Many of you know that I'm a Giants season ticket holder, which means this past month has been heaven for all of long-suffering Giants fans. Here are some of the scenes I was able to witness.
Last Saturday at the SF Giants Fanfest and I met Coach Ron Wotus... yes, Gina, you're pissed off at me, but I don't care, for you were at the Pro Bowl in Hawaii and you sent me a pic from Rainbow Drive-in. So here's my picture for you... Both Ron and Dave are great gentlemen, very personable and it pumped me up even more for the upcoming season.
Today was also the greatly anticipated reward for being the Most Spirited High School in the Bay Area competition. Flo Rida came and performed four songs at our school. I'm impressed with how well our students responded, for they conducted themselves like the INSPI(RED)they are. The picture is of Jocelyn, one of my friends and co-workers, Flo Rida, and little ol' me.
Although the Giants lost 5 of 6 games on this homestand, I was there for all of those losses. I basically have moved into my summer home and you can always find me in 138 from now until school starts August 18th (boo! boo!)
Unique happenings occurred at every game naturally and I'll highlight those fit for public consumption.
Friday night vs. the A's I finally got to bring my CADA buddy, David, to his first game at AT&T Park. Along with us came Faye who continues to think that David is Ryan Stiles. Good times!
Saturday night vs. the A's I spent the afternoon at Lauren's graduation picnic and I was able to spend some time with family, whom I did not see enough. In particular, my ninong's kids, Jing and Virgie, who ended up having tickets to the game (I sold mine on stubhub) and I had the opportunity to show them my summer home. Sadly, Jing lost her wallet and all seemed at a lost. We went to the executives suite but they had no luck finding it. Seriously, what are the odds someone would turn the wallet in. But I had an inkling, and just before the Giants staff who worked the Marina Gate left, we caught up with them and Bob radioed up to the lost and found. And what do you know? My cousin's wallet was there fully intact. Thanks to Charlie, who patrols 138 for finding it and allowing my cousin peace of mind.
Sunday vs. the A's (father's day) Again, I sold my tickets because I was going to the game with All-star teacher of the year nominee, Alicia Vosberg. Some of you saw her interview on the pre-game show and a lucky few of you saw both of us along with Alicia's daughter and our co-worker, Nikki, between the 3rd and 4th innings. I loved being able to hangout on the field, especially in the dugout. Take a look and enjoy... But don't forget to vote for my co-worker... and tell all your friends...
Monday vs. the Tigers I recovered and didn't go to the game. Of course the Giants won, but not because I wasn't there but because Tim Lincecum pitched. He better be in the all-star game.
Tuesday night vs. the Tigers I brought two scorned women to the game with me. They kept me entertained as I heard all about the failings of men. It's a good thing I'm usually the designated driver.
Wednesday vs. the Tigers My sister and co-workers showed up to the game with me and they got a full dose of what it means to be in 138. A few of us were there and my co-workers realized why my section is so cool. Game ended at 4; we hung out until 11pm.
That summer feeling took a backseat today as I went into work from 3pm to 9pm in order to set up some things for next school year. Here's to sleeping in though....
Support our community's future by watching the Giants future
Event InfoName: El Camino HS Night with the Giants
Tagline: Support our community's future by watching the Giants future
Host: Derek Padilla Type: Sports - Sporting Event Time and PlaceDate: Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Time: 7:10pm - 10:10pm
Location: AT&T Park
Street: 24 Willie Mays Plaza
City/Town: San Francisco, CA
Description This is our annual fundraiser with the San Francisco Giants, who will be playing the Housto Astros that night. Tickets are $20 and 7 or 8 of that goes directly back to the school. Please consider helping us, particularly with the 10% cut in educational funding that will happen next year.
Our district band will be doing the National Anthem, while the jazz band plays in Willie Mays Plaza around 5pm. If you're interested, please contact me. My work email is dpadilla@ssfusd.org
The tickets are situated in the upper reserve along the 3rd base line. Sections 319-322, I believe.
