that rosebud girl

the traveling bug.

so in the midst of all the 13 billion things i have to do (yes, that number changes everyday … it usually ticks upward), i have thought … i need a big, long vacation. you know, the kind where no one can really get a hold of you and you have to go to an internet cafe just to check your e-mail?

(hey, i went on one of those once … it was called a honeymoon!)

anyhow, i have this burning desire to escape. there is a grand chunk of the u.s. i would like to visit. there is also a burning desire to return to toronto and montreal and visit every nhl city in canada, plus get fresh fish in newfoundland or nova scotia or some far-flung eastern canadian province like that. but i think i would like to escape the country.

and no, canada doesn’t count because as homer simpson once said, “why would i leave america to visit america jr.?”

(o canada, how i love thee. seriously.)

these are countries that have been bandied about in our household:

• japan (top priority … we seriously hope to go there in 2008 and eat like maniacs. mmmm, raw fish.)
• sweden (ed wants to see hockey … i think stockholm would kick ass.)
• finland (ed wants to see more hockey. between this and sweden, it would be umlauts and vowels galore!)
• the netherlands (i have wanted to go to amsterdam for a long, long time — and nearly did a few years ago.)
• england (i want to be a soccer hooligan for one day.)

other places i want to go:

• spain (gotta practice proper spanish, you know.)
• australia (i once lived in the same time zone as sydney, you know. i regret never having made it to australia. the opera house would kick wicked ass!)
• argentina (mmmm, beef.)
• chile (one of my cousins lived there for a summer and a friend of mine lived there for two years. i’ve heard it kicks ass.)
• peru (machu picchu would be cool to see in person.)

notice france is not on either of these lists. i really don’t have a burning desire to go there. unless the world cup gets played there or something. otherwise, it’s not high on the priority list.

i might want to go to germany too just for the beer. and the history. and italy too, for the food. and some part of mexico that is not tijuana (and where i’m not likely to get shot or robbed).

*sigh*

i need to become a millonaire or something. can’t travel on a journalist’s salary, you know.

my tragic flaw.

someday, i will learn to speak the word “no.”

but that someday isn’t right now, and it probably isn’t going to be soon.

occasionally, i will find myself up to my eyeballs (and beyond) in work, mainly because that little monosyllabic word will not escape from my mouth.

yes, i’ll do this project.

yes, i’ll sell at that show.

yes, i’ll make this bag for you.

nary a no in sight.

so right now, i am wishing the day were 60 hours long, not 24.

*sigh*

oh, well.

someday i will learn. i’m crossing my fingers.

lucky bastard.

according to the ap, the dude who caught barry bonds’ record-breaking home run ball was a 22-year-old kid from new york who happened to be in san francisco on a friggin’ one-day layover.

the story says that he was en route to australia and was in SF for the layover … and he and a buddy happened to get tickets before the game … and the dude catches the home run ball and survives the scrum.

can you imagine the dude going through customs on his way to australia tomorrow?

“um, sir, you’re gonna have to get that ball out of your pocket.”

“why are you being tailed by security?”

“is that bulge in your pants dangerous? oh, it’s just a baseball.”

i hope he doesn’t put it in some checked luggage. imagine if the airline lost said piece of luggage. the ball could be worth a half-mil. i’d be pissed. i wonder if you could sue the airline for that amount?

why can’t i ever be this lucky in life?

(as a p.s., the dude was a Mets fan. i’m sure homeboy pete is thinking to himself, i went to giants game with a mets shirt and all i walked away with was some dude heckling the crap out of me. this guy walks into a giants game with a mets jersey and gets a damn historic home run ball.)

(and for the record, when pete and i went to said giants game a couple of summers ago, we also sat in the outfield bleachers. but not the same section. we were in left field-ish.)

the march is over.

of course, barry had to break the home run record while i am working. i mean, it was inevitable.

i tip my cap to barry. i’ve never been a fan. i’m ambivalent toward barry and his drama. i’m all barry-ed out. but a record is a record. so i’ll give him that at least.

i always seem to be in a newsroom when these milestone events happen.

i’m pretty sure i was in the daily trojan newsroom when mark mcgwire hit no. 62.

i was in the newsroom here for barry’s 755 and 756.

i was in the newsroom in delaware when smarty jones lost his triple crown bid (which, coincidentally, is the same day ronald reagan died).

i was in the newsroom in delaware when fourth-seeded usc (um, sam clancy? david bluthenthal? kick ass team that should have beaten duke?!) lost to no. 13 north carolina-wilmington in the ncaa tournament in 2002 — i threw a pen at the tv that night. (and it hit me in the face. karma.)

and, quite famously, i was in the newsroom here in sacto when usc won its epic game against notre dame in 2005, watching dwayne jarrett catch the fourth-down pass and subsequently running screaming like a banshee through the room, past the metro desk, and into the main hallway. i of course returned in time to watch matt leinart get his ahem, push from reggie bush.

of course, all hell is breaking loose around me right this second. but that’s when it’s most fun.

um, whatever.

back to work and such.

damn you, history.

thanks a lot, barry bonds, for hitting no. 755 on a night i’m working.

you just made my night hell.

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by the way, that was the most subdued breaking of a record i have ever seen on tv. no big scrum for the ball, teammates trudging onto the field — ryan klesko begrudgingly hugged barry, it looked like — no curtain call.

just goes to show that there’s little love for barry.

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according to the associated press, barry has hit the most home runs against the padres. go figure.

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the next question is, where’s chan ho park?

when you need someone to serve up a historic home run, you gotta call that dude up. on the list of milestone barry homers, he shows up twice. and i’m pretty sure he’s given up some other historic ones as well.

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ok, back to working and my night of hell.