So last night I went to see the show at Love Creek.

I had seen it a couple of months ago, but there was a cast change and now my friend Fred's in it, so I had to see it again.

It's a somewhat problematic script and it needs cutting and it needs shaping, but at its heart it's a really charming story. It's about a girl named Jackie Mitchell, who was the first girl to play baseball on a professional men's team, and in 1931, when she was 17 years old, she struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in an exhibition game.

That's about all you're gonna find out on the internet, but there's alot more to the story. She was almost signed to the St. Louis Browns, but the commissioner of baseball wrote it officially into the rules that no women could play in either major or minor league baseball.

But at the end of the play, they talk about girls getting to play Little League, and I remember that! It was 1974 that they let girls play for the first time, and I know that because I played! You should see the team picture--there I was, an adorable freckle faced girl with long blonde braids, more or less the same size as my teammates.

In the team picture from 1976, however, there are all these tiny children, and me, the hulking giant who was as tall as the coach, with a horrible haircut! Wait, wasn't I talking about the show?

We have been in this new office for two months now, and I just realized that nobody turned off the electricity in the old location.

Not only that, but the only mail coming here is the sales rep's mail and, ahem, AP, because I sent out change of address letters to everyone.

No other departments did!

I don't know what it is with the mailing lists I'm on, lately.

I mean, I expect Diary L to be impossible and obnoxious and everything, but I am on the verge of un-subbing. But now there is a flame war on the Randy Newman list, which is the usually the most agreeable bunch of people on the net, and one of the notify lists I am on has started chatting about the most inane bullshit, when all I want to know is when there will be an update!

I'm getting really sick of e-mail that isn't actually personal...

The head of Operations here is named Jim Maraschino (no, not really, but it's really close to that, and is often mispronounced as such--I just don't want him to do a search on his own name and come up with this page, okay?) and nobody ever gets it right on the phone, but a couple of weeks ago this woman called and said:

"May I speak with Jim Pagliano?"
I said "What?"
"Jim Pagliano, is he back from his vacation yet?"
"Do you mean Jim Maraschino?"
"O, I can't pronounce it!"

And I thought "But you do know the difference between the letter P and the letter M, don't you?" but I didn't say it.

I told Jim that story, saying "We have a winner in the 'Screw Up Jim's Name' contest!", and then within the hour I got a call asking for "Jim Attrition".

Whenever I am on hold and I hear this:
"All our representatives are busy servicing other customers"
The most interesting thoughts go through my head...

One year ago today:
Godspeed, Diane. I'll see you in heaven.

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Penny Renée Gray!

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Last Updated Thurs 7 May 13:44:09 1998