Friday Night with Otis

Writing is a very strange thing. It is often difficult to get into any type of flow. I don’t just mean sitting down and punching out a paragraph or two. There are periods when I could, if I had the time, write various pieces all day long. But then I’ll go a few months without putting down anything. My writing has been encouraged recently by contributing to a fantasy baseball website, GetSportsInfo.com. There’s a link up there in the corner. Although it can be pretty dry stuff even to the most ardent baseball fan, it has helped me to write, and to think about writing, on a more regular basis. It also could turn into a dream job someday if the site ever really takes off.


Distraught pretty girl: "I've lost my virginity!"
Benny Hill: "Do you still have the box it came in?"


I’m writing this piece on Friday night, April 30, and according to my computer it is exactly 6:35pm. In some ways this writing is just taking up time before the Reds face Roger Clemens tonight. Although I am a big Reds fan, I am looking forward to seeing Clemens pitch. He’s only 12 strikeouts away from second place on the all-time list. Sounds boring, right? Well these things don’t happen very often and it’s extremely doubtful, impossible really, that he’ll be able to pass up Nolan Ryan who has 1589 more strikeouts. And speaking of the Ryan Express, it was on May 1st, 1991 that he pitched his sixth no-hitter. According to his pitching coach, before the game Nolan wasn’t really feeling good about pitching that day. I guess some things just work out. Of course, if you read my article this morning at getsportsinfo.com, you already know this.


Three popular singers celebrate May 1st birthdays: Take a ride on the banana boat with Harry Belafonte (1927); send in the clowns for Judy Collins (1939); and get rid of the ghosts for Ray Parker Jr. (1954).


I enjoy working crossword puzzles in the daily paper. It doesn’t really matter which paper, for me a puzzle is a puzzle. If I don’t complete the Friday NY Times, it doesn’t bother me. But one of the things that I have always glanced over was the Jumble. And by glance, I don’t mean ignore. I would just look at the scrambled words, figure them out in my head and solve the cartoon answer. I never thought it to be a big deal until my wife noticed me doing it. I think I was called a "scary freak." I didn’t realize that these things were meant to be difficult. I’ve always just been good at them. In the paper I read today, the answers are FETCH, BIRCH, ENDURE, and GULLET. If I could time myself, I would. But I don’t have a stopwatch.


Does Eminem know that his name makes people think of little pieces of chocolate?
He does? Really? And that’s cool? Fine, from now on I want to be Papa Rox.