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| Sunday, November 27, 2005 |
| With Love |
I retunred to Brooklyn tonight to some unexpected news. One of my good friends from college, we'll call him the Red Head, returned a call I had made to him back on Tuesday night.
While in Ireland for the holiday, he was met with the kind of news you can never be prepared for. His mother, who had fought a long battle with cancer, died on Thanksgiving Day. He was flying from his home in Los Angeles tonight to be with his family in Minessotta.
So many thoughts are running through my head. I want to be there for him. I am wracked with guilt that I can't just walk up to him, give him a hug, be there for him. I literally can not imagine what he's going through right there right now. His mother was a wonderful woman who I wish I had known better. i met her only once or twice, the last time being a 4 day trip to the family's cabin on the St. Croix river. She was the matriarch of a large family, who tonight must mourn in ways I can't fathom.
I want to be there for The Red Head. I want to let him know I love him. I want to let him know I would do ANYTHING to help him through this. Even when I know he knows all that.
And in light of all this, I want to let my mother know I love her. More than anything. I called her twice tonight to tell her that. I just wanted to say it again.Labels: friends |
posted by FINY @ Sunday, November 27, 2005   |
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| Blogging From Barrington |
Well, it's almost time to head home to New York (Mom, stop glaring at me for calling New York home...). I know I've been away from the blog for a while, but I really needed this break. Work went crazy right before I left. My personal life was hectic. And I was trying to prepare to pack to come home to Barrington (better, Mom?). I could barely find the time to breathe let along blog.
But I'm back now and I'd like to discuss a recurring annoyance I've encountered in my 4.5 days in Rhode Island. It's one of my biggest pet peeves. It literally sends chills down my spine when it happens. And far FAR too many people commit the sin daily. The crime they commit? Put simply - chewing with their mouths open.
No joke this bothers me to NO end. Seriously people, I don't need to hear you chew. And I REALLY don't need to see you chew. And please GOD stop trying to talk to me while chewing.
I don't know why this bothers me so much but it literally makes me twitch. At Thanksgiving dinner, at the movies, while out having lunch with cousins, I was assaulted all weekend by the sounds of my fellow diners mashing their food between their teeth.
Is it really that hard to close your lips while chewing? I always thought it a common courtesy, but perhaps I'm wrong? Perhaps I have overly sensitive hearing? Though you would think all of the concerts I've been to would have dulled that sense not heightened it.
Regardless of why it bothers me I am very much looking forward to eating my next meal by myself, in my apartment, with my lips firmly shut.Labels: misc. |
| posted by FINY @ Sunday, November 27, 2005 |
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| Friday, November 18, 2005 |
| South Park Finy |
It has been a freaking CRAZY week around these parts. I got a project on Monday that basically took all of my waking hours to complete, including staying up until 3am on Wednesday. So since I have had NOTHING going on in my life, and basically nothing to write about, I present you with South Park Finy:
I think it's a rather accurate portrayl of what I look like :)
This idea stolen from Macca, Becki, and about a thousand other people. Try it out - you can create your own South Park character! Labels: misc. |
| posted by FINY @ Friday, November 18, 2005 |
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| Tuesday, November 15, 2005 |
| Alarm Clock Help |
Ok Folks, the time has come. I HAVE to get a new alarm clock. The current one I have is just a simple, no frills, only buzzes, cheapo thing. Problem is I think I have become immune to it. I can't tell you the number of times I have hit snooze too many times, not realized it, and woken up minutes before needing to leave for work. And I should note that the clock is on the other side of my room.
Today was the final straw. Apparently I hit snooze too many times, it turned off, and at 9:15 I awoke in a panic. I didn't get into the office 10:45. It is clearly time for a new, more effective, alarm clock. Anyone have any suggestions?Labels: misc. |
| posted by FINY @ Tuesday, November 15, 2005 |
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| Friday, November 11, 2005 |
| NaNoWriMo |
So I have mentioned before that I am participating in National Novel Writing Month. I thought this was going to be a great way for me to get back into writing fiction. To just throw caution to the wind and sit down and WRITE. This blog has functioned as a perfect way for me to get back into the habit of writing every day and to at least keep my writing skills from getting all fuzzy and cobwebbed, but I felt like it was time to get back up on the horse.
