Boomer Sooner

Well, OSU's championship hopes rest with Oklahoma today. I never thought I'd do this, but I'm rooting for the Red and White today. I won't actually be too disappointed if Mizzou wins, since OSU has been the Rose Bowl once in the last 22 years—it's a bowl we used to frequent with great regularity, and there's a lot of tradition there.

Besides, I'd rather play USC than West Virginia. But there isn't much to be said or done about it either way.

It's December, which is awesome. I have a love affair with fog, and as we transition from the warmer to cooler months, there are inevitably some heavier patches. We had a 70-degree Thanksgiving, and it's barely above freezing today. So earlier this week we had dense fog, and I was thrilled. The other nice thing is that the humidity is virtually nil when it passes, so the skies are just beautiful.

This week went faster than expected, considering, and I'm glad of it. A few strange things happened. When I returned from karate on Thursday, I saw a fox in the middle of the road. Normally they run away as fast as they can—they seem to be pretty fleet runners—but this one was trotting along dainty-as-you-please. When I pulled up closer, I saw that he had a rather large bird in his mouth. It might've been a chicken or a crow or something. I kept following, and it finally stopped to look at me. What wonky eyes! I really wish I had my camera—it was one of the more interesting happenings in awhile. (My life is terribly exciting.)

The Doof stayed until Tuesday, so we watched a movie all together on Monday, The Holiday. I think I lost several man points by watching that movie. (I went from chick flick Monday to girl power movie yesterday, when I watched Enough with people from church.) In any case, it got me late to bed, and I was up earlier than I wanted to be most of the rest of the week. (I'll be over here, crying a river.)

We're fighting more in karate as a result of tournament prep (we're going to get massacred), and I had a good fight with one of the older guys. He's loosened up a lot (not socially, but physically) since he started, and it showed Tuesday. Hesitation is the mother of failure, and he didn't hesitate, which was good. I also got him with a sweet down round, which made me feel better about myself as a person. Until I almost ended someone's future a fight later.

Thursday was my day to teach, and so I was running some point fighting. One of the little guys got a personal visit to his solar plexus during a fight. It was his first experience not being able to breathe, and so it was a bit scary for him. I'm guessing he'll guard himself a bit better next time. A gamer, though, and a sweet kid.

On the whole, though, it's been difficult to get a good grasp for how well I'm communicating. As a teacher, I usually know whether or not I'm doing a good job, and whether the issue lies with me or with the students. The past few weeks have been a bit discombobulated, and I feel like it comes out some in the studio, which is somewhat disappointing.

Yesterday was one class to teach—the Renacad arts program was doing The Nutcracker, and so we had to give up space in the gymnasium to them after the first class. I wasn't disappointed to be let out early, and it gave J and I some time to get food and see his family. G is planning her fifth birthday party, and it's not for several months! I'm invited, so the rest of you are losers.

It was a lot of fun. G is a firecracker. They have a cat that drives the parents up the wall, but she likes it on and off (like most things, though my ogre phase has been off for awhile) and holds him like Lenny holds bunnies. We had several engaging conversations.

I stayed for awhile, having not seen any of them socially in a long time, and then headed out to BS for an abbreviated moment—they were done when I arrived—and then over to Ks for snacks and a movie. It was pretty cold in her house, which is heated by a wood-burning stove. Which is awesome. I crawled into a small tunnel that conceivably could've been part of the Underground Railroad as a hiding place for slaves. I found two mason jars back there and what looked like an iron tea kettle. There were obvious signs of human activity—someone had used Great Stuff to insulate some of the water pipes. I believe that P and S took some pictures of me rooting around back there. And trying to get out. It was hard.

In any case, I arrived back home this morning around one. And I ate breakfast, and now I have to clean myself off. I expect to go out and shoot some pictures today—it should be fun. The day is mine.


Also, I have been sneezing quite a bit lately. Yi tells me this is because people are thinking about me. If you've been doing so, please stop. Because it's making work very inconvenient.