So....I love Carl Sandburg (second only to T.S. Eliot). I love his love for the "common man" and the grit and grime of the city and humanity. I can definately identify with it (remember...the grandson of a farmer and a farmboy at heart here...lol).

I've read and reread this particular selection over and over again lately. Nothing else quite so succinctly defines how I'm feeling lately:
(I would hilite...but for some reason that isn't working for me right now...d'oh!)


"At a Window" - from Fogs and Fires

Give me hunger,
O you gods that sit and give
The world its orders.
Give me hunger, pain and want,
Shut me out with shame and failure
From your doors of gold and fame,
Give me your shabbiest, weariest hunger!

But leave me a little love,
A voice to speak to me in the day end,
A hand to touch me in the dark room
Breaking the long lonliness.
In the dusk of day-shapes
Blurring the sunset,
One little wandering, western star
Thrust out from the changing shores of shadow.
Let me go to the window,
Watch there the day-shapes of dusk
And wait and know the coming
Of a little love.

-Austin

Well...I survived Day One of outdoor practice. I escaped with only some minor injuries (a friction burn on my hip because I wore regular boxer-briefs instead of spandex and we worked on lineouts for about an hour...lol...getting hoisted 12 feet in the air by your shorts can lead to these sorts of things if you aren't prepared..the other injury was self-inflicted...a nick to my left ankle...when I get tired I start to overpronate and basically ended up dragging my cleats across my ankle), and today I'm ready to do it all over again.

On to the topic of the day...names. This actually came to me at practice on Tuesday...someone used one of my many nicknames...one that I hadn't heard in a while. (He called me McDerf...) This got me thinking of all the different names/nicknames I've had over the course of my life. So, I sat down last night and put together a fairly comprehensive list of them all, and decided to share (even the AWFUL ones..). If nothing else, this has brought back a ton of great memories....

Austin
Freddie
Frederick Austin
Craig
Fast Freddy
Craiger
Derf
Faust
Freddy-bear
Bear
Harvard
Federale
Fiddy-One
And One
Wales
Frelix
McDerf
Big Sexy
Bareback
Spurs
Slim Shady
"Auuuuuuustinyoudon'thavetoturnontheredlight"
Shrek

Now that you're all laughing.......I'll field any questions....lol.

Ahh..the first day of outdoor rugby practice for the season. It's a beautiful day...can't wait to get out and finally strap on the boots (for those who don't know, we wear 1/2" metal cleats...;) ) and start hitting... :). Wish me luck....hopefully I won't come back to work tomorrow broken...lol.

In honour of our first day of "real rugby" for the year, I've changed my user sound to the Haka, a traditional Maori war dance/chant performed by the New Zealand All Blacks (the national side) before the start of every match. It's something I listen to before every match...it makes my nerves stand on end and my skin tingle.

Also...I've decided to throw in the lyrics and translation...for those who care to know...


First the Maori:

Ka Mate! Ka Mate!
Ka Ora! Ka Ora!
Ka Mate! Ka Mate!
Ka Ora! Ka Ora!
Tenei te tangata, Pu'ru ru-huru,
Na'a nei tiki, Mai whaka-whiti te,
Ra Hupane! Ka-upane!
A Hupane! Ka-upane!
Whiti te Ra!
Hai!

Then the English:

We're going to die! We're going to die!
We're going to live! We're going to live!
We're going to die! We're going to die!
We're going to live! We're going to live!
This is the man, so hairy,
who fetched, and made shine the
Sun! Step upwards! Another!
Step Upwards! Another!
The sun shines!

"I like to read, she likes to write, she likes to sleep and I like to stay up all night...my friends say she's crazy, and I agree, but that's okay 'cause that's the way I like to be..."

A guy can dream, can't he?

The song is "Hey Girl" by OAR, btw............

Here are some thoughts on this past weekend:

-cigars, wine, and great conversation are a GREAT way to spend a relaxing Friday night. I've been reminded how lucky I am to have such good friends a lot lately. Thank you.

-I knew there was a reason why I don't listen to my gay friends' advice often. It's now Monday morning, I don't have any chest hair, and my skin is on FIRE! (Not to mention, I think it looks ridiculous...some people are just supposed to have chest hair...your resident hulking rugby player included...)

