Yesterday my boy played in his 3rd all-star game in 4 years. This year he won the skills competition for the fastest runner. This was his finest season to date in his young baseball career. Last year was probably his greatest improvement as a baseball player, he actually became a baseball player - focused, a student of how to play the game. This year he really worked on becoming a better player. We bought him a hitting net and he hit at least 100 pitches off a tee almost every day during the season. It paid off with a .815 batting average over the season - likely a 400 point improvement over last season (he didn't keep his stats last season, another change this year). His immediate goal is to make the high school team next spring. Longer term, he wants to play in college and perhaps the MLB. Lofty goals, but he knows hard work will pay off now.
My daughter leaves for college in a couple of weeks. She joins the Conservatory of Performing Arts at Point Park University. She has become such a talented performer the last 5 years. Getting into the CoPA is as hard as getting an NIH grant these days. She has dreams of making it to NYC and Broadway and PPU has an excellent reputation in getting their students there. I know she's going to be great. I don't know exactly how I am going to feel about her being gone. The past year because of all of her school and work activities, I have not seen much of her. And yet, her presence is still felt even when we only see her for a few minutes in a day. I guess I haven't thought much about it until now. The times goes by so damned fast.
I have fallen in love with NYC. Five years ago I would find uttering those words unfathomable. My first visit to see SK, she took me to many of the tourist sites - Empire State, Times Square, Broadway, Central Park - and they were cool. But most visits since, I have gone to see her and not "visit the city." Of course we have seen the city, but the side of the city that's out of the way. I see the NYC that a resident sees - the neighborhoods, the events, the crowded subway. Granted, I am there "on vacation" but still I feel like I am getting an authentic experience and frankly, I love it. I could see myself living there at some point. As SK points out, it's great if you're rich and you can throw money back at all the problems the city sends your way. I highly doubt that will ever be my circumstance. But NYC, you're on my radar.
That's probably enough randomness for one day. I'm off to read a paper on the van der Waals interactions that determine the unique properties of water.