It’s not going as well as I would have hoped.
I’ve just got to write. I know my characters. I know my plot. I know what issues I am trying to explore through those characters and that plot. I just can’t get it OUT.
It’s possible that I’ve chosen too tough a situation for my characters, and that the focus of my story is too far out of my realm of knowledge. I’m a 25 year old New Yorker. Trying to write a 70-something, early-stages-of-Alzheimer’s-suffering, unhappy Rhode Islander is impossibly frustrating. There is simply no way I am going to be able to write 50,000 words in 20 days. That's like, 2,500 words a day!
Most everything I’ve written thus far has been detailed outlines, and in-depth character studies. The character studies came after diving into the work itself and realizing that the dialogue just did not sound believable. I couldn’t find their voices. So I got to know them a bit. I wrote from their perspectives. I let them tell me stories about their lives. I let them develop.
But more important than that word count is the fact that now that I know these characters so well, I really care about them. I feel like I am letting them down by not getting their stories out. Yeah, Tess is an ornery pain in the ass but she has her reasons. Her husband’s desertion of her thirty years past still feels as fresh as the day it happened. And her strained relationship with her daughter because of that desertion has only heightened her withdrawal into herself. But lately it’s been more than that. She’s forgetting things. More importantly she’s forgetting things because she can’t concentrate on them. She’ll be in the middle of conversations and she won’t be able to remember the word for the simplest things. And as she’s searching for the word she’ll just go completely blank, and look up at her conversant as if she’s woken up from a long sleep. This would happen to her as a girl but usually she was just daydreaming. This is a completely different sensation and it’s one that is scaring and irritating her.
She’s found herself sticking to familiar situations, strict schedules, places she knows well. She’s taken to asking people to repeat things, only louder, please. Which is only a trick to mask the fact that she can’t remember what they said just moments before. She’s gone into hiding. From her family (what little there is left still speaking to her) from her friends, from her doctors. Verity is the only one whom she sees every day and she is seemingly oblivious to the subtle signs of aging that Tess is trying so desperately to hide.
And Verity has her own reasons for being so oblivious. In addition to her friend being such a brilliant actress, Tess has enveloped herself in a self-absorbed bubble. In her late sixties she has finally found herself able to focus on her own happiness. Not the happiness of her husband, who was twenty years her senior and passed away when the boys were still children. Not the safety of her kids, who she raised on her own while working as a nurse, who have all gone on to start their own families, not her patients, who had come to rely on her to be the only smile they saw as they lay suffering from a myriad of ailments. She’s completely free to be self-indulgent and she is loving every second of it.
The only reasons she keeps to any sort of schedule is because Tess insists on it. But she loves her time with Tess, loves trying to break down her tough, bitter exterior. Plus she absolutely loves the six block walk to the bakery that they take every day, extra early, in order to miss the morning rush. It gives her a chance to gaze into those big windows of the brownstones that line the streets and stare at the Mahogany walls and wall-to-ceiling built in bookcases. To create lives for the people who live inside those brownstones. To imagine herself in those lives.
It’s amazing how attached you can become to characters you create. They’re not real people, they’re not going to be mad at me if I toss them into the breeze, but I feel like there’s so much there, and that others should get the opportunity to meet them too.
I just need to get it all down on paper.
