Josh Gomez

Rocketline played a show on Saturday night in Tempe. The venue, Phase54, was an office park building slash music production studio slash club. Weird. After waiting through the two opening acts, and almost three hours later, Rocketline captured the crowds attention. Despite the weirdness of the venue, there was a great turnout and a responsive crowd. Rocketline opened up with Lunar Dirt, a familiar piece among their followers. I have heard several versions of it, and I think they revise it and tweak it each time they have a show. It was exciting to hear two new pieces, which both expanded on Garnet’s vocal super powers. It is worth mentioning that this was their second show with an additional guitar player, and a new guy on the keys. I am looking forward to see their roles grow into the band’s already solid form.

More on Phase54

Outside on the narrow balcony there was a bar full of novice bartenders, and a raised stage at the far end, opposite of the staircase entrance. Each band had to carry their equipment up the stairs, through the crowd, and heater lamps to reach the stage. Inside you could find marble tables mounted against wood paneled walls, and suck up the scent of old squishy carpet. The ceiling inside was low and complimented the other amenities so well that it completed the mobile home theme nicely. One last nag from me - the men’s restroom. Urinals were strange; one was too low, the other too high, and both had weird urinal tablets in them that were designed to ricochet your stream back at you.

I bought some new shoes for the court last week. They’re finally broken in and feeling good. No more sliding around, or cutting people. My old pair had some hard plastic detailing in the heal. After playing on the blacktop at the park the heal was worn down and exposed a sharp edge. Coming down from grabbing a rebound, my shoes cut a kid’s chin open at the gym. The next day I bought my new shoes.

My new pair of shoes are nice. Aside from them being black Air Jordan’s, they are lightweight, well ventilated and have a soft sole. I don’t know the exact weight, but they are as light as most running shoes I’ve had, and your feet feel free. The entire body of the shoe is ventilated with mesh vents, which let your feet breathe and make the shoe flexible, too. The sole has a built-in carbon fiber spring-back plate and bags of compressed air for comfortable cushioning.

Last Thursday, we ran the court, and won eight games straight. I think it was the shoes.

With the weather being chilly in the desert now, I have enjoyed extra time inside and less time running in the morning. Today, I woke up early and I was feeling refreshed. Although I didn’t go jogging, I knew altering my schedule would make the day different. It was different.  I renewed my gym membership.

It has been several months since I have played basketball, because no one goes to play at the park when it’s this cold. Tonight, I got to play. I expected it to be more difficult to keep up. I was gasping a few times, but for the most part I was doing alright. However I wasn’t concentrating on my play, I was just trying to keep getting up and down the court. We won two out of three, and I was burning. I was satisfied with my first day back to the gym. I can’t wait to get back.

Waking up early this morning made a considerable difference in my day. Keeping the momentum going should be easier now that I’m active again. I am hoping I can pull myself together and go running tomorrow morning.