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utilityofboredom.bsky.social
Andrew Forbes
@utilityofboredom.bsky.social
260 followers 270 following 720 posts
Human, author. Field Work: On Baseball and Making a Living (@pressassembly.bsky.social). The Diapause (novel), McCurdle's Arm (novella) (@invisibooks.bsky.social). #SABR (Hanlan's Pt). He/him.
📍Peterborough, Ontario

linktr.ee/andrewgforbes
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utilityofboredom.bsky.social
"Limpid jets of love." Hey, Crash, does that mean what I think it means? "Limpid jets of love?"
Pitcher Ebby Calvin "Nuke" LaLoosh, played by actor Tim Robbins, lies on the trainer's table in a baseball locker room in the movie "Bull Durham."
February 10, 2026 at 2:29 AM
utilityofboredom.bsky.social
Just a heads up that mlb.tv will just start autoplaying Game 7 with NO TRIGGER WARNING
Bo Bichette of the Toronto Blue Jays bats against Shohei Ohtani in Game 7 of the 2025 World Series.
February 8, 2026 at 1:59 AM
utilityofboredom.bsky.social
I brought a half dozen 15 year old boys up to the cottage today. Let them do whatever they wanted to. It never got warmer than -18°C. They went snowshoeing, then played pickup hockey on the lake. The kids are alright.
Six adolescents on skates with hockey sticks on a frozen lake beneath a brilliant blue sky.
February 7, 2026 at 11:58 PM
utilityofboredom.bsky.social
I'm stuck in traffic.
February 5, 2026 at 2:52 PM
utilityofboredom.bsky.social
Moonlight on snow
A nearly full moon shines through trees, which are seen in silhouette, and casts their shadows on snow.
February 1, 2026 at 3:51 AM
utilityofboredom.bsky.social
Beautiful day to get the ODR up and running.
A young man uses a snowblower to clear snow from a patch of lake ice ona bright, sunny winter day. My father's very old skates of black leather with brown toe caps. I tried to skate in them but they hurt like hell. Two young men playing hockey on a frozen lake. Best seat in the house: a woman sits in a folding chair next to the rink and close to a metal firepit in which a few logs burn.
January 31, 2026 at 8:37 PM
utilityofboredom.bsky.social
A little chilly this morning.
A man in a parka, toque, scarf, and fur-lined hood with frost on the coat, scarf, hat, and the wires of his earphones. Behind him the sky is clear and bright blue.
January 30, 2026 at 4:12 PM
utilityofboredom.bsky.social
oh but sure it's gonna write legislation and research papers and poems and paint the most beautiful paintings

foh
An ad for an online retailer that popped up on my algorithm featuring an AI-produced image of a baseball player catching a Very Large Baseball. At least melon sized. A close-up of the same image, focused on the player's glove, or gloves, which is/are very... not like a real baseball glove. There is no webbing and very little lacing. It appears maybe he's wearing a partial mitt on his left hand, with which he's cradling the mitt on his right hand? A thumb appears to be missing. An even closer view. I can't really describe it. It's a total mess.
January 28, 2026 at 8:12 PM
utilityofboredom.bsky.social
Busy planning the next thing.

When I'm working on fiction I find it helpful to draw up a timeline, and that's what I'm doing tonight, with a Bill Evans record on the turntable and Bucks-Sixers on TV. Ultimately a meaningless task, but it's good to focus on something other than the end of things.
The messy detritus of a writer's desk: a ballcap, headphones, a half-empty glass of beer, a paperback splayed open, a coffee can full of pens, pencils, and markers, a ruler, and a piece of paper on which are scrawled dates and events.
January 28, 2026 at 2:08 AM
utilityofboredom.bsky.social
Winter Saturday night: this and a beer and a book and Sens-Habs (which started badly for OTT, then got really good, then ended badly).
A fire burns in a woodstove while the deep blue of a winter night is visible in windows beyond.
January 18, 2026 at 3:12 AM
utilityofboredom.bsky.social
Curt Flood filed his lawsuit against Bowie Kuhn et al. OTD in 1970, for which Kyle Tucker is no doubt very, very grateful.
Curt Flood's 1965 Topps baseball card, depicting the righthanded hitting outfielder posed in his batting stance, looking stern and focused, wearing a dark blue St. Louis Cardinals cap, a cream coloured uniform, and a red 3/4 sleeve undershirt.
January 16, 2026 at 7:39 PM
utilityofboredom.bsky.social
Snow day afternoon beers with a pal at The Pig's Ear.
Two glasses of beer and a bag of peanuts atop a table carved with initials in a wood paneled barroom.
January 15, 2026 at 10:40 PM
utilityofboredom.bsky.social
Back in the barn for the Connor McDavid OHL Top Prospects Game.
A hockey game as viewed from seats in the corner of the rink.
January 15, 2026 at 2:18 AM
utilityofboredom.bsky.social
I was thrilled to arrive home from our holiday earlier this week to find that this gorgeous thing had arrived from @thetwinbill.bsky.social