-While I'm not overly religious, the phrase, "When God closes a door, he opens a window.", could quite possibly ring true for me lately.

-I know a lot about myself...a middling amount about what I want...and no clue about what I am looking for in a relationship whatsoever.

-It's STILL too cold for me to run. I tried on Saturday. I went up to Delaware Park and turned in a two-mile time of 16 minutes. That's ridiculous...I just don't function well in cold weather. Trying to run when it's below 60 degrees is nearly impossible for me...my muscles don't work, my head isn't in it, it's just a disaster. Who wants to run with me once the weather REALLY turns?

-Along the same lines...when I run in the cold (even after stretching) my muscles SCREAM at me the next day or the day after that. Today my hamstrings are really tight. Whatever happened to that 15 year old goalie who could almost do a full split? (I know, I know...he turned into the 20 year old offensive lineman who sacrificed flexibility for bulk and strength...)

-There are some incredibly clueless intelligent people out there (myself included sometimes..)..we should all work towards alleviating that problem.

-The user sound...it's a little early...but a good sunny day when it's starting (thank god) to warm up a bit is the perfect time to break out one of the best of the old-school jams.

Another collection of thoughts/activities/ideas from the resident scatter-brain:

1) Rugby - Last night was practice. Overall, it was the usual..but for some reason, whether I'm getting a lot more fit or was well-rested or who knows, I wanted to run MORE. Yes...more running..I must be sick. It just wasn't enough of a work out. I want to be drenched in sweat and unable to breathe by the end of practice. I want to be so sore and tired I have a hard time depressing the clutch to shift gears on the way home. I want to have to crawl into the shower and just stand there and leet the hot water run over my body for 20 minutes. I know, I know...be careful what I wish for, right?
I also almost killed a poor kid last night. You see, our brilliant coach and a couple of the older guy decided they wanted to help start a high school developmental side through South Park High School. Great..no problem...but there are a lot of kids interested. And trying to hold a practice for 30 high school kids plus 15 men's club players in the same gym at the Old First Ward Center gets a little hectic. Anyway, we wound up playing speedball (touch rugby) at the end of practice yesterday and I went to make a tag on this poor kid and I don't know if he slipped or tried to duck, but he went down. Needless to say, without having a body there to "tag", I lost my balance and went sprawling. All I remember after that was a very "Matrix"-esque moment where I could see that if I didn't do something my elbow was going to connect with the side of his skull, my knee would have come down right on his abdomen and my entire 6'5", 215 lb frame would have fallen from about 3' in the air onto this poor little 16 or 17 year old, 120 lb kid. So...having a little bit of Neo in me (*laugh*), I contorted in mid air and rolled away a bit. Unfortunately...this caused me to land with all of my weight on my left knee and left elbow (knee first, beside the poor kid onto the hard gym floor, and then elbow as I twisted over backward in the air). So today, my left knee is killing me and my left elbow isn't too happy either, but at least I don't have to worry about a lawsuit from an angry parent or killing a poor little kid before he's even had a chance to experience life and love and sex and all those good things. *laugh*

2) "Faux-hemians". Just a quick little rant here. I can't stand what I call "faux-hemians" (rhymes with Bohemians). You know the type I'm talking about..you see them at Spot or in Allentown. I'm not talking about the real Bohemians..people with a soul, people who are authentic. I'm talking about the rich, pretentious (usually) college-aged kids who are buying their lattes and macchiatos on daddy dearest's credit card while talking about how their art history class is soooo hard. The ones who dress differently.....just like everyone else. The ones who misappropriate style, culture, language, and art to serve their own needs.....blah. Sorry...they bug me. There isn't anything "cooler" than being authentic...try it sometime.

3) Today's musical selection is "Black Rock" by O.A.R. (Of A Revolution). A fun little jam band that I love.

"And if you wanna find me, I'll be out in the sandbox...just wonderin' where the hell all the love has gone...playin' my guitar and building castles in the sun, whoa, and singin', "fun, fun, fun""

Okay....I hate my birthday. It's a time each year that I look back over the previous year of my existence and take stock of where I am as compared to where I'd like to be and where I REALISTICALLY should be. (Those are two very different things...I've always had some lofty goals...lol) This inevitably depresses me. Upon looking at the past year over several categories...this is what I've come up with:

Career/Finances:

Where I am: I'm currently a claims adjuster at St. Paul Travelers in Buffalo. I make a decent enough salary to maintain my 2 bedroom duplex in S. Buffalo, my car, my hobbies, and modest fun expenditures.

