Still breathing, still alive.

Well, I have finally returned from my Interplanetary African Safari. Oh, I didn't tell you about that? It was fantastic. 3 Months, eight days and twenty nights on the most endearing and difficult trip of my life. Hop-scotching our way over the vast, expansive African lunar surfaces, we discovered and subsequently killed many types of life forms. I remember the first day, and how I had accidentally ingested part of the starship fuel, thinking it was blue hash. Unfortunately, that's all I remember. I've reviewed many of the security and personal recordings, and over the next few entries I will try and piece together what exactly the Hell went on. I can only be certain of 2 things...the trip began, and apparently the trip ended. Join me as I regain my Earthly bearings, search for journalistic integrity, and find out what this weird skull is that I keep ashing my cigar into....so many teeth.....anyway, be here, be there, it's all relative. I'll be right where I need to be.

Faceban of the Feeding Breast

I clicked on the ever informative Google News on my less than necessary Blackberry this morning, and I was a little bit surprised to read one of the headline stories in the Tech section.

Aparently, Facebook, the mind numbingly addictive older brother site to MySpace, has decided to rip apart some folks' photo albums, take certain photos, and burn them in a digital fireplace. The photos in question are of Mothers nurishing their children in the most natural way, breast feeding.

Let me just go on record and say that I love breasts. That aside, I really don't want to see a woman breast feeding a baby. I assume that my stance will shift into neutral when I have kids and see my wife taking care of dinner, so to speak, but that doesn't mean that I will have opened the Breast Flood Gates and will want to see other women doing it. Does anyone want to see that?!?

What Facebook has done, is deleted many different pictures that were posted on pages of women breast feeding their babies. These women have amassed in anger and have begun a gathering of women on Facebook who staunchly oppose Facebook's seemingly backwards decision. Facebook claims that the only ones deleted were pictures where too much boob was shown, violating their sexuality and indecency policy. Too much boob is defined by standards as basically showing nips. Ok, I get that. This is Facebook not porn. Facebook spokesman Whatshisname Whogivesashit, (that might be spelled wrong...) says that they are making any and all efforts to keep Facebook safe and secure for all users, including children. On the surface, that sounds all well and good. It does. But as you might expect, I have a few problems with all of this strange nonsense, and even if I don't want to see these pics, (and keep in mind, I DON'T HAVE TO CLICK ON THEM) I actually side with the Women.

Facebook claims that the only pics deleted, like I said, were the ones that violated their policy, and (get this) were "brought to our attention by other users who complain."

WHAT?!?!

So let me get this straight...some Screw Head logs onto Facebook and finds that a "friend" of theirs has posted some new pictures. Ok, they're posted for a reason, let's click and take a look. Ok, someone got a sweater for Christmas, that's nice...oh, look a new puppy! That's cute....family at the table for dinner, blah...wait a minute....what the hell is that? *apalling gasp* HOLY GOD IN HELL IS THAT SANDY BREAST FEEDING THE BABY?!?!?!?! Email Facebook immediately. This is bullshit and indecent!

Ah, the Holidays. Reminds me of "Seinfeld" when Elaine had an unfortunate wardrobe malfuntion on her Christmas Card before the term "wardrobe malfunction" was even coined. But my point is this; who are these mutants who are complaining about these pictures? I just don't understand. You willingly clicked on someone's Album. You willingly looked at the thumbnail of the "offensive" picture, and willingly stared at it long enough to decide you were offended by it. Again, I get the whole breast feeding in public thing. I think it's wrong. I shouldn't have to turn around in the mall and see some woman with an inflated balloon, and a leach on the end of it. That's not what I came to the mall for. But, that picture of breast feeding wasn't piped into your computer against your will. You didn't turn on your monitor and have to see the picture. This is the key difference. As Neo so prophetically put it, "The problem is Choice." People who bitch about the pictures in the first place, have no leg to stand on because they chose to look at the picture. Plain and simple.

Now, I said I sided with the Women here and I do. One woman was quoted in the article as stating that (I won't quote her here because her English was so bad I could hardly read it...) they should take down genuinely near-porn, like pictures of chicks' thong covered asses, or some quiz application like "What Kama Sutra Position Are You?" This makes sense. Not necessarily the pictures, because again, you chose to look at that, but the quiz applications, or any other ad that pops up, you have no control over. Kids don't need to see that quiz, and they don't need to take it.

