Before I begin, I must admit, June 13 was not the most eventful day.
Keeping with tradition, I slept in, got ready, ate sandwiches for lunch, and then spent a good part of the day editing a story.
Later on, I did my daily stretches before receiving a Facetime call from Jocelyn. We ended up talking for a while, and I helped her with homework until dinner time rolled around.
For this meal, I decided to switch it up from the usual rotation and make noodles instead. The food turned out decent, but I was still somewhat hungry, so I also ate crackers and Nutella for dessert.
After I finished eating, I showered and settled in for the night.
The next day, I woke up a little earlier, and laid around for a while, browsing social media and reading sports articles.
With practice quickly approaching, I took a short power nap in an attempt to gain more energy. Thankfully, it worked, and I felt much better afterward.
I woke up from the nap, gathered all my baseball equipment, dressed accordingly, and did my daily stretches. I was ready to roll for practice.
That day, to my surprise, we had a new guy show up. Although the man looked familiar, I was unsure where I knew him from.
As it turned out, I did know who he was- the player from Centaury Warsaw who pitched against us in the Polish Cup Quarterfinal.
I was initially confused as to why he would be at our practice, but I later learned that he is big into surfing and spends time in Wladyslawowo during the summer. Apparently, he just wanted to train so he joined us for the day.
Our practice consisted of individual stretching, playing catch, infield work, playing a mini game, and finishing with BP.
The mini game, which I believe was the Warsaw guy’s idea, was different but somewhat entertaining.
We essentially made several three-man teams that faced off against defenders in the field, minus a pitcher and catcher. The objective was quite simple; each team would try to score as many runs as they could in a nine out span.
I will say, it was a bit strange considering batters would soft toss to one another, or, when all their teammates were on base, they would have to soft toss it to themselves. Like I said, it was peculiar but quite interesting, nonetheless.
Once practice concluded, I made it back to the apartment. Shortly after, I walked to the store and bought bread, two packs of sub style bread, two bottles of milk, two jars of peanut butter, two jars of jelly, Nutella, Mayo, three packs of pierogis, two packs of kielbasa, and two boxes of chicken wings for $32.
Unfortunately, checking out was slightly awkward.
For some reason, when the lady printed my receipt, I had to sign my signature to complete the transaction. Only problem, there was not a single pen in sight.
In the meantime, I stood there and waited patiently for a couple minutes until another worker brought a pen for me to use.
Finally, I signed the receipt and was able to leave. I honestly felt bad holding the line up for everyone else, but there was nothing I could do about it.
I walked back to the apartment and unpacked the groceries. An hour or so later, I made pierogis and kielbasa for dinner, a strong Polish combo.
After eating, I showered, and edited until I went to sleep.
The following day, June 15, I slept well and had sandwiches for lunch.
We were supposed to have kid’s practice that day, but since it got canceled, I ended up laying around for a while.
When I finally decided to get on my laptop and do some work, I noticed that the screen was desperately needing to be cleaned.
As I went to clean, I must have unintentionally pressed the wrong button on the keyboard, because the cursor disappeared.
At first, I thought I was losing my mind. Was it frozen? Why would some aspects of the laptop work, but others would not? Did I really mess up another laptop?
I needed answers, pronto, so I scoured the internet in search of help.
After watching a couple immensely helpful YouTube videos, I was able to press the right buttons on the keyboard to get the cursor back and functioning. I let out a massive sigh of relief and began writing.
For the next hour or so, I made final edits and published another story. Once that was out of the way, I stretched and got ready for the gym.
I went out back to grab a bicycle, but noticed the one I normally rode had an issue with the chain, so I took the other one instead. As I quickly found out, it was actually a blessing in disguise.
I made it to the gym a few minutes later and noticed it took less time than usual. The newer machine was much more powerful, and significantly reduced the amount of effort needed to ride.
Feeling energetic and ambitious, I combined my “day one” and “day two” workouts into one, hitting both upper and lower body.
I did leg curls, leg press, side lunge, back lunge, calf raises, curls, triceps extension, lat pulldown, shrugs, dumbbell bench, dumbbell row, IYT’s, and 300 abs.
I am not sure why I had so much energy, but it turned out to be a great workout.
After I finished, I rode back to the apartment, grateful that it was much easier to go uphill with the different bike.
I got back and made four kielbasa hot dogs for dinner, one of my favorite Polish meals.
Later, I showered, made a couple phone calls, and, since I was up incredibly late, watched the USA vs Mexico semifinal matchup in the CONCACAF Nation’s League.
Team USA performed beautifully, handling Mexico 3-0. Sadly, there were a few incidents within the match that marred it with controversy and stole the spotlight.
Finally, the competition concluded in the wee hours of the morning, and I was able to go to sleep.
The next day, I slept in and laid around on my phone for a while.
Once I was ready to begin my day, I dressed, ate sandwiches, and started writing.
I spent the vast majority of the day writing, rewriting, and editing. As a perfectionist with my work, it can take a painfully long time to complete a single story.
I continued along with the writing process, intermittently taking breaks to talk to both my mom and Jocelyn on the phone.
Finally, once I reached a stopping point, I went through my daily stretches. Since I had spent most of the day laying around and writing, the stretches felt incredible. It was great to get the body moving around and loosen the muscles.
After I finished those, I made wings for dinner, a meal that was becoming one of my go-to options.
Later, I vacuumed, showered, and settled in for the night.
Before going to sleep, I talked on the phone with my mom once again and had a great conversation.