Boxing Day (Day 48)

What better way to start Boxing Day than to lay by the pool?

My plans for the day didn’t consist of much, so I thought I would start off by trying to work on some tan lines. Getting them, I mean. Not getting rid of them. I did that for awhile, periodically jumping in the pool when it got too hot just to lie out in the sun. That’s right. I just grouped the phrases ‘Boxing Day’, ‘too hot’ and ‘lie out in the sun’ together. That’s when you know it’s a good holiday.

I had plans to make a phone call home before it got too late in the night in Eastern Standard Time,  so I had to leave the poolside to get a phone card. I tried to take back my running shoes that are too big at the same time, figuring that all the stores would be open for Boxing Day, but the shoe store was closed. I made it to an open 7-Eleven where I got a new phone card and for some reason, a package of instant noodles. I guess I just wanted that Byron Bay feeling back.

My phone call home was to Maya, the woman for whom I am a guide runner most often. Before I left to come here she was training for her first marathon (the NYC Marathon) and I was running with her two or three times a week. Maya is fully blind and has been for almost 25 years now I think, and she does more than any sighted person I know. She’s a real inspiration, that’s for sure. We talked about her husband, who is pretty sick at the moment, and about her guide dog, who is perfectly healthy and also someone I miss very much. Holly is a black lab and she’ll be five years old this upcoming Valentine’s Day. Maya is hoping that we can do a half marathon in March and a full marathon in May, both in Toronto. I need to step up my training a little bit.

After our phone call, and eating my container full of Byron Bay reminders, I decided to write a story for the website. I had interviewed one of the Japanese players from the team before they all left the country and I figured I could group that with a bunch of statistical information and make a story out of it. We had five total players from the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks in Brisbane this season, and they are now gone back to their native country, happy to be away from Australian Baseball League pitching probably. In Japan the pitchers throw a lot more breaking balls than pretty much anywhere else. It’s hard for the Japanese hitters to come here and adjust to the speed and volume of fastballs. Or at least I think it is. Obviously I’m not the one standing in the batter’s box. I’m also not Japanese, for anyone who might have been thinking otherwise.

When I was finished the story I tried to call Carl to see if he could fix a picture for me and get it online. When he didn’t answer, I decided to try the website again for myself. Eighteenth time’s a charm, right? I downloaded some makeshift program that actually served my purposes well. It resized the picture to the proportion that I needed and I actually figured out how to get it onto the website. All by myself. I feel like I’m all grown up now. And here’s the link to the story on the Japanese guys.  

After my first successful solo attempt with posting something on the Bandits website I finished my laundry and put all my clothes away. Today was obviously a day for accomplishing things left and right. Erin came home sometime during my accomplishments and we talked about our holidays in various places and me forgetting my wallet. All the important details.

Erin mentioned that she was going to see TinTin and asked if I wanted to join. I said yes and we decided to walk to South Bank to catch the movie. After Christmas feasting, I suppose everyone could use a little walk. We negated the exercise a little later though, after finding out that TinTin was sold out for the day.

We could have just walked back home but instead we decided to go back to the 24-hour pancake place. That’s never a bad idea. It was delicious once again, though everything cost a little more because of Boxing Day. I guess if you have to pay your employees more because of the statutory holiday, you can charge your guests more. It’s actually a pretty good idea. Throughout the meal, Erin and I exchanged stories about things we’d done when we were drunk, probably sparked by my talking about Byron. When we were done, we headed back home. We got a little more exercise after eating chocolate pancakes. It’s all relative.

When we got back to the apartment building, I decided it would be a good time for me to sneak into the area where my sheets had gone over the railing. I only had to hop one fence, and then hope that the people living below us didn’t have their blinds open, because I could really scare someone, prowling around in the dark. It worked out though and I got my sheets back without any problems.

Once inside I got back to playing some catch-up on the journal-writing and I also somehow landed on the Australian Baseball Digest blog site. They’d posted my article about the Japanese guys leaving town, and also said something about how nice it was to have writing from me again since I hadn’t been heard from in three weeks. My bad. I didn’t realize I had a following. But it’s about time I step it up I guess. I need to get back to doing more writing for the website, and it’s what I enjoy doing most anyway. Their comments lit a tiny fire under me, allowing me to make plans in my mind to interview a couple of people at Bandits training tomorrow. Time to get back to what I love, that being writing of course, in case you missed that.

But first, time to sleep. Writers need their rest too.