I do realize that me complaining about people who are complaining, and then complaining about something myself solves nothing and probably just adds high grade fuel to an already out of control fire, like censorship, but I had to.

I'll recap; Breast feeding in public, and pictures of breast feeding- don't wanna see em. Now, narrow it; pictures of breast feeding that someone else took and put in an album that I have to willingly click on and then enlarge to actually see- don't wanna see em. So I won't. No censorship or deletion necessary.


ADDENDUM-
I have since infiltrated the "Hey, Facebook, Breastfeeding is not obscene!" group so that I could show my support for the Women to keep their pictures up, free of the fear of deletion. In doing so, I have actually learned a few things about the breast feeding process. Sort of. I didn't get a how-to-guide or anything. What I learned was just how damn passionate the Moms are about their protected right (in some states. A lot of them actually.) to be able to breast feed in public when needed and not have it be considered obscene, indecent, lewd, or whatever. Earlier in the blog, I stated that public breast feeding was wrong. I'm not sure how I meant that when I wrote it, since I mainly wrote it to set up the humor, but I can say that it is absolutely not wrong. The women are doing nothing wrong. I still don't want to see it, but I don't have to.

Bring Me 2009.

Christmas 2008 has come and gone. 2009 lies in wait. One week still remains of the historic 2008, and now is the time when all the cliche "year in review" items surface. Sports writers reflect on the year in sports, political writers look back on the last year of weirdness in modern Democracy, and secretaries wax poetic in the company's final Newsletter of the year, commenting on how many barely edible cakes were issued for office parties and birthdays.
This time of year also brings out those whimsical songs of the season. Radio stations that began playing Christmas music on Halloween, finally bust that nut as the apex of their musical scam approaches, and they prepare to return to regular programming.
Personally, I'd say I had a pretty good year. I was able to elude the sadness of Death, unlike last year when both of my Father's parents passed away. My cousin Bill got engaged, my future brother-in-law also got engaged. I've been engaged myself for exactly a year now. My fiance, Janelle, and I continued to grow closer as we got one more year closer to officially intertwining our Lives.
I remember I got an unexpected salary raise at some point in the early spring this year as well. It was the first time I received a raise for seemingly no reason. I was told, it was more or less a cost of living upgrade. Now, that's pretty damn good. The cost of living certainly was on the rise. Gas was approaching loan paperwork status, and my favorite beer climbed closer and closer to too damn much. Thankfully, both seem to have come back down to a reasonable sum, as gas is actually at its lowest price in nearly four and a half years.
We finally upgraded Janelle's transportation as well. Upgrade, in a sense, just meant that we got her a new used car. Her other vehicle was on less than a last leg, and rebuilding and repair just seemed to make less and less sense. Janelle also finally got her first classroom, teaching first grade to the little ones in Dayton. I was extremely happy when she got the call, since being a teacher is something she has been so passionate about for as long as I've known her. She spent untold thousands of American dollars on her education, and hadn't been able to use it for the last four years. She was beginning to reject the idea of teaching all together since she couldn't land a classroom, and her quiet stress was building. I never would have let her quit trying, because Teaching is her dream. Now, she's living her dream, and I couldn't be happier for her.
My cat got another year older, and another year more senile. She's the runt of her litter but you'd never know it. Sure, she's a size or two smaller than most female cats nine years of age, but she still has the fight of a kitten. I say she gets more senile because I like to give her a hard time. A good friend of mine once said that he believes animals understand every word we say to them. They just choose to remain silent. I couldn't agree more. Sure, sometimes you can look Kitty right in the face, tell her she's a greedy, ungrateful, loudly shrieking menace, and what does she do? She turns away and licks her ass. Did she hear me? She has ears, of course she heard me. Then other times, you can look right at her, and say she's a good kitty, and she'll start the purring engine and try to ram your approaching petting hand with her head. She responds in the only way a stubborn cat can at any given moment, and I find it fascinating every time.
All kinds of things, weird or otherwise happened to me, and probably to you too over the last 365 days. There were so many things in the world to talk about, but I really can't bring myself to do that. I will say that our Country succeeded despite pure economic meltdown, and the fervor of yet another war, in bringing about a new Wave. Barack Obama got my vote, and he will be President next month. I truly look forward to seeing what happens in this World now that he will be President. It's one of the most impressive and vital things our Great Nation has managed to pull off in its young career as a Nation. I only hope that traditional, and polished politics don't interfere.
I think that if you can look back on your year and find one thing that can keep you smiling, then that is good enough. I've had plenty of years where I couldn't do that. Here, I've listed a few and quite seriously I'm sure I could come up with more. I've had a good year, and I look forward to so many more. I'm not usually one for resolutions. The only one I have ever really made and took seriously was quitting smoking cigarettes, and here I sit cig free since 2004. I probably won't make any resolutions for 2009, since I don't think I need a drastic change in my life. I might resolve to spend a little less money where I don't need to, but that's about it. I'm happy NOW. And I intend to stay that way. Happy New Year.

