15

QUIT PLAYING IN THE TULIPS! I have to admit, it was probably a good thing that Dad stayed on my case tonight. There were about a million them down at my end of the field, and in the second half I was starting to get a little twitchy. Monday Well, yesterday we had another soccer game, and luckily Dad wasn't there to see it. We lost our first game of the season, 1-0. Somehow the other team got the ball past me in the last few seconds, and they won the game. So that ruined our perfect

record. After the game, everyone on my team was in a sour mood, so I tried to cheer them up. WELL, IT'S JUST A STUPID GAME, RIGHT, FELLAS? My teammates thanked me for being positive by pelting me with orange peels. Back at home, I was nervous to tell Dad about the game. I guess he seemed a little disappointed, but he got over it pretty quick.

DID YOU BEND YOUR KNEES? MM HMM. But tonight, when Dad got home from dinner, he looked really mad. He plopped the newspaper down in front of me on the kitchen table, and here was the picture on the Sports page- A "Blown" Opportunity Red Socks goalie Gregory Heffley takes a break from the action as a fifty- yard kick by Demon Dawgs midfielder James Byron rolls in. The score ended the Socks' bid for an undefeated season. Apparently, Dad found out about the paper from his boss at work.

ok, so maybe I didn't tell Dad All the details of the game. In my defense, though, I didn't really know what happened until I read about it in the paper myself. Dad didn't say a word to me for the rest of the night. If he's still mad at me, I just hope he gets over it pretty quick. Twisted Wizard 2 finally came out today, and I'm kind of counting on Dad to float me some money so I can get it. Friday Tonight after dinner, Dad took me and Rodrick out to a movie. It's not because he was trying to be nice, though. He just needed to get out of the house.

Remember how I told you that Mom got on an exercise kick a few months ago? Well, she quit after her first class. Dad took a picture of Mom decked out in all her exercise gear the first day she went to the gym, and tonight the pictures came in the mail. The photo place gives you duplicate prints, so as a joke Dad wrote labels on the two pictures of Mom and put them up on the refrigerator.

Well, Dad was pretty proud of himself for coming up with that one, but Mom wasn't so amused.