Mom and Dad flew in Yesterday, and Martha arrived today. All had smooth flights. Tonight everyone converged at Sulgrave Road to greet the weary travelers. I counted seventeen including Smoky the dog! It's great to see my family, and I can't wait to finish the work week and begin to show them around the life that I have carved out for myself in Richmond.
The Sharks have made it through to the finals, finishing top of our group (Click here for standings). We expected our last game to be our toughest opposition, and played hard with no substitutes to get the win. Now it's on to the knockout stages next week. Hopefully I'll be able to play, but with my family in town I'll have to see how my schedule works out. Click here and scroll down to see the fixtures.
I just picked up the Soundtrack to the upcoming film, "the future is unwritten", about the life of Joe Strummer. Joe was with the Clash, later formed the Mescaleros, and DJ'ed a radio show on the BBC world Service from 1999-2002. The album showcases some of the music Joe would play on his show.
I've always enjoyed Joe's musical endevours. He writes songs about stuff that really happened to him; other people write songs about cool stuff they wish would happen to them. Genre isn't really important. Honesty is.
We played the Costa Ricans tonight @ Indoor and were defeated 8-1. A bit disappointing, but as usual no one stayed in position and we didn't talk to one another...
Eileen and Anders took Kristal and I night fishing on Friday. In the photo we are setting out on the Pamunkey River just before sunset. It was a really beautiful evening. Later, the stars and the lightning bugs came out. Anders talked to the owls a lot (they been reading too much Harry Potter).
As for the fishing, we we not so lucky. No fish we caught, and we lost one line in the trees, one when the line touched the lantern and burnt off, and another snagged on a branch at the bottom of the river! Still, had a great time, and as long as Anders doesn't think we're cursed, we'll try again another day.
This year I decided not to kick up any fuss about the fourth of July. I barely heard anyone call it 'Independence Day', which just goes to show that nobody remembers why they're getting the day off work. Ray invited a few of us from work around to his new house for a cook-out. His dog, a beagle by the name of muddy, ate my potato salad. I feel like the balance of the universe was restored when one of our fireworks almost killed Ray and Muddy! To pass the time 'til it got dark, we played 'Would you rather...', which involved me getting in rather heated arguments with Amanda about how much saliva there is on a cows tongue (among other, more intellectual topics).
I was home in time to watch the fireworks at the Diamond (the baseball stadium is just a few blocks away, so I had a good view from the top of my fire-escape). They didn't start until around 11pm. Apparently the neighbours were complaining about the noise. Again, I think it's rather sad that on such a significant national holiday, some people can only grumble that the fireworks were too loud! It's the kind of thing you expect to happen in England!
My uncle Ben got Kristal and I some tickets for the Indy Car race at RIR last night. The video posted above is not my original footage, but pretty much captures how the race proceeds for 250 laps. However, it was better than NASCAR for the following reasons. 1. It features a smaller field of cars, so it's easier to keep track of what's going on. 2. It's faster - if you're just going to drive around in circles, at least do it at 170mph. 3. Diversity - the current leader is a Scot of Italian descent, and there are four women drivers. 4. They run on Ethanol! The evening starts off with the usual military posturing - a jet fighter flyby and three paragliders, one with a huge Stars & Stripes tied to his leg! It was pretty cool. We ate the worst cheeseburgers I've ever tasted, washed down with crisp, refreshing Miller Lite. I bought a T-shirt, which I will wear with Pride to work tomorrow!
