First Things First

It's a small update this month.  I'm hoping to get some projects off the ground, but I haven't had the time needed to get them started.  I want to add some things, get rid of others, and move things around a bit.  That will have to wait.  However, what I do update is Vista Drive.  Vista Drive gets additions to both sections.

Afterthoughts : Four Leaf Clover

I knew this kid named Morgan growing up.  He was a tough kid, as opposed to me, who wasn't.  We were friends mainly because he lived two doors down from me.  He was the only friend that lived close by.  Close enough that my mother would let me go over to his place.  But, he never really trusted him.  I guess in a way I didn't.  Not the the point that I could say he was my best friend.  We went to the same elementary school.  One day while on the bus he turns to me and asks me, "Do you want to skip class?"  I had never done such a thing, but the idea thrilled me.  I was still very scared at the idea however.  I was afraid that the whole world would know that I skipped school for the rest of my life.  Despite this feeling I skipped class that day.  Morgan and me went to Domingos for lunch.  The person there asked us if we weren't supposed to be in school.  Morgan gave him some excuse, and that was good enough.  We went back to the park right next to the school to eat our subs.  I have to say that the whole day was sort of a bust.  We didn't go anything all that fun, except not go to class.  The one cool thing that happened that day was that I found a real life four leaf clover.  After eating our subs, we sat on the moist grass and just looked up at the sky.  We talked about whatever, but mostly we looked up.  My eyes hurt from the brightness of the blue sky.  How come the sky is never that bright on the playground?  While talking I noticed that there was a batch of clovers by my head.  I turned around and made the off-hand remark, "Wouldn't it be neat if I found a four leaf clover?"  Almost as if written by some scriptwriter I found a four leaf clover.  When I got home there were a few questions about why I wasn't a playground from my cousins.  And also how I could have made it out to the park so early.  They passed.  I kept that clover in a little plastic sleeve, hoping that all my dreams would come true because I had found it.  They didn't, but I still felt incredible that I had a real four leaf clover.  I don't know where it is now.  I think I lost it in a stupid way, or it could still be in my drawer.  There is a childhood of toys in that drawer, and part of me wishes not to disturb that.

Editorial : Enough Already!

The Atlanta Braves made their now customary exit in the playoffs October 5th, with a series loss to the Chicago Cubs.  I'm here to say that I'm sick and tired of the Atlanta Braves being in the playoffs.  They win over 100 games a year, outplaying everyone, only to fold in the playoffs.  I wonder, what gives with this team?  How is it that they can win so many games in the regular season year after year, winning their division for the hundredth time in a row, and then once the playoffs start, fold faster than Superman on laundry day?

Whatever the reason, I'm sick of it.  I rather that the Atlanta Braves not make the playoffs anymore.  They really should let some other team win their division.  Maybe that other team will have a chance at actually winning a world series.  I'm sure they can't do any worse than the Braves.

So Atlanta, please, give up on trying to win it all.  You won one world series, about a decade ago.  That's more than most teams ever win.  But really, you should either win it again, or just dismantle that team and become an alsoran.  At least alsorans have something to look forward to.  You Braves have nothing to look forward to but another year, another 100 plus win season, and yet another loss in the playoffs to another team.  I would think you would be tired of it by now, I know I am.

Etcetera : Afterglow

Sarah Mclachlan's long awaited follow-up album to the highly successful Surfacing arrives as Afterglow November 4th.  The single, Fallen, has been played on the radio since mid September.  I fell in love with the single, and expect the same from the album.  Sarah Mclachlan has had a long career for two reasons, in my opinion.  Her great voice, and her great songs.  Through the years she has come out with album after album of great songs.  Songs that aren't to be thrown away after a few listening.  These are songs that reverberate in our ears, and in our hearts.  I've been a huge fan of Sarah Mclachlan ever since I heard a song from her album Fumbling Towards Ecstasy.  I heard something very special there.  Something that was not meant for quick consumption.  It was meant to linger.  Here it is so many years later, and I'm still the biggest of fans.  Sarah Mclachlan's latest effort, Afterglow, is something I have been greatly anticipating since I first heard the news of a new Sarah Mclachlan album.  I know if you hear it, you too will rush out to buy it.