I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity.
Edgar Allen Poe

The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.
- H. L. Mencken

Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so
-Bertrand Russell

What I have been telling you, from alpha to omega, what is the one great thing the sigil taught me — that everything in life is miraculous. For the sigil taught me that it rests within the power of each of us to awaken at will from a dragging nightmare of life made up of unimportant tasks and tedious useless little habits, to see life as it really is, and to rejoice in its exquisite wonderfulness. If the sigil were proved to be the top of a tomato-can, it would not alter that big fact, nor my fixed faith. No Harrowby, the common names we call things by do not matter — except to show how very dull we are ...
-James Branch Cabell

October 31, 2015 - 1:22 p.m.

Mjölnir

It's noon and I should be eating at least my brunch. I was going to post on Facebook that I'll write after I eat but I decided to reverse that; My Gentle Readers come first. I will write and eat when I'm finished. So much for my original brunch plan of grits ala Horvendile; that takes too long to make. I'm writing this while listening to a great Halloween YouTube playlist I made. Hey why don’t listen while you read.

I did not get dressed or leave the house yesterday. I am trying to rest my leg. I think it worked, It feels better today. I hope the infection is gone and this is just dealing with the residual damage done. I'm closely monitoring it.

Yesterday I was all philosophical, today it's going to be personal. I'll talk about what I did, even though I didn't leave the house, what I plan to do, my thoughts, and my feelings.

I could have gone out to hear music last night but I stayed home and watched the World Series. I'm finding it very hard to pull myself away from it. I'm suffering severe baseball deprivation. It's a part of my life that I miss so much. I miss going to 20 games a year. I miss watching most of the games I don’t go to.

I didn’t time things well. Dinner was in the oven when the game started. Now I made my very favorite dinner, sweet garlic chicken and Shai Hulud potatoes; that takes over an hour, there's at least an hour's cooking time plus some things that involve taking the potatoes out of the oven during the cooking so I don't know the exact time. It helps a bit that I do one thing different than when I started making the combo, I make them in the same baking dish. But the upshot was that when I went to the kitchen to get it out of the oven and on my plate the Royals scored their first run.

Noah Syndergaard aka Thor was pitching for the Mets. That's the best nick name in a long time. He looks like the Thunder God, he's Scandinavian, and his arm throws lightning. His curveball aka "the hammer" is darn good too. I've always had a thing for Thor the god and the Marvel Comic superhero. Thor and Athena are my favorite gods. Yeah they don't have a lot in common. I also have always had a weakness for pitchers that throw heat, Thor's fastball gets in triple digits. Wow is he my favorite Met or deGrom? They both got the hair thing and the high heat going. De Grom is better now but he's also a lot older. Thor will probably end up having the better career. By the way the reason I always call him Thor is that Syndergaard is too hard to type or say. After a shaky start, three run the first two innings he settled down and retired 10 royals in a row. Then when he got in trouble he got himself out of it. Which brings me to Terry Collins, the Mets manager. I was a skeptic when he was signed. He did not have the best resume and had lost control of his last team. But I saw her face and now I'm a believer. First the Mets have done much better than their talent suggests they should have done the last two seasons. When so many players perform above expectations I give the manager credit. Perhaps it isn't deserved but we know that workers are affected by how they are managed. There's also the factor of asking players to do what they can do, not what they can't. Why am I bringing this up now? I love the way he's using his pitchers. He is managing much like he would during the season. Last time the Mets were in the post-season Willie Randolph would yank a pitcher as soon as he let men on base no matter how early in the game. When you use so many pitchers you increase the odds that one will have a bad game and hurt the team. Collins let Syndergaard get out of a jam in his last inning. The announcing has been atrocious but Harold Reynolds, the worst offender got this one right, "Collins thinks that Syndergaard is better than anyone he has in the bullpen."

No what else I love? Who he is starting. He is pitching only guys that have less than three full seasons. Matt Harvey the grizzled veteran of the bunch has pitched three but two of them were not complete. He came up during the 2012 season then got hurt during the 2013 season. He is all of 25, the same age as Tom Seaver in 1969, de Grom just finished his second season, De Grom came up in season last year and won rookie of the year. He's a late bloomer, he was in infielder in college, so he's not a kid, he's 27, but not an experienced pitcher. Thor is a 22 year old rookie that started the season in the minors. Tonight the pitcher is Steven Matz, he's also a rookie that started the season in the minors. He's 24 and a local boy who grew up as a Met fan. Collins did not yield to the accepted wisdom that you need to have experienced pitchers in the post season, he's not starting the "wily veterans" Niese and Colon. Why? They aren’t as good. He's started the four pitchers that had the best ERA during the season. I'm not thrilled with the position players but with that staff it's a hard team for me to not love.

Oh and my favorite position player, David Wright hit a two-run homerun and drove in four runs all together. I really have to sew my button my David Wright Jersey so I can show my colors.

I love the way that Ned Yost is managing too. The strength of his team is the relief pitching but he doesn't change pitchers every time there are men on base and he let Johnny Cueto pitch a complete game. The only difference between managing in the post-season is you don't worry about the long run. You don't rest players; that means you do have a bigger bench to use. But the in-game decisions should for the most part be made the same way. It's what got you there.

I'm watching the games alone but thanks to social media I'm not alone. I post whenever something exciting happens. Oh, I forgot to tell you, I missed Wright's home run. That's when the bandwidth hog struck. Ugh. When I found out who it is I'm going to have Thor bean him.

So what do I do tonight? Cricket tells the Weather is playing and I want to go. But I want to watch the World Series. If I had a DVR I'd record it but I don't. I guess I'll stay home and watch the game.

I feel bad that I'm doing nothing for Halloween. I love Halloween. I like to make costumes. This year nobody will see me and I lost all my costume material so I won't. If I had my druthers I'd be going to the game in costume; that would be perfect. He's not pitching tonight but maybe I could have made a Thor costume, at least the helmet and hammer. I pride myself with making inexpensive homemade costumes. Here are some of them.


Joe Six-pack


Disgruntled Met Fan


Coal Miner


Robin Hood


Perry the Platypus


Me and Carey as Pete and Maura


Me, Melissa, and Yoram as a Pastafarian, Vestal Virgin, and hte Green Lantern

I will not get trick or treaters and I won't be costume but I will keep Halloween in my heart. I'll have to find a movie I can watch on my computer. I want to shop today too. We'll see how things go.



I signed the Pro-Truth Pledge:
please hold me accountable.





Memories: Not that Horrid Song - May 29, 2018
Wise Madness is Now In Session - May 28, 2018
The NFL and the First Amendment - May 27, 2018
On The Road Again - May 26, 2018
Oliver the Three-Eyed Crow - May 25, 2018



creative commons
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.
Horvendile October 31, 2015
site search by freefind advanced


Follow on Feedly



about me - read my profile! read other DiaryLand diaries! recommend my diary to a friend! Get your own fun + free diary at DiaryLand.com!