On Sunday I went to my second Met game of the season. Horror of horrors, because of a train delay I missed first pitch. On the plus side I remembered to bring my own food, a ham and cheese hero and popcorn. Popcorn is my official baseball game snack food. I’m not sure what would happen if I buttered it, so I use olive oil. I love how that tastes, especially with garlic salt. I just have to start buying better popcorn. I also love that the Mets won 10-6. I always love baseball but it’s even better when the Mets are winning. They lost yesterday but they are in first place and doing great. Next week I’ll write a one month evaluation of the team.
The Mets have been hit by a lot of pitches this year. For the most part they have clearly been unintentional. Three plays have been hit with the bases loaded, driving in a run. The hit batters are helping the Mets of team, the punishment for hitting a batter is that the batter takes first base. That’s added a lot of baserunners, the foundation for scoring runs. Many “old school” fans are calling for the Mets to retaliate even though they admit it wasn’t intentional. Why? They answer they literally give is, “Because you have to throw at the other team when your player is hit.” Some say, “So they learn they can’t hit our batters.” But as they admit it wasn’t intentional how will it accomplish anything? So, what happened Sunday? After Kyle Schwarber hit two home runs the Met pitcher tried to hit him … and missed. He hit the next batter. It got the pitcher and Mets manager suspended. We showed them! The entire idea of risking seriously injuring a player out of a sense of honor is morally repulsive. I’m sad that most fans don’t feel that way.
Yesterday I went out twice. First, I went to Brooklyn to help David with his move. He has real bagel stores right by his house. I’m so jealous. I bought a buttered bagel. Does everything I do revolve around food? No, just most things. We finished at an awkward time for me, 3:15. I had to be in the City at 6:30 but if I went straight there, I’d arrive at 4:00. The weather was not nice, and I didn’t want to walk around so I went home, which takes an hour and a half. Bought milk, relaxed for half an hour, and headed right back out. My destination, The Sheen Center for the Arts in the East Village. I was Jim’s date for a WFUV Marquee member show. The act was Lucius. I have never been a fan, but I never listened that closely, so I decided to give them a chance. Sometimes a band shines live but not recorded. Sadly, that was not what happened. They are very much not my cup of tea; they are much more Vegas than Woodstock or Falcon Ridge. I always thought they were a duo, two women, as that’s all I ever see in pictures, but they are a six-piece band, there are four men that play the instruments, and the women are the singers and front people. In a very technical sense, you can say they play instruments too, but their keytars are essentially stage props. They are all “discoed” up for looks but they aren’t part of the music. On one of the songs, one singer held one note and the other one chord. For most of the songs they did choreography. The other song they use them it was several well-spaced single notes and well-spaced chords. Other people loved them. This doesn’t mean they are bad; it means they don’t provide what I look for in music. This was about close but uncreative harmonies, choreography, and music you can dance to and lots of synthesizers. I have nothing against synthesizers, Switched on Bach was one of my first albums and I love when Rob Schwimmer plays his. It’s just that it’s easy to hide behind the synth sounds.
My back hurts but I really have to go shopping today. The problem is I have to go in two opposite directions, to get coffee from Maria’s Coffee and other things from Aldi. As I had four subway rides yesterday and have to take two more tomorrow, Friday, and Sunday, I might take the bus instead of walking. What does all the trips have to do with it? After 12 trips on between Monday and Sunday all the other rides are free. I figured I’d take advantage of that and use public transit this week. It then become cost effective to make a Trader Joe’s run to the City.
The public transit talk reminded me of something. On the subway trip to David, I saw the guy across from me maskless while looking at his fun and gesturing. At first, I thought he was dancing to music he was listening to. Then I realized he was signing which is a good excuse to not wear a mask. Facial expression is an important part of ASL. When he got off the phone, he asked me if I had an extra mask. It just so happened that I did. I now keep a mask hooked around the arm of my reading glasses along with my keys. As I can’t lock the door without the keys that means I will have my glasses and mask with me. I also have masks in all my coat pockets. I gave him my extra one. I got to do a mitzvah. Try carrying around an extra mask with you. This is the third time I’ve given one to a stranger. Offering a mask is far better than scolding someone for being maskless.
Wise Madness 