Chapter 37.7: Moonlight Graham and Me

I played softball again last night. It’s the first game I’ve played in Springfield since April. (Or was it early May?) I’ve been so busy with work, umpiring, the novel, and getting my professional life in order [more on that in about 10 days] that I’ve not been able to play.

In my first at bat, I had the bases loaded and sent a fly ball out to right field for a run-scoring sacrifice. As I received the congratulations from my teammates, I thought about how similar the play looked to the first at bat of Moonlight Graham. Any viewer of "Field of Dreams" would know him as the guy who became a doctor in Chisholm, Minn.

He was a real guy, who played in one game with the New York Giants. One hundred days ago today, actually. There was an AP article in The Star-Ledger on Monday.

In my mind, I’m almost at that point in my life where I will be hanging up my cleats and breaking out my Mike Schmidt glove only when a brother or brother-in-law comes around and asks if I want to have a catch. The squad softball games will continue, I suppose, but they haven’t satisfied my hunger for competition for some time. And this past spring I’ve pitched more than play any other position. I’ve rediscovered that unless you’re winning or in a close game, pitching is frustrating.

This could be my final season, and I’ll be just another guy who used to play ball. I’ve already transitioned to umpiring. Perhaps one day there’ll be a child I can coach and teach the game – and the love of the game. One of my upcoming novels will be about a ball player.

I’m not quite as sad about this baseball reality as I thought I’d be. This spring has been eye opening in many ways. One game I played shortstop for the Fire Department and had several plays in which I didn’t field the ball cleanly. I couldn’t bend as I was accustomed to doing. My feet didn’t work the way they’re supposed to; my coordination was wrong. It felt odd. Foreign. That’s not me. But the painful reality was that it’s what I’ve become. Out of shape. Not in "game shape."

Yet, this past Sunday playing for the squad in our latest blowout loss, I was back in the outfield where I’d played in my 20s. I was able to judge the ball fine, and my arm wasn’t as soft as I’d feared it would be. Even last night, my baseball know-how helped the team keep a run from scoring. I was in right field and the batter was running toward second base with a double he’d hit to left. The relay from the shortstop tipped off the second baseman’s glove. I was backing up and the runner didn’t even attempt to advance. We got out of the inning with that runner spot-welded to second.

I still know how to play, and if I can improve physically then I might be able to continue. But work will be changing for me. Commuting will wear me down, and I think my future is arriving. Win one for me, will ya, boys.

Soul Calibur character creation = Costume heaven

The custom character creation system is limited by class types so you won't be able to make insanely crazy outifts, but it's sounds damn cool so far. A feature like this makes the lack of online play in Soul Calibur III an even greater crime. Think how cool it would be to encounter different looking characters, and the level of challenge countering move sets they've chosen.

As much as I loved Tekken 5, I don't play it much anymore since I can't jump online and play against another human. Creating new characters will keep me occupied for a few extra weeks I guess.

Cool Girl Protect Gear quick preview

Aw yeah, so damn cool. Stay tuned.

Chapter 37.5: Change of Seasons

Yes, it has been a while since my last entry, but I’m not one of those three-months-and-out bloggers. I’ve begun some transitions in my life, which for me are challenging.

As a person who loves chapters, I recognize that I also like to linger with a bookmark at the end of one and before the next opens. I might look at the first couple sentences or paragraphs, but unless I know I can devote more time, I’ll leave it there until I return. Change doesn’t come as easily to me as I’d like to believe.

I’ve given notice at my current job, and will begin a new one in July. Out of respect, I’ll wait until I begin the new one before I go into any details – and even then I might keep it to myself as far as this blog is concerned. Suffice it to say, I have needed a change for many years. And at this point in my life, I want to seize an opportunity I believe could be very helpful for me and for which I’m uniquely qualified.

It should also help my book, as I’ll be returning to New York and cutting through Hoboken, where much of my novel takes place. Now, if I could also go back in time to 2000/2001, when it takes place, I’d have it made.

Change is happening in the novel too. I’m reworking the opening chapter, which has remained largely intact for the past several years. The writing’s fine, but it doesn’t move people the way it needs to in an opening chapter. I’ll reduce it to flashback and start where the action is. I’m sure my readers will appreciate it.

Change can be good.

