Cleveland rocks

Last night's return to the mound was fun but tough. I pitched decently enough to help us maintain a small lead for a few innings, but momentum eventually shifted in one of the middle frames when our opponents unloaded 14 runs. High scores are expected in softball, but a number like that really hurts. We closed the gap with a shutout inning and some smart hitting and base-running, but fell short by 3. It was fun to play with the guys on the GR team and contribute to a competitive game yet frustrating to get roughed up like that. Just one more game and the season ends. Not sure if I'll get to play in it.

I got home and found a package from Portland waiting for me. When I met Jeff during the English 10 series at UCLA, he already had a sizable collection of bootlegs, demos, and hard-to-find music in general. Back then, of course, it was all on cassette. Now he has overstuffed binders full of CD-Rs, and this time he hooked me up with a vintage 1979 set from one of my two favorite bands of all time, The Clash (23 songs in 70 minutes), and a more recent show by the re-formed original lineup of Killing Joke (who we saw a couple months ago during a rare U.S. show). Thanks, Jeff. I'm listening to Mick Jones' solo in "White Man in Hammersmith Palais" right now!