It’s going to be a long 20 days.Labels: writing |
| posted by FINY @ Friday, November 11, 2005 |
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| My Liberal Pie Hole |
Ok, everyone needs to go check this out. Some of you may recognize Lizy as a commenter around here. According to Meegan, Lizy is the "blonde version" of me (no not as is, she's a ditz, as in she actually has blonde hair). Many of us in this crazy little blogging world have been anxiously awaiting Lizy's progression from commenter to blogger and she's finally done it, so go check out her new site:
My Liberal Pie Hole
Welcome to the blogging world, Lizy. You'll be a full on addict in no time!Labels: blogging |
| posted by FINY @ Friday, November 11, 2005 |
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| Thursday, November 10, 2005 |
| Magic, Music, and Movies |
I’m not a huge movie person. As a matter of fact I see VERY few in the theaters. It’s not that I don’t love to veg out and watch a good movie here and there, it’s just that since I don’t watch television that much and don’t read reviews in the paper, I usually don’t even know what’s playing and when I’m thinking “Gee what should I do today” “Go see a movie” is not even in the top five of what first comes to my head.
That said, this month there are two movies coming out that I absolutely can not WAIT to see. And both classify me as a huge dork. And that’s ok by me.
The first is Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire due out on November 18th. I absolutely love both the books and
the movies, and am definitely one of those people that counts down the days until their releases. I’m also probably going to mourn after the next book comes out since it’s the last. Anyway, this one opens on November 18th. I may try to get tickets to the midnight showing, but I kind of want to wait to see it in Imax, which I am sure is going to be impossible to get tickets for. But especially since this is the movie with The Triwizard Tournament, and I am sure visually it is going to be astounding, I’d may rather wait to see it on the bigger screen. Then again, I could always just see it twice … hmmmmm.
The second is the one I am REALLY exited about. The movie adaptation of the musical Rent comes out on Nov. 23rd and I am simply ecstatic. I love this show and have seen it three times (though never with the original cast) and am interested to see how it plays out on film.  When Chicago was made into a movie I will say I think they did a pretty nice job of it and I hope they stay as true to the Broadway version of Rent as possible. I am a bit upset by an internet rumor floating around out there that the songs “Halloween” (which is one of my favorites) and “Goodbye, Love” (which is actually at a rather poignant plot point) were not included in the final cut. This kind of thing always makes me angry. They didn’t include the song “Nobody’s Got No Class” in the Chicago movie and I was irate (and not just because I love that song). I just feel like if you’re going to make a movie based on a show that’s already in existence, you’ve got to include all of the original songs. Especially since when these shows are written the music is a MAJOR conveyor of the emotion and plot going on onstage at the time. Of course the dialogue is important, but the music is what really drives it home. It was written to be that way. Stick to it!
So we’ll see if either of these are let downs or not. But I really doubt it. Geez, after seeing Jarhead last weekend and these two movies coming up this is a HUGE movie month for me. It’s possible that’s more movies in one month than I’ve gone to see all year! I gotta get out more.Labels: movies |
| posted by FINY @ Thursday, November 10, 2005 |
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| Tuesday, November 08, 2005 |
| When Life’s Beatings Turn to Blessings |
I’ve recounted the story many times. Both to people I’ve met since then, and here on this site. It’s the story of The Ex. And until yesterday, I thought the story was over. Apparently I was wrong.
The minute I told my friends that The Ex had emailed me the first question out of their mouths was “You’re not going to email him back, are you?” which was quickly followed by “You KNOW you can’t email him back, right?!”. What this led to were a lot of very long conversations and a lot of me thinking about everything over and over again.
When I first saw his name in my inbox my breath literally caught in my throat. I was completely shocked and though I didn’t want it to happen, the memories of that day came flooding back to me. The breakfast I made (scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast). My complete incomprehension when he started telling me he was leaving (What do you mean?). The Notre Dame hat he was wearing as he walked out the door. The last hug. And the way the ceiling looked as I collapsed onto the floor moments after his car had pulled away.
For months after that I lived on MM’s pull out couch in New Jersey waiting for her lease to end so we could move in together. I dated Crazy Rebound Guy for three months. MM and I moved to a new apartment, I got a new job. Slowly, I stopped thinking about it daily. I moved on. What I never did, in all that time, was get mad at him. My friends and family did that for me (and god HELP the poor kid if he ever runs into my mother).
