Status update

Not much going on...much of the same grind, but less of it on the fun side.

It's playoff time at the Ice Oasis, and so my Thursday & Saturday teams (Sabres & Coconuts, respectively) are switching into high gear. The Thursday schedule is 3 rounds of elimination; I think we ended up in something like 4th of 8. Both this week (regular season) and last week (playoffs) we ended up playing the Genies at 10:45pm, and although we gave it a good shot, we lost both games. This past game was particularly fierce; the ref warned both teams in the second to cool down on the physical play. The Genies had two big guys (tall and chunky) who I found fairly physical -- I play D on Thursdays -- but one of them was nice enough to compliment me on my defensive play on a particular shift partway through. As usual, we had 3 D, but the other two were my aforementioned solid older guys whom I love to work with. Always playing consistently and well -- quiet but dependable, and always paying attention, so that we change and switch sides smoothly without having to say a word. I will definitely miss them when the rosters swap out again.

Saturdays I captain the Coconuts. Here we are, at the end of the season, and as far as I'm concerned it has been a tremendous success! We're in last place (out of 4) but even though the majority of them are in their first or second season of skating ever, they're enthusiastic, happy, they've all improved, they're all still coming every week, and are doing it with grins on their faces. We were thankfully gifted with a best-of-3 playoff pattern instead of elimination, which is nice because the Pharaohs have been dominating the scoreboard all season, both in their own games and in subbing for other teams, so this gives the team who plays the Pharaohs first (us) a chance to win even if we don't defeat them in the first round. Our happy team has been enjoying an excellent attendance rate this season, so for the vast majority of the games, we've had to play *against* Pharaoh subs or players, including one particular one who's so good that you can tell by his skating that someone asked him to pass more and shoot less halfway through the season, although it doesn't seem to stop him from scoring his one allowed goal when subbing. Not that G and I are a little bitter about it or anything. ;-) So we started this last game with 9 skaters, since one of our best players was injured in a minor incident on the ice last week, and this other player Jack, we'd been told, had been in a horrible dirt biking accident where he hit a sinkhole at high speed and flipped over his handlebars. The helmet saved his face, but he knocked out five teeth on impact when the front of the helmet lifted upwards and he hit his jaw on the ground. He'd joined us early on in the season, first time ever playing hockey, six foot plus of all arms and legs, grins and enthusiasm.

So partway through the first period, the rink door opens, and to our surprise, Jack steps onto the ice, dressed and everything. He takes a second step -- and falls. Gets up, takes another step, and falls again. Gets up, takes off a soaker, throws it cheerily at the goalie laughing at him, and then joins us on the bench. His chin is covered in black stitches and he has no front top teeth, but he's wreathed in smiles, the nut! :-) Typical hockey player!

We played fiercely against their 10 skaters, took the lead in the 2nd, and -- defeated the first-place Pharaohs. I've never been prouder. Way to go Coconuts!!! :-D I have high hopes for the other two games, as subs aren't permitted, and I'm fairly sure we have a better attendance record than the other two teams, who had only 1 and 2 on the bench in the game following ours.

After the game though, my body was seriously dragging, from the stomach muscles on down. Thursday's game had been more physical than usual, and though I played cleanly, it's a physical challenge to play D against bigger guys. I treated myself to a bath that night, both because I wanted to soak a nice 4-day butt bruise I'd obtained in a hard fall, and partly because I hadn't used our new-ish guest bathroom's bath before. It worked great -- the towel hanging from the glass shower door is within easy reach, our bath pillow is comfy, the angles of the tub work well, and there's plenty of room, as it turns out, for my cat to sit on the floor next to me and stare at me the whole time. I guess I she considered me a captive audience, attention-wise. You know, "There's a cat here, you must scritch it." She didn't seem to mind that most of my offered rubs also came with a bit of dripping water and lavender suds, but I seriously felt like there was someone in line, waiting impatiently for me to get out. Sheesh! Anyway, I felt better and it put my core temp up nicely for sleeping, which was just as well, as I of course had another game on Sunday.

Sunday's game, with my usual Red team Toxic Shot, was our last of the season. Both teams played well, Chris C., usually a Green goalie, did fabulously against veteran Claire in the other net, and we ended in a 1-1 tie -- which is, in a way, as it should be for a last game. I was shoved in the back onto the ice in front of the opposing net by a physically strong friend who fends off opponents a bit higher on their body than I'd consider a good idea, which both flared my temper and gave me a nice whiplash neckache afterwards, but fortunately I seem ok today. The team went to Ausiello's after the game for food; I had a good chat with my teammates & our coaches, we each posed for photos, and I went home to finish off some work-work. The other two Red teams play their last game next weekend, sigh. I will be trying out for Maroon this time; I'm not sure I have much choice. Fortunately I feel like I have almost as many friends in Maroon now as I do in Red, but...as always, I'm reluctant. I guess I've heard too many people say that the higher up you skate, the more seriously people take the game. :-/ Well...we'll see how things go.

Other things on my mind... I'm working on getting a new helmet (need to try on the XL version of one I've tentatively bought in L), and I need to take my skates in to replace the blade holders, bleh. Timing will be difficult; it takes 2-3 days. I seem to have stopped two too many shots with the inside of my left skate, and found some nice cracks in the plastic there about 3 weeks ago. You think the evaluators would believe new blade holders as excuse for falling on my face during tryouts? :-} Sigh.

On another note...I love the rain. :-) Unless I have to drive in it without catseyes of course, but in general I love it! My garden gets watered with no effort on my part, woo! And I have 2 amaryllises *and* 3 orchids (2 outdoor, 1 indoor) blooming this month, all at once. Unsigh!

On the downside, I found out one of my hockey friends is separating from his spouse. I'm not sure of the details, but they have kids, and the whole thing is tearing him apart. I think about him sometimes -- mostly the look on his face when he asked me if I'd known any couples who had separated and gotten back together, and I couldn't come up with any. It's the kind of thing where you wish you could do something to help because a friend is in pain...but you can't think of anything, and know you just have to wait and think good thoughts in his direction. Resigh. :-(

In real-life work, I'm procrastinating in getting my half-year quasi-review document done. Sometimes I wonder if higher-ups just can't conceive that anyone would *not* want to be a manager. Me, I love detail, and technical challenges. Which is what I'm enjoying now, so hey, I'm good, thanks, give me a bonus for a job well done and let me be, eh? Sigh, revisited.

Not only that, but my sister's favorite cat (and she has a large number of them, so this is saying a lot), usually a warm, welcoming, fat, king-of-the-house flame point, is having medical issues involving complications with an infected tooth, and has lost tons of weight and is on pain meds. Poor L... :-( That and she's been diving into research as to how to make the cat I recently sent up to her be in less pain, given her developing (common in old cats) kidney disease, arthritis, and being slightly overweight; she's been trying to find approaches to try that don't involve serious medication, and has been sharing the info with me, which I've been appreciating and stashing away with my own old cat's similar kidney condition in mind. L's medical knowledge has always impressed me, and I think the cats under her care are fortunate.

I'm taking this Friday off, and I'm suggesting that G and I do dinner and a movie tonight. I think my brain needs both. Y'all are invited to the dinner & movie if you'd like to join us, today or in the next couple of weeks -- drop me a line. We haven't seen *anything* that's out there!