Where I should be REALISTICALLY: I think this is about right...realistically in the career path I've chosen (and with the current degree I have), my career is progressing along decently. Would I love a raise? Sure...who wouldn't...I don't know many people who think they are either fairly or overly compensated for the duties they perform. All in all...I can't complain TOO much...but it definately isn't approaching my dreams..lol.


Physical Health/Overall Physical:

Where I am: Hmmm...I'm me. *laugh* 6'5", 218 lbs. That gives me a BMI of 25.8...according to those crazy physicians. (a "normal"
weight BMI is between 18 and 25) That makes me JUST BARELY overweight. I eat properly, exercise regularly (thank you rugby), and try to take care of myself.

Where I should be REALISTICALLY: This is one area I'm proud of...a year ago I was 245 lbs. (BMI = 29 or high end overweight..almost "obese"). I lead a far healthier lifestyle...I run, play rugby...generally feel like I'm fitter and quite easy on the eyes if I do say so myself. *laugh*

Social Life/Relationships:

Where I am: Well..on the friends side of the equation everything is great. I've got a fairly large circle of friends and several that I'm close with. I've got an entire TEAM full of friends. I'm just lousy with friends...*laugh*. The real kicker is on the love/relationship side of the equation. That's where I'm lost. I don't know what is going on there...there are things I'd like to see "work". There is someone who I think I could really get to know and care about but the situation seems so far from ideal...what do you do? I find it's a constant battle between the selfish portion of me and the selfless portion. Do I step back from the situation and let everything run it's course without interference or do I intervene on my own behalf to try "fight for" something? I don't know....craziness. Uncertainty kills me...I prefer to live in a certain world...to deal with problems/uncertainties as they arise, to be able to resolve them so that they stop being problems and go back to being "certainties". Time will tell....

Where I should be REALISTICALLY: No idea....*laugh*

There's more...I'm sure I could go on...but I've at least gotten some of it off my chest and things seem a tad brighter. I'm sure everything will work out "the way it is supposed to"...I just want to know what that way is...and I'm having trouble getting some sort of indication as to what that is exactly.

Okay...so as some of you may or may not know, I'm a bit of a geek. Okay...so really I'm a big geek. Some of you also may know that I took five years of Latin. But what most people don't know is that I still work on translations to this day....for fun. Yes, translating from Latin to English for fun. And it really can be. To take something that is already "perfect" in the original language, to then "break" it into a literal translation, and then to "refine/reperfect" it into the new language. At least I've found that to be the most productive way of translating from a classical language. (Not like translating from Spanish etc, where you can be very literal and only substitute for colloquialisms) The hardest part is trying to maintain both flow/feel while also preserving meaning. It's that "art" of translation that really draws me to it.

So then..without further ado...a quick little translation I've spent a little time on lately:

vitam quae faciunt beatiorem,
iucundissime Martialis, haec sunt:
res non parte labore sed relicta;
non ingratus ager, focus perennis;
lis numquam, toga rara, mens quieta;
vires ingenuae, salubre corpus;
prudens simplicitas, pares amici;
convictus facilis, sine arte mensa;
nox non ebria sed soluta curis;
non tristis torus et tamen pudicus;
somnus qui faciat brevis tenebrus;
quod sis esse velis nihilque malis;
summum nec metuas diem nec optes.
-M. Valerius Martialis, Epigrams X, 47

The things which make for a happy life, my dearest son, are these:
property not earned but inherited;
fruitful land, a hearth where there is always a flame;
a life free from litigation, few official duties, and an untroubled mind;
a hearty constitution, a healthy body;
strong character, friends who are you equals;
good company, plain meals;
nights not spent drunk, yet free from cares;
a good love-life, but one that is also virtuous;
do not seek to be anyone but who you are;
and to neither fear, nor wish for, death.


There you have it...a little sage advice from Martial. The translation still isn't perfect, and there are a few things I'd like to tweak...but overall, I don't think it's half-bad.