I was invited to play hockey last night in a scrimmage against the USC Women’s team. They have a club team that is usually not very good, but they always seem to have fun. The group I played with consisted of 10 women who responded quickest to the e-mail that had been sent out. I was asked as an aside when they needed another player, but was told I’d need to play Defense. I don’t play Defense – at all. I don’t know where I’m supposed to be, I have no head for that position. Within a minute of the start of the game, I became the Defenseman I’ve always hated – the one who skates up, doesn’t pass, can’t finish, and leaves the front of the net wide open. I can’t say I didn’t have fun – playing with all women made me seem like more of a skilled player than I am. In fact, I should do it more often – it would be good for my self esteem. Our rag-tag group beat the USC Women (read: girls) 5-1. The single goal we let in was completely my fault. I was trying to cover the front of the net, but was too close to the goalie. I didn’t realize this until I heard someone yell, “Get out of the way!” and then push me in the ass. That’s when the goal went in. How embarrassing.

Did I also mention that they actually had a pep band at the game? These must have been the band members who drew the short straw for the night. If I hear the fight song for USC ever again in my life, I may just melt down, I heard it so many times last night.

Of the 5 goals we scored, I scored…none. Why? Because I can skate fast, but I can’t shoot well. I need to practice more, but don’t have the energy to go to the rink at 6am. I finally broke down and bought a piece of synthetic ice for my garage floor. It’s a 6’X12’ piece which you can actually skate on with your ice blades. While you can skate on it, it’s mostly designed for stick handling and shooting, so I’m hoping to get a lot better in the next few months. Here’s a video of a similar item by the same company. Mine is a little bigger.



The song of the day is “Livin’ Thing” by Electric Light Orchestra. The song was originally released on the band’s 1976 album A New World Record, but I will always remember it from their 1979 Greatest Hits album. Why, you ask? Because it’s the very first album I ever owned, the first that belonged to me and only me, and not one of my older sisters. One of my sisters bought it for me as a present, and I was totally surprised. I didn’t know who ELO were or anything about them, but I grew to love that record and played it over and over again. My sister made a good choice when she picked that album out.