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Yesterday I spent some time with my friend Ron. It seems I'm going to be playing on his church softball league this year.

To play on the team, I'll have to attend at least two church ceremonies per month. It's been a decade and a half since I've attended church with any regularity. I'm still not certain a "God" per se exists, but it will be interesting to see what this church says of things. I'm looking forward to going.

Before practice yesterday, I went to Dick's Sporting Goods and bought some equipment: a Mizuno glove, a Mizuno bat, and some Reebok shoes. I got pretty much the cheapest I could find in each (quiet, Ron!). Dick's had a "Miken" bat for $300! Now, I understand $400 for a driver (golf), but a bat is just a bat. They're all the same shapes, and the materials aren't as complex as they are in golf. $300? For a bat? Whatever…

Softball practice, well, let's just say that Ron and I accounted for half of the people that showed up, and one was from the women's team. Practice was fun and productive, though. It's been years since I threw anything overhand (since 2000 when I separated my shoulder and the doctors saw fit to leave it separated while I sat around in the emergency room for hours and hours). Previously, even slowly mimicking an overhand toss resulted in a very "loose, sloppy" feeling in my shoulder joint. Yesterday, I worked up to about 65% of my previous fastball speed with no noticeable side effect. 65% is more than enough to make a throw to a cutoff man or to get the ball across the diamond to first base, so I should be fine. Eventually I'll take it up a bit more.

Fielding, well, let's just say I still hate short-hop grounders. I once took one in the teeth when wearing braces (our Little League fields were anything but flat and smooth), and I absolutely hate them. I overcame it before, though, and I will again.

Batting, well, I surprised myself. I hit 40 balls right-handed or so and put two out of the park. I've never hit a ball out of a field before (my speed led to several inside-the-park home runs), and it was a nice feeling. I'm typically a line-drive or a very hard ground ball hitter. I was taught to swing level or even slightly downward through the ball. Catching the ball just below the equator created some nice lift and backspin, though, and the softball against the air really looked like some golf shots I've hit - a nice boring trajectory that fell off at the end to land softly. I hit five lefty, then, and pulled them all but made very solid contact and hit four hard line drives and one near home run (foul). It might be fun to switch in the middle of an at-bat just to screw with the pitcher's mind…

After softball practice, Ron and I went to see Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith. I guess I knew what would happen and so wasn't very surprised when it did. I was discouraged, once again, by the absurd dialog, particularly between Anakin and Padme. In Episode II, there was the "I killed them all, the women, the children. / Just hug me" exchange, and Episode III is not short of cheesy lines. Anakin seemed to be involved in each one of those scenes. The movie was too long at 2:20 - it would have been better at 1:50.

At some point in the future, I'm going to watch all six episodes in a row, and I hope to fully appreciate the story (not the dialog) at that point.

Oddly, as I write this, this song is playing:

Erik is listening to "Your Song" by Ewan McGregor and Alessandro Safina from the album "Moulin Rouge Soundtrack" (2001). Erik has rated this song 3.0 stars and last played this song Saturday, February 7, 2004 12:06:6 am.

That's all for now.

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