Costume game preview: Advance Wars Dual Strike

I loved the character designs for the previous two Advance Wars games and quite happy to see the characters continue to evolve in the upcoming Dual Strike. Everyone looks slightly older and just a touch more serious. Appropriate considering all the battles they’ve survived and the many more battles yet to come.

From a purely outfit viewpoint, Advance Wars is a mixed bag. I mean, Andy’s orange ensemble with boots looks pretty ridiculous and Sami sports some generic white tank top, green army pants number that is strictly off-the-rack gear. Sometimes, it’s not about what you wear, but how you wear it. The AW characters project confidence and are drawn with personality to spare. Their likeability transfers to their clothes, elevating your fashion appreciation. I’m surprised they don’t have some spin-off Anime series yet.

Advance Wars Dual Strike
$34.99
Release date: August 22, 2005 (US)
Preliminary costume rating: 8.5 out of 10

New costume game release: Haunting Ground

I meant to start updating new game releases with noteworthy costume features, so let’s get it going! Haunting Ground is the latest entry in the horror game genre from Capcom. The game is somewhat similar in style to the Clock Tower series (Capcom took over the CT franchise starting with the third installment) in which you mostly flee in terror and solve puzzles instead of blowing away creatures. The reviews paint the game as above average to sort of poor, but there’s no question that the costumes in the game are super cool. The main character, Fiona, sports a gothic leaning costume that I find very intriguing. I’m guessing the dainty look of the outfit is meant to heighten the urge to protect her from danger. Two of her alternate outfits (cowgirl and cat suit) fall in the “sexy” category with the third (a huge frog mascot suit) being sort of a joke costume. Fiona has a trusty canine companion and he gets two different looks too.

I have yet to pick up Haunting Ground myself, so final judgment on the costumes will be rendered a bit later. I was a fan of Clock Tower 3 (most reviews say HG is not as good as that), so I’m hoping for the best. Pics I’ve seen of the extra costumes certainly have me optimistic.

Haunting Ground
$39.99
Costumes for main character: 1 standard, 3 extra
Extra costumes for other characters: 2 extra for main character’s dog
Overall costume rating: Coming soon!

Chapter 37.2: Another Finish Line

Ok, the implementation of my edits is complete, and I've trimmed back 12,000 words, which was 10 percent of the initial 120,000 version. I've gone from 390 pages down to 350. I still have problems to fix, which I'll handle in the coming weeks, but feel good about getting this step taken care of. It was three months, basically to the day, since I finished my first draft. Maureen is reading, and I had another friend read the first few chapters. Some of her comments coincided with Maureen's, some don't. One of the friend's comments was that I should have someone who isn't knowledgeable about Hoboken, NJ, where much of the novel takes place, read it also. It's a fair point: if I want to make sure I'm convincing someone about the locale, then I should see what someone who doesn't know it thinks about it. I have a person in mind who I'll add to the short list.

But while Maureen reads, I'm going to be researching agents. This is my new quest: Find a literary agent to work with by the end of 2005 and hopefully get the book sold while I embark on my second.

Alternate reality costumes

It’s not very game related, but these Evangelion figures in a Japanese prize machine caught my eye (and yen!). I love playing the various UFO catcher (similar to the crane contraptions here) and pseudo-skill machines when I’m in Japan since the prizes usually aren’t too hard to win. The game I played had a wheel like the one from Price is Right. You had three spins to try and get a total of five points. Hitting that mark let go of a prize. I should have known something was fishy right from the start when the prize racks were completely full—usually a dead giveaway that the machine is tough or impossible to beat. Plus they let you continue if you have one or more points still left. Surely a shady way to keep you pumping more dough into a losing gambit.

The coolness of the figures totally blinded me though until I got close to the 2000 yen mark (roughly $17) and decided this was a total waste. I really should have quit after 3 tries and looked for the items on eBay later (you can easily find them by searching for Evangelion Special Mission). The combination of Eva figures and the SWAT-like gear and guns was too irressistable...at the time.

The funny thing is that I didn’t purchase them on eBay once I returned. The fever of the moment passed apparently. Evangelion is known for shamelessly pimping out its characters to any form its fans will buy. Shameless until they hit a combination that hits your particular buttons of course. Someone needs to put the DOA girls in some SWAT outfits. Money in the bank baby.