great weekend in houston.

since it’s soccer season (we have a game tonight, in fact), i am officially admitting how terrible i’ve been about keeping up with friends and family and keeping everyone abreast of my life here in the Arrogance State…er, i mean…the Lone Star State.  so i figured i could update a lot of you with a brief post about a few recent goings-on in my life and the lives of some of ‘my people’.

this weekend was fantastic.  ellen came to visit me in houston on thursday, and she didn’t have to fly home to cincinnati until yesterday afternoon.  what’s more, the soccer tournament that was scheduled for this weekend (friday night and most of saturday) ended up being postponed and then cancelled due to weather, so we had an entire day and a half that we didn’t initially plan on having all to ourselves.  she knew that the tournament was this weekend when she booked her flight, so she was planning on watching some (actually, quite a bit of) soccer (how cool is that, right?); nevertheless, it was really nice to have all of that extra time to spend together.  the whole cincinnati-houston thing definitely puts a damper on the quality-time-together aspect of our relationship, so an extra day and a half was actually a huge bonus.  it really made her visit seem much longer…in a totally great way. 

we ate at several really cool restaurants downtown, got to hang out with sean and laura one night, spent a rainy evening inside watching bad tv and movies, went to see 27 dresses (actually pretty good…especially for a chick-flick), went on a quest one night for a restaurant that serves brownies (i mean, seriously, is it really that much to ask?  i was shocked at the difficulty we encountered and the scarcity of such a seemingly common dessert), went downtown to hermann park on sunday afternoon and enjoyed the sunny (albeit chilly) weather while we walked around, made several random trips to sonic to try a whole slew of slush flavor combinations, and even caught some of the packers/giants game.  (on a side note, i’d like to both air my disappointment with brett favre not being in the super bowl after the freakishly successful year the cheeseheads have had and send eli manning my condolences for the severe and total beating which he and his new york football giants will undoubtedly endure in the super [lopsided] bowl in a few weeks).  but i digress…in short, the whole weekend was so great, just to have ellen here and to be able to experience parts of the city that i had never really encountered.

my family was all in memphis to see anthony’s show (he’s on a national tour of high school musical), and he was actually on as one of the leads for this tour stop.  they all said that he did a great job…which is no surprise…and they all seemed to really have enjoyed the show.  i wish i could’ve been there with them, but i at least got to see the show a few weeks back when he was in little rock.  it was great to see him for that weekend and to spend some time with him.  we rarely get to hang out, and it was totally worth the drive to little rock to be able to see him for a few days. 

i miss seeing my fam…i’m really looking forward to seeing them in april when i go home for matthew’s show.  he got one of the lead parts in one of the big shows at southern miss this spring, which is a huge accomplishment considering the miniscule attention and recognition most usm freshmen receive in the theater department.  he’s been really successful, and i’m really pumped that he’s enjoying school so much.  in the words of ron burgundy…he’s kindof a big deal.  i’m pretty proud of both my brothers…if you can’t tell.  i’m just trying to figure out two things: 1) where the heck did this whole acting/performing gene come from?? and 2) why the heck did it skip me?? 

so to all of my family and friends, i really hope that you can forgive me for being such a small blip on the radar screen that is your email inbox or your cell phone call list.  i hope you guys are all doing well.  i miss all of you and look forward to catching up with you sometime soon(most likely when soccer’s over).

woo hoo!

this post is for those of you who’ve kept up with the clash of the choirs competition over the course of this week–namely krystal, sean and laura, jon and elizabeth, many of my coworkers, and pretty much my entire family.  thanks for tuning in and voting for cincinnati!  it seemed as though nbc was ready to hand over the title after monday night to patti labelle and her philadelphia choir, but nick lachey and his crew truly (and undoubtedly) proved themselves to be the best of the bunch as the week progressed. 

on behalf of cincinnati, myself, and a particularly cute member of cincinnati’s choir, i just want to say thanks again to everyone who played a part in cincy’s victory.  now hundreds of children will receive life-saving medical care by way of the $250,000 donation that team lachey won for children’s hospital in cincinnati.  a wonderful end to a wonderful show.  i hope you were fortunate enough to catch at least part of it.  either way, i wish you all the merriest of christmases.  i hope your holiday season is a great one!

lessons.

ok, so the time for a new blog post is, once again, long overdue.  i’m not sure who exactly is out there reading this, but it’s funny how knowing that people are looking periodically for something new on here makes me feel so much more accountable than i would otherwise.  this made me begin to wonder:  am i only posting random tidbits of my life out of a sense of…obligation isn’t really the right word, but it’s all that comes to mind…?  and the answer - short, simple, and sweet (unlike most of what i have to say) - is a resounding no. 