Hope to see you all there. Go Giants! Support the future... the Giants young players and our young high school students.
Please pass this on to anyone interested.
If you look carefully, you will see our seats in the pictures.
So today should be all doom and gloom... taxes are due... almost sounds like the Ides of March... and it start off great... the Giants did recognize the actual 50th anniversary of the first major league baseball game on the West Coast... but unlike that game in which the Giants beat the Dodgers 8-0 against Don Drysdale... they lost today; however, John Bowker, recent call up, in only his third game in the majors, just missed his third homer, but did get his first triple. He is fast becoming a cult hero for this season.
Now, how do I chase these blues away? With two of my favorite films coming out on DVD today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I bought the 2 disc version of the movie, particularly so that I can get the digital copy of the film on the second disc and add it to my ipod. I also purchased it at Target (Tanforan) in order to get the exclusive script book that came with this edition.
Part of the charm of this film is Diablo Cody's quirky dialogue. Yet, I think the casting is excellent, especially Juno's parents with their idiosyncrasies. I love when Alison Janney rips back at the medical tech and tells her where she can go.
OH! what the heck... here's are some cool lines
Now for the second film in this double feature
I love dark twisted comedies and this is one of them. I read plenty of reviews and many of the critics and cinephiles definitely do not appreciate this film as much as I do.
Although the premise forces the audience to suspend their disbelief, once you follow the Ryan Gosling character deal with his own personal issues through communicating with a "real girl," I couldn't help but feel for the guy. Maybe I relate to the sense of isolation or loneliness he goes through, but I think the true comedy of the film is in how the rest of the town supports his mania. And the real girl "Bianca" becomes more active and real than he ever could be.
Here is a little vid to give you a taste of what I mean...
But the day is not yet over, for there is more to celebrate...
As I was grading, I watched game 4 of the San Jose Sharks vs. the Calgary Flames playoff match up. I admit to being frustrated after hearing about last night's Warriors debacle causing them to miss the playoffs. Calgary scored a goal right before the end of the second period to take some momentum going into the intermission.
The 3rd period was just a great battle of wills. The Sharks seemed to be exerting theirs but could never come up with a goal. With about 5 minutes remaining, Jonathan Cheechoo shoots one into the upper corner from the opposite side of the ice. I can't believe he was able to squeeze the shot into such a small window of opportunity.
The game seemed destined for overtime as the Sharks couldn't get another one into the net because of the ex-shark in goal. Then a shot akin to a hail mary pass in football from a fair distance away by Murray and slight deflection from Thornton just sneaks inside the left pipe to win the game. The thrill of victory and agony of defeat! and I succumb to both on the same day.
On an odd note... I caught a bit of American Idol when I switched there during the Sharks intermissions. I love the fact that Syesha sang my favorite Mariah Carey song "Vanishing," who cares that Simon thought she did herself a disservice by picking a relatively unknown Mariah song. I loved it. I just may have to watch more of this season. Wait... real TV is coming back... so probably not... until the finals...
And the best news of all... MANNY BELLO is back. He is one of the old Spasm gang collaborators from the days when we were young and thought we would succeed at self-publishing. And let me make this clear, we could have if we all wanted that to be our main goal and had more capital. He sent me an email today that his project Dugout is about to be released this summer. And yes, he is a big Giants fan, hence the baseball related project. Woo Hoo!
I truly need to create something for this talented man to visualize. I love how he said he can't wait for my volume of "subversive verse."
Before we get to the next Drumline Battle... my family celebrated Dwight's Birthday and we got to meet his family. Woo Hoo!
I took so much abuse this week about the Giants record and season, particularly at the beginning of the week. Then, the Giants won three games in a row, even the KNBR hosts were wondering if that would even be possible. Well, it happened much sooner than many expected. Yet, many of the people around me said that the Giants were just playing over their heads. It will only last so long. Unfortunately, more of the games will be like Saturday's in which the Giants lose in break your heart fashion. The good thing about that is that there is always a chance they will win the game and not just get blown out like many naysayers suggest.
