Cinco de Ghostwriter28...

Well, well, well... this month marks the 5th anniversary of Ghostwriter28.com. It's so very hard to believe I've been at it this long & even though I've taken the occasional break from posting here & there, this remains an active blog & for that, I'm quite proud. 

This is post #168, while the other 167 posts have covered a wide range of subjects... 'reflection, love & sports' are my most frequently used tags.

It'll be interesting to see which tags will dominate the next 5 years of blogging. Since I started in 2010, I've gathered a completely new respect for others who blog. Coming up with content even just once a month proves to be a challenge for me at times, so I'm frequently amazed by those who blog daily & they're really great at it too!

As I recall, I began this blog to help archive some of my thoughts & experiences so that I might someday go back & relive them, Just today, I've spent time looking at my previous posts & have had quite a few chuckles at my own expense. But I'm glad that I bothered to capture some of my feelings on various topics over the years. I hope to become better & more consistent in the years to come.

Many thanks to those of you who've taken the time to drop-in over the years, whether you ended up here by accident or you're a real-life friend of mine, you're all very much appreciated!

Family Ties...

This past weekend, I got to spend some time with the other side of my family in Newport News & Hampton, VA. I had a truly awesome time & was so glad that I was able to make the trip down the interstate for the impromptu (mini) family reunion! Over the years, I've seen much less of my father's side of the family, even though they're actually located 2 hours closer to me than my mother's side of the family in Halifax, VA, so this was a special occasion.

We didn't do anything super extraordinary, just pretty much had a typical southern-style family cookout - fully stocked with near/distant relatives, sinful food & soulful music of course! The older & younger generations both seemed to play well with one another so we agreed to try & make it an annual affair - hopefully we'll indeed make that happen!

Now that it's mid-July & we're finally into the dog days of summer, I've been scrambling trying to come-up with a last minute travel destination for some much need rest & relaxation. It seems that everyone else is posting photos to Instagram or Facebook from some far away beach or exotic destination but at this point, I've still got nothing planned... it's looking more & more like a stay-cation this year.

I did manage to submit my vacation dates, so at the very least I'm guaranteed some time away from the office later this summer. I really wanted to use my passport this year but that'll just have to wait until I have the perfect trip lined-up. I hate the idea of traveling without every aspect of the trip being squared-away & that requires time - something I've simply run-out of (as far as the summer is concerned). I'll circle-back around to international leisure travel at the conclusion of the holiday season, lol.

Oops...

...I almost let June get by without a blog post! I'm shooting from the hip tonight, as I type this, I'm waiting for an idea to pop into my head. So....... how about this 2014 FIFA World Cup soccer tournament? Sarcasm aside, I really have been keeping up with the USA matches & even some of the matches between other countries as well: guess I now have the subject of today's post - see how quickly it happens when I stop procrastinating & just put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard, rather :-)

I'm hardly a huge international soccer fan though, I only even know of a couple of popular fútbol clubs such as the Manchester United (of England) or FC Barcelaona (of Spain). Hell, outside of a few championship runs during the inaugural seasons of Washington's soccer club, the DC United, I've never passionately watched Major League Soccer (MLS) in this country either.

But this year, I actually have a true interest in the sport, so I've been paying attention during any of the coverage I run across lately. It's definitely an exciting sport, even by American standards (we love to see tons of scoring in our own US pastimes like football & basketball). I'm now able to appreciate the level of defense & coverage in those 0-0 or 1-0 games, my favorite element of soccer are the shootouts sometimes required to break a tie. 

The shootouts feature 1-on-1 match-ups between the goal keeper & an opposing team's player. By the way, I'm super fascinated by the goal keeper for both teams, so I guess it makes perfect sense that I'm most excited to see the rare shootout in soccer. I'm that way with hockey too - I always gravitate towards the goalie!

Oh & how cool is it that goal keepers get to wear uniform colors that completely differ from the rest of their squad??? Plus, they're the only ones allowed to use their hands to contact the soccer ball during play - if I'd played as a youth, I'd definitely have been 1 of the kids lined-up to tryout at goal keeper. Tomorrow afternoon the US, having advanced to the 2nd stage of the tournament last week, will face Belgium... I'll be watching - Go USA!