’Round these parts today is the first day of school. And for the first time in 16 years that actually means something to me.
Dreading it just as much now as I did then.
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I don’t think I’ve ever felt a breathless anticipation for a preseason football game as I have for tomorrow’s beltway battle between the Washington Redskins and the Ravens of Baltimore. Meaningless exhibition? Hardly. You’d think the Super Bowl, Presidential election, and all future sunrises were riding on this contest.
Maybe it’s because I live here that I think this is getting so much attention. Maybe it’s because I live in an area where people just love to talk. Or maybe it really is that important.
Whatever it is, do not attempt to contact me between 7 and 11 p.m. tomorrow evening. There’s a meaningless exhibition game for me to watch.
You gotta love a game where one night your team gets a run in the bottom of the ninth inning to win the game 1-0, then the next night that same team, playing the same other team, puts up one run in the bottom of the ninth inning… to lose 15-1.
Well, you probably love the game more the first night than you do the second.
Watching the Wyndham Championship yesterday I certainly expected to be transported back in time to about 1997. I was, but not with the guy I was expecting. Congrats, Davis Love III, on the victory, and thank you for making me feel not quite so old for a day.
Usually when I watch, well, let’s say veteran sportsmen compete I think, wow, I remember that guy as a kid, he must be really old.
And then I find out the guy is 36.
Davis Love III?
Yeah, that guy really is old.
Nice.
I can honestly say that the past five years has been the best half decade of my life. It is no coincidence that during this period I have been married to my best friend, confidant, and partner in all things.
She is known sometimes as Mrs. O’Connell, sometimes Leia Anne, and recently just “Mom.” By any name I say Happy Anniversary, and here’s to happiness every day!
I probably don’t stop to think about it often enough, but I’m an incredibly lucky person. This past Monday’s homecoming concert was for me a thrilling experience, and I realize not everyone gets to do something like that. (If you have the means, though, I recommend it highly.)
Friends were seen, music was played, and stories were shared, and I’m already looking forward to about five years from now when I would do something like this again. In the meantime I’ll just live my regular life, the one with the attractive wife, adorable baby, and house in the suburbs.
Yeah, I’m a pretty lucky guy.
Tonight’s the night I’ve been waiting for, and I assume it’s not the first time you’re hearing about this. This evening I’m playing a show at the Goodwill Theatre in Johnson City, New York, with a few friends I haven’t been able to play with in several years. This afternoon we’re recording some original tracks of mine, and the concert is being taped as well. But seriously, who has time for blog entries right now? See you Wednesday… or better yet, see you at the show!
I think this picture pretty much says it all.
Seventy years ago today (or tomorrow, depending on where you were at the time) the largest and most most bloody conflict in the history of mankind came to an end. I realize a formal surrender did not take place until the following month; I will note the anniversary again at that time.
Those of us who did not live through World War II have a tough time grasping the scope of the conflict and its mind-boggling inhumanity. Amazing too is that the era wasn’t that long ago, and there are still people around today who lived through it. Sadly those numbers are falling, and someday that number will be none. But our thoughts will remain… along with our prayers, and a well-timed photograph or two.
There were two shows this summer I’d looked forward to and sadly both of them have fallen flat. The TV reboot of Wet Hot American Summer was a total joke (made it through two episodes out of eight), while NBC’s Mr. Robinson, which airs its next two episodes tonight, I’ve also decided to eschew. You know it’s bad when they start getting rid of episodes two at a time.
Mr. Robinson stars Craig “Hot Tub Time Machine” Robinson in the title role, and is presented by several Frasier alumni. Sounds promising, right? The premise of the show–“professional” musician who moonlights as a substitute teacher–had me intrigued, of course, because, well, that’s my life. I’m sorry to say that it just didn’t come together for me, perhaps because I know just a little bit too much about those subjects.
Thanks, bad TV shows, for giving me so much more free time this summer to do something other than watch TV.
There’s a monstrously large construction site about a mile from my house, different from the one I described two weeks ago. This one I know what it is. It’s called Topgolf, and quite frankly it defies all description and categorization. You can check it out here: http://topgolf.com/us/, or head to one of its 15 locations nationwide. (Ours is one of another 10 on the way.) Apparently this Topgolf is sweeping the nation, and it has taken up much of Virginia Route 7 between Dranesville and Lansdowne. Someday my little Hamlet will no longer be known as Sterling Park but as Topgolf South.
From the highway Topgolf looks like—I don’t know—an Olympic village, perhaps. Its website makes it look like Chuck E. Cheese for adults. Chuck E. Cheese with golf. It actually describes Loudoun County living to a tee (get it? Tee?). People who work all the time need a way to spend all that money quickly in one place and in a ridiculous manner. Check and checkmate.
The casualty in this scene is one Woody’s Golf Range, the driving range/batting cage/minigolf center a little further up Route 7 towards the wilds of D.C. Woody’s has been providing family entertainment in the area for the past 35 years (an eternity in these parts), since Loudoun County was a cow pasture and Fairfax was hardly any better. Woody’s is closing up shop at the end of this season, no doubt in part due to big money competition up the street.
I understand progress, I understand innovation, and I’m sure I’ll make it to Topgolf one of these days. But like everything else in this world, it just won’t be the same.
It just won’t be the same.