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Friday, July 7, 2006

Toronto 2006

Last Friday 10 of my teammates and I traveled to Toronto for a softball tournament. (I guess we’re just that serious about our softball.)

Remember my last trip to Toronto? This one was different. Last year I had maybe one drink per day. This year I had maybe one drink per hour; they just kept landing in my hands. The vineyard tours on the way to Niagara Falls didn’t help, either. (View photo)

Last year I went by myself and spent the entire weekend with my good friend Jose. We went where we wanted, when we wanted. This year, with almost a dozen people tagging along, it was sometimes like herding cats, as my friend Rob says. Which brings up the question: Why does everyone have to have an opinion? Is it really necessary? Can’t we sometimes just shut off our brains and will and blindly follow the crowd?

Anyway… Jose stopped by our games on Sunday. (View photo)After winning three games on Saturday, we were ranked No. 1 in our division. Of course, when Jose arrived we immediately lost both of our games and were eliminated from the tournament. Which means that I blame it on him. And the fact that we didn’t have hangovers, unlike the previous day.

On Monday we headed south of Toronto to Ontario’s wine country and to Niagara Falls. The vineyards were cool and it was highly amusing to watch my teammates learn to taste wine. Niagara Falls sucked, though. While the Falls themselves were beautiful, the amount of tourist crap that was built up around them and the masses of people throwing their garbage all over was disgusting. If there’s a God, I think that’s what would REALLY piss him off. Typical, though. Nature gave us something beautiful and we have to surround it with fudge shops and casinos and little amusement park rides that transport our fat asses up a little hill. All to make a buck.

Off my soapbox now.

On Monday night — our last evening in Toronto — I walked Jose to the subway terminal to say goodbye. On the way there, he reminded me how fortunate I am to have such a group of friends. (“You lucky bastard,” I think is how he phrased it, which is cute with his Venezuelan accent.) It’s true. Some other softball players may have called us the Stepford Wives due to our extremely uniform uniforms and the fact that we all tend to dress alike outside of those uniforms. But we have fun on and off the field. We care about each other. I guess that in the end, now that I’m home sobering up, that’s the cool part. It’s also why I haven’t been writing as much on this blog anymore. Who has time?

Many more photos from Toronto, the vineyards and Niagara Falls:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/helloaaron/

Posted by Aaron on July 7, 2006 9:10 AM