Screaming at the walls.

I have to keep my mind occupied. Without a job to whittle away the hours and no interviews on the horizon, I feel like I am going stir crazy. I know I am not going to go all Howard Hughes and collect pee in jars. I know that I am not going to move to a cave with a typewriter and create some voluminous manifesto arguing against the government or religion or some other crazy person nonsense.

I could though. That might actually be fun. Unfortunately, I have no real reason to. I simply don't care enough about much of anything to create some vast text of rambling bullshit. I like a few things, some more than others. What I don't like, right now, is the prevailing sense of boredom and frustration that has weaseled its way into my psyche. I write these words and realize that I have become fully vested in self loathing. I need to get my shit together.

On the bright side, I have something to look forward to at the end of this week.

I have tickets to the United States Mens National Team (USMNT from here on out) of Soccer play in Hartford Friday night. This soccer game is noteworthy. Not only is it the first big time soccer game I will have attended, but it is the final game of Landon Donovan, the best player this country has ever produced.

I was surprised to hear that he picked this game to be his last, and he has enough equity in the US Soccer Federation that he could have picked any game. I would have thought that he would have picked something in the Southern California region, as that is where he is from and where he plays professionally. He had plenty of chances to go to Europe and play in higher quality leagues, in fact, he started in Germany, a popular spot for American players.

The all time leader in goals, assists, and clutch plays have made Landon Donovan the most beloved player we have ever seen. He was so good that Everton F.C., a major club who plays in the English top division, made several bids to get him, and he rebuffed them all. Donovan played on loan there a few years back, but was always more interested in the American game. He was the most influential member of the first legitimate roster of American soccer players. He might have been solely responsible for creating the surge in popularity in this country for soccer.

And I get to watch him retire.

I got tickets 6 rows up in a corner of the lower bowl of Rentschler Field in Hartford, also where the UCONN football team plays. It's going to be pretty sweet. We can tailgate, maybe with a keg. I will be adorned in my Donovan 10 jersey, because I am a sports dork and I own jerseys. Plural. It's going to be an interesting evening. The American Outlaws, a USMNT supporters group with over 150 chapters in the US, including a very active contingent in Hartford, will be there with a massive canvas banner saluting our best player, and I can't really wait to see it.

We're playing Ecuador, by the way. I couldn't give less of a fuck about Ecuador if I tried.

SD