One of the issues that was inevitably going to rise with blogging every day for over two years is running out of writing prompts. Today they definitely seems to be the case.
So I’ll answer to this prompt straight-out: my favorite pastime or hobby is baseball. Anyone who’s read this blog for any amount of time knows how much I go about the sport. I’m more of a Field of Dreams romantic than a Bull Durham wise-ass realist.
But speaking of baseball, last night Veronica and I went to watch the Tigers play the Mariners in game one of the American League Division Series (ALDS). Game one was probably one of the better baseball games I’ve seen in a long time. It was an absolute nailbiter that went into extra innings. Anybody who tells you that there’s no emotional stakes to baseball has never watched a game during the playoffs.
The Tigers won in extra innings in something of dramatic fashion Saturday night. The expectation, even though they were playing in Seattle again on Sunday, was that the Tigers best opportunity of winning was in their number one starter, Tarik Skubal last night. While Skubal looked great, the Tigers’ hitters did not. Now the Tigers and Mariners are tied with one win each in this best-of -five game series. They resume tomorrow night in Detroit. I have a couple friends who are actually going to the game. While I thought about attending myself, I had to pass on the opportunity to buy tickets because of a little family issue I’m dealing with.
Crashing into the learning curve
Kid 1 is having some struggles in his first semester away at college. I have to say that this wasn’t unexpected. He’s 5 months removed from high school, living on own for the first time in the dorm, hundreds of miles away from his home and everything he’s ever known. To be honest, I’m proud that he’s doing as well as he is.
He’s failed a couple exams – one in one class; one in another. but he is doing well in his other classes thus far. But then something happened Saturday that I was afraid would prompt him to move back home.
X1 called to tell me that Kid 1’s bike was stolen, or at least taken for a joyride. By his own admission, he didn’t lock it up the way he normally does. Unfortunately, crime seemed to happen incredibly easy when there’s a momentarily lapse of judgment. This seem to be the case on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Veronica and I were taking kid 2 and Spicoli to Greenfield Village & the Henry Ford Museum for their annual Halloween activities. I was telling Veronica about the situation and she actually was the one who reminded me that kid 1 has Apple AirTag conveniently stashed on his bike. Neither kid 1 nor X1 remembered the AirTag until I had mentioned it. Once he activated it, Kid 1 tracked the bike down. It was parked out front at another building on campus. So he and a friend went ahead and retrieved it.
This was an important false alarm, or near-miss for Kid 1. I think he needed this, just as a little reminder to keep his head in the proverbial game. Given his other struggles lately, needed this victory of recovering his bike – even if it meant temporarily losing it.
It would be easy to write his struggles off as “homesick,” but I think more than that, he feels like he’s stuck on campus. He doesn’t have his car there, and seeing his roommate go back to Chicago every other weekend has to be a little discouraging.
When X1 initially told me what was going on, I offered to make a quick trip out to Wisconsin to see him. I guess at one point, she was even contemplating flying him back down to Charleston for a weekend. He didn’t sound as receptive to that as I would’ve expected. But when I offered to go see him this weekend, he sounded excited about that. Maybe I’m being a little bold in saying so, but I think Kid 1 needs his Dad right now. I know that he will always be closer to X1 than to me (he spent more time with her after all) but I hope I’m able to help the way that The Old Man would have helped me through this.
I know, from what they’ve been told me that while he wants to be able to get off of campus for a little bit, I don’t think he wants to get too far away that he gets too removed from school. What’s more, I was worried that if he had gone back to South Carolina, he wouldn’t return to school.
This way, I figure if he at least gets off campus for 36 or 48 hours, but it isn’t too far away, it might be just enough to re-energize my end get him focused again. At this point, i’m willing to do whatever I can to salvage his scholarship. so it looks like I’ve got a little road trip in my near future. 
Thanks for stopping by Rebuilding Rob. Be sure to like, 👍 comment and subscribe to my blog below. It’s greatly appreciated! Also, feel free to follow me on social media as well! Check out my most recent posts as well as some earlier, related (and perhaps, not-so-related) posts:
- Rob’s Retro Movie Review: This is Spinal Tap (1984) – The Movie That Scaled to Eleven
- A Death in the Family (And My Disposable Income): My Life in Comics
- The Supporting Cast: Navigating the Eras of Male Friendship
- Life is What Happens: A Look Back at My Non-Existent 2025 Vision
- The Moment I Walked Inside a Hallmark Movie
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The article “Crashing Into The Learning Curve” first appeared on Rebuilding Rob.
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