I took a few risks, and unfortunately ran out bat #8 in the process (ooops, it's just not cricket).
The other team tried in vain to chase our total, but fell well short. We had a tasty bowling attack, and rattled through their top order batsmen. Fortunately I wasn't required to bowl - in practise I was so bad that my team mates actually stopped taking the mickey out of me, they felt sorry at the number of wides I was bowling!!
Looking forward to Fridays game - I'm hoping for another solid score. One of me, eleven of you? I think it's Pimms O'clock!
Not much to say today
As I'm in Gloucester all day today in a meeting (*snore*).
I can't believe no one has sent me anything to post on their behalf yet... I feel very let down, internet.
Have a nice day all.
I can't believe no one has sent me anything to post on their behalf yet... I feel very let down, internet.
Have a nice day all.
Monday, 28 July 2008
Try something new
OK, I've had f*ck all to do today, so I've been reading a lot of other blogs. And it's given me an idea. I want to try "guest posts". Send me an email with a post for this blog, and I will post them under your name (or pseudonym if you prefer - if you want to remain anonymous, tell me, else I'll tell the world who's wonderful words we're enjoying).
It can be about anything, and any length. I won't post them all at once, maybe one a day. And no, this is not an attempt to keep posting things but not put any effort in myself. Cynical lot, aren't you?
So there we go. Go wild.
Send them to
simon.molloy@gmail.com
It can be about anything, and any length. I won't post them all at once, maybe one a day. And no, this is not an attempt to keep posting things but not put any effort in myself. Cynical lot, aren't you?
So there we go. Go wild.
Send them to
simon.molloy@gmail.com
So...
...I managed to record one thing yesterday. I don't know if I'm going to post it up or not yet, as I want to listen to it to see if I'm really happy with it. But, the recording stuff is out again and set-up ready for me when I get home from work, so I might be able to do more (if my fingers aren't too sore - I played a lot yesterday).
It feels weird knowing I'm going home to an empty house tonight - it does every time they go away. Some people might think "excellent, no obligations to worry about" and I can see their point of view... but there is a very good chance that when I leave here, I won't speak to another person until tomorrow at work again. Which makes me feel kinda lonely. And I do miss them.
Enough. Melancholy begone. It's too hot for words here in West London at the moment, but I'm not going to be one of those people who complain about it constantly. What's the point? We can't change it so we might as well just deal with it. We know we can't sleep in this heat, and it's horrible being at work while its this nice out. If it bothers people that much, phone in sick and take the day off.
Not much else to say today really... peace.
It feels weird knowing I'm going home to an empty house tonight - it does every time they go away. Some people might think "excellent, no obligations to worry about" and I can see their point of view... but there is a very good chance that when I leave here, I won't speak to another person until tomorrow at work again. Which makes me feel kinda lonely. And I do miss them.
Enough. Melancholy begone. It's too hot for words here in West London at the moment, but I'm not going to be one of those people who complain about it constantly. What's the point? We can't change it so we might as well just deal with it. We know we can't sleep in this heat, and it's horrible being at work while its this nice out. If it bothers people that much, phone in sick and take the day off.
Not much else to say today really... peace.
Friday, 25 July 2008
What I shouldn't have read...
...just before flying to the U.S next week: How to crap your shorts on an airplane
Read it first...now, can you imagine the fear?! The would cause lumpy farts all over the plane, wouldn't it.
Read it first...now, can you imagine the fear?! The would cause lumpy farts all over the plane, wouldn't it.
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