Friday I ran into two of my old students, Isiah and Terrance, on my way into a liquor store to pick up drinks for a BYOB Mexican dinner. We chatted about school, and how much it has changed in the last couple years. They gave me a lot of grief a couple years ago, but they are good kids, as were almost all of the students I taught.

I used to live in perpetual fear of running into students in my real life, but now it's a pleasant surprise. These two almost crapped when I offered to buy them beer, but quickly realized I was joking. I may have been one of the cooler teachers at school, but I'm not that cool.

Nick's brothers-in-law Mike (Young Guys) and Pete (Old Guys) organized a baseball game today, in which Nick and I were invited to play. We were initially supposed to be Old, but due to a Young Guy shortage and our borderline age of 30, we played on Mike's team.

After playing softball for the last five years, it is amazing how long 90 feet actually is.

Because we're off for Labor Day, our clinical group has to go to the Cook County Juvenile Center to observe court cases to make up the hours.

The courtroom we chose was involved primarily in cases of finalizing adoptions for wards of the state, and closing files as they became adults. The judge was a very nice woman, and expressed sincere compassion for the people involved in each case, as did most of the social workers and public guardians. The weird part about the whole thing was that only one of the cases had the actual parties present; all of the others were social workers and case managers giving testimony on behalf of their clients. I'm not sure if I expected heated custody battles and parents being ripped away from their crying children, but what was initially semi-interesting quickly became eye-stabbingly boring.

I have Thursdays and Fridays off this month, which is lovely, but this time will inevitably be reserved for working and homework and independent learning activities. So I guess I don't really have these days off at all, do I? At least I don't have to get up at the crack for class or clinicals, which will allow me some nocturnal recreation.

Today was the first day of my Mental Health rotation. I am at Chicago Lakeshore Hospital on Lawrence, a psychiatric hospital that has units for adults, pediatrics, substance abuse, and LGBT patients.

I sat in on an art therapy group. The therapist laid a bunch of statements on the table, such as "You are not alone" and "Everything will be okay", and we had to write a poem or draw a picture based on the statement(s) we chose. I went with "Don't beat yourself up", and produced the first drawing I have done in about 20 years. I felt stupid participating at first, but ultimately was glad that I did.

I got to hold cute things this weekend. I stopped by Kusch and Kelly's in Genoa Friday night and got to play with their new puppy, Rooster. At Roy's birthday BBQ, I got to hold Joe and Jackie's daughter, Hannah. I want a puppy and a baby immediately.

School started today, and included a bit of time in the skills lab.

What do children, pregnant women, and the mentally ill have in common? They all scare the shit out of me in a clinical setting, something I'm going to have to get over real fast. This has the potential to be a difficult semester.

Football season is upon us. Today we had our draft at the Buffalo Wild Wings in Geneva. Tomorrow we start school again, so this is the last activity in my month of fun.

This my second year of fantasy football with my cousin and his friends. The Falconers of Rogers Park hope to bounce back from a dismal inaugural season of injuries and subpar performances. On paper, the team I drafted is better than last year, but I suspect I picked up some real turds. I guess we'll find out in a few weeks.

Courtney threw a surprise 30th birthday BBQ for Roy today in Elgin. I got to see some old chums and marvel at the ridiculous number of children and pregnancies.


Everyone cleared out early due to the aforementioned children and pregnancies, and Roy and I got to catch up like gentlemen over a couple glasses of bourbon and permethrin mosquito incense. The best thing about old friends is that you can pick up right where you left off, which is perfect for someone who hates talking on the phone, emailing, or any other accepted method of staying in touch.

I finally got to eat at a Ruby Tuesday. Thank you, DeKalb.

My parents and grandma are doing very well, and we had a lovely dinner in spite of the frigid temperature and multiple sleds hanging on the wall.

Misspellings on signs are one of my secret pleasures. This one made me smile, then almost barf in my mouth. There was just something about that sequence of letters that was simultaneously thrilling and nauseating.

When my mother gave me my camera for Christmas three years ago, she included an extra memory card, which I just recently found. When I got back from Vegas and loaded the pictures on my computer, I was amused to find a bunch of pictures of this man and his friends.

If any of you know him or see him at your local Wendy's, please let him know that I have 52 very special memories from March, 2003.

Our flight got into O'Hare at about 6:30am. I got home at 8am, and slept all day.

This picture was in the airplane bathroom. I was able to identify all of the objects except the thing above the diaper. Is it a sucker? A baby rattle? Some sort of IUD? I meant to ask the flight attendant, but I fell asleep and forgot about it.

There were quite a few professional pool players at the tournament for various exhibitions and workshops. Chances are you have seen Allison Fisher on a bar television or while flipping past ESPN. For $20, anyone could play her. I'm not sure what the prize was if you won, but the money went to charity.

Mike, Marty, and Debbie played against her. Not surprisingly, they all lost, although Marty had a couple chances and blew it. She commented that our team was "dropping like flies". Later that evening, she came into the bar where we were killing time before our flight. Someone commented that I didn't get to play her.

Me: I guess we'll never know.

Allison: True, we will never know. But we can assume...