I'm grateful! So nice to think of the book reaching some readers who are on its wavelength.
An award -- a clear baseball atop a pyramidal base, engraved with the words THE TWIN BILL BASEBALL LIT - 2025 BEST BASEBALL NONFICTION BOOK - FIELD WORK, ANDREW FORBES -- rests on a copy of the book.
January 11, 2026 at 2:26 PM
utilityofboredom.bsky.social
More volleyball! The court is viewed side on, from an elevated position over the net and the referee's head.
January 10, 2026 at 10:08 PM
utilityofboredom.bsky.social
Another weekend, another gym, another tournament.
Two volleyball teams face each other on the court in the gym at Conestoga College in Kitchener, Ontario.
January 10, 2026 at 4:56 PM
utilityofboredom.bsky.social
Been a truly great winter holiday but a series of mishaps and odd circumstances means that today we're going to touch 3 continents in 24 hours before, hopefully, making it back to dig our car out of a snowbank and then drive home. I miss the cat.
The wing of a Boeing 787 banks against a fluffy white cloud as the plane descends into Bogota, Colombia.
January 5, 2026 at 6:22 PM
utilityofboredom.bsky.social
Happy New Year from Falassarna, Crete.
It's me. I'm standing on a beach in Crete, wearing sunglasses, a blue ballcap, and a wine-coloured shirt.
December 31, 2025 at 3:56 PM
utilityofboredom.bsky.social
Preach, Mary Oliver
I walk, all day, across the heaven-verging field.
December 29, 2025 at 2:22 PM
utilityofboredom.bsky.social
Merry Christmas from Nafplio, Greece.
A medieval arch frames a walkway at night. A scooter sits parked in front of an unoccupied building. In the window of the building is a poster advertising a DISCO ROCK PARTY. An inflatable Santa waves from the sidewalk outside a cafe in Nafplio, Greece. A bottle of Cretan dry red wine and a glass of same on a wooden tabletop.
December 24, 2025 at 7:43 PM
utilityofboredom.bsky.social
Wallace and Davis!

Honestly, White Christmas night is one of my favourite nights of the year. We usually watch it on Christmas Eve, but circumstances this year mean tonight is the night.

I wrote about it many years ago:

A Little Larceny — sinkhole share.google/YnjFIiSxcpBx...
Danny Kaye as Phil Davis and Bing Crosby as Bob Wallace softshoe their way through a number in the 1954 movie White Christmas.
December 21, 2025 at 3:06 AM
utilityofboredom.bsky.social
Happy holidays from the guys.
An ornament likeness of Ken Griffey, Jr. hangs in a Christmas tree. Ichiro Suzuki, in tree ornament form, lays down a perfect drag bunt. Satchel Paige adorns an ornament hanging in a Christmas tree. Ted Williams frozen. As a Christmas ornament.
December 20, 2025 at 2:17 AM
utilityofboredom.bsky.social
Whirlwind 24 hrs in Toronto, just enough time to grab coffee with a friend, meet my Christie to take in the Flemmish Masters exhibit at the ROM, dine, then head to the Paradise for my first Basement Revue. I read new work, which is always terrifying, but as promised the BR audience was wonderful.
Diana Hunting with Her Nymphs, 1636-37 Oil on canvas Peter Paul Rubens and Workshop (Siegen 1577-Antwerp 1640) The heroic Diana, goddess of the hunt, appears with her entourage of nymphs and hunting dogs. This imposing canvas is one of more than sixty paintings the Spanish King Philip IV commissioned from Peter Paul Rubens to decorate his hunting lodge near Madrid. Each painting centres on Greek mythological themes, imagery ever-popular among the elite. Though Rubens designed the compositions, the execution of the works was divided among leading Flemish artists, including Paul de Vos, who most likely was responsible for the exquisite details of the animals in this painting. The Phoebus Foundation, Antwerp, Belgium The marquee of the Paradise Theatre on Bloor Street in Toronto, seen illuminatedat night. The sign reads: THE BASEMENT REVUE sold out A man stands on stage behind a microphone wearing a thrift store tweed jacket. He's flanked by images of a book cover projected onto the curtain behind him. He's telling a bad joke.
December 19, 2025 at 2:06 PM
utilityofboredom.bsky.social
I guess he means... this?
1976 Nationalization Under the presidency of Carlos Andres Perez, Venezuela officially nationalized its oil industry on January 1st, 1976. With this move, the country assumed control of the chief supplier of foreign oil to the US as well as the largest and most sophisticated petroleum complex in Latin America. The petroleum industry began to be run by Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). Most affected by the takeover were American subsidiaries such as Exxon Corporation, the Gulf Oil Corporation and the Mobil Oil Corporations which had at the time invested more than 5 billion dollars in the industry. [6] The nationalization aimed to assert greater national control over oil resources and revenues, marking a significant shift in the country's energy policy.
December 17, 2025 at 12:22 AM
utilityofboredom.bsky.social
I'm so happy that @thetwinbill.bsky.social named Field Work their best nonfiction baseball book of 2025. They have great taste* so this one's special.

*need proof? they also recognized Chasing Baseball by
@tigerpride.bsky.social

Now let's all guilt the TB folks into being more active on Bsky.
A book (Field Work: On Baseball and Making a Living, by Andrew Forbes) rests on a wooden surface, next to a baseball. The text on the image reads: THE TWIN BILL - BASEBALL LIT 2025 Best Baseball Nonfiction Book Field Work Andrew Forbes
December 16, 2025 at 8:13 PM