It feels good to be part of something larger than yourself, to belong to something or some place and have a shared experience with people. I think that’s what makes big gatherings, like concerts and sporting events, so much fun. You go there and surround yourself with like-minded people (unless you support the visiting team), and you collectively cheer, chant, praise, bemoan, decry, and celebrate together. It’s a little magical. If the environment is positive, an office can be one of those places. Smaller population than a Dodger game, but similar highs and lows, or “Mondays” and “Fridays”.

I was out in the community a lot this past month, mostly for work, but I managed to squeeze in a few weekend activities to recharge my battery and remind me of what is important to me in life: good times with loved ones.

Service

Mentioned that I was “in the community” this month for work. I work for a small college that’s pretty much in my backyard, and I attended a couple of events hosted by community development organizations, and we (some staff members and a student) also volunteered at a backpack giveaway for the local school district, and I came away from those events feeling inspired, hopeful. Lately, hope for humanity has been dwindling, so it was refreshing to be part of different groups of people trying to make positive differences in our community. I know there are people like this in every town and city around the world, doing what they can to improve other people’s lives while also fulfilling something within themselves—perhaps it’s belonging to a community of service or developing close relationships with people. Whatever the motivation might be for these people, the result is a boost in intrinsic happiness. It feels good to help people, to make someone smile.

Hats off to the folks out there grinding to help provide two hots and a cot for the unsheltered; and to the folks working hard to create accessible programs that enrich children’s lives where access to that is non-existent; and to the folks out there with no quit in them, who climbed out of homelessness or addiction or incarceration (or sometimes all of those things) and are now out helping other people caught in the same trap. You are an inspiration. Keep up the great work.

Sports

I also mentioned in my intro that I squeezed in some weekend activities that had me out in the community. One such event was a Dodger game earlier in the month. They were wrapping up four games against the Friars, trying to get the sweep. Kershaw was pitching, and I was there with a friend to who is a Padres fan. I hit up around six to eight Dodger games a season, and one or two of them is with a friend who supports whoever the Dodgers opponent for the day is. That’s usually an Angels or Giants fan, but on that Sunday in July it was my old San Diego buddy.

Well, those idiots got the win and avoided the sweep. No need to dwell on the blown save by Craig Kimbrel, completely wasting a strong outing by my man Kersh. It was still a fun day in Blue Heaven. It’s always better to leave the stadium celebrating a victory, but there’s something to be said about finding comfort in collective sorrow. That’s a bit dark, but those low moments prop up the highs. I experienced 32 of those as a Dodgers fan between ’88 and 2020. Bubble chip be damned; the collective nut all of us Dodgers fans busted that night (almost) justified three decades of blue balls.

Athletes make too much money. Sports fans can be toxic and violent. Ethics usually take a backseat to profit. However, at their core, these kids’ games are fun to play, and there is both extrinsic and intrinsic happiness created by playing and watching sports.

County Fairs

My family kicked off the summer break with one, and we closed it out with another. A few hours in the sun, blowing money on game and ride tickets, eating tasty food that’s so good but no good, getting suckered into buying a hot tub—what’s not to love?

It’s a tradition. We go every year, auntie and the cousins join, and we have a blast. Personally, I prefer to stay home any chance I get, which (ironically) includes attending sporting events or concerts. I know nothing beats the “in-person experience”, but I’m effective at entertaining myself with a book, a movie, shooting hoops, coffee and Kush. But I can’t be selfish like that often. Gotta tend the garden and spend time with the wife and kiddos before we all grow old and then it’s gone. Right? That’s what life is about, and that’s why these County Fairs are important to us. We need the good times and good memories. It’s all we got!

Birthdays

Closing out July and this monthly blog to no one. Maybe I should re-brand this as the “Men-struation Blog” since I only drop this once a month and I mostly whine for a few hundred words. I digress. July is a big birthday month in my circle. Several family members and friends decided this was the month to join the party. It was the first time in 81 years that my dad’s birthday came around and he wasn’t alive to celebrate it. Last year, my older brother and I and our wives and kids all took Dad to lunch at this Japanese restaurant he used to like. For years he’d say at some point during his birthday meal, “Well, this one could be it.” He was never good at calling shit, but he eventually nailed that one.

His birthday this year was a sad day, off and on throughout the day. Work helps distract one’s mind from wandering to those abysmal places. Most of my days are like that, though. There isn’t a day when you don’t think about a departed loved one for at least a moment.

On the flip side of that coin, it had been a few years since I celebrated one of my good friend’s birthdays with him, and I had that chance last weekend. We’re middle-aged Millennials, married with mortgages, so the 8-balls and all-nighters are a thing of the distant past. We kept it simple and did a little afternoon bar crawl, but “simple” did the trick. Beer and laughs, chicken wings, and the Dodgers swept the Giants. Happy birthday, my guy!