Yankee Fever

Watching the Yankees wildcard game tonight and between innings I've swept the deck three times or read a paragraph or two from one of several current reads, a book titled, 'Vinyl Countdown' .... about record collecting if you couldn't guess. 

If only they could televise these games and the time between innings as if you were at the ballpark .... show the pitcher's warm up tosses. Or maybe the outfielders long tossing (if they still do that).    show the umpires chatting or just show the spectators. I have no patience for the televised commercials. 

I come into this playoff series lacking in confidence in my Yankees. If the game is close, I fear something bad will happen in the end. Or something bad will happen early and the game will snowball out of control. That's just my nature. And I've been through too many playoff seasons where I was overflowing in confidence and in the end turned off my television disappointed. So maybe the opposite attitude will work. It did for George Constanza.

A few hours later .....

It worked. The lack of confidence that is. Or the fear of bad things lurking ahead. It worked for tonight. Yankees win 9-0.

Now to begin worrying about game 2. 

The Waiting

I always enjoy the excitement of an evening before a scheduled delivery from the online record store where a few days ago I ordered two or three titles and now can't remember what they are, but you know that you listened to a few song samples and all were original, different, intriguing and exciting from largely unknown or forgotten musicians in funk, jazz or avant-garde jazz history and you know that your collections coolness factor is about to increase or multiply.

And I'm thinking that maybe I should leave work early and invite people over for the grand unboxing event that will unfold .... but who do I know that would care?

Right now, I don't want to know what's about to be delivered. It will be more of a thrill to open the package tomorrow and find out. 

And that is part of the enjoyment of being an aging geek, wannabe hipster record collector in 2026.

In the used bookstore this evening just before the first autumn rain began falling. I picked up a classical title. I'll take one home three or four times a year. One great thing is that they are relatively inexpensive compared to most pre-owned rock, blues and jazz on vinyl. 

I stay away from the century's old historical composer names. I look for recordings featuring cello or violin and more contemporary composers. I know nothing about this recording other than my attention was drawn to the cover photo. I don't know if I have an original copy or a reissue, but it was originally released in 1961. At this rate, by the time I'm one hundred years old, I'll have a modest vinyl collection of classical recordings to show off. 

It appears to be in near mint condition ..... though there is a handwritten note in blue ink on the back cover under the side two listing, advising ..... "Listen to this side only." Which is a sure-fire strategy to get me to listen to the other side.

More Notes From the Edge of the Universe

Midweek notes as the official start of autumn draws close .....

• My latest thing .... Late evening, changing into pajama bottoms, t-shirt, button-down sweater and one size too big slippers, sitting quietly in a dimly lit room, listening to the classical music station on a small box shaped, single speaker clock-radio in celebration of making it through one more day. And I find this mode (or mood), for this specific moment, preferable to big stereo sound
• Alternate thing ..... Watching an episode of, 'Curb Your Enthusiasm.'
• What I've been patiently (attempting) waiting for .... autumn is finally here!! No more dreading of potential 105 degree days for a while.
• Wow! Lose twenty-five pounds and gain a wardrobe. Several shirts that have been hanging in my closet, worn just once or twice in the last three or four years because they felt uncomfortable, suddenly feel comfortable again.

Yankees Fever

Anyone who had ever spent much time around me knows that I am nearly a lifelong New York Yankee fan.

The beginnings can be traced back in my memory to the 1964 World Series making it 88.57% of my years of faithfully following the Yankees.

And my all-time hierarchy of beloved Yankee greats goes .....

1. Bobby Murcer .... I cried in protest when they traded him to the Giants and celebrated when they brought him back.
2. Mickey Mantle ..... I was too young to remember much. Or his greatest moments.
3. Don Mattingly ..... I once injured my wrist in my slo-pitch softball days attempting to imitate this wrist-bat quick movement thing I'd seen him do on television while in the on-deck circle.
4. Bernie Williams, Thurman Munson or Ron Guidry
5. Nearly everyone else who has worn the Yankee pinstripes for a single game, five years or a career.

The other day while sifting through baseball cards in an antique shop in Silverton ..... (I told the lady at the cash register the cards were "for my nephew" though I suspect that all my nephews either: a) don't care about the damn Yankees or b) too young to know about the freaking Yankees) ..... anyway, I came across a Yankee figurine with a number "23" and "Mattingly" on the back of the jersey.

Though I think it bears a closer resemblance to Wade Boggs.

So maybe it's Wade Boggs wearing a Don Mattingly jersey

Notice the lack of pinstripes? Don Mattingly certainly earned his pinstripes. Wade Boggs was a Yankee for only a year or two and just maybe the creator of the figurine was holding his red sox past against him though he was on the Yankees 1996 world series champs, so I think he deserves to be granted pinstripes as well. 

And I also found ten cards to add to my Yankee cards sheet binders ..... Ummm I mean, give to my nephews.

Time

As you get deeper into your older years it feels like you hear daily of another cousin or teenage classmate who has passed away .... people who you grew up with. And you still very much remember the times when they were young and alive and vital and taking part in all the rituals of youth, and this steady succession or progression of passing wasn't even considered as an eventual outcome or possibility. 

And you realize it happens to everyone but you're still in this semi-state of shock and continuously asking yourself: 'How is this possible and how did we even get to this point?' Shouldn't it feel like it took a while longer to get here? Shouldn't the time have passed by a little slower?

And you wonder who will be next and who will survive to be last. 

And the flashbacks remain.

When you're young it seems as if you'll be young forever. And you looked at older people and couldn't imagine that they were ever young, and those senior years will never happen to you. But before you know it you find out how wrong you are/were. And it's funny how time almost seemed to stand still back then when you were in the middle of it all but now it feels like it flashed by.