But then about a year ago I found out that The Ex was joining the Marines. It was something I had sort of expected, he had been talking and thinking about it for years. I had to get in touch with him. Though I hadn’t talked to him in ages, I knew I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if God forbid something had happened to him and I hadn’t tried to talk to him first. So I sent an email. I never heard back. In time I even completely forgot I sent that email.
But I was reminded of it all when I saw his name. And as I read the email I almost couldn’t breathe. He said he was surprised to hear from me, and that since it had been a year since I had emailed him I was probably surprised to be hearing from him now too. He said he hadn’t checked his Yahoo! Account in years (though don’t they turn those accounts off after a while?). He said he was stationed in CA, that he appreciated my well wishes and congratulations on his enlistment. And then he said he was sorry. He said he knew he had handled it poorly and that he’d like to leave things on a better note. That if I still wanted to catch up, I should email him back.
My immediate response was to hit reply and start typing. So that’s what I did. But then there was nothing to write. I couldn’t for the life of me think what to write. So I closed the window and threw myself into work, trying in vain to put it in the back of my head to think about later.
Over the course of the day, after telling the story to friends, to family, to my new roommates, I realized one thing. I wasn’t holding on to him anymore, I was hanging on to the hurt. Any time I told the story you could still hear the hurt in my voice.
But there’s really no reason to hold onto it. To the contrary my life is a thousand times better today than it would have been had he and I stayed together. Life kicked the shit out of me for a good three months afterwards, but it turned out for the best.
Did he choose a rather cowardly way to end the relationship? Clearly. But that was a long time ago. I know I am a very different person than I was then. Now that he’s a Marine I have to assume he is too.
So I emailed him back. Not because I want to rekindle a romance. Not because I want to know why he left. Not because I want more closure. But because, no matter how much time passes, he was a major part of my life for a long time.
I wrote and told him I was surprised to hear from him, but glad too. I asked him exactly when he enlisted, what boot camp was like, how his family was (I absolutely adored them). And then I told him the truth. I told him where I was living, and where I was working. I told him I appreciated his apology. That I wasn’t going to lie, that it kicked my ass, but made me better in the long run. I never actually “accepted” the apology, and intentionally so. If what he’s really looking for is forgiveness he’s not going to get it out of me in one email.
So we’ll see how he responds. Or even if he responds. Either way, a lot of good has come out of this already. It once again made me realize how fucking fantastic my life is right now. And it finally made me realize I hadn’t let go of the hurt yet, and that it was time to do so.Labels: dating |
| posted by FINY @ Tuesday, November 08, 2005 |
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| Monday, November 07, 2005 |
| Weekend Update |
Completely unimaginative, but I had a great weekend this weekend, and since I have something else weighing rather heavily on my mind (more on that later) I figured the traditional: day by day breakdown would have to suffice. My brain is too fried to be more imaginative right now.
Friday night was fantastic. I got to meet up with Fleece Boy from college who I hadn’t seen literally since the day we graduated. It was so great catching up. Though my hangover the next morning was a bit rough it was at least lessened a bit by our 4am trip to the diner.
Saturday was spent on the couch. I was in a lot of hangover pain. Which is weird because while I had a lot to drink, it’s definitely nowhere near what it usually takes to get me that hungover. Perhaps I’m getting old?
Anyway, that night I met The Twin in Union Square. We had coffee, wandered around Barnes and Noble for a while, and then went to see Jarhead. I’d actually really recommend this to everyone and would love to read the book so I can see how closely they mirrored it. Ironically, it actually made me think about The Ex quite a bit since he’s a Marine now and is apparently stationed at Camp Pendleton where the first half of the movie is set. You’ll find out why that was ironic later.
After the movie The Twin and I headed back to his place to grab his old Polaroid camera before going back to my place for the night. Why grab his Polaroid? Well, other than simply because he carries his equipment with him most everywhere, he wanted to have it with him to take some shots of the NYC Marathon that ran straight past my apartment on Sunday morning.
