Transplanted Life
Thursday, October 28, 2004
 
No champagne hangovers today
It's not that kind of win. Last week, when the Sox got that crazy win over the Yankees, there was the need to unclench, cut loose, to steady our freakin' nerves. The ALCS wore us out even if the last game was, well, not quite a laugher, but one where the Red Sox took command and just didn't let the Yankees into it. The World Series has been something different; it's been the Red Sox on a mission. The first game, okay, that was kind of crazy, and the Cardinals actually tied it up at one point. Then Bellhorn comes through and there's no looking back, after that, it's like each game the Sox dominate the Cards a little bit more, until finally, yesterday, I'm feeling confident while watching the game. Even when the Sox were only up by one or three and Derek Lowe is still on the mound.

I mean, Derek Lowe! The guy's had some great games, but I can't help but look toward the offseason and think, man, how cool would it be if the Yankees saw this postseason success and decided to pay him $10M a year for five years only to discover he can suck quite badly, especially when the shortstop doesn't have the range everyone thinks he does.

But I digress. About the sixth inning, it started dawning on us that this was it - something we'd been waiting our entire lives for (for some of us, two lifetimes, even if neither is particularly long), that our parents and/or grandparents may not have gotten to see, and we were watching it. And, oh yeah, there's a very good possibility that we were never, ever, ever going to have to see that Bucky Dent/Bill Buckner/Aaron Boone footage again - nice try with the attempt to make us afraid, Fox, but we were past that by then - and if we do, well, it's not scary any more, is it? It just becomes like the challenges a character faces in the middle pages of a book, or like the mortifying things that happen to you as a teenager or recent-whatever-I-am: Awful at the time, but what you need to grow. I don't know that we needed to grow quite so much, but, hey, that's in the past.

I don't know when the goosebumps or pins and needles started, but as soon as Foulke made that soft toss to first, they melted away, and then we were yelling and screaming and high-fiving and screaming some more (and it's kind of fun to be a girl at those points because we scream better than guys) and hugging and kissing in expected and unexpected combinations because we all had so much happiness to share. Any other situation and Kurt kissing me might have been inappropriate (and if he'd actually kissed my lips, maybe it still would have been), but last night it was no more so that Wei hugging me.

We must have amused Jim something fierce, since he's a Mets fan and pretty much all his glee was exhausted when the Yankees got knocked out a week ago, and when you consider half the people at the party weren't from around here, you might think some were posers, but there's been something about this team that grabs you - even if you're not from around here, but just came to Boston for college or something, you get overwhelmed by the commitment of the people around you and even seduced by the idea of how cool it would be to be a part of the biggest group hug in history when they finally did win.

Wow. Just, wow. The really funny/cool thing - I think everyone at work today is wearing some sort of Red Sox apparel, having decided to do it independently, because we're all psyched.

Anyway - walking on air the rest of the week, parade Saturday... I'm sure my life will become melodramatic against sometime soon, but right now, everything seems perfect.

-Martina
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
 
Game 4 Tonight!
I am so excited I could wet myself. I never believed in the whole curse nonsense, even after the horrifying end to last season when I was at least a little open to a supernatural explanation for being in someone else's body, but, still, there's a sort of inertia that builds up, that things will continue to be some way because that is how they have always been. I of all people should know better, but not only has the other shoe not dropped, for the past week there's been no sign that it could happen. It certainly does seem to be the hypothetical Next Year.

Just think - as soon as tomorrow, obnoxious New Yorkers and bandwagoners yelling "1918" will likely be a thing of the past. They'll probably be hoisting a new banner on Yawkey Way. When I talk baseball with someone, they won't assume I'm miserable, which has never been the case, but they'll recognize what Red Sox fans have known all along - it's a great team, one of the best year-in and year-out.

Doug and I are going to be watching it at Wei & Jim's tonight. They got an HDTV as a wedding gift, so we're in for a beautiful picture (with the caveat that Tim McCarver is probably twice as annoying in DVD-quality digital surround sound), we're going to be surrounded by other fans, and it's just much more fun to do anything like this in a group.

The only issue with this potential sweep is that Jen was planning on having a Game-7 party rather than a Halloween party this year, and we're not going to have much time to find non-lame costumes if the Cards don't pull off the sort of comeback that, well, that the Red Sox did in the ALCS. Being Supergirl two years in a row is probably some sort of weird fashion faux pas, I imagine.

And there's a lunar eclipse tonight, too - talk about your planets aligning!

-Martina
Monday, October 25, 2004
 
Aw, man
Just noticed today that Wordsworth books in Harvard Square was closing after Sunday, and then looked at their website and saw that they were in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. I feel bad about that, since it's a Bad Thing when local stores go belly-up. Not only have I bought my last few books from a Borders or Barnes & Noble, but I didn't even notice things had gotten bad for Wordsworth until I saw that sign today. Sure, I'd kind of noticed that some of the upstairs space had been rented to other stores, but this also means that I hadn't been in there enough recently to notice that there was no new stock coming in.

This won't leave the area bereft of bookstores - the Harvard Book Store will still be just a few blocks away, and the Pandemonium Sci-fi/Fantasy bookstore doesn't look to be going anywhere - but it's more than a bit of a bummer. I liked Wordsworth; in my previous life browsing through there was how I found out that Ben Elton and Hugh Laurie had written books, and they had a good computer books section, too. And even if their sci-fi/fantasy section often seemed to be nothing but a gazillion different editions of Lord of the Rings, that's what the local specialty store is for.

I almost felt bad about picking something up from what inventory they had left. It's never a cool feeling to be a vulture, but 35% off is 35% off. The lady at the counter looked seriously pissed the whole time; I wonder if she's one of the proprieters who has been there 28 years and is now watching people pick over her life's work. Which will probably have a Barnes & Noble move in within two months or something similarly galling.

I'm going to miss that place.

-Martina

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Note: This blog is a work of fantasy; all characters are either ficticious or used ficticiously. The author may be contacted at JaySeaver@comcast.net