Bears Win, Move to 8-1

Yesterday we moved to 8-1 on the season in a nail-bitter turned blowout. It was 2-2 going into the 8th, and despite having multiple runners on base almost every inning we were missing that big hit. After 7 innings of working through jams and throwing a lot of pitches, Curtin’s import inevitably couldn’t hold us down as we KO’d him pushing across somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 runs. After a short bottom half of the 8th, we tacked on another 5, batting around for the 2nd consecutive inning. I was on the hill and pitched well. I controlled the zone, striking out 9 and walking 1 in the complete game effort. My only blemishes coming to the same batter, who hit a solo homer and then a 2 run job with the game well out of reach in the 9th. The solo shot was hit well, but the second one was nothing more than a fly ball that our CF would have caught had he not tripped over the 3 foot high home run fence (that is legitimately how high the portable fence was). All in all, a good start and another good win for the bears.

In other news, I have been working a lot and started a second job today. I started working at the Uni Sports Camp for Kids, teaching and facilitating sports for a group of 5-12 year-old day camp goers. The job seems like it should be a lot of fun, but definitely will test my patience, as I already wanted to kill a few of the campers by the end of the day.

I also got in a small fight with the bread slicer at the bakery the other day, cutting a few nice bread slices into my thumb and adjoining nail. That was a hellish day at work, having been woken up at five fifty something by the owner of the bakery asking why I wasn’t there opening the shop. It would have been nice if they had told me they switched my shift from a 9-1 to a 6-2, as I am not that great of a mind reader. I got ready in a hurry and got down there, but wasn’t very happy as a mix up, as I take pride in being on time and have slight panic attacks when I am not. Okay, lets be honest… nothing puts me in a worse mood than something making me late… I go sour pretty quickly. When I get blamed for being late when it’s not my fault and it wakes me up at 6 am… not a great start to the day.

I rebounded nicely, spending the afternoon doing some shopping with Rachel at the Freemantle Markets before heading to the Free residence for a BBQ and some good, old fashioned weekend shenanigans. The night reminded me a little bit of a few nights I had in Davis with the boys back in the day. Got to love it.

This week promises to bring more craziness, culminating in a U2/Jay-Z concert on Saturday, a ball game on Sunday at home, and the beginning of the holiday break and Rachel and my 3 week trip to Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia.

Perhaps the biggest news of all, however, is that Rachel will be staying in Thailand for 3 months after I return to Perth to volunteer in an orphanage for children with HIV/AIDS. While I am very sad that she will be apart for 3 months, we are both very excited that she will get this opportunity, as she has been unsuccessful in finding volunteer work around Perth. It will be a challenge for her and no doubt a rewarding experience for her and those she works with. Let’s just say my last 3 months in Perth will be much different than the first 3.

I’m out for now, thanks for reading. Miss you all… Cheers, E.