An Excellent Change
When I was a kid--obviously a long time ago--women's sports were almost never on TV.
Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. That was the only coverage of women's sports I can remember. And the Olympics.
Other than that, women's sports were almost invisible.
Change can take a long time.
Today, I'm watching the final game of the Euro prelims featuring Switzerland and Finland. Switzerland scored in stoppage time to tie the match 1-1 and advance to the next round.
In the middle of the afternoon. On a Thursday.
Tonight, I could watch a WNBA game, or college basketball this weekend, or the LPGA.
Oh, plus Wimbledon. That's this weekend, too.
I'm glad I was around long enough to see it.
It's Not Long Now
We're going to a wedding two hours north of here at the end of August, returning on September 1.
September 3, the movers are coming to load up the condo.
September 4, it's all headed to Queens. As are we.
It's a strange feeling, even though I'm not going to miss Grand Rapids. At all. On the west side, too many people aren't well. I was walking out of a grocery store today and a man just started yelling at me. No reason, just random yelling. It's happened before, and I don't handle it well.
So it's not our destination that's difficult, it's that the entire process of moving is a logistical tangle with so many tasks attached. There's always more to do, and it's going to be that way for a while.
This morning, though, after many weeks of feeling uninspired about the book, I had one of those magical two-hour periods that only happen if you keep showing up every day.
Without those moments, no one would ever write a book--or finish one, at least.
Scientific Method
C was holding a kitchen magnet up to her ear last night.
"Hmm, what's happening?" I asked.
"I need to find out if my earrings are magnetic," she said. She was having an MRI on her spine today (sciatica, like me).
"Is a kitchen magnet with a smiling bagel on it the best way to determine this?" I asked.
"I really don't want to take these earrings out," she said. "I don't think I've taken them out in decades." She has multiple ear piercings and a little hoop in each one.
She searched Google for 'Can I use a kitchen magnet to determine if my earrings are magnetic?' Second slater, she looked at me. "It looks like I can, according to AI."
"Those last three words are concerning," I said. "And so is the strength of kitchen magnets."
She took them out in the end, and not easily, either.
NCAA
There were plenty of things wrong with College Football 25 (I could give you a list), but the list of things it did right was significantly longer than the list of what was wrong.
26 just came out today. I'm watching an exhibition game and the new progressive lighting looks fantastic. The animations are also substantially smoother, at least to my eyes.
I complained plenty about 25 and still played it for 100+ hours, and I'm sure this will be the same. The developers are seriously constrained by EAs bullshit, but they've also listened to the community and fixed a laundry list of annoying issues. Let's hope the new ones inevitably cropping up are minimal.
Fully Aware
I understand why wars were fought over cinnamon.
A Trend
I went in for an MRI on my shoulder today. It's bothered me (slightly) for years.
I didn't realize that orthopedists have a new gig now, or their offices do, at least: performance training. All those "certified" personal trainers, many of whom are more salesman than trainers, are now going to have to compete with major orthopedic centers.
I mean, it makes sense, having it all together. But personal trainers were a huge cottage industry, and lots of those jobs will dry up now because orthopedists want a big chunk of the business.
Also, there's this: ‘Am I just an asshole?’ Time blindness can explain chronic lateness - some of the time.
Remember the investigation we did a few months ago into people's perception of the length of a minute? It was uniformly true that people who were always on time consistently knew, within ten percent, the length of a minute without looking at a clock. The people who weren't on time, in contrast, were all over the place.
Apparently, it's an actual thing:
When Shepard learned about time blindness as a symptom of ADHD, which she has, it all clicked. Russell Barkley, a former clinical psychologist and expert on ADHD, coined the term in 1997 to describe what he calls “the serious problem people with ADHD have with governing their behavior relative to time intervals and the passage of time more generally”. Time blindness can be a symptom of ADHD or other conditions such as anxiety or autism spectrum disorder.
This is different from "time optimists," or people who consistently underestimate how long it takes to do something.
Some people still do it on purpose, of course. Those guys. I avoid them.