So I decided with this entry in the Drumline Battle, I would share a clip that shows truly what it means to battle over heads. The scene comes from the first Jet Li I ever saw. Thankfully, my buddy Eric use to take me to the UC Theater in Berkeley on Thursdays, when the theme of the night was Asian films (usually action/martial arts films). Eric helped me to discover Jet Li, John Woo, and Chow Yun Fat long before they made their first American films. In many ways, Eric is responsible for helping me to develop any film sensibility/aesthetic (while an ex-girlfriend also taught me more than I ever expected since she was a broadcast media major), which all has led me to being able to teach film lit. Enough of the Digression....
This scene from The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk introduced me to Jet Li and just how much fun and how different foreign films can be than the usual Hollywood fare.
In much the same way, Jet Li fights for pride (and a possible bride) because he is young and talented, yet he discovers he has much to learn and ultimately loses the battle. The Giants may not be choosing to lose, but they will be learning from their mistakes. As long as the games are close as they have been, they will be entertaining. Hopefully, more fans will show up to the park rather than just us true fans. The attendance this week was the lowest in ballpark history.
138 Aside: I can't believe that during Friday night's game there were some people mad at me for not moving out of my seat for their friends because they assumed I was in their seats. They looked at me dumbfounded that I would deny their request. I stared back and said NO! I am a season ticket holder and my butt has been on this seat since 2000. I'm sorry you assumed your friends had my seats but you're wrong. They all eventually moved a few rows in front of me.
Second horrible thing to happen in 138 Friday night was some fans several feet away from me tried to start the wave. About a dozen people kept getting up trying to begin their wave. However, my section finally shaped up to true Friday night form and booed them down. My 138 family around me made them sit down as we yelled at them that the wave is not San Francisco, but an East Bay or Southern California mentality so go back to from whence you came.
Later we began a Let's Go Giants chant, and those fans who booed sarcastically said "ewww... we don't do that here! we don't cheer for our team!" Those fans are lucky that none of the stupid drunk fans that tend to show up were there and make the situation a bit unruly. It disgusts me when fans who show up to 1 or 2 games a year come to the ballpark and disregard ballpark etiquette and proceed to try to dictate how the regular hard-core fans should act. How can they yell at me and say I'm not a real fan? I haven't seen their faces there before, and I have been to a few hundred games in the last decade.
In honor of what I feel is a national holiday... I will be attending my ninth straight home opener. I love fans who stick by their teams and are not bandwagon fans like so many of my students. Where's the loyalty even during the bad times? despite most critics and even other Giants fans saying this will be a horrible year... I will still be seating in 138 right where my season tickets state. Hopefully, this 1-5 start to the season will get better. I gotta believe in hope... otherwise I couldn't be a teacher.
So in honor of overcoming the odds and making history... here's a moment from Giants history and here's hoping another moment will happen this year in San Francisco. It would be perfect with it being the 50th anniversary since the team arrived on the west coast.
Here you can find all things about my life and job. The title of the blog was bestowed upon me when my students would joke around with students who didn't have me. They would tell these students that the answers to all their homework and problems in life could be found at this site. Needless to say, they were disappointed, but the name stuck.
You will learn about how one teacher attempts to create a life for himself in and out of school. Many of my friends think I'm a workaholic and tend not to address my own personal concerns. Unfortunately, many of my blog entries only corroborate their beliefs. However, of the main things I desire in my life (a home in the Bay Area, a wife and children, and a worthwhile career), being an activities director and English teacher has fulfilled one of these criteria. Admittedly, I need to work on the other aspects and add my own well-being to the list. I hope to humor you and offer you a glimpse of my organized chaos, which I call the psychoverse. Enjoy!