Why?

Wil just wrote a nice Blog about how he will be spending Thanksgiving this year. That's how it ended, anyway. It started with a Spiritual experience he had while listening to some Christmas music. I'm not going to write a review of his Blog because that's just weird. www.wherethereswil.blogspot.com Go to that link and you can read it for yourself, and you can read the discussion he and I had through his comments section about the Spiritual aspect of the blog. I tried to make the link, you know, a link, but it didn't work.

Wil sort of posed the question about whether or not one believes in Jesus. No, it wasn't that cut and dry, and if you read his blog first (PS, that's why I gave you the link.) then you'd know that. From any and all I've had the pleasure of learning about Jesus Christ, the most exciting and engaging aspect of his life to me, is that he actually lived his life. Many of the figures in the Bible actually existed, not to mention many of the events described, but to me it is fascinating taking the historical fact that Jesus lived among us, and just starting from there. Jesus lived, believe it. Wil was more than likely speaking about believing in what Jesus taught and philosophised, but when I started the comments discussion, I said the question should be, "Do you believe in God?" That's because I was only thinking from an existence stand point. We can prove a man named Jesus Christ existed, but we can't (from a tangible standpoint) prove that God exists.

Which in turn leads to "Do you have to prove that?" No. No you don't. I do believe in God. I do not believe however, that the Universe and everything within, exist because of and for said God. That's just me. I'm not blogging here with the intent to Preach, or to join others for some cause, I'm just speaking my belief. It's my blog, right?

I've attended Catholic church services many times in my life. That's how I was raised. I went to Sunday School for quite some time. But I never found solace in it. I never felt I needed to go, I never felt I wanted to go, I never even felt like being there once I got there. Then, my parents let me stop going (perhaps being forced to go makes an impression, but I'll save that for later.) and our family as a whole stopped going to church, even on the "Church Holidays" of Christmas, and Easter. Then as I grew older, I never even gave going to service a first, second, or third thought. I did however, begin to educate myself about the world around me. I started to learn about different religions, and how others of different religions either get along, or they don't. From all that I learned, I came to one conclusion. I know that I do not exist here to serve a God, and I do not exist here because of a God. Those are pretty bold statements, I know, but if nothing else, I am a realist. I exist here because of simple biology. Some say that's not true, some say to think a little less literally, and some agree.

To those that say I am only here because God wanted me here, I can't help but just grit my teeth, smile and say thank you. What I'm thinking however, is quite different. Are you serious? Are you kidding me? Are you kidding yourself? Do you seriously just live everyday with the blind faith that everything is here because God said so? And I don't even want the questions answered. I don't because even though I am a realist like I said before, I understand what that person means. I wonder if they do, but I'd like to think my mind, my soul, and my being are open enough to not begin an argument and try to translate their message to something useful for me. Now, I know those people aren't crazy, and if they had kids they know very well how a person enters this world. What I find a little off putting is that even after experiencing Nature at its finest, they have the audacity to state that You are You because of God, or that God made You just the way You are.

I've prayed before. And not just the "everybody let's pray" deal in Church either. I mean that I have found myself in a situation or two where I have had to just stop myself, look around, and ask Why? I've been down, and I've felt defeated to the point where I didn't think I could get back up and face the next challenge without assistance. I believe in God, and I believe communication is necessary and plausible, but I also believe that you can get so much more out of it when you feel it. I can't imagine everyone feels a connection that is forced. I don't think it's necessary to just pray everyday, or every Sunday just pray with others in a place of worship. I believe that Faith can serve you best when you feel that connection. Everyone is going to be different. I'm more than certain that most church goers will tell you that they go to church in order to feel that connection. To me though, that's still forcing it.

