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Finally, at just after 7 in the evening, I'm ready to sit down to dinner. In spite of not having had a very active or productive day, I feel totally exhausted. I did do the treadmill this AM, but skipped the rest of my daily workout. Even took a 2-hour nap this afternoon.
The only things I actually got done were taking the stadium seats out of the back of the car--outdoor soccer is well and truly over for the year--and storing them upstairs, getting the snow shovels out of the basement and putting them at the side entrance--their home for the winter, and installing the new dimmer switch that my landlord/daughter got for my dining room.
In the middle of this (very) minor electrical job, I talked to my grandson about our prospects for the indoor soccer season. His club team, along with its two coaches, are based in the old Eastwood neighborhood where he grew up in the city. And it's very intentionally modeled in opposition to the pay-to-play model that predominates in Syracuse, its suburbs, and in most of the U.S.
What that means is, if your parents have $1600 for a year of training--on top of shoes, balls, and travel, league, and tournament fees--you get to play year-round soccer, an absolute must if you're serious about high school soccer, not to mention catching the eye of the college scouts who now prowl the sidelines of earlier and earlier age groups.
The problem with the everyone-gets-to-play model is that even if your coaches work for free--which ours do--you've still gotta find an indoor arena where the kids can practice at least once or twice a week. And regardless of how kid-friendly and community-minded the facility managers may be, they've still gotta pay for rent, heat, lights, water, maintenance, liability and other insurances, etc.
The nice man who actually founded this team, and coached it for as long as his grandson was on it, had a connection with one of the Eastwood churches which allowed us the use of its gym once a week for practice. I guess someone on the team needs to experience a conversion because we don't have that connection--or that practice option--anymore.
Anyway, we're 2 weeks into the indoor season and still have no place to practice. And I know it doesn't help the team--which I'd really like to do--but after discussing this with my grandson I texted his 1-on-1 coach to see if he could maybe sub on one of the rec-league teams that he started with last winter. So we'll see.
After that, I finally set about making a dinner which will actually last me a couple of nights. I had the beef BBQ crumble over mashed potatoes with a side of buttered and brown sugared squash prepped in the microwave and then blended in the Ninja Quick-Chop.
I'm gonna continue processing what I eat for a few more days because, although I got my lower denture late in the week, and have been anxious to try it against the uppers that I've had for a while, I've developed a sore spot that just makes it too uncomfortable. (In anticipation of that possibility, I've got an appointment for my first re-fit on Monday and I think, if I go easy on it until then, I should be OK.)
Anyway, that's the latest from Lake Wobegon. Hope everyone has a good weekend...
LPK
Dreamwidth
11.8.2019
The only things I actually got done were taking the stadium seats out of the back of the car--outdoor soccer is well and truly over for the year--and storing them upstairs, getting the snow shovels out of the basement and putting them at the side entrance--their home for the winter, and installing the new dimmer switch that my landlord/daughter got for my dining room.
In the middle of this (very) minor electrical job, I talked to my grandson about our prospects for the indoor soccer season. His club team, along with its two coaches, are based in the old Eastwood neighborhood where he grew up in the city. And it's very intentionally modeled in opposition to the pay-to-play model that predominates in Syracuse, its suburbs, and in most of the U.S.
What that means is, if your parents have $1600 for a year of training--on top of shoes, balls, and travel, league, and tournament fees--you get to play year-round soccer, an absolute must if you're serious about high school soccer, not to mention catching the eye of the college scouts who now prowl the sidelines of earlier and earlier age groups.
The problem with the everyone-gets-to-play model is that even if your coaches work for free--which ours do--you've still gotta find an indoor arena where the kids can practice at least once or twice a week. And regardless of how kid-friendly and community-minded the facility managers may be, they've still gotta pay for rent, heat, lights, water, maintenance, liability and other insurances, etc.
The nice man who actually founded this team, and coached it for as long as his grandson was on it, had a connection with one of the Eastwood churches which allowed us the use of its gym once a week for practice. I guess someone on the team needs to experience a conversion because we don't have that connection--or that practice option--anymore.
Anyway, we're 2 weeks into the indoor season and still have no place to practice. And I know it doesn't help the team--which I'd really like to do--but after discussing this with my grandson I texted his 1-on-1 coach to see if he could maybe sub on one of the rec-league teams that he started with last winter. So we'll see.
After that, I finally set about making a dinner which will actually last me a couple of nights. I had the beef BBQ crumble over mashed potatoes with a side of buttered and brown sugared squash prepped in the microwave and then blended in the Ninja Quick-Chop.
I'm gonna continue processing what I eat for a few more days because, although I got my lower denture late in the week, and have been anxious to try it against the uppers that I've had for a while, I've developed a sore spot that just makes it too uncomfortable. (In anticipation of that possibility, I've got an appointment for my first re-fit on Monday and I think, if I go easy on it until then, I should be OK.)
Anyway, that's the latest from Lake Wobegon. Hope everyone has a good weekend...
LPK
Dreamwidth
11.8.2019
