Thursday 12 July 2007

Invasions on Inter-Neighbor Zones

So once again I have found a way to revert back to my childhood after long lulls from certain actions. Today I took some time to mow Dad’s lawn. Now this task, be it a pain in the ass, a work out, another simple chore, or any other notion you may have of it, is something I volunteered to do today after work. What is seemingly different, or the forgotten same, is the non-stop new trains of thought that came to mind during my trek.

The first of these was thoughts was the excitement I had for it. When I was first allowed to mow the lawn as a chore, the event was adventuresome. I wanted to mow the lawn, and at the time, I assumed that pleased Dad, as he no longer had to make the zig-zags around the house. Today though, as I made my own marks in the green (and brown) earth, I began to think that maybe it was not a blessing, or a sense of relief to my pops when I cut the lawn in the past. It was sort of me signing my name on his domain. He does much work on that lawn (don’t mention the brown spots, they are new and seemingly incurable this summer), and I imagine he takes some pride in his work. He may also enjoy the time he can cut the lawn with an unintruded train of thoughts (for the same reason I love my jogs).

While I considered my actions of the past and present as being an invasion on my father’s work, I watched the lines I was drawing creep into the neighbors landscapes and realized it was not my father alone of who I was invading upon, but my neighbors and possible allies. I cannot be fully to blame, there has never been a line drawn on the soil to my knowledge declaring whose bit of land belonged to who, but I am pretty sure that I crossed such a line. I am now considering that there be a possible foot each direction that could be declared as inter-neighbor lands. With this possible ruling in action, I am fine for my ventures into unowned lands.

The last of my lawn mowing thoughts that I will confess to this evening are the changes in the lines of the land. I aimed at mowing in a different patter that father dearest, and I think I may have. Of course, he has been doing this for a long time, so my current creativity may just be a copy of what was done further back in the past. Oh well, it was nice to mow the lawn again.

Oh yeah, I would like to have one of those gas-free lawn mowers...with an odometer.

Wednesday 11 July 2007

No TV Make Curtis Something Something

So this weekend I bade farewell to the flicker box which stood in my bedroom since grade school. Sure, it has grown, added additional elements, and gave more options throughout its career, but I decided it was time to escape TV land. It is nice to go TVless again. The last time I had experienced it was a couple of summers ago when I lived with Jessie, her and I were able to get much more done without the ol’ boob tube. The remaining portions of this summer (while in the house) will consist of listening to music, reading the news, reading my stack of books-to-read, working on the Ukrainian language, returning to more consistent yoga, and hanging out with the parental units I call Mom and Dad.

This is a removal of one of those elements that plays little positive role in my day to day life. I still use my parents TV for SportsCenter and BBC World News. Then again in the evening for Lou Dobbs and BBC World News. Am I removing myself from common and/or pop culture. I’m not sure, but I am uniting with another set frame of thought, so all will be well. It has been pleasant thus far, and I expect it to continue on.

Enough With the All-Star Break

Of my travels last night, none of them went to the MLB All-Star Game. I can no longer bring myself to watch that game, and no, it has nothing to do with Barry Bonds. My problem lies with two aspects of the game: 1. Every team has a representative; 2. The winning league takes home-field advantage of the World Series.

I am a Royals fan, I grew up in the KC area, and I love watching my brothers in blue being regarded as all-stars, but this year was not a year we deserved representation (along with a few of the recent past years). I do feel Gil Meche is a great pitcher, and well worth the money that is being spent on him, but he does not necessarily sit on the board of all-stars. I understand that each team having a designated player would give each team a player to root for and therefore watch, but I feel that All-Star games should be played by all-stars.

I feel that the new rule (2003) declaring that the winning league of the all-star game receives the benefit of home-field advantage may have changed the mindset of the players and coaches. A game that was before a simple game of fun, there now stands much more importance in winning. This may alter who plays and for how long. Lets loose the seriousness for a little while.

I am ready for the break to end. It is a tough schedule for the Royals following the break, but I am hoping for a single ticket to one of Kansas City’s games when I am in Beantown.

Sunday 8 July 2007

Greetings and Salutations


This is the starting point of my involvement in the blogging world...outside of the small amount of vlogging that I have already done, but, being that I currently lack a video camera, I will travel on with the use of text.

One of my purposes for building this site is to share my experiences while in Ukraine for the next couple of years, but I do imagine that its use will go much further and will prove to be more fruitful than simple communication.

At this point I am just setting this up the blog, but there will soon be some explanations of my future travels, my work with the Peace Corps, and my general daily thoughts. All the best.