Another New Adventure Begins or Bats in My Belfry

I have been remiss in updating this blog, but I have a good reason. I wish I could say it was because I was writing the next great American novel, but no. I had a major project due for school and when I wasn't working on it, because lets be honest and admit I put it off way longer than I should have, I was thinking and stressing about it. But, it was turned in this Tuesday (almost complete *sigh*) so other than a couple of final exams, I'm done for the next few weeks. Whoot!

Then I begin the slide into home. Which is ironic as I've gone and done something insane that will require me to teach little girls how to slide into home. That's right, while writing my final paper for school (and taking a sociology course) I'll be coaching eleven little girls, ages 7 to 9, in modified fast pitch softball. Have I coached softball before? Nope.

I'm still not sure what possessed me to volunteer. Rather, I know what possessed me I just wish I'd had the willpower to fight the need to be the savior. You see, my daughter's team had no coach and if someone didn't step forward, they were going to have to refund the money and seven little girls would not get to play. Since the four that would be moved to the other two teams would be based on who registered first, there's a chance my kiddo would still get to play. But I didn't know for sure and I didn't want the other girls to lose out. So, I stepped forward. Damn it.

We are the Neptunes and our first practice is this coming Monday. I figure for the next few months at least I'll have an interesting blog topic. (Like how parents react when you curse from the center of the field.) So far, the only girl on my team I know has played before is my own daughter. Which means we're starting from scratch and I have less than a month to teach these little girls everything they need to know about the game of softball. I played for almost 15 years, so I know the game. Which means I also know there's no way I can teach them everything they need to know in less than a month. Not with 120 minutes worth of practice a week.

But I'm staying positive. Some parents have already offered to step forward and help out. So I'm running on the idea that all of these girls have been gifted with natural talent and this is going to be a dream gig. I've decided they can call me Coach T and as soon as I get used to the fact that that's me, I'll try to answer as best I can.

Have you ever done something you knew wasn't the best idea but you just couldn't stop yourself? Did it turn out well? Any coaching advice? Anyone have any spare medication they'd like to send my way?

I Need an iNtervention

In my list of favorite things I mentioned my iPod. Let me say that a little over a year ago, I didn't see the need for one of these. I could play my CDs in my car and there's always the radio. As a former disc jockey, I'm programmed to prefer radio over satellite or MP3 players. But then I saw the light.

For my 2007 birthday, I didn't get a single present. So I bought my own. (This happens pretty much every year which works out well as I have an excuse to buy me something extravagant. Hello new car!) What I bought was an iPod Nano. And I fell in love.

I take this little gem everywhere I go. It holds around 2000 songs, but right now I only have maybe 700-something on it. I'm in the process of adding a ton of my CDs into the computer so my list is always growing. But another reason my list is always growing is iTunes.

iTunes is my nemesis and my new love all at the same time. You can buy just the song, people. I don't have to buy every uninteresting, over-popped, over-produced song just to get that one I like. The other night I spent $20 in one sitting (songs are $.99 each) and only one purchase was an entire CD. The rest was individual songs like three from The Fray and that Jai Ho from the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack.

Don't get me wrong, I agree with Kid Rock who thinks this breaking up of the product was a horrible move on the part of the music industry. He's right. Artists go into the studio to create an album (to use the now antiquated word for the compilation) and that is their product. They put their heart and soul into the entire collection and that's what they are selling. Making it possible for the consumer to buy one tenth of the product makes the product worthless. Why not just offer a bunch of songs and forget about it?

However, I'm taking advantage of the industry's poor decision making. I do try to listen to the 30 second snippets of all the songs on a CD and if I like enough of them, I'll buy the entire thing. I love finding a gem that you'd never hear on the radio. But when I don't like that many and I only want two or three songs, I love that I can get them without the complete investment.

How about everyone else? Have you jumped on the MP3/iPod bandwagon? Do you spend way too much time looking for new music and way too much money buying it? What's the latest artist/song you've fallen in love with. This is my latest obsession. Natasha Bedingfield's Soulmate.