MY LIFE - JULY

Thursday, July 8, 1999

I think I'll take a minute to just scream right now. Things are again getting hectic, and again, it's not in any kind of good way. My dad is getting weirder and weirder on the phone, when he calls anyway, and now my car has decided to play games with me. I'll start with my dad and his 11:30 and 12:30 calls at night, which is in itself getting to be a very large nuisance around here.

While I was in the bathroom, my dad called. It was right around 12:30 (which tells you an awful lot about when I write these entries), so it was a little later than usual. My mom answers the phone and immediately is faced with his late night mumblings. You think he doesn't make sense during the day? Well, he's about five times worse at night and is even more sure that we're the ones who are messed up. Tonight was no different as my mom repeatedly asked him what he was talking about, to no avail. He doesn't answer questions very well either.

In any case, he was apparently talking about something he told me earlier about something, but I don't know what since he never told me anything. He insisted that she and I knew what we were talking about and kept rambling on about something about lie detector tests and what not. Don't worry, I have no clue what the hell he's talking about either. He never told me a damn thing, nor is it even close to making any sense on top of everything else. As for the lie detector test thing, only God knows where that one came from.

So the saga continues with him. Chances are, he was high on something and won't even remember calling by tomorrow when he wakes up. But he won't call us when he's straight, if he ever is straight. He only calls us when it's late at night and after he's no longer sober or straight, which makes conversing with him extremely difficult, if not interesting. He's good for laughs though. I want to put him on speakerphone sometimes. He could get good money as a comedian. He only has to get past the fact that he thinks what he's saying makes sense.

The other thing he keeps bringing up involves our relationship to him and why we're still living in this house. He keeps saying that we obviously want to stay with him because we won't move out. If so, then explain me to why he sleeps in Cleveland with his pornos and why we sleep here, where it's at least semi-calm? He keeps insisting that we should be driving him to work since we obviously have nothing better to do either. Ha! I don't like getting up sometimes for my own job. What makes him think I'd feel differently about driving to Cleveland, then to where he's working, then back home? Oh, wait, the drugs. Nevermind.

Anyway, it's getting to be an increasingly big headache for us all. He needs help, but repeatedly says that we're the ones with the problems, not him. It's really sad that such a potentially good person has gone so bad.

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They been tearing up sections of our street of late and then redoing the sections to try and fix the really bad patches of the road. So far it's been okay, aside from the noise, but the cement seems to draw all the jokers and kids out from their holes in the ground. One popular thing of late has been hitting the orange barrels, either intentionally or unintentionally, then driving off. Another has been the stealing of those barrels and either keeping them or placing them in strategic locations on the road. The last one has been the hobby of messing with the wet cement, something I saw about three times today.

The first example involved a kid on a bike. As he came up the street, he noticed that there were orange barrels and wet cement up ahead, so he made a beeline for them. This is a kid who was rather large and probably thought he was the funniest thing alive. Well, right as he was about to go through the cement, he realized that he was being watched. I was standing right there as was a person across the street. He hit the brakes and then tried to act like he didn't *see* the area. He made the plea that he didn't mean to leave a mark in the wet cement, but knew he wasn't fooling anyone. He left rather quickly. I then found it funny that he couldn't make it up the hill that's just up the street from my house. Hell, he didn't make it halfway.

The second example involved a kid wearing a backpack and rollerblades. He went up to the edge, grabbed a nearby stick, and starting writing to show off to his friends. He wrote "Michael/shit" in the street and was admiring it when he received a rude awakening. I happened to come up, grab his backpack, and yank him backwards. I then asked him what the hell he thought he was doing. His answer? He got up and quickly took off. I've never seen anyone rollerblade through grass so quickly. He then tried to act tough around his friends once he got up the street, but took off down a side street when he saw me pull my car keys out and slowly walk towards my car. My bluff worked, so I didn't have to go anywhere.

The last example was when two kids on one bike game flying down the street and went right through the wet cement, then laughed like it was funny. Nothing happened to them, this time anyway. Next time, I'll push one of those orange barrels over and watch them as they hit the barrel and go flying. They won't try it again, I guarantee it.

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It never fails. Just when things seem to start going well, something else happens. This time, it involves my car. I have a small gas leak somewhere underneath the car, and it could be from anywhere. One guy tried to tell us it was the gas tank and that everything would have to be replaced, but that seemed a bit farfetched. He kept adding things on until the price reached around $700, which was when we decided we're going to ask someone else.

It seems to be a slow leak that only occurs when the gas tank is more than half full, which would seem to indicate that it could be the gas tank at a seam. Then again, it could be a gas line or one of any number of possibilities, but we aren't sure. We just know that we aren't paying $700 to fix that car and that it shouldn't even be that much anyway. It just seemed like the guy wanted to get a chance to get as much money out of it as possible, making things seem a bit odd.

Right now it isn't bad except for the fumes and the smell. I'm just worried that someone will throw a match out their window or near my car, causing a few unintended fireworks. Hopefully it won't be nearly that much to fix. Crossing my fingers.

Tribe Watch '99

Last Game
Cleveland, 9
Minnesota, 2

Summary
The Indians' offense had two big innings while Charles Nagy rebounded from his last start to go seven innings, allowing two runs, one earned to get his 11th victory on the year. The Indians first scored in the fourth inning off of the starter, who had put down the Indians relatively easily in the first three innings. Roberto Alomar walked, Manny Ramirez doubled him in, Jim Thome singled, Richie Sexson singled, David Justice singled, Enrique Wilson singled, Enar Diaz singled, and Kenny Lofton singled in the inning. When it was all done, the Indians had put up five runs and knocked the starter out of the game. They would add four more runs later on. Nagy on the other hand allowed a solo home run and an unearned run following a double, a tough error on Manny Ramirez on the double, and a single. Mark Langston finished the game.

Game Notes
Ramirez has 91 RBI's now on the season while David Justice has driven in 12 in his last six games, three tonight....Nagy won his eighth game on the road to lead the majors, only his second in the Metrodome in his career. Nagy was just named as a pitcher for the All-Star team along with Omar Vizquel....The top of the Indians order only had one hit in the game, but the middle and bottom part had 15 hits to lead the parade. Ramirez had two hits while Wilson led with three.

Record
55-29