AN EVENING IN ANOTHER MAN'S PANTS

After finishing up with the first of my set of job interviews yesterday, I spent a little time with my friends Brandon and Brian. Yesterday was Brian's 24th birthday, so most of the day was spent at Eatza Pizza and playing Worms 3D. Yesterday was also wendsday, meaning that there was much volleyball to be played out in Kiwanis Park. The Kiwanis volleyball experience is interesting since it differs greatly from the traditional Sunday volleyball experience out in "pop-up" park.

The first and most noticeable difference is that most of the players are people I don't know. These folk are not my usual set of friends which I play volleyball with. Whenever playing against people I don't know, I tend to play better or at least play with more intesnity and focus than usual. The reason for this is that I don't want to look like an uncoordinated chump in front of people who don't know me. Come on now... I can't look bad in front of almost complete strangers. STRANGERS CAN JUDGE YOU! Okay, I'm kidding about all this, but for some reason I do put on my "A" game while playing against unknown groups of people.

The second but just as easily noticeable difference is that the volleyball nets at Kiwanis are much higher than what can be found at "Pop-up" park. The courts out at "pop-up" are torn to hell and sag miserably close to the ground. This is not the way to play volleyball as it provides an unfair advantage for spiking and serving. Additionally it's a pain in the ass to try and save the ball once it hits the net. The ball will just fly right through the net with next to no rebound at all. Clearly the playing environment at Kiwanis beats out this experience.

Before all this vollyeball fun could go on, I had a problem. Fresh off of a job interview that day, I was still in my "professional casual" clothing. This set of clothing is not in any way suitable for volleball playing. Luckily Brandon had a spair pair of pants and a shirt for me to wear for our upcomming rounds of volleyball at Kiwanis park. The shirt fit, but what shocked me the most was that the pants fit just fine. This is significant for me, since at the beginning of december I was wearing size 38 waist pants. These pants I wore last night were size 32, and they still felt a little big on me.

I've always considered my two friends, Brandon and Nick to be the thinnest of all my friends. Last night, I was able to fit into one of their pairs of pants. For almost 2 years I struggled with a bit of a weight problem. I was nearly 205 lbs. and not looking too pretty. During that time, there was plenty about myself physically I did not like. In addition to have a large frog-sack like neck, I hated having love-handles on my sides. Now I look to my sides, and the love handles are gone. It's truly amazing what a little change in your lifestyle and diet can do for you. Additionally it's even more amazing to see how extreme amounts of stress and emotional trauma will eat away at the human body.

Things are going well. At 6'1/2" I'm only 158 lbs, and soon I may get a job. Now I don't want to tie an albatross around my neck, but I think it's safe to say that I'm doing okay for once.