Cheat Codes
I talked to Eli 23.11 and he said what he learned from being at Wimbledon again is that there's a cheat code: the practice courts.
He saw some great matches on Court One (Sinner, Draper, Gauff, and Fritz), but everyone ignores the practice courts, and they were able to sit on benches and watch many of the greatest players in the world practice (Alcaraz, Djokovic, Sabalenka, Navarro, Auger-Aliassime, Monfils). They were so close they practically could have touched them.
He also said most of the players were locked in walking past the line of spectators to get to the practice courts, but Gaël Monfils was a clown in the absolute best way--cracking jokes, talking to people, taking pictures.
The Fritz-Perricard was suspended the day before Eli got there, so as a bonus, the fifth set was played on Court One. Perricard is the guy who hit a 153 MPH serve (a record). Eli said he was routinely serving in the 140s and that the ball sounded like a cannon coming off his racquet.
How much did a one-day pass and tickets to Court One cost him? About $110. The U.S. Open, in comparison, is over $400.
It All Happens Very, Very Fast
We apparently have emerged as the preferred candidate for a lease on a duplex in Astoria which is only a few minutes walk from C's daughter. And it's a really lovely space, too, and bigger than I ever expected.
So just like that, we have a place to live when we move in early September. The moving company came by and gave us an estimate.
Also today, the realtor is preparing to put C's condo on the private market for two weeks (after receiving the appraisal yesterday).
Oh, and someone you know is sitting here today:
Court One at Wimbledon, in case you're wondering. He said camping out for tickets overnight works wonders.
The Hooded Odyssey
C ordered a zip-up hoodie in March.
She saw a woman wearing a warm-up suit in an airport and it was the nicest looking one she'd ever seen. She was able to get the brand and ordered a hoodie.
Slow-forward three months later.
After multiple emails and doubts she would ever receive anything--including wondering if the entire thing wasn't some kind of elaborate scam--it finally arrived today.
Before she tried it on, she handed it to me and I felt the fabric. No kidding, it was the softest, most comfortable hoodie I'd ever seen, and the zippers were top-quality.
Then she tried it on.
C is only 5'1" (and 1/4", she claims, though I'm doubtful), she ordered a medium, and it swallowed her. She needed one of those emergency beacons like skiers use so the emergency rescue team can reach them if they're buried in the snow.
Guess who now has the best hoodie they've ever owned that also fits perfectly? This guy.
"Should I order another one in small or extra-small?" she asked.
"Are you kidding me?" I said. "This has turned into the hoodie version of The Odyssey. You can't possibly return home without one."
The Sequel
The Summer Reading Challenge is back on.
Two years ago, Eli 23.10 proposed a reading challenge for three months over the summer (or four--I can't remember).
He calculated poorly. Reading is one of the things I can still do at peak level.
It was a knockout, and I thought that was it. Now, though, he's proposed another round, ending on October 1. He proposed a public spreadsheet to keep track of page count, but I nixed that idea. No totals until the end of the contest.
Devious. He liked it immediately.
I've added another wrinkle, too. Every so often, I'm going to send him a message with only one word: DING.
It won't happen on a consistent basis, and I won't explain what it means.
Eventually, he'll figure out it must be in reference to a certain number of pages I've read since the last DING. What will drive him crazy, though, is figuring out how many.
That should keep him busy all summer.
Drip Drip Drip
Two pages a day. Day after day after day after day.
There comes a point where writing a book drives you crazy. If it doesn't, you're probably not doing it right (not that I am, necessarily).
I've hit that point now.
I'm rewriting the third section because it no longer reflects the tone of the second section properly. The second section is the best part of the book, for now. It feels complete or very close to complete. The other parts have to be significantly adjusted to reflect that rhythm and quality.
Two pages a day.
50 pages into the third section. Things have happened. It better reflects the world of the book. It's still going to need a ton of editing.
I want to hurry it up, but I can't. Life is in the way right now, and even if it wasn't, I don't think I could go any faster. Books happen at the pace they want to, mostly. You might be able to tip the scales slightly, but not much more.