I'm marrying my beautiful fiance, Janelle, sometime in the next year. Marriage, traditionally, is a very Religious event. In Catholicism it is what's called a sacrament. My Love wants to get married in a Church, and so do I. Her family is Catholic, and attends church regularly. They are very happy people, and I believe their happiness stems from their Faith. Naturally, they would love to see their daughter married in a Catholic church. I don't have a problem there either, because technically I am also a Catholic. The one thing I'm having a hard time with is the service. We recently went to a Catholic wedding, and the one thing that kept nagging at me was what the Priest was saying. He was saying that as husband and wife, the couple embraces the fact that their marriage is a symbol of their commitment to God, and that every time they say "I love you" it means they are saying it to God as well. That's not me at all, and at the risk of speaking out of turn, that's not Janelle either. I am not marrying her because of a commitment to God, I have a commitment to Janelle and our beautiful life ahead. And when I say "I love you," it is because I love HER, not God. I don't know...maybe I'm being too paranoid about it being to literal. I don't want to just have a ceremony like that and not believe it. I don't think that's fair to those who do. This blog wasn't supposed to be about getting married, but it went there as I was going, so there it is.

Why are We here? I don't know. I can tell you what I think. We are here to live and to love. And that's what I'm gonna do. God, if you're carousing the interwebz and come across my blog, thanks for reading. And thanks for the help I've sought. I know I'll ask for it again.

I Voted Today!

"I Voted Today!" exclaims my little round sticker affixed snugly to my black, work polo shirt. Indeed I did vote today. I must say I was pleasantly surprised with how damn quickly I was able to register and cast my ballot.

I had been voting for years in Buxton, the town I grew up in. I was all set to do that this year as well until I spoke to a friend I work with who made it a point to say he was bringing several forms of proof of residency just in case something went screwy. That got me thinking...I was planning on driving out to Buxton Town Hall after I got out of work in South Portland at 5pm. But as Andrew was telling about his precautions in order to avoid disaster, I got to thinking about how my license says I live in Saco. I hadn't needed to get a new license since the first one I was issued, so it had always said Buxton until I had to get a new one this year due to expiration. Yes, I know you're supposed to get one within 30 days after moving to a new address, but fuck it. I never did, and it never mattered. I even had a few run-ins with the fuzz, and they didn't care. So I decided to leave work at 1:00 so I could make sure I was able to register at Saco City Hall and then go to my polling place to cast my votes. Just yesterday my fiance Janelle had registered here in Saco, and she told me she had to wait nearly an hour while one Blue Hair well within the discounted coffee age sorted through and assisted several people in registering to vote. The way I figured it, since I was literally at the last minute, then maybe I would have to wait at least that long. And then who knows how long I would have to wait to actually cast my vote in this Historic Election?

Well I didn't. Nope. It took me 20 minutes to drive to Saco from South Portland, and it took me less than that to not only register, but also travel to my designated polling place and vote. I also could have registered right there at the school I was assigned to, and had I known that, I wouldn't have even left work when I did. Polls are open til 8 (you got less than 2 hours left at this point if you haven't voted.) and I get out at five, so I would have been able to swing it.

I voted for Obama for President of the United States. If you would like to know why, then check out my past blog titled "Election 08: WTF?!?" Not to toot my own horn, but it's probably my favorite blog that I've written so far in my short Blogging Career. Anyway, voting for Obama/Biden was the easy part. There were also three referendum questions that Janelle and I had gone over last night so those were a cake walk as well. But let me tell you about the difficult part of my voting experience. Folks, I was unaware that Judge of Probate, Register of Probate, and County Treasurer were in dire need of my hot little vote.

County Treasurer? Register and Judge of Probate? Really?! Why aren't these positions just filled? I don't understand why my input is needed when it comes to putting someone in charge of Probate. Seriously, I didn't even know we had to vote for that! It's bad enough when you have to vote for all the senate and state representatives on top of voting for Prez, but I'm supposed to know something about who is better suited for Judge of Probate? There was only one choice for Christ's sake! I hope she's good. She got my vote. Why don't they just have us vote for county mechanic also? I mean someone has to work on city vehicles, and I need to know that person has only my best interest as an American in mind when they're tightening lug nuts on a snow plow! And what about City Librarian? How can I be sure that my rights as a citizen of this Grand Country are being kept in favor by whoever is in charge of our city's literature distribution? These are the things to think about for the next election. I mean President is important, but if my vote is needed for County Treasurer, then I want it to be heard for Chief Street Sweeper as well.

