1.) After almost three years, the official divorce decree is finally signed, sealed, and after a month to travel two miles, delivered.
2.) The girls had moved to upstate New York with their mother back in June. Instead of multiple sports, Maja (16) is focusing on volleyball, Millie (14) is still dedicated to her first love, basketball.
Friday: I had figured out that I was driving up to the ex's apartment between Albany and Saratoga the following Friday, see Millie play JV, share some pizza and crash on the couch, maybe even play a game or two.
Then I got the text message. "You are coming up for her game tonight, right? You need directions?"
Communication was one our problems back in the day... Me caving in to requests was another.
So, by 12:45 I was in the car ready to go... after my weekly stop at Dollar Tree. Nothing too crazy in the Christmas or Toy section, although I was confused to find SALES? at Dollar Tree? I understood the Tortilla Chips that expired that same day (but were great for my Mexican dish Saturday night), but arts & crafts stuff for 50 cents or a quarter? Win! I also snagged a small handled x-acto knockoff for $1.50, with six different blades!
It has been a long time since I went that far north into New York state. In my 4-hour drive, I did learn that the Baseball Hall of Fame is within day-trip driving. North of Albany? A little rougher. And despite the preponderance of Mirabito gas stations, I-88 just feels like a remote wasteland, even though you're 10 minutes away from the next exit.
Good thing I didn't get there late. She started for JV and it was 18-0 within 4 minutes. Time for the JV B-Team to dominate playing time... and with A-Team helping her and there, they won 47-18.
Her stat line wasn't too impressive, 1 point, 1 rebound, 4 assists, 2 steals, 0 turnovers, but the team ran through her, and everybody was happy.
I drove her to her house, pizza consumed. Millie crashed, and I got to spend time with Maja before making my couch bed and binging Death by Lightning. Sure, certain liberties were made, but I want a Death by Lightning 2: More Music! More Fighting! More Sausages!
Saturday: The reason I had not planned on coming up this Friday? First off, it was on every schedule as a scrimmage, and that's a bigger crap shoot than a game. Plus Maja was leaving Saturday morning for a travel volleyball tournament in Boston. The good news is her games weren't till the late afternoon, so I managed to wake them up and hang up before driving back to Wilkes-Barre. Thankfully the weather helped out... although I swear the rest stops on the Thruway were so much more awesome back in the day.
I did get home early enough to catch some of the junior high games from the girls' old school. They happen to play five minutes away, and I supported most of the girls when I was part of the community rec league board, so it felt good to watch them succeed.
Cut to the chase, the 8th grade program is in good hands, getting a blow out win and a last second win over the weekend. The 7th grade team, like many first time school ball programs, tend to get in their own way. Unfortunately the coach has them at the bottom of their priorities, and lack of basketball sense reigns supreme.
Game one: 21-8. Take away the 12 points the other team scored on stealing the inbound and scoring... SIX TIME IN A ROW BEFORE SHE CALLED A TIMEOUT? 9-8.
Game two: Subbing in a wild "fresh" player who resulted in a missed assignment, two turnovers, and a technical foul for running onto the court in the middle of an active play?
Let's just say the parents of both grades are not impressed.... which has been an ongoing theme for years. If history continues, those 24 girls might have 5 make it to Freshman or JV next year, and that explains why the Varsity is playing five girls against D-level talent to 50 point victories, while current JV twiddles their thumbs. I've already seen some issues with Maja and volleyball, so I don't have full confidence in basketball quite yet, but I do have hope.
Sunday: A free Sunday, a little more junior high basketball, church, and a trip to the Hudson Model Railroad Club for part of their holiday Open House. I've taken the kids there a bunch of times, but as a free agent this year, and during a lightly attended day, I roamed the layout, focusing on weathering techniques on the cars and flocking and ballast choices on the scenery (I swear they used Army Painter yellow flowers for fill the flower beds at the one station). The one advantage of going by myself? I had the patience to sit back and observe one of the club members realistically move an Amtrak engine out of the roundhouse and hook up with the passenger train in the distant yard, at scale speed.
One of the trains was a series of centerbeam flatcars, advertising all the sponsors of the club.
Dave's Train Corner in Edwardsville caught my eye. Not only is that within my normal sphere of travel, it's right down the sidewalk where the now-defunct Tactical Advantage Games used to be.
It's not a full review, as I don't usually review train shops, but we lost Dragon Knight games this summer, and with Walter's Hardware in Wilkes-Barre for my glue and scenery needs closing this year as well, I desperately needed a local shop that was a few miles a way rather than always the 12-mile round trip to the mall.
The store mostly handles HO-scale, with a section of models, as well as some anime-inspired stuff. Definitely some cheap O-scale Plasticville stuff I might want to grab for a game later, but they certainly check off my two required boxes.
- A full line of Woodland Scenic flocking and ballast, and very competitive prices.
- ZAP... A... FREAKING... GAP!
I'm pretty solid on my shelf o' flock, but a short drive for more makes my day. I also have enough Zap-a-Gap for the winter, but I grabbed a smaller bottle for precise projects (and my bottles are getting a bit "unwieldy).
So, for now, I' m prepping more time up in Albany after Millie's game THIS Friday, maybe even a holiday game or two...
Also, sometime this past week, I rolled over the 2 MILLION page view mark. The last million has been plagued with some of the worst bot attacks, so I won't scream upon the mountain tops. I did take a look at my top ten posts from the 2024-25 year, and most have calmed down to levels where I can call organic levels.
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