2008: My Year

I had to call up DELL as I forgot to pay my bill and was greeted by an obvious Indian guy on the line. I mean I know that I was calling into India, that was a certainty, he read his script just like everyone else does answering the phone at a call center. This time though i was thrown for a loop. This Indian guys name was of all things, Sean Johnson. I know there is a stigma with calling into an Indian Call Center, but what genius came up witht he idea to have his call center reps use obviously Americanized names. The guys name was probably Parang Sureshkahndalajar or something along those lines, but today, ont he phone… he was Sean Johnson. I snickered, then yelled and screamed after I gave him all of my contact information but I forgot the first digit of the last four of my bank account number, which he had on file. He refused to process the payment because of this, so I went through the list, is it 0299, sit is 1299, is it 2299 and so on an so forth, ironically, when I got to the correct number he sai dyes and took my payment. Why the fuck do I need to jump through hoops when they have the information right there and I am trying to give them money. Things like this infuriate me beyond belief.

After literally 5 years, I am almost done with the last ten years biopic. I have gotten to August 1999, the story will end March 18, 2000 on the wedding day. I have no idea how many different cities, time zones, email accounts, laptops, computers, and vehicles I have written that epic, but it is almost done. Then I will spend another few months editing it. I am at around 165 pages right now, I am pretty sure that it will end around 200. Once it is complete, I will bind it in a folder and let it sit. Then the next great adventure will occur. Called the First 18 years. I am losing memories from my childhood. Luckily I have been writing as many as I can remember down in a notes document so that I can go back and put them in the final document.

If I can get that done in say 4-5 years. Then I start on the “Next” 10 years document, which will primarily be about Molly and the change from Jacksonville to San Diego. In 2010 Molly will be 9 and in 3rd grade. Just about the time when I was a kid that I relly started remembering things very vividly. I think things are working out well for this epic. Granted, it is really only for me to do and enjoy, but I am sure Molly will enjoy it when she gets older.

Another year, another last day of school. I vividly remember Molly’s last day of Kindergarten, we waited for Molly to show up and her teacher led her out, she was smiling and was incredibly happy.

Today was a little bit different. Today being that she was in 1st grade, she would be led out with all of the other kids in the elementary school. The kindergarten let out about noon time, the rest of the school let out at 1:20pm. I waited then thoguht maybe she would coming out the south entrance as opposed to the front entrance. I wandered down to the south entrance, watched as kids came out wandering to their parents. I then decided to go back to the north entrance and there I saw her. She stood next to her last 1st grader teacher she will ever have. She pointed towards me and her teacher let her go. She ran towards me with wreckless abandon. She hugged me and I kissed the top of her head. The smell of mango oranges filled my nose as she hugged me. This would be the last time she would be doing this as a 1st grader.

The principal came over the intercom, wishing everyone a fun and safe summer, he encouraged them to keep reading. It brought a tear to my eye. I could remember the days that I left school for vacation. It brought back a rush of memories that I was really unprepared for. Running out the doors of Smith Elementary, throwing papers and pencils in the air, cheering that I had two and a half months of sleeping in, staying up late, just enjoying the hours of fun ahead.

Molly will sort of have that opportunity. her bed time will increase to 9 from 830, so in fact she will be up till around 930 usually during the summer. Needless to say this is a good day for everyone. She will now be known as my little 2nd grader.

I enjoy basketball. I enjoyed basketball as a child. I enjoyed playing basketball as a child. I really enjoyed watching basketball as a child. I remember sitting in the bedroom, watching on my 11″ television, watching the Bulls play, watching the Knicks play, I think we got a heavy dose of Eastern Conference Teams for the fact that we were in Germany and the East Coast was obviously closer than the West Coast. So I got to watch Michael Jordan grow from being a really good player to Angelic stature. I got to watch the Isiah Thomas led Pistons go at it with Chicago on multiple occasions. I watched Detroit beat the Lakers one year in the finals, I got to watch the Lakers in the championship one year. One team I did not enjoy watching was Boston. I liked the logo, I liked the Irish concept, I just did not like the players at all.

Now, the Lakers and the Celtics are in the finals and in all honesty it is nice to see, but I have no interest in living in the past with things like this. The constant Magic v Larry crap that is on television is weak to say the least. I kind of put this into the realm of Indiana Jones movie. Some times, the past is really good and trying to invoke memories of that in the present will fail. The Lakers of today are nothing like the Lakers of old, the Celtics of today are nothing like the Celtics of old. They keep bringing up the Big 3, which is great and all, but the big 3 of the Celtics today could not hold the jockstrap of one of the Big 3 of the Celtics of old.

Magic Johnson has more heart and ability than most of the players on the current Laker team. Kobe Bryant is nothing but a punk that broke apart one of the best teams in the history of Laker basketball.

Now, I want the Lakers to win, call it Los Angeles bias, but I still ma pissed off that the Lakers did not have Shaq for the last three seasons. Granted the Big Diesel is broken down, but they could have had at least 1 or possibly 3 more rings.

The NBA wanted the Boston - Laker series, they wanted to invoke memories of the past and they have done a good job of “making” it happen. I would not be shocked if this goes 7 games. But quit showing me shots of Magic and Larry Bird, they are old and all it does is show me how old I am, which is the last thing I really want.