(Ok, I waited til the end before I chimed in on this one....wow....at least he voted for Obama...and we've talked about this, man....use pictures! People like pictures...)

Snow

Anyone who was thinking this post was going to be about the ill fated, 90's white rapper can just click away now. (Pretty sure no one thought that....) This is about pure, unadulterated near frozen water. (It's not frozen? Wouldn't it be rain then?) At least, I don't think it's "frozen" compared to hail. Who cares. The point is, I'm talking about Winter's Messenger, Jack Frost's dandruff; snow.

Why talk about snow? Because I'm not ready for it. We haven't even had Halloween yet, and there was snow in the weather forecast the last two days. I'm fairly certain that parts of north and north western Maine actually had some hit the ground. This is preposterous!! I've even heard that in parts of the County (the what?) snow doesn't evacuate until sometime in June! Are you serious?!?! I would completely lose it if I had to endure more than what I already do for snow totals. Unfortunately, I actually think this year we will get MORE snow than last year, and we really did get a lot last year. (I think you should type 'year' 1 more time....)

I do enjoy watching it snow, however. That's what keeps me torn. I find a certain calming effect in just watching the first few snowfalls. There's a distinct stillness all around, (yeah, everything's frozen!) and there is the undeniable scent of the oncoming snow. That novely wears off far too quickly once I realize that I cannot see my car anymore, and that I have to shovel a path to said car from my apartment building door. It starts there. It progresses to the parking lot getting smaller and smaller as the massive banks of past precipitation pile up and cannot be pushed any further by the hungry plow. (Hungry plow?) Oh, and I didn't take that pic of the cars on the streets there. It is Congress St I think, so if anyone knows who took it, please give them their credit in the comments. Also tell them I didn't know it was theirs, I swear!

Then, one must contend with the roadway, and the horrible visions of being unable to stop and driving right into the minivan in front of you. The incessant flashes of not slowing down enough around an icy curve and just heading straight when the road goes to the right. (That wasn't a sentence...it was good though...just not a sentence...) I think the first snowfall is generally the worst when it comes to driving. It's not because the roads are particularly dangerous, it's because it seems that everyone forgets how to drive in the snow. I'd be willing to bet that more Winter traffic accidents occur during the first real storm of the season.

I was also never really big on Winter sports either. I have lived in Maine all of my 28 years, but I have not once been skiing. I went ice fishing a few times when I was a kid with my Dad, I think I went ice skating...once...I did however really like sledding and tubing down a hill. The Winter Olympics are completely lost on me as well. I just don't care. (I thought this was about snow, now he's gone onto Winter as a whole?) They say (who's they?) that Winter brings about fits of depression, and I understand why. It comes at the end of the year, so maybe you run your brain through all the things you never accomplished, yet said were at the very top of your list. Maybe you feel closed in by the thousands of inches of snow. (Is it wrong to get creeped out when you live on the second floor, look out the window and see the damn snowbank right there?!?!) Maybe you're just like me and get sick of the season before it even starts. If it were up to me, it would snow for the first time every Winter, on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I don't want to see a damn snow flake until then. With my luck though, if I got that wish, it would then snow about three and a half feet every day after Christmas right up until April.

The snow falls hard and don't you know, the winds of Thor are blowing cold. This Winter better not have a no quarter mentality, but if it does, I'll be ready. I'm purchasing a flame thrower this year. (Nice...'No Quarter' RULES!)

Maine Discgolfers Dot Com

Well, it had been ramping up all year, and the Maine Players Tour Championships were this past weekend. For any of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, (Pretty sure that's just about everybody...) the Maine Players Tour is a massive collection of Maine's best discgolfers (and dirtiest Sandbaggers...) who play Maine's best Courses in a knock down, drag out race for government issued, green spending paper.

The season begins in April, and winds down for the Championships in mid October. There are usually 2-3 tournaments per month, and they give the Toll Booths something to look forward to as the courses range from North of Augusta all the way down to Saco, and many in between. Check out www.mainediscgolfers.com for all the courses, and you can carouse the site for other info like the results from past tourneys, and there is also a forum where most of the MPT faithful click and clack about whatever is on their disc shaped minds.

