Day: December 9, 2024

My son is in the portal.

It’s been a long time coming. The turn–the final choice came out of his own coach’s decision to accept a position at the University of Northern Iowa. Will my boy go with him? That remains to be seen. The ultimate goal now is to make it to the league and play a few years before shifting into a private business role as a civil engineering contractor. The expectation, I presume, is to allow the funds available from playing in the league to cushion the work need for the rest of his life. To quote Prime, “Look good, feel good. Feel good, play good. You play good they pay good. They pay good you eat good.” He’s trying to climb that ladder towards ultimate success. The wonderful part is that he has the physical talent. He can make the league as a CB. How he gets there is quite the mystery.

I’ve been a believer in his talent since birth. What assured me that his physical and mental skills are up to the task was the playoff game Drake faced against a very good Tarleton State program. He covered Darius Cooper, a talented receiver who averages 88.9 yards a game. In his time against Cooper, he held him to 5 catches for 60 yards and no scores–all in isolated man coverage. Cooper went for 190 on 11 catches and a score in the game. Cooper went on to score 3 touchdowns on 9 catches and 161 yards against double coverage playing South Dakota –a top 4 FCS team. Cooper, a senior, will be drafted in the first 5 rounds this off season. My kid, a 17 yr old freshman, will get a lot better over the next 3 or 4 seasons on the way to his own trip to the podium to shake hands a grab a jersey. I believe it. The talent and the charisma show on tape. He has the tools, and now he is looking for the right opportunity.

Today is the first day of the 20 day portal window. He’s scheduling 4 visits already–including one with UNI–and he turned down 1 visit already. Iowa State will be losing a freshman corner to the portal, which creates an opening there–if he can get a bite. He’s looking for the right opportunity. It will take a lot of searching in order to figure out what that is.

Is 50 too old to be seeking an MFA? Reddit says no, but I am asking for a friend. Okay I’m the friend. Honestly, the MFA is about Job security and finding a structured way/path to develop a novel that I can document and use as a pathway to increase my salary. The MFA matters to a ton of programs–often more than publishing itself. I get it. Higher ed is always about credentials over content. I have the content. Heck, I feel like my word count is significantly higher than quite a few people teaching in MFA programs. Yet, the actual degree matters. You have to have a higher degree to grant someone a higher degree… You get what I am saying (hopefully).

Some Thoughts:

1. I’ve had a good day so far. It is a rare thing lately. I also expect it to entirely collapse at the end of this blog.
2. There is a ton of context lost there, but the skinny is that I have struggled with being chill lately. I have heavily struggled with maintaining a calm mood and equilibrium with my partner and, above all else, being a person who is a value to the space I inhabit. The struggle is real.
3. I’ve been trying various ASMR channels to get my mood on chill, but the more I look, the more the oversexualization becomes the norm. I’ve even resorted to hiding the video portions so I can completely ignore that aspect of the telling, just so I can enjoy the voice. Occasionally I find dudes who deliver prime moments.
4. Having the content delivered by a female voice has always worked best for me, but it is becoming harder to get that and not feel like I am just watching smut, which I don’t want to do in general, but is something that is likely to make my partner (or any woman) uncomfortable. It turns me into a person I am not… or at least haven’t been since college.
5. 1300 words. Not great by any means. I mean to lock in this week with a solid schedule to get the work done.