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.