Today is Easter Sunday, a very Holy day in Christianity where even I know that Jesus was resurrected on this day as depicted in the Bible. Having not been raised in a Christian household, I only knew it as the day my parents took me to the park for the Easter egg "hunt" which was more like just random plastic easter eggs scattered around the grass in full view of small kids to pick up, there's no "hunt" about it. I should have figured there was something more symbolic about those eggs and the Easter bunny and more story behind it, but I never paused to figure it out. Along with Easter Sunday comes Good Friday, the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Cavalry, and before that there's Maundy Thursday (washing of saints' feet and the date of the Last Supper), then something called Holy Wednesday or Spy Wednesday which I just learned is NOT Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday happens way before Easter, 6 weeks before, setting off the period of Lent, whereas Spy Wednesday is the date where Judas sold Jesus to the "Sanhedrin" for 30 pieces of silver. All of that make sense? There's also Shrove Tuesday which is end of pre-lent and followed by Ash Wednesday. So many days of the week to keep track of!
My body feels like it's going through a Spy Wednesday phase where it's not doing what I want it to do anymore, and maybe it sold me for 30 pieces of silver to the twin evils of Father Time and natural deteoriation. In addition to the herniated disc issue I've been having, I've realized that my bladder has started to constrict, and frequently I need to pee really bad and have a hard time controlling it. The urge to pee comes really quickly all of a sudden now, which may be due to me setting all day and having ready access to a restroom so getting used to being able to pee whenever I want, but I've had some close calls already this year when being outside, barely rushing to a public bathroom at the last minute but already in panic mode looking around for somewhere in the wild to pee out of sight of any prying eyes. This has never happened since I was two, one of my most graphic memories was walking home from school by myself but not being to hold it and unfortunately wetting my pants. I gotta believe more 3-year-old or 4-year-old kids have that experience, but not 36-year-olds.
The other Spy Wednesday thing my body is doing is not allowing myself to fall asleep, or falling asleep and waking back up after a few hours feeling really hungry. This happened every night in the last week; I wonder if it's a sign of diabetes, or lack of melatonin, or bad eating cycle, or a tapeworm. It's one of the worst things, not being able to sleep; probably why humans used it back in the day as a torture device, keeping prisoners awake and never allowing them to go to sleep.
Easter Weekend 2024 will for me be remembered as the Illini Easter Massacre, where on Saturday the Illini played defending champion UConn in the Elite Eight at the TD Garden in Boston. I broke one of my own rules: never go to a game that everyone else wants to go to because you'll end up overpaying. And then also, I try not to go to the games that my team roots for, because usually every time I go the home team loses. This time technically it wasn't a home game for the Illini, it was definitely more of a home game for UConn fans. Whatever the case, I just couldn't resist the allure of the Illini being back in the Elite Eight for the first time in 19 years, the team that I grew up watching and listening to on the radio even more attending college there, and being able to go to a high-stakes game like that with some rooting interest in the game felt like one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. It did turn out to be a once-in-a-lifetime thing, hanging out with fellow Illini alum and students at a Boston bar, yelling I-L-L in the streets of Boston, engaging (less hostiley than I thought) with UConn fans, and attending the game after having one or two or three brewskis (beers) and getting hyped up for a battle. The first half was competitive, but after a 23-23 tie UConn went on a 30-0 run. Yes you read that right a 30-0 run. I felt like Jesus on Good Friday being hung on the cross, laid out for all to witness and sacrificed to the No. 1 team in the nation UConn. Hello Disappointment, my old friend. Still, if life is just a series of moments and new experiences, I can't fault myself for doing this thing and feeling what it's like, spending way too much and expending way too much energy just to go to a 2-hour game in another part of the world to relive my college years with college friends, despite being more than 15 years out of college. I felt like a kid again. I also roamed the streets of Boston following the Freedom Trail at night, not highly recommended on a Saturday night, also especially since my bladder at one point felt like it was going to burst and I had to run into a train station to use the public bathroom. Yikes. Could have been an even worse weekend than it was.
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