as i begin to set down new roots in this new place that i have yet to become totally comfortable calling “home,” i find that, while i am a teacher by trade, it is the role of learner that i am playing most frequently these days.  it has been quite some time since i can say i’ve had a day in which i did not make some discovery, marginally interesting or life-altering (although the latter of these occur much less often), about myself.  i’ve learned how much i genuinely enjoy serving people to whom i owe nothing and from whom i will most undoubtedly never receive any credit, let alone praise.  i’ve learned that life is much more pleasant when you’re in good company; moreover, i’ve learned that i am good company, be it to my friends or to myself.  i’ve learned that my culinary skills need some work.  i’ve learned that my God-given abilities can be used in so many more ways than i ever imagined.  i’ve learned that if you live in texas, you will swiftly become a master of the u-turn.  i’ve learned to appreciate the innocence of children, whether they are too young to realize the corrupt world around them or too teenaged to realize that it still exists within them.  i’ve learned that the tollway is almost always faster…even if it is more expensive.  i’ve learned that most people just want to know that you care.  i’ve learned that i can’t do it all…and i’m learning how to discern between what i should and shouldn’t take on.  i’ve learned to become comfortable accepting, admitting, and even saying to others that i am okay…even good…at things without worrying about coming across as haughty or arrogant.  i’ve learned that i don’t mind traffic as much as i thought i would.  i’ve learned that my family is amazing and i have been so fortunate for the privilege of knowing them and seeing them so frequently throughout my life.  i’ve learned that i am slowly, but surely, becoming a conglomeration of my father and my grandfather (although with twice as much naivete and half as many corny preacher jokes).  i’ve also learned that, in my book, there is no higher compliment i could ever be paid than to be compared to either of these men.  i’ve learned what an amazing example of selfless sacrifice my parents have been throughout my life.  and i’ve learned that i never have, and probably never will fully convey to them how much that means to me and how much i appreciate everything that they’ve done.

and, coming back to my original train of thought, in my short time here in houston i have learned that i am fascinated by the ability of  some people to mold the words of the english language into a palette of colors and then use that array, by way of thousands of differents strokes of their ‘brush’, to let others in on the images, the ideas, the ramblings, and the ponderances inside their heads, however prolific or banal they may be. 

so no.  i do not write this solely as an obligation for anyone.  i write because i enjoy it.  i write because it is my art (i never was much of a painter)…even if it isn’t exactly high art.

and i write because the immensity of some things is simply too big to be expressed anywhere but on the page.

content (the adjective, not the noun).

what a week.  i’ve been so busy lately my head’s spinning.  i’ve taken on training/coaching duties for a 9-year-old girls’ club team.  they’re paying me really well, which was my initial reason for agreeing to do it.  however, after one training session and two games, these little girls have me so hooked i’d probably do it for free.  after having worked with high school kids for so long, i seem to have forgotten how refreshing and fun the innocence of the little ones can be.  i train them 2 days a week, and we play on weekends…usually one game per weekend.  it’s a pretty hefty time commitment, but i am really excited about the opportunity.

school’s going well.  i’ve connected with a lot of my students, and we’re having fun in class.  the jv soccer class is down to 60 guys (yes, i said down to 60), which is still pretty crowded, but sean has been great about tag-teaming the class with me so that we can get a better look at more kids before we cut down to the actual jv team at thanksgiving.  it’s been great working with him, and i really think the year’s going to be a good one.  we work well together, and our strengths seem to accommodate each other’s weaknesses when it comes to working with the kids and coaching.  i’m really excited about working with this guy.

i’ve also had the chance to invest in new and growing friendships that have helped to make houston feel a lot less daunting and a lot more like home.  it’s pretty cool how God brings these people along at exactly the times when we need them most. 

i miss a lot of familiar faces from home, but i become more affirmed every day in the knowledge that i am supposed to be here.  i can’t wait to see my family, but i am very content with my new home.  i’m really excited about this new chapter of my life…and it’s already off to a great start!

life’s little laundry list.

wow.  it’s been so long since i’ve had time to actually sit down and write a post, i couldn’t possibly sum up everything that’s happened.  the ’short’ version goes something like this: since our safari in uganda, i have…

1. gone whitewater rafting and bungee jumping on the nile river

2. flown for 17 hours nonstop from dubai to new york

3. spent a week roaming aimlessly around new york city

4. seen 4 different shows on broadway

5. been to a mlb game at shea stadium and another at yankee stadium

6. come home early to attend the funeral of one of the girls from one of the teams i coached last year

7. driven from starkville to houston (texas, not mississippi) to apartment hunt for 3 days before being in one of my best friends’ wedding

8. flown BACK to ms

9. loaded all of my possessions into a moving truck

10. driven BACK to tx in a moving truck (with my dad and brother…all piled into the cab of the moving truck that only had 2 captain’s chairs…more on that later)

11. unloaded everything into my apartment in houston

12. watched the astros at minute maid park

13. driven back to ms to spend a week or so seeing family and friends

14. driven BACK to houston AGAIN

15. and attended a week and a half’s worth of new teacher orientation/staff development (of which tomorrow is the last installment…woo hoo!).

like i said, that is the ’short’ version, but maybe it shines a little light on why i haven’t posted in a while.  i’ll do my best to get a more in-depth description of everything asap.  ’til then…