The Twin and I spent all day Sunday with the roommates, they’re boyfriends, friends, and my buddy Ry. It was a LOT of fun. A live band was playing just half a block away, I got to see my friend Derek run by, and we watched for a while from the apartment building roof, which while scary to those of us who are afraid of heights, it was a great view.
Later that afternoon, The Grad Student Roommate, her boyfriend and friend, and the Twin and I went out to have a few beers and sit outside since it was so gorgeous out. I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time. We only had a couple beers, but we were there for a few hours and God did we have a great time.
Afterwards, The Twin and I met up with his studio manager to celebrate her finishing the marathon that day. I walk into the bar and run into a guy I went to college with. He was dating one of the Studio Managers good friends. Small world. Was nice to see him though.
We got back to the Twin’s place relatively early, hung around for a while, and passed out from sheer exhaustion. It was a great weekend, that I’ve taken two things away from:
1. I absolutely freaking love this city. Sitting on top of my roof watching thousands of people run past, walking down 4th Avenue in Brooklyn after it was over and it being completely deserted, sitting in the garden of the bar, it was just such a great “My God I live in New York City” type day.
2. Similar events happen in groups. I’ve seen or heard from more Emersonians in the last few days than I can even explain. Fleece Boy and my friend WriterGirl on Friday. ComedyGuy on Sunday at the bar. And then I came into the office today to receive a voicemail message from one of my favorite people in the world, AT. AT and I were senior class officers together and we see each other maybe once or twice a year. This year it’s going to be next week! And then I turned on my computer, and, well, a few pieces are about to fall into place here people, because what do I see, after two and a half years of complete silence? Wait for it …
… an email from The Ex.Labels: dating, friends, movies, NYC |
| posted by FINY @ Monday, November 07, 2005 |
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| Friday, November 04, 2005 |
| Rudy's, Roommates, and Runners |
Not going to lie that was a tough week to get through. That's why I'm looking forward to this weekend so much. Check back Monday for an update on:
Rudy's: This evening I'll finally get to see a college friend of mine I haven't seen since the day we graduated. He was literally a part of my life every day of my senior year and then I had to go cold turkey? NOT COOL. Since he works in midtown we've decided to class it up and go to the diviest dive bar we could think of: Rudy's of course.
Roommates: Well a former one anyway. Missy is coming to visit tomorrow!!! And she'll be staying with me so that on Sunday we can watch ...
Runners: The NYC marathon runs straight past my apartment. We're getting a group of us together, going to make some brunch and cheer on Derek and the thousands of other marathoners.
Hope everyone has a GREAT weekend.Labels: misc. |
| posted by FINY @ Friday, November 04, 2005 |
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| Thursday, November 03, 2005 |
| A Question of Semantics |
Imagine if you will, my mother, a regular reader of this blog, signs on to the site and reads the post directly preceding this one. She thinks it’s adorable, and so sweet that I would write something about her marriage to my father (she’d also like me to note that I told the story wrong. My father broke up with her not the other way around. She just knew he’d come back cause he hadn’t realized yet how he couldn’t live without her).
So as she normally does when she sees a post she likes, she drags my father in to read it. Dad doesn’t seem to read the blog on a daily basis but is an occasional reader and always reads when my Mom tells him too (see 25+ years of marriage, she’s got him trained pretty well :) ).
But as he scrolls down he sees the post about “The One”. And to my horror, focuses not on my melodramatic “how do you know” conundrum, but on a single term I used. “Fuck Friends”.
So in answer to your inevitable questions, yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is ACTUALLY my father’s comment on that post. And no, I don’t think he will EVER be meeting The Twin.
Love you Dad!Labels: blogging, family |
| posted by FINY @ Thursday, November 03, 2005 |
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| A Good Model To Follow |
My mother and father have been together for more than thirty years. They’ve been married for 27.
