"I feel like a man again"

Before I kick it, I just want to mention that I finished my first Jhumpa Lahiri work and thoroughly enjoyed it, though I'm sure I couldn't fully appreciate it given my background.

Now listen up, I've got a story to tell
That makes me look at myself and say, "Son, what the hell?"
We were out last night havin' drinks at a bar
Most were sippin their beers, but my SoCo wasn't far
When all of the sudden, out the corner of my eye
I saw three cute shorties, speakin Greek on the fly
Now, as y'all know well, normally this situation
Would find me soon with all three, in heavy rotation
But since I don't speak the tongue, my game is put in a cast
I go from fightin for first, to lucky that I'm not last
But this J isn't one to lie down and let be
I had to make a move quick, think up a line that was key
Of course things worked out, that's not the part that is hack
I had some nice conversaysh, the digits 'fore I went back
But at the end of the night, I confessed to Bloody Steve,
An Irish mate with bad ankles, for which he pops some Alleve,
He said "Well done" for the number that I told him I got
To which I uttered the title of this blog-like cyber-spaced blot
Now, for some silly reason, no one called me to task
For saying something so dumb, as if I'd chugged from a flask
So I wrote this til diddy, 'bout the time I was lame
Lest you think I just rip on others without no shame.

Ok, enough of that. Tomorrow morning we leave Athens for another ten day trip, and I am determined to once again not lose my camera. I realized, though, I that I haven't really given any account of the last trip, which is understandable, since I've been catching up recently. NONETHELESS!

Our dedication to America's national sport really deserves more mention than the allusive comments in Set(h)'s character profile (see below). Set(h) came upon a ball while we were in the "city" of Kalamata (yes, named after the olives). This was a grand occasion, since not even Athens, which is about 100 times bigger, had this wonderfully-shaped enclosure of joy. So he bought it, and we began propagandizing the virtues of playing at the soonest possible convenience. That opportunity turned out to be after a group dinner (for "group dinner" read all-you-can-eat-and-drink-binge) on the unlit dock of the small harbor town we were staying in. Ok, so we did have our bus's headlights on, but that really only made it harder to see. For a while, we were "smart" enough to just play a one-on-one version, but soon we felt impelled to urge as many people as possible to participate, including our Greek bus driver (who had generously shared his private stash of vodka from the bus fridge already). The first play from "scrimmage" involved a trick play whereby Christos (the bus driver) was QB. Understandably ignorant of the rules, he immediately took off running forward and then about 10m from the endzone threw a brilliant touchdown pass. It was the Ol' Make The Defense Laugh Too Hard To Defend play, unstoppable really. After a few more minutes of belly spasms, followed by some gitty instruction, the game continued in more normal fashion. Then Christos signaled that he was done.

It was an omen we failed to heed, to the detriment of two involved. The very next play, the ever competitive Nick suggested that he and Set(h) do a crossing pattern to confuse the defense (Andy and I). As the play unfolded, I realized the strategem and backed up to avoid a collision. Andy and Set(h) did not share my concern. Running full force in opposite directions, they became the subjects of a physics problem. Suddenly finding themselves seated on the pavement, dazed but with all pain dulled by the dinner festivities, they asked us what happened. After helping them to their feet, and asking the usual question "Are you ok?" we noticed that Andy had a wide ribbon of blood crawling down the side of his face. Set(h) seemed to be ok, so we attended to Any's gash. Of course, it turned out that Andy was fairly ok once we cleaned him up, but soon Set(h)'s eye began to swell. A beer served to keep it in check, but we knew that by morning it would be an early costume item for Halloween. But nobody could have predicted the vengeance taken by Set(h)'s eye: completely reddish purple and swollen shut, it became the talk of the town.

And THAT, my friends, is what I call being an American.