Injury Magnet

I wasn't in the mood for a softball game last night, but since our team had to forfeit if I didn't show up, I decided to oblige.

In the Engineers' League, we are not allowed to slide. I can understand their averseness to potential injury-causing moves, but not being able to slide causes other injuries. Not overrunning second and third base is difficult if you can't slide. Since the second and third base players have to tag the base to make a play, the runner has a good chance of colliding with them.

Last night, I had already made it to second base for about 3 seconds when the shortstop and second baser battled over catching the ball. The shortstop grabbed the ball--his back towards me--and as he didn't see that I was already safe, his aggressive move back towards the base knocked me off and sent me sliding on my left knee. Of course I was safe, since you can't knock players off bases after they've already gotten there. But this sort of thing happens to me every season.

In other news, I declared to Chemical Brother that I would no longer use the word "f*ck." Instead, I would use the popular Red Dwarf curse word, "smeg." But of course I would have to find out what it really means. According to various Urban Dictionary entries, "smeg" is short for "smegma."

smegma n. A sebaceous secretion, especially the whitish cheesy secretion that collects under the prepuce of the penis or around the clitoris. (Source: The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary, Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.)

That seems much fouler. Except most people won't really know what it means, so it might sound tamer.

Chemical Brother pointed out that I used to learn new words from classes, such as philosophy (eudaemonia or eudaimonia n. A contented state of being happy and healthy and prosperous. [Source: WordNet ® 2.0, © 2003 Princeton University]), but now I am learning new words from science fiction shows. So be it!