It Wasn't All Gravy In 2006, The 10 Lowlights of '06

Some would argue that if my life went right in every way that I wanted it, then this blog wouldn't exist. Others (upon reading my posted poetry) have told me that I need to write "happy poems." My response to that is that it's hard to write happy poems and it's much easier to write when you're down, the emotion comes out better. Besides, everyone can relate to a little heartbreak here and there. With that said, I must remember the downside to 2006. And what do I attempt to accomplish by posting the negatives of '06? You must learn from your mistakes before you're able to move on from them.

• The rest of the 2006 Cubs season. Yes, they swept the Cardinals twice. Yes Aramis Ramirez and Juan Pierre put up monster numbers in the second half of the year. But the Cubs absolutely fell apart after Derrek Lee's injury in a year that really could've used every happy moment I could've gotten. Things looked good through mid-April until Dodger SS Rafael Furcal crashed into Lee at first base causing him to miss a majority of the year. The team fell apart after that. No one came up to produce, everyone struggled and the Cubs faded into oblivion. They finished with the worst record in the NL leading to the resignation of President Andrew B. MacPhail and the parting of ways with manager Dusty Baker.
• Summer school was terrible. It started off nice, but finished poorly with me getting a D in math class. And though I can still count that towards credit hours @ SIU, I felt as if I wasted my Tuesday and Thursday nights this summer.
• No summer job/car. Both of my summer jobs fell through this summer, causing Lu to lose two forms of income this year, which was crucial to him getting a car, something he's been without since my car accident, which truly set off a series of unfortunate events that have lead to today.
• SIUs loss to WVU in round 1 of the NCAA tourney. After the high of getting the auto-bid to the tourney, Saluki Nation took a major hit when the tourney committee gave SIU the short end of the stick seeding SIU 1th matching us up against the 6th seed West Virginia Mountaineers, a team that went deep into the year before's tourney. Their size, stregnth and athleticism was too much for SIU to handle leading to a 64-46 blow out loss.
• Another bad loss was the Bears loss to the Carolina Panthers in the playoffs. For the second time in recent memory the Bears lost a home playoff game to the underdog. WR Steve Smith handled the Bears with several touchdown grabs, and one lasting bitter memory of Smith sliding down the goal post in celebratory fashion. That one still burns Bear fans, as too the Bears themselves.
• Three bad sports moments in one year? The Cardinals World Series Championship, though it made some people happy, reminded me that indeed it can get worse. It was one of those "everyone can be happy but Lu" moments which will haunt me until the Cubs get it right and win their first championship since 1908.
• Some would say that I drink too much. Some would argue with the things that I write, that I don't drink enough. I would say that I'm somewhere in the middle. Do I drink a lot, you can say that, I wouldn't necessarily disagree. Though I will disagree with those who think I'm "drunk all the time." Those days are behind me. I've limited my drinking to Friday nights, Saturday nights, and once in a while I'll drink during football games Sunday afternoons. No more drinking on a daily basis (even though it was only a beer a day.) This is a clear improvement over freshman year when I was drinking Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Mondays; and sophomore year when I'd go out drinking by myself coming back sad and really drunk. I'd like to thank my roommates and friends for setting me straight on my little habit, I appreciate them and their help.
• The overall emotional roller coaster was no fun whatsover. Did I dig my on hole, yes! Did I do anything to fix it, I tried. Did it get fixed, obviously not. I had too many lows and not enough highs this year, and it's typical of every year. An up and down year is expected for everyone, not every day is going to be wonderful. Every day has its challenges and its up to each individual on how to handle them. Every action has a reaction and every happening can cause a different chain of corresponding events. I've learned that, unfortunately, I've learned that the hard way.
• I don't know what John Travolta was singin' about in Grease, but for me there's been no such thing as "Summer Lovin'." After the school year ended I proclaimed that this summer (summer of 06) would be my summer of love. Long story short it was a summer of shortcomings, disappointments and an overall reminder of my flailing (and failing for that matter) love life.
• And finally I close with another mention of my love life, Valentine's Day 2006. I remember the original plan was to drink all day. Well, that didn't happen because A) I was to stay sober B) I had a POLYSCI paper due that day and C) I had a POLYSCI test that day. I celebrated (if that's even the word to use) Valentine's Day by watching SIU lose a crucial game against Bradley University, and sent the rest of the day and night alone, eating dinner, by myself, reminded of my failures in that department. It was clearly the lowlight of my year (not like that is shocking anyone.)

In my next post, hope springs eternal with the 10 things I am actually looking forward to in 2007.