Tired

It's only Monday, and I'm already tired and fed up with work for the week.  This doesn't bode well for a constructive and enjoyable week ahead.  I really need a holiday.  Christmas can't come soon enough, but hopefully I can take some time off before then as I think I really need it.  Somewhere to get away from the increasingly dark and miserable fall days in the Pacific Northwest - Hawaii maybe?

The Circus

Out of all the news I consume - there is one program that inevitably results in the most expletives coming out of my potty mouth, including a number of Category A swear words.  And that is the Showtime series The Circus.  Because they cover both sides of the political news of the week, the show includes clips and interviews with Trump and/or his supporters.  And it drives me absolutely crazy how mad and delusional and frankly morally repugnant these people are.  It makes me sick, it makes me angry, and it makes me nervous for the future of the US and the future of the world.  I'm sure I've probably written more or less this exact same blog before, but no matter how low Trump goes nothing seems to change.  And that is probably the most worrying thing of all.

Maradona

Watched a great documentary on Maradona this week, focusing mostly on his time playing for Napoli.  As the documentary quite correctly pointed out, you either love the guy or hate him.  I definitely lie in the latter camp - if we consider the 1986 World Cup quarter-final, his cheating will always eclipse his genius.  But the documentary was a fascinating insight into a troubled genius - and someone who was clearly taken advantage of.  I kind of knew about the drugs and women - certainly after the 1994 World Cup manic goal celebration.  But I didn't know much about his time in Italy and particularly about the 1990 World Cup in Italy, where Argentina beat Italy in the semi-finals in Napoli - turning an entire country against him.  What also struck me - and perhaps this is just the quality of the footage - but all the players seem so much older back then than they do now.  Has the game really changed that much?   
PS 4th place!!!  I don't think many people saw that coming.  How long will it last?  (Spoiler - not long)

Soda

One of the perks of my job is free soda - I don't think they even offer that at our headquarters.  And despite the dubious health qualities of soda, they continue to offer it.  But this week, a new soda appeared that I'd never seen before - a brand called Jones.  And it is good.  Some quick internet research reveals that it's a Seattle beverage company.  Yet I'd never seen or heard of it ever before.  I don't know whether it will be a regular choice going forward - I'm sure Coca Cola and Pepsi will have something to say about that - but it is nice to have, at least temporarily, some choices outside of big beverage.

Hair

Still no haircut.  My hair is continuing to grow into an unruly mess, at least the hair that hasn’t fallen out yet.  If I was to have the sides cut, I think I would have a magnificent mullet.  Though my hair does tend to curl up at the back rather than really growing long – so maybe not the absolute best.  But yes, I’m still shedding hair at an alarming rate – and it is definitely increasingly thinning on top now.  Maybe I need to keep my hair short – thereby making the thinness less noticeable.  I don’t know.  I probably need to see a stylist or someone who can recommend something – I won’t get that if I keep on going to the same Vietnamese barbers I always do.

Douchebag

Yet unbelievably, given everything that has happened and is happening, my money is still on Trump winning a second term.  Never underestimate the stupidity of the American people.

Mariners

They said it would be cold this week, and boy they weren’t wrong.  Although I’ve resisted so far, it might be time to start turning on my heating – it was SO cold last night and this morning.  But not as cold as Saturday night, when I went to see the Seattle Mariners play.  Good job I brought some layers with me, because it was utterly freezing sitting in the stands.  It was the last weekend of the regular season – and our company has corporate sponsorship or something with the Oakland Athletics, who were the team playing the Mariners, so we got free tickets.  And on level 2 – which I think is some kind of corporate level because we have our own concessions, nicer toilets and what seemed to be wider and better padded seats.  No executive suite for us though!  Baseball still sucks however, and this game was about as meaningless as it could be (Mariners have one of the worst records, the A’s were already guaranteed a wildcard spot in the playoffs).  And, to be frank, it was an awful game – it finished 1-0 to the A’s.  One solo home run, and that was the entire scoring for the game.  It seemed to be a really poorly attended – maybe a third full at best, with next to no atmosphere, and it looked like most of our company’s allocation never showed up.  And a lot less people left by the end of the game – I certainly didn’t stay to the end.  I didn’t like the location of the seats either – down past the first base line, too far along to get any foul balls heading in our direction and really difficult to actually see strikes and balls and so on from where we were (judge for yourself from the photos).  There was a TV you could watch, but it was on a slight delay so it was really disorienting.  I think perhaps the highlight was the national anthem – which was a guitar version of The Star-Spangled Banner performed by Pearl Jam, one of Seattle’s finest.  I did promise myself I would try one of the food delicacies that the stadium is known for – and I’ve included a photo of it below – grasshoppers!  Not worth it – tasted “dusty” for want of a better word  That was definitely a strikeout.