Have they had their ups and downs? Sure. Mom likes to tell the story about how she broke up with my father to make him realize how much he wanted to be with her. And yet she still holds true to the story that she knew she wanted to marry him before she had ever met him. The first time she saw him walking across “that bridge”. Sure they bicker, and of course they get pissed at each other. But I know they still love each other more than anything.
I come from a charmed family life. And I am blessed to be able to say that. My parents are still in love after 30+ years. My mom’s parents have been married for over 50. Before my Dad’s mother passed away a year and a half ago that set of grandparents had been together for around the same amount of time.
But it goes beyond them just being together. The amount of love that can be seen all over my family, aunts and uncles, cousins, everywhere, is truly a wonderful thing.
I bring this up because of the responses to my last post. I was amazed at the number of responses I got and I am so glad I got them. That post wasn’t meant to indicate that things were becoming difficult with The Twin and I. Things are great actually. Sure I go through my moments of insecurity. And I am still not totally sure where we stand on the relationship scale, but that’s ok. Like I said before, I’m twenty-five years old, I’m not looking to settle down.
But when I do, when I find the man I want to spend the rest of my life with, I can only hope I can follow the example that has been set for me by so many in my life. That there can be true love out there. Life-long love. And that while divorces have become as common as colds these days that that doesn’t have to be the norm.Labels: dating, family |
| posted by FINY @ Thursday, November 03, 2005 |
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| Tuesday, November 01, 2005 |
| What If You Don’t, “Just Know”? |
In the last month or so I’ve had three separate friends told me something along these lines: “I just felt it, right away. This is right. It’s wonderful. What can I say, when you know, you just know”.
Now, I should state right away, I am REALLY happy for all three of my friends who have said this. They are all happier than I’ve ever seen them. But it ends up bringing up a lot of questions for me.
Clearly I’ve never “just known” about anyone I’ve ever been with. I mean the whole idea behind the premise is that when you just know, that’s it. The end.
The question now is, is that the way it SHOULD be? And for those of you who have said this to me over the last month, because I know you read here, I’d actually appreciate a non-response here. I’m looking for outside opinions here.
This is really just all in the wake of a rather vague period with The Twin and the realization that I need romance in my life. Never ONCE have I dated someone I would describe as romantic. I have been bought flowers by a man only twice in my life. And with the way I tend to fall into relationships I tend to skip the whole first date stage. I’m not the kind of woman who gets bought drinks in bars. Probably because the bars I hang out at are sports bars and I am usually screaming at the television.
I don’t know, I am just down at the moment. So someone get back to me about the whole “just knowing” thing. This intrigues me. Or depresses me I can’t tell which. Because if it’s true then what’s the point of dating at all?Labels: dating |
| posted by FINY @ Tuesday, November 01, 2005 |
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| The Good Times |
As I was tidying up the dining room tonight I picked up Steven King and Stewart O’Nan’s Faithful. Flipping through I paused on the entries about various games I had been to that season. And then I landed on THE game. Or at least it was THE game in my season that season as it was the only playoff game I was actually at. It was the clinching game of the ALDS. This is what I wrote when I got back from Boston that weekend:
Ok, I have finally returned to NYC after attending the game on Friday. As many of you who were there have already said, it was the most amazing thing to see in person.
It was an absolutely perfect day for baseball. Clear, a little cool, stereotypical playoff weather. I hadn't been back to Fenway in two years and when we entered through the right field concourse area I was stunned at all the improvements to the park. Granted those grandstands seats are still as uncomfortable looking as ever, but I had standing room tickets so what did that matter?
We got there early enough to watch the Angels take batting practice and wander around the park for a while before taking our spots behind Section 16 of the grandstand. As long as everyone was sitting it was an amazing view of the game ... but being 5' 2" when people stood i needed to find people to look between to see the batter.
