As I begin the scribblings of the next comic, I'll fill in the gap with a bit more journal. Incidentally, I'm running out of these; this is the last entry in book two of three.

May 9, 2001 - Eleventh Entry

Hi! Lot of stuff goiong on. First of all I was actually succesful in making a game in vb. It is a game Jeff requested. You fly around in a spaceship and shoot down aliens. Also Im going to build a computer from stuff off of eBay. I have the process which is an Amd 486 Dx4 100mhz. I am currently watching a compatible motherboard. [various statement redacted] Oh well. I'm on the St. Jhon's ball team this year, and I am not as pathetic as I thought. In fact i'm pretty good. Maggie is crawling now. She is also pulling up on the couch. Well my hand is getting tired so it's time to wrap it up. Bye.

I recall quite well my time on my church's softball team. And, no, I was not good. Also, I was in early pubescence and emotional as shit. There is one particular instance of tear filled rage that I remember more clearly than I'd like.

We'd just lost game one of a double header and I was playing catcher (as I was wont to d0). Every time I failed to get the softball back to our pitcher, he'd give me "you-fucking-idiot" look (which only exacerbated the issue); there was play at the plate where I fumbled the ball and, as I dejectedly moped after it thinking that this bout of activity was done, the jackass on third stole home. This only made my mood worse and by the end of the game I was a shaking, tear filled mess (needless to say we lost). I stormed off the field and, between sobs, angrily told my dad that I wanted to quit the team. I don't know really remember much after that, but I calmed down enough to play game two (which went better) and finished out the season. The team dissolved after that (perhaps I was to blame) and my softball career was cut short. I went on to join the bowling league the next year with much better results.

To this day, I still don't have a very high opinion of the guy who pitched that game. Ironically, he lives not far from my parents' current residence, though I was lucky enough to never run into him. If I had, I probably would've chucked a softball into his shins which would've exploded from the sheer awesomeness of my pitch.

Because when I throw a ball now, it goes exactly where the fuck I want it to.