Oh can't you see it, baby? You've got me going crazy.

It seems my recent medication dilemma has dominated my last few posts. Appropriately so, I suppose, since that has dominated my conscious thought for the past week or so. Now that the issue appears to have been worked out and I anticipate receiving my shipment tomorrow, I feel OK in acknowledging that life is going on and will continue to go on.

Let me start with a humorous story.

The other day, I was on the S-Bahn (Bahn = train) with a couple friends. I was sitting diagonally across from the pair of them, while a rather hefty bloke was seated directly across from me. His dour expression was complemented by an apparent lackadaisical approach to matters of personal hygiene. To put it bluntly, this guy was hating life.

After a couple stops, a pair of twenty-something fellows got into the car. One pulled out a guitar, the other a saxophone. Such occurrences are very common on the rail. The two proceeded to launch into their rendition of Richard Marx’s “Wherever You Go,” a staple on grocery store playlists all across the States.

This development elicited a clearly audible “Sonuvabitch!” from our unsightly friend. Certainly, most of the car heard, including the musicians, as no conversation or very muted conversation is the norm on public transportation here. My friends and I worked hard to keep from busting a gut at this guy until he exited stage left a few stops later.

Now, I normally reserve an emphatic “Sonuvabitch!” for something upsetting like dropping my phone into a puddle or leaving my wallet in the coat that’s still hanging in my closet. Does a couple of harmless guys playing live muzak really need to draw that stern of a response? Is it really causing that much distress? I don’t know. It was amusing to me.

Work is keeping me pretty busy, of course. We had our first home game last weekend. Unfortunately, we got dusted 22-0 by the Rhein Fire (quarterbacked by Drew Henson, for you Michigan folks). It wasn’t pretty at all. Luckily, we have free Warsteiner at the post-game meal.

Not having to travel on Sunday after the game clears a lot of time to get a jump start on my week, so my press release and story deadlines are not quite as stressful. But not scoring any points makes trying to write a positive press release a true challenge to my creativity. On the bright side—or darkly humorous side—I have experience doing so from last NFL season…

One of the major downsides to this job is that I’m missing the NCAA tournament. My favorite sport is college basketball, so missing the tournament is not something I enjoy. Last night, however, I was able to go to an American sports bar with some of our players and catch one of the games.

The first (and probably only) tournament action I saw was George Mason’s win over UConn. Now, like I said, it’s killing me that I can’t see the tournament. But if I’m only going to see one game, I’m pretty happy with the one I saw. I still can’t believe George Mason is in the Final Four.

This Saturday, we travel to Hamburg to play the only winless team in the league. I’m told Hamburg is the best city in Germany besides Berlin. It’ll be our first trip that’s in Germany, but outside of Berlin.

Enough about sports, if you’re still with me. Yesterday, I went downtown and walked around this outdoor museum exhibit called Topographies of Terror that chronicles the 1930s and ’40s Nazi rule. By the time I made it there, the people I was meeting were almost done so I didn’t get to take the audio tour. I just looked around at the pictures (the text was all German) for a bit, but that was enough to depress a person.

Briefing me on the audio tour, my friend told of how the government took all power from the people and made themselves the absolute authority. Those in command obviously knew what they were doing and were quite effective in their methodology of setting themselves up as the supreme rule.

What drives a person/people to desire that kind of power and how does one become so calloused to disregard those that get trampled under along the way? The fact that this was only 60 years ago is even more mind-boggling. Anyways, one wonders if humanity will ever learn from our collective mistakes and what one’s role should be in helping prevent and fix the “mistakes” that are still happening today.

Wow, that got really somber really fast.

Changing gears again, it’s now been nearly two months since I’ve seen anyone I know from before said two-month period. That’s causing a little bit of homesickness. I know that I won’t be back for another 2 ½ months, though, so I’ll push through it. Also, I still have no word on any potential jobs for when I return. That’s causing a bit of nervousness, though I’m still hopeful about Cleveland.

If nothing works out, though, I need to quickly make up my mind about what to do when I get back. Unfortunately, I didn’t take my GRE last year (poor decision on my part), so if I opt for grad school I have some major cramming and hurry-up planning. Still, I am itching for academics again as I plod along in this intellectual vacuum known as professional football.

There’s much to be weighed and determined in the coming months. Pray that I am wise in making decisions.