Higgins, you old goat!

Today my roommate and I were fortunate enough to go to the UK basketball game. They won, of course. I don't think I've ever seen that good of a team play in person. It makes me sad for Asbury. But it was really fun to go.

My dad told me when we drove into Kentucky my freshman year that we were in Wildcat Territory... I thought, "Well, duh... just like Atlanta is Yellowjacket Territory and Athens is Bulldawg Territory." Well, yes, technically. But believe me, Tech and UGA fans got nothin' on Cats fans. I found that out soon after I had been at Asbury a little while.

But today, at Rupp Arena, I understood way more of how insane UK fans are. It was a nothing team; I don't think UK was ever less than 20 points ahead. But that didn't stop the old guys in the stands from screaming at the refs every time a foul was called against us, and clapping along enthusiastically every single time the fight song played.

I sat next to a perfect example of a UK fan. Uptight the whole time, extremely knowledgeable about the players, angry when the other team scored (even when the score was 57-24), and always yelling some kind of advice or assessment of the previous play. Rebound! Defense! Good pass! He's wide open, can't you see he's wide open?! You know what I'm talking about. Typical stuff.

The man next to me, though, had a specific vendetta against one of the refs:

"You're useless, Higgins! You've been no use to us ever since you ripped us of that Carolina game 20 years ago!"

I did some minimal research to try to figure out what he was talking about, but since I don't know which Carolina he was talking about, and '20 years ago' is pretty vague, I was unsuccessful.
He kept encouraging him to retire, too:

"Cash in your social security check, Higgins! You're 95 years old, get off the court!"

I am not making any of this up. When the announcer listed off the UK sponsors, and said Papa John's, he booed loudly, and yelled, "HUGE Louisville supporter! Can't we get another pizza provider, for goodness' sake!"

His wife, bless her soul, was always angry when he was angry, and had some good quips of her own to go along with all of his, like, "You've scored 25 points for them tonight, Higgins!" I liked that one a lot, I thought it was creative.

I liked the guy a lot because he was really nice to me and never said a single cussword. He just really loves the Cats and couldn't help showing it.

And really, who could blame him?

Terrifying Thoughts

I am most of the way done with college.

Cockroaches can live without their heads for seven days. I'm not sure if the actual number is seven days, but I know it's something crazy like that.

Ten years from now I may quite possibly be a mother. That should scare more people than just me.


Those are the only ones I can think of.

Recap

In the past six months I have...

Traveled to Cincinnati, Louisville, Morehead, Mt. Sterling, Nashville, St. Augustine, Zirconia, Hilton Head, and Covington.

Learned way too much about the Civil War, real GDP equilibrium, and workplace ethics.

Been a bridesmaid for the first time (and gained a sibling); it was so much fun.

Slightly lowered my GPA... It happens.

Still not been to Disney World.

Made quite a few new friends...some of which have already faded away, some of which are just gettin' started.

Entered my third decade.

Come to love 9 year old girls.

Fallen in love.

Just kidding.

Discovered that I am not all that bad at accounting... no one saw that coming.

Developed a love for cheesecake.

Become an avid iPhone user and supporter... Couldn't get through chapel without it, somedays.

Stretched my patience muscle. Some people...

Blogged too much.

What a Tuesday.

It's raining.
I tripped in the cafeteria because I noticed my shoe was untied and wasn't watching where I was going.
Good one.

I have to read four short stories by tomorrow. "Short story" basically means "shorter than a novel but not by much." So I have a lot of reading to do.

On a completely unrelated note, I leave you with Dave Barry:

"Until I became a parent, I thought children just naturally knew how to catch a ball, that catching was an instinctive biological reflex that all children are born with, like knowing how to operate a remote control or getting high fevers in distant airports. But it turns out that if you toss a ball to a child, the ball will just bonk off the child's body and fall to the ground. So you have to coach the child. I go out to the yard with my son, and give him helpful tips such as: "Catch the ball!" And: "Don't just let the ball bonk off your body!" Thanks to this coaching effort, my son, like most of the players on [the Little League Ages 6 and 7 Division team], has advanced his game to the point where, just before the ball bonks off his body, he winces."