And it's frustrating and confusing and unfair .... and there is no preparation for this point in reality and maybe you'll just wake up to find that it was all a bad dream...... But that never happens.

And I believe that older people who say they never think about these things are undoubtedly lying.

And maybe it's changing the topic a bit but while I freely use the word, 'older' I refuse to use the word, old.' ..... well except in a self-effacing joking type of manner while hoping it causes another person to chuckle or laugh.

Sunday Find

Sometimes you're just looking around in the used bookstore and thinking that it's all the same books on the shelves that you've seen before and suddenly you spot something in the corner of the shelf that's different and that stands out and that wasn't there before and not to sound corny, but it's like the book is reaching out to you, attempting to get your attention. And it seems to happen now and then with both books and vinyl records ....

I opened it up to a random page like I always do ..... maybe page sixty-three ..... and read a single sentence located about halfway down the page. I knew immediately that I needed to take it home. That it was a personalized find!! Once home, I jumped right in and was hooked after reading the sleeve note and the introduction. And it looks like it's going to be a great read. 

And it's a hardcover copy!!

Wendell Berry

I read this evening of one of my favorite poets, Wendell Berry, passing away on the last day of August. I don't know what to express. I've been reading his words for the last thirty (maybe forty) years and they have always touched me in ways that few know. He spoke to me and caused me to take another look around at the world, the environment and mostly myself.

Maybe in time, I can form a few intelligent thoughts.

Risky Days

You assume that some things are safe but you'd be wrong. I've reached a point in life where nothing is free of risk .... I pulled a muscle in my back this morning while applying underarm deodorant.

Dorks, Nerds and Geeks

Caught in the middle today, (physical positioning-wise), between two guys engaging in nerd-speak, talking about their respective advanced gaming systems and me having no clue what they were saying. Thought about jumping in with some integrated amplifier-stereo speakers-turntable-vinyl record chat. Or possibly some baseball statistics and my theories on various ball and strike counts and hitting.

Made a vegetable soup tonight in the crock pot with low sodium chicken broth, tomatoes, carrots, celery, cut corn, bell pepper, spinach, dried onion flakes plus spices like pepper, thyme, parsley, old bay seasoning, a couple squirts of olive oil .... Oh and bits of chicken tossed in. No added salt. Even the positioning of the crock pot on the kitchen window counter seemed important. Turned out really yummy and warming. And the scratchy throat that I had suddenly seems to have been cured. Alexa tells me that it's also diabetic friendly which is what I was going for and suggests trying it with cod. I've arrived at the conclusion that I should have been a freaking chef.

Surprise!!

Two or three weeks ago, I came across a couple vinyl records in the used bookstore that drew interest. I took photos of the album covers and went home to check them out. Enjoying what I heard, I returned the following day to purchase but they were gone. I searched through the racks and nothing. On subsequent visits I checked again and again with no luck. Then this evening, there they were!! I don't know where they went during that time before re-discovery ..... maybe someone temporarily placed them among the Bach, Dvorak and Beethoven records ....  places I rarely go.

Michael Howell - Looking Glass. Jazz guitarist. Recorded and released in 1973. Jazz fusion. A new name in my collection. And it's a promotional copy which always seems to be a good thing in the vinyl collecting world.

Daniel Humair, Gordon Beck & Ron Mathewson - Morning! Recorded in 1972 in Italy. A French pressing and a re-issue. Jazz trio .... drums, piano and bass. Free jazz was mentioned when I was searching for basic information. More new names in my collection. 

A Few Notes and Stuff

• Twenty years ago is often framed and spoken about as a great amount of years ago, but when you're seventy years old and wondering if you'll see seventy-five or even seventy-one, looking back at your life twenty years ago it feels like yesterday.

I woke from a dream where I was back in my years working for the city, in the office at some odd hour of the night, like I often was, clad in shorts and nothing else, thinking I was alone but suddenly joined by a new front desk receptionist who was telling me that my job might not exist much longer ...... hell we were often operating with that thought in the back of our mind with pending city budget cut rumors ..... and my boss for the last few of my years there suddenly appeared in the dream, telling me about an idea she had for my job duties, when I interrupted by mentioning that I hadn't yet committed to the role ..... which is kinda in reality how my time there ended ...... and I really wasn't too excited about what I was hearing and she told me that she knew I was uncommitted and thinking about walking away. And that's where I woke up. 

Nothing too exciting for a dream but it has me thinking about those times and the passing of time. 

• Two days of off and on rain and much cooler temperatures has early September feeling like late November. Day one of the rain was a pleasure, day two was, ok that's enough. 
• Not to sound morbid but found myself in a room full of people, all younger than myself, and then a few minutes later walking away thinking that one day all those people will still be here but I won't.
• I've become a bit less fearful of that time but still not accepting or embracing it. Sometimes though it seems like the better alternative to more doctor appointments.
• Hoping all the rain of the last two days reached the wildfires in other parts of the state.

The Yaaaaankees Win

Fell asleep tonight on the couch during the second inning of the Yankees game .... Awoke just after the game concluded and in time to hear Michael Kay signing off. I can only assume that God didn't want me to see a stirring extra inning Yankees win where they strung together multiple hard-hit singles and exciting baserunning for five runs .... a seemingly rarity in Yankee viewing because ....

• a) They usually lose in extra innings on the road and ....
• b) They usually hit a home run or two and trot around the bases when they do occasionally win and ....
• c) I apparently don't deserve to witness Yankee success.