Bob, Rick, and I went to the Golden Steer for dinner tonight. It was very dark and swanky, and had the right kind of old Vegas feel to it. I would have felt awful if I hadn't gone for at least one steak dinner while I was here.

We played horribly today, lost our 8am match, then lost again at 6pm. It's one thing to play well and lose to a good team, but playing crappy and losing to teams you should beat is hard to stomach. Very disappointing to be knocked out, but everyone seemed to take it okay. Now our only responsibility here is to have fun.

At the pool party, I got to go into one of those wind booths that blow things around and you have to catch them, something I have always wanted to do. In this case, they were playing cards. After it was done, I stepped out and asked the guy what I had won, and he said "Nothing"; the promotion had already ended. They must have seen how excited I was, and let me go ahead with it.

We won our first match handily, and allowed ourselves a couple beers in celebration. I think all of us are wary of the fact that there is alcohol everywhere, much of it free, and being drunk/hungover is not conducive to competitive play.

Our next match is at 8am tomorrow, a completely unnatural time to have to play pool.

The APA national tournament is much bigger than I expected. There are hundreds of tables, and thousands of players. I still can't believe we made it here. When it comes down to it, we can only do our best. I think we are ready, and I think our best is good enough to get us pretty deep.

We play our first match tomorrow night at 6pm against The Heartbreakers from Goose Creek, South Carolina. I hope they don't break our hearts.

Our shirts came back from the embroiderers today. They look pretty sweet. Mine is bit on the enormous side, but looks okay.

I am so excited for this weekend.

Before.

After.

Julie helped me clean my room today. It should resemble the "Before" picture in a couple weeks, but for now, I love it.

Went to Pressure Billiards Cafe to practice for the big weekend. I gave Julie an assumed handicap of 2, which means that she has to get 19 points before I get to 31 points (I am a 4). Even if I gave her a few do-overs, she shot well and beat me. Next time we play she will be raised to a 3.

Even when I'm on vacation from school, I find plenty of homework assignments for myself.

My feet got absolutely blasted by mosquitoes this week. It was the kind of insatiable itching where you don't care if you are scratching so hard you tear off your flesh, and you would do anything to make it stop. I also stubbed/broke the 4th toe on my left foot by slamming it into a bathtub, and got a deep beach grass splinter that got a little infected. Not a good week for feet.

And yes, I'm aware that I have Fred Flintstone's feet.

I used to have a regular poker game with some teachers and lawyers, but because of school, I have not been able to play in a really long time. Tonight I made my triumphant return. I broke even, which to me, is the same as winning.

In addition to tennis, I learned how to play a stupid game called Peanuts this week, kind of a team solitaire game. I am really bad at games where you have to play a card before somebody else beats you to it. Peanuts is one such game, and that's probably why I think it is stupid. I also learned Contract Rummy, which I loved.

People are incredulous when I tell them I have never played tennis or seen "Mary Poppins".

I played tennis for the first time this week. I have experience in ping pong, racquetball, badminton, and Pickleball, but tennis has, until now, escaped me. 

I feel like I did pretty well for my first time. Mayhem and I defeated Julie and Kate in a hard fought doubles match, and I didn't have a heart attack or tear my ACL.

Since January, I have become a consultant for people's illnesses and injuries. I always tell people that I don't know much yet, and that I'm kind of uncomfortable giving advice or a hack diagnosis, but I nevertheless offer my services.

Colleen had a splinter in her big toe, and I was the de facto surgeon. I am happy to report the operation was a success.

This morning I drove to Holland, Michigan to spend a few days with Julie and her family. I don't go swimming very often in Chicago, mainly because I'm chubby and hairy and don't like to take my shirt off in public. But when I'm in other places, I get over myself and try to enjoy the water. The lake was crisp and clear, and I could have spent all day getting slapped around by the surprisingly large waves.

Tradition #4: The pontoon

I don't know if going out on the boat should be considered a tradition, or a mandatory part of the Blueberry Island experience. Nick and I went out on Sunday after the other dudes left to read and listen to the Cubs game. For a couple hours I really felt like I was living the dream.

Goodbye, Blueberry Island, until next year.

Unpictured traditions: Apples to Apples, watching the spiders, Hansen's early morning arrival, Bob Evans, grilling delicious Meadorburgers, Young's pancake breakfast, movie at the Pickwick

Things that happened for the first time this year and will be traditions if they happen again next year: Rock Band, Martin ditching us to spend time with some other idiots on the St. Lawrence River

Tradition #3: Drinking games

Circle of Death Friday night and Flip Cup on Saturday. When does one become too old to play a drinking game? Before each round of Flip Cup, we take turns making mostly heartfelt and sincere toasts. If I was a stranger watching us do this, I would definitely call us tools and make fun of everyone. But this is one of my favorite parts of the weekend, where we leave most of the sarcasm and ridicule behind and say nice things about each other until we are drunk.

Tradition #2: Yard games

Before the arrival of the pontoon boat last year, we used to spend a great deal of time in the yard playing games where you throw things into or at other things. Washers and Slingy Sac (also known as Ladder Golf, Norwegian Golf, or Donkey Balls) are still enjoyed, but other activities have taken prominence in what is always too short a weekend.