Mirror Studies

I often find myself in situations where I am giving advice, or at least thinking about the fact that (according to me) I know what a given person should do in a given situation. I have the answer to everything, it seems. Easy as it sounds. If a breaks your heart, then b to get over her. If d doesn't work, then you need to move to e. When c is bothering you, there's clearly an issue in your relationship with g.

Logic. This leads to that. And that's what you should do. It's overly practical. It ignores the stubbornness of humanity, the delayed reaction of our emotions, and the cloud of confusion that all boys carry around with them. Nonetheless, I always know what the sensible thing to do is.

But lately, I have been put into a place of needing advice, and have, therefore, sought wisdom from friends that I trust. But whenever I talk to someone, I already know what I need to do. I guess I'm just looking for someone to echo what my conscience is already telling me.

It takes me forever to do what I need to do, however. Right now I am still in the process talking myself into doing things that are necessary. Key word: process. I am thankful for the relentless patience of Jesus.

So, after all this, I have been realizing how hypocritical it is for me to give so much advice and not be able to take it myself. And is so-called advice really what is called for most times?

When we honestly ask ourselves which persons in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent...who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.
--Henri Nouwen

So true.

Sick of blogging.

I'm over it, and I'm only halfway. And I missed yesterday. Not a good sign.

By the time I get home for Thanksgiving, it will have been over three months since I've seen my parents, and over three and a half since I've been home. This is the longest I've been away from home in my life (I think), and I can't think of a time when I've gone three solid months without seeing anyone in my family (unless you count my two handsome cousins).

So, I'm excited to go home and lay around for a few days. And eat some pie.

Although it would be way better if Upsa were going to be there.

Oh, the irony.

If you were having a sleepover and you and your friends were playing Truth or Dare, and you were dared to go into Target and steal something in order to be in the In Crowd...Could you do it?

Cuz that's what I did tonight.

On accident.

We weren't having a sleepover, and we weren't playing Truth or Dare. We were just in Target. And I wanted a jacket. So... I walked out of the store without paying for it.

I got all the way back to campus before I realized it.

The weird thing is, it was so easy. Do people steal stuff from Target all the time? I could take whatever I wanted, as long as it didn't have the little plastic security thing on it.

And also, something I would be terrified to do on purpose, I did on accident.

Life is so weird sometimes.

I Love to Burp

It's 9:30 and all my homework is done! Almost. How strange.

I promise that tomorrow I will blog about something interesting and introspective and intelligent and enticing and entertaining and... interior?

The Asbury Soccer team won the conference championship and they get to advance to the next round but I'm sad because my friends are leaving again, for Mississippi (or Alabama). It's a catch-22, really. If only all the games could be home games.

My throat hurts. And I'm achy. I hope I have swine flu.

You heard me. That's how stressful school is right now. I would rather be quarantined in my room and be likened to a pig than have to go to classes and do everything required of me.

We're listening to "Under the Sea" and Anna was paying attention to the names of the fish that Sebastian talks about, and she asked a very good question:

"What's a sturgeon?"

Well, my friends, it seems that a sturgeon is (ahem) "the common name used for some 26 species of fish in the family Acipenseridae, including the genera Acipenser, Huso, Scaphirhynchus and Pseudoscaphirhynchus."

In other words, it is a terrifying-looking fish that I would not want to encounter at ALL if I was snorkeling. According to the song, he and the ray "get the urge an' start to play." As for myself (and for the sake of the rhyme scheme), I would get the urge to swim away.

"If you forget to blog one day,

blog twice the next day."

Isn't that how the old adage goes?

I really don't have time to say anything except that I'm not giving up on NoBluPhoMer (as someone once called it) just because I missed one silly day. Who cares about November 11 anyway? I'm just kidding. I love the Armed Forces. And I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free.

I have an Econ test in 45 minutes. So a toodleoo until after that.