I discovered the MPT last year while playing at my Home Course in Saco, Boom Field. I made the flyer pictured here and totally ripped off the Doom logo to do it. (What a nerd.) Boom is one of several courses to participate in the MPT and hosts two events (they can't just call them tournaments?) yearly, one in the Summer and one in the Fall. These are events too, don't marginalize anything. Each tourney, no matter the course, is a full day consisting of 36 holes of discgolf, lunch, and Spirits being raised consistently and constantly! Some Events go the extra mile (do you need a whole mile to go 'extra'?) and bring in entertainment. And since some of these Events are long hauls for some people, most Courses will encourage camping for the weekend.

The way it works is that points are earned for each tournament (I thought you said they were events?) you play in. The better you do, the more points you garner leading to a grand total of points at the end of the season. The points system is for two reasons, the top 4 points earners for the season are guaranteed a spot in the Skins tournament (that have something to do with porn? No? Not even a giggle?) and one must earn a certain number of points to qualify to play in the Championships at the end of the year. It's not that difficult to qualify, in that you really only need to play in roughly 2 Events to earn enough points. I played in 2 last year to qualify, and I played in 3 this year. (Wait, I thought you said it was the best discgolfers?) There are SO many more events that I wish I could have played in, but I just really didn't have the means to get to all the different Events every weekend. (No excuse buddy.) I know that's not really a good excuse, but it's the reason, so deal with it! (Wow...that came out of nowhere....)

This year, The Finals were held at The DiscFarm in Gorham. That place is AWESOME. Elevation changes, woodsy (that can't be a word) holes, open field holes, and it's extremely well maintained. I played an Event there in June where a beautiful weather first round gave way to the worst weather for just being outside I have ever...well...been outside in! (way to craft the sentence...) An enormous thunder storm hit and sheets of cold rain fell for what seemed like hours. Naturally, it stopped near the end of the day, but dodging lighting bolts in an open field near metal baskets is something I'm ALL SET with! For the Finals, the weather could not have been better. The finals is a 4 round, 2 day event so getting two (numbers or words...make up your damn mind!!) days of solid weather was a gift. Here's a picture that was taken of all who participated.


My first round was ok. A shaky start put me somewhere near the middle to bottom of the pack entering my second round. (Are you kidding? 18 holes and you describe the whole thing in 2 sentences?!) I did a little better my second round, playing a different course layout than the first round. I had to try and make it home to my fiance because we had plans for the evening, so I wasn't able to stay for some of the other stuff that made up the weekend. There was a putting competition (you would have lost anyway, sport) and longest drive competition. The whole MPT is set up divisionally and so was the longest drive competition. I also missed the extra curricular activities consisting of Poker, beer pong, and potti. (Don't ask him what potti is...he doesn't know....) Potti is kind of like horseshoes I believe. The mighty dollar rules all and of course, all games are played for it!

The Next Day turned out to be a terrible vision of Hell for me, as 2 holes into the third round I injured my arm and had to pack it in. (WHAT?!?!?!) I throw a lot of what is called a thumber, where I'm actually holding the disc kind of like a baseball, with the top, or flat part, facing away from me. The problem with me doing that, is that like any pitcher or outfielder, it requires daily stretching, and a good warm up period before I put my whole strength into it. Otherwise, I will do exactly what I did on Sunday morning and feel like passing out from the pain for like a half an hour. I've done it before and I should NOT have done it again. (So let me get this straight...you quit?) I didn't quit, I technically Did Not Finish. (splitting hairs...) If I didn't stop, I probably would have done more serious damage to my arm/shoulder, so it was really the only thing I could do if I want to try and come close to competing next year. And I do. And I will.

So I did have a great time at the MPT Championships in Gorham this year. Despite my finish, I was able to watch some great golf as Ben Dunlap, better known as BennyD, set a new course record and won the Pro division. Way to go BennyD!!!! I caddied my buddy Damien for his last round as he went on to finish in a tie for 6th place in our division and take home some cash for his efforts. Next year I hope to play more tournaments (you said that last year...) and be able to finish the Championships in a position to put a little of that foldin' money in my wallet.