This Week
Last Sunday I made my volleyball debut for the season. A lot of other people were out for the first time too--we greeted each other like newly stirring hibernating bears. Some people bring their families and it was fun to notice that the kids were all a few inches taller. It was a beautiful warm day, perfect for volleyball, and I played until the net came down with the sunset.
I taped up my still-vulnerable pinky--or, rather, one of the guys did, with tape that he had in his knapsack left over from high school football circa 1988 (!). That was kind of odd but, I guess, historic. (I had made sure to buy tape at the drugstore that morning but then neglected to bring it with me.)
The only mishap of the day was when someone bonked me in the face with the volleyball. It wasn't so much my face I was worried about as the very expensive newish glasses with progressive lenses. I promptly took them off and played the rest of the afternoon squinting. I think that I have to get contacts, finally. Or a pair of spares that do not have designer frames or progressive lenses.
What else? I read, practically in one day, a beautifully written novel called The Ha-Ha, by Dave King. The narrator is a Vietnam vet whose head injury sustained in the war has rendered him unable to talk or read, although he is active and functioning in other ways. The story is about how his life opens up when his high school girlfriend asks him to take care of her nine-year-old son while she is in a drug rehab facility. Also about his memories of the past, before and after the war and his injury. It all felt very true and very real. Highly recommended.
I taped up my still-vulnerable pinky--or, rather, one of the guys did, with tape that he had in his knapsack left over from high school football circa 1988 (!). That was kind of odd but, I guess, historic. (I had made sure to buy tape at the drugstore that morning but then neglected to bring it with me.)
The only mishap of the day was when someone bonked me in the face with the volleyball. It wasn't so much my face I was worried about as the very expensive newish glasses with progressive lenses. I promptly took them off and played the rest of the afternoon squinting. I think that I have to get contacts, finally. Or a pair of spares that do not have designer frames or progressive lenses.
What else? I read, practically in one day, a beautifully written novel called The Ha-Ha, by Dave King. The narrator is a Vietnam vet whose head injury sustained in the war has rendered him unable to talk or read, although he is active and functioning in other ways. The story is about how his life opens up when his high school girlfriend asks him to take care of her nine-year-old son while she is in a drug rehab facility. Also about his memories of the past, before and after the war and his injury. It all felt very true and very real. Highly recommended.
posted by Sarah Sometimes at 11:50 PM
4 Comments:
When I saw "The Ha-Ha by Dave King" at first I thought you had simply made a mistake, because I know The Ha-Ha by Dave Kirby. But then your description quickly made it clear that there are simply two Daves who've written books called The Ha-Ha in the last year or so. Who knew?
BTW, I like my Dave's ha-ha poetry book too.
Scrivener: That's pretty funny. I think there may even be a third one, because when I told my sister about the book, she said that she thought she had heard of a novel by an Irish writer that had "the ha-ha" in its title, although it wasn't the whole title.
I know of no books with Ha Ha in the title, especially written by a Dave.....but I'm truly impressed with your volleyball adventures!
Glasses are such a pain in the butt. I wear them also. Glad that your back playing volleyball. I can't imagine having tape that long - well I guess that I could but I'd never be able to find it when I needed it.
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