Looking good, Shel babes!

And I definitely am not making it to Philly this year. Saving all of my money for GenCon, sorry.

Eddie tonight, baby!

I was killing things left and right. The smuggler ended up picking up the female npc though as his Leia...

Yay, Star Wars reference. Soccer season does get hectic, whether you're a player, parent, ref, or coach. My game on Saturday was the first time this season that I didn't have to wear my Under Armour top, so that was good. Hang in there, another month and we're done. Your kids aren't old enough for travel tournaments, year-round practices and such right? If it ever comes to that, think long and hard. It sucks the joy out of things for both parent and child more often than not. I love soccer, but it's been corrupted into a blood-thirsty battle for superiority instead of the beautiful game around here.

We got our tax refund a month ago and paid off my in-laws for the water heater they bought us at Christmas. This weekend was decently quiet. Hopefully next weekend will be nicer so I can get my garden ready for planting in May.

My kids are 6 and 7. They only play Spring Soccer right now. Might start Fall if they want to, but last season they chose not to. I leave it completely up to them. I know I did year round soccer when I was in junior high/high school. I was one of those rare kids who was not good, but LOVED the sport so much that I wanted to play all the time. I got the "heart award" year after year as a consolation prize. I knew the drill and didn't care. I was specifically brought up from JV to play varsity in my sophomore year as a threat to the prima donnas on my team. It was sort of a "If you don't cut the crap and playas a team, I'll put in this fat slob simply because he wants to play so bad." I sat the bench until my junior year (except for when the let me play JV and then sit bench for the varsity game that same day), but it was fun. My passion for the game was contagious I guess. So having me on the team was a morale thing I guess. I didn't really notice until years later when someone let me in on the secret that my head coach didn't like me, but the asst coach madea good case for keeping me around. In retrospect, it made sense even if it didn't really help my self image at all.

That's awesome. I was always the slowest guy on the field, and always the smartest. I only played one year of high school because they institututed a rule that you could do Marching band or soccer, and the band director was cool whereas the soccer coach was a total jerk. My club coach was great. He'd sick me on the best forward on the other team and watch me get inside the dude's head. I led my team in fouls committed, fouls drawn, and cards drawn.

But the club I used to play for is now just blood-thirsty. Have to win at all costs, parents ragging on their own children more than they rag on me as the ref, parents getting mad at me when their own child trips over their own feet. I've basically quit reffing club games. I stick to high school, mostly lower level where the players stink, but the effort and intensity is there and the games are a really good atmosphere. Games where the parents are policed by the home school's Athletic Director out of fear that the state board will sanction them. Plus some of the schools give me Gatorade and snacks.

One toolbag at Illyana’s game yesterday was making all sort of inappropriate comments. He was insulting other players on both teams, threatening his kid, incorrectly coaching his kid (right after commenting to his wife that he assumed her position was similar to a tailback in football), and various other horrible things. He was clearly clueless about soccer, was a bully to his kid and others, and just liked to hear his own voice. I was about to ask him to be quiet or leave when he left to go to his son’s baseball game.

So I drove to and from Norfolk, VA, yesterday in order to pick up my niece who is dropping out of school at ODU. We agreed to have her come live with us while she figures out her path for the future.

On my way down to Norfolk, a state trooper pulled me over for doing 82 in a 70, which turns out is a reckless driving charge. This is a Class 1 misdemeanor and I will have to appear in court 2 hours away from where I live. What an effin pain in the rear.

As if I didn't have enough to deal with already, with the flooded house repairs and all. I realize that speeding was my own fault, but the trooper was a dick and even said that "he couldn't reduce the speed for the ticket." Probably because it would meant less money for the effin county. Frickin hassle....%$#@%^&*)!!!

Dude, that flat out sucks. And all because you were doing a good deed. I know I have to be really careful now because I have 4 pts on my license and will lose it if I reach 6. Every May from here on out, 1 pt will come off my license so that's good though. And all because of a singel speeding ticket. My first in 6 years.

Had a pregnant girl in high school play goalie :-/

Did she get flagged for having too many players on the field?

I don't know, I never went to a game. Just knew she was pregnant, our AP Bio teacher and another teacher sat down with her to talk about her options etc about it one day after school. Was in there to finish my fruit fly lab with a few other people :-/. Stupid breeding fruit flies to make certain traits etc. Think I ended up giving up and just wrote a paper on why it didn't work.

I don't know how things work in Virginia (Silly, I assume) but in Jersey, you can talk to the prosecutor and bargain these things down to a 0 point ticket, you just pay more for the privilege. It's possible Virginia does that as well.

True that you can usually plead something down and pay more. I got a 6 point ticket down to 2 points last year. Huge as 2 points is classified as a non-moving violation and didn't affect my insurance. So ask around. The real pain is that 2 hours away thing. My ticket was about 45 minutes out of town and that pissed me off, so good luck with two hours. Take the day off work and hit up a Hooters or something afterwards.