As can be expected, when the Angels tied the game it took the wind out of the crowd. I should note here that h0nus actually called the game tying grand slam. The pitch before, which Guerrero had swung on and missed, h0nus it should be noted we now, a year plus later, call this one assh0le said "He's swinging to tie the game". Anyway, when the Sox came up to bat next they played Eminem's "Lose Yourself" over the loudspeaker and this very old man who was standing near us actually started to kind of dance along to it. He must have been in his eighties and it was just a great thing to see him so into it. You know he's been a fan forever and is still waiting to see them win it all.
The crowd was restless after the next couple of innings. But with Pokey standing on first and Ortiz about to come up to bat the crowd was already getting pumped up as the Angels decided to bring in Washburn. I should also note here that h0nus once again semi-predicted what was about to happen when he said "Ladies and gentlemen, now pitching for the Angels, the pitcher who got rocked in game one of the series, Jarrod Washburn". And then IT happened. And the crowd went crazy.
Seriously, I've never seen anything like this in my life. EVERYONE was jumping up and down, screaming, hugging each other. The old man who had been dancing was high fiving everyone. Somehow (probably because I am so short) someone accidentally clocked me in the eye. Got a cute little bruise on my eyelid, but who cares? SO worth it!
For a while we stood on chairs in the back of the grandstand, watching the on field celebration, but eventually we decided to move down to the field level. We made it all the way to the second row, between the dugout and home plate. On the way down there, who do we see, but Pedro's midget! I didn't even see him at first as he was perched on a guy's shoulder who had passed us on the stairs, but wow. It's one thing to know the guys is small, it's a whole other to actually see him. Wish we had gotten a pic ...
During the course of the next, geez, I don't even know, 45 minutes maybe? I have no idea, players were coming out spraying the crowd with beer, champagne, etc. There's a thread in the saloon with some pics. My favorite moment by far was being sprayed with beer by Tim Wakefield (we all know how much I love him). But Manny and Millar doing the victory lap was incredible, as was seeing a very doused Ortiz riding on the back of a cart with goggles on while Damon sat up front. Kapler was really going crazy with the champagne, and Youks was throwing toy balls into the crowd. Nixon and Kapler both got on the loudspeaker, thanking the fans for being there, etc. If anyone else was there, what the hell did Nixon say?! He had a cigar in his mouth and I'm pretty sure he was hammered and I couldn't understand much of it
We stayed basically until security kicked us out. By far the most amazing game I've seen live, and one I'm probably going to remember forever.
Why focus on this now, more than a year later? Because it’s easier for me to focus on that right now than it is what is going on with our General Manager situation right now.
I’ve gotten past the emotional portion of my response to the news. Theo will always be remembered as the man who helped this team win what many thought might be impossible. He made his share of bad moves (Kim comes to mind immediately), and some amazing ones (David Ortiz anyone?) but when it comes down to it these moves were not made in a bubble and I am sure that many people had their fair share of input on them.
What bothers me, and worries me the MOST here, is that in an offseason when the Sox really needed to focus on re-signing some key players and patching the holes that exist in the bullpen, starting lineup and on the bench, the Sox now need to focus on finding a new General Manager.
Boston is a tough town to play in. Part of the General Manager’s job is to woo potential players to the table. Just look at what it took for Theo to get Schilling. The man spent a holiday in Arizona for Christ Sake! We need someone in there, and fast, that can help the front office make players feel that while the media may tear them apart, and while they may lose all privacy they ever hoped to have if they play for Boston, the organization is worth playing for and will protect them as much as possible.
But to do that, we need to find someone who is willing to work under LL, which could be interesting. I know there is a lot of debate going on out there about the reasons that Theo left. But when you can’t hold onto a guy who grew up loving the team, who was groomed for this, his DREAM job, isn’t it going to be harder to convince potential replacements that this is the kind of working environment is the kind they’d love to be in?
So yeah, I’m worried. This was the one signing this off season I wasn’t worried about. The ONE I thought we had in the bag. And now here we sit. Stunned. So yes, I’d rather focus on the good moments. Sue me.Labels: baseball, Boston |
| posted by FINY @ Tuesday, November 01, 2005 |
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