On the joy of October

I apologize to everyone who has been bugging me to write things here. I know it's been a while, and faithful readers like you deserve better than this. I'm a horrible human being. I'm truly sorry.

Anyway...

My excuse is that I've spent every waking moment not occupied by schoolwork on watching baseball. That was an incredible two weeks, and I have no regrets about putting so much time into watching so many games. (Especially because it's my job... for proof, you can click here, here, or here.)

I've spent the last week being scared out of my wits that my beloved Sox would choke at the last minute, and let their spectacular start to the season go to waste. Now that they're in the playoffs, with a share of the division title (kind of), I'm confident that my life can get back to normal, just in time to get some serious work done. The timing ended up working pretty well; last week was fairly light in schoolwork, whereas this coming week brings with it a poli-sci paper and a psych exam. Yes, there are playoffs, but those games are fewer and further between, and I can't stand Fox enough to watch an entire divisional series game anyway.

Last year I was a perfect 7 for 7 in my playoff picks; I called the four divisional series, and picked the Red Sox over the Cardinals before the playoffs began. To be honest, I'm not as confident this year; there's a frightening amount of parity in baseball this season, and I don't see any clear favorites in the AL series. But I have to try for a repeat performance, so here goes.

Red Sox over the White Sox
Angels over the Yankees
Cardinals over the Padres
Astros over the Braves

Angels over Cardinals in the World Series

This clearly isn't the outcome I'm rooting for (not just because I want the Sox to repeat, but also because I want another ALCS rematch), but if I were a betting man, I'd say this is the most likely sequence of October events. Bartolo Colon's won ten of his last twelve, and any team with Vlad Guerrero is always a threat. I really like the Angels this time around.

Back to the story of my life...

-I recently discovered the joy of the dollar store in Davis Square. They sell Top Ramen packages at six for a dollar, which makes for good stockpiling. Their grape sodas are pure evil, however; one exploded when I opened it, and I had to spend about an hour cleaning my room afterward. That was pretty much the epitome of suckage.

-I just sold two Weezer/Foo Fighters tickets on eBay, and made a whopping profit of $4 after paying for them at face value. I really wish this concert didn't conflict with parents' weekend at Tufts... that really makes them impossible to move without scouting people out online, which is a pain.

-I can't believe I got talked into shaving off my beard today. Basically, the secret to getting me to do anything you want is to just annoy me into submission. It pretty much works every time. Whatever... it'll grow back in a week anyway.

-I'm pretty sure it's time to give up on getting Sox/Sox Game 4 tickets for Saturday. Apparently they're pretty much impossible to get for face value, and the cheapest I've found otherwise is $215 for standing room on the roof. No thanks.

-The CambridgeSide Galleria is quite possibly the world's coolest mall. Friday really reminded me of how lucky I am to be at a big-city college. Malls with only one floor are just lame; this was a welcome change.

-I want to find out who put the prefix "mini" into the word "minifridge," and kill them in their sleep. I found a really good deal on a refrigerator for the dorm room, only to find out that the worst two hours of my life were ahead of me, because I had to carry it from Cambridge back to Medford. A shuttle bus, a subway ride, and another shuttle bus just weren't enough... it was still incredibly painful.

-I suck at doing laundry. Honestly, I can't wash and dry a shirt without it coming out incredibly wrinkled. It's horrible.

-I am loving my English class more and more every day. The assignments are so much more original than anything I was ever assigned in high school. My homework for tomorrow is to write an essay on legalizing prostitution. I'm not kidding.

I'm under increased pressure every minute to hurry up and publish something, so I guess this entry should end here. I'll be back next week, once the wave of schoolwork blows over, and hopefully I'll have interesting things to say then. If so, enjoy them. If not, read it anyway. It would really help my self-esteem.