I didn’t do anything on Friday night because I was running a 5k on Saturday morning. I will have to write that it does feel good waking up on Saturday at 7:15, getting a hair cut, and then being a productive person as phrased by CK4. The race went off at 9:30 and I was pretty well prepared for a quick 5k. My first mile was clocked at exactly 5:40 and my finishing time was a 5:38 pace for a 17:38 which was good for 2nd place in the race. I was hoping to get under 17:30 but I was pretty pleased considering I kicked really well at the end and obviously had more left in the tank.
After the race, Ck4 and I played a round of golf at Walnut Creek which is undoubtedly one of the worst courses in the area. Without going into too much detail, I thought I played particularly well playing their par 3’s with just about every tee shot landing near or on the green. Neither of us put up a particularly good score so it’s not even worth mentioning. We had a football game at 4pm so we decided to have a a beer or two at Mad River beforehand. Fortunately the opposing team was pretty bad and we won handily. I went home and showered before heading to Baker’s for a Halloween party. I dressed up at Morpheus from the Matrix which was a decent costume but not many people even knew who it was. The glasses were really crappy and I they couldn’t be worn unless there was literally no facial movement.

I got back home on Sunday for football and this wasn’t one of my better betting weeks. I managed to drop a figure that I’m not going to reveal (unless you really want to know) but it was over 100 and less than 500. It’s hard to really be disappointed when I know I’m playing with house money but it was still money. After this week I’m up 100 dollars for the season which is a setback and now I have to be much more careful in the games I choose. I went 3-1 fantasy wise for the 2nd straight week and am making serious effort at a playoff run in 3 leagues. I’m 4-4 in 3 leagues and 3-5 in the other. The Wild Turkeys beat the Shee for a huge win and puts me right back in the thick of things with what I believe is my best team. Still surviving.

I’ve taken off work today to go golfing with perhaps my oldest known friend who just recently got engaged. It’s difficult to maintain friendships for this long for various reasons including location, feelings, and all the other curve balls life throws at you. Taking a day off to go golfing is a true luxury with an old time friend. What used to be seeing each other practically every day to the realization that life changes is perfectly natural. The best thing a friend can do for another friend is to feel happy when they’re happy. So I wanted to take this sentence and just give a huge congratulations to Nikkii and Chad on their recent engagement. I must also thank Ck4 for all his contributing efforts to providing blog fodder for over the years. Examples are here and here and here.

Today is also an interesting date because it marks birthday of my roommate from college. I noticed on facebook that he would have been 30 years old today. I knew him for all 2.5 years of college and we were roommates for the .5 year. I don’t know the exact cause of death but I presume it was self inflicted, perhaps accidentally. My first example was of somebody getting married and starting a brand new life with the sensation of happiness. This is the opposite end of the life spectrum. Have you experienced death in your life? A death of old age is something you are more prepared for but unexpected deaths can hit you differently. I’m going to be perfectly honest now because I just wouldn’t want to lie. My roommates death wasn’t a life altering feeling for me. We’d grown apart, mainly due to his erratic nature, and he let substances rule his life. It wasn’t the same friendship when it started. That’s why I wrote it’s important to appreciate days with people that you’ve known for a long time because there are no guarantees in life. You really have to live life in the moment.

My sister would scrutinize that last sentence due to my monetizing ways.

The feeling of regret is nearly impossible to avoid throughout your life. There will come a time where you wish you could go back and do something differently to achieve a different outcome. Here are two situations I’ve encountered recently that I wish I could go back and change. No matter how trivial they may seem, I still remember them.

Yesterday in our co-ed football game I dropped a pass that would have been a touchdown from our reserve QB. It probably would have been a 40 yard TD pass and the guy, Dan, threw it perfect. I made a move deep and had the defender by a step and he leads a perfect pass that goes right over the outstretched hands of the defender and right through my hands. The game was a blowout so the play didn’t really make a difference in the outcome but it’s a catch I should be making 95% of the time. Everyone would have benefited from me making the catch. Now imagine you are Bill Buckner. It’s life changing.

This second one is a little more obscure. It was 3am one night and a bunch of people were listening to music. The one guy who was controlling the DJ, and was rocking with Springsteen Thunder Road and other such classics, asked me to pick a song. I said no thanks but he persisted because he heard my taste earlier in the day and said he liked my choices. So I sat there and tried to think of a 3am song that would rock the house. I came up with Golden Slumbers by the Beatles. This selection was horrible. I regret this song choice and still think how I can never change that moment in time and how that guy will never ask me for a song selection again. Small but I will never forget it for the rest of my life. Better choices would have been Sympathy for the Devil, All Along the Watchtower, or Life During Wartime.