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).

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!

if you like american idol, if you appreciate music, if you (like me) aren’t one of those lucky people who was blessed with musical ability and are amazed by those who are…then you should be watching clash of the choirs on nbc.  the show, which began last night (monday, 12/17), and will run through thursday (12/20), is a lot of fun.

the show is basically a competition between choirs from five cities: cincinnati, philadelphia, houston, oklahoma city, and new haven (connecticut).  a celebrity–nick lachey, patti labelle, kelly rowland, blake shelton, and michael bolton, respectively–from each of the cities when back to his/her hometown to select a choir of 20 singers.  the five choirs are competing for a $250,000 donation for a charity in their respective cities.

someone very near and dear to me has been selected as a part of cincy’s choir, so i will shamelessly encourage you to not only watch but also vote for lachey’s choir.  they’ve been great both nights, performing natasha beddingfield’s ‘unwritten’ on monday and garth brooks’ ‘friends in low places’ on tuesday.  both songs were high-energy performances, and the variety of the two selections show off the versatility of lachey’s choir. 

tune in tomorrow from 7 to 9 (central time), and, given the cincy crew gets the nod for round three, vote for them wednesday night to win it all!  it is a fun show with great music.  they’ll be doing christmas tunes on wednesday, too!

if you’re curious about the show and want more info, check out www.nbc.com and click on ‘clash of the choirs’.

ok, so i don’t have tons of time to watch tv.  in fact, if it weren’t for tivo, i would never watch tv at all.  i am perpetually behind on the few shows that i watch (house, the office, prison break, and heroes) by at least a week, so the last thing i needed was another show.  nevertheless, i heard about this new show on abc called ‘pushing daisies’ that was supposed to be interesting, so my curiosity got the best of me.

in short, it’s about a guy whose first touch has the power to bring people back from the dead.  however, this seemingly cool ability comes with two caveats: 1) if the now-undead person stays alive longer than one minute, someone else in the vicinity must die in their place; and 2) if he ever touches them again, they’re dead…for good.  but the catch is this:  it’s not really a sci-fi show.  it’s a comedy.  and a bit of a romance (albeit an awkward one).  and even a suspenseful whodunit drama at times.  with a tim burton-esque twist.

now i know you’re probably thinking the same thing i did when i first read the premise…”how stupid. someone actually greenlit THAT?”  but i gave it a whirl anyway.  within minutes of the opening of the pilot (cleverly titled ‘pie-lette’…the main character is a piemaker), i knew that this show was different from anything i’ve ever seen.  it features fantastically bright colors that seem torn from something in between a dr. seuss book and scenes from the remake of willie wonka.  the music is whimsical and frolicking at times, mesmerizing and evocative at others, and somehow manages to tightrope the line between being out of place and being just plain weird.  the pacing of the storylines resemble that of a feature-length film, making it hard to stop watching.  the actors are all perfectly suited for their roles, and, with the exception of a kristin chenoweth solo in the second episode (?!?!), the script is witty, quick, and well-delivered.  and it has the best narrator i’ve heard in a while…whose casually formal ‘bedtime story’ air and impeccable timing add immensely to the seussian effect that the show exudes.

it’s still too early to tell if it will be consistently good enough to maintain such high standards (there was even a slight falloff from the pilot to the second episode)…hence the disclaimer in the blog post title.  either way, it is BY FAR the most i’ve enjoyed a new show since heroes first aired over a year ago.  in a time when 75% of tv shows seem to be a ripoff of some OTHER tv show (c.s.i. cleveland, anyone?), ‘pushing daisies’ is fresh, original, and fun.

if you’re interested, i’m pretty sure you can watch the season pilot on abc.com for free.  if you like it, tell people about it.  if it does turn out to be consistently good, it’d be nice for it to run longer than six episodes without getting cancelled.

so i just figured out i can access my blog from work.  right now, we’re in advisory, followed immediately by lunch, so i figured i’d take a minute to share a funny exchange from my class today.

in discussion of our new unit of vocabulary words, we came across the word haughty.  when we discuss new words, i usually ask them for suggestions as to what they think the words mean since they’ve usually at least heard them before, even if they’re not familiar with what they mean.  today was no different.  i asked if they were familiar with the word haughty or if they’d ever heard it…no responses.  so i asked what they thought it might mean.  a boy in the back of the room slowly raised his hand.  i was surprised because he hardly ever involves himself willingly in class discussions.  after the long pause in class, i assumed he had a question, so i called on him.

“yes sir,” i said, raising my eyebrows to indicate my interest.

“my girlfriend’s one of those,” he responded.

“excuse me?” i asked.  obviously i was missing something.

“my girlfriend is one of those,” he replied, slightly more articulately.

what the HECK is this kid talking about?  i thought.  he’s not a clown or attention hog, and he’s never cut up in class before, so i assume he’s being serious.

“what do you mean?” i asked, my curiosity and puzzlement becoming nearly impossible to mask.

“a haughty.  my girlfriend’s a haughty.”

i immediately realized what i had missed, but evidently my realization wasn’t displayed on my face.  feeling that i was still confused, he sought to clarify.

“you KNOW, coach d.,” he continued with a look of disdain at my apparent ignorance,  ”she’s hot and she’s naughty…a haughty.  that’s what it means, right?”

i couldn’t help but grin as the class erupted into laughter.

guess you can’t blame him for trying…at least it makes sense…in a freshman sort of way.

don’t you wish you taught high school?

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.

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!

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… 

i know it’s been FOREVER since i last posted anything, but it’s been CRAZY.  i am in the process of moving to houston (texas, not mississippi), so my life…and my internet access…has been a bit scattered and random lately.  i promise that as soon as i get moved (read: later this week), i’ll be back on here.  i haven’t fallen off the face of the earth.  although that would be less stressful than the last few weeks have been.  bottom line: moving is NO fun. 

sun, 7.8 – one word: safari. yes, that’s right. safari. today, we woke up at the crack of dawn (4:30, to be exact…which is before the roosters even get up in africa!) and headed into murchison falls national park for the day. my day started off on a funny note when i woke up and looked toward my feet and realized i was looking through my mosquito net…somehow, i’d managed to work everything above my arms out of the net and i had it tucked under my arm, along with the sheets. no bites (that i know of, at least), so i think i’m ok…in hindsight, though, it was pretty funny. also, i had my first hot shower in weeks, so i quickly forgot the net incident.

we were all set and waiting for our mutatu driver to show back up (we’d told him that we wanted to leave at 5)…once 5:10 rolled around, amy called him and he said he was ‘coming now’…an interesting aside: when people in uganda say they’re coming ‘now,’ it might mean ‘in the next few hours’ or even ‘when i get a chance’…however, when they actually mean ‘now’ or ‘right this minute,’ they say ‘now-now’…i thought this was pretty interesting, even if it does make the word ‘now’ more or less obsolete. ok, so omegovu michael and his magical mutatu (ok, it wasn’t really magical, but it sounds cool, right? and check out that alliteration! [yes, i’m an english dork])…anyway, michael finally shows up around 5:20 and we load up and go. then, he tells us that he needs to get gas (amy had offered him the gas money the previous night so he could go ahead and get it, but he had declined…so, needless to say, she wasn’t a happy camper when he said this). so we go rolling around the huge metropolis of masindi, from one gas station to the next to the next (yes, we visited all three of them)…but apparently, gas stations in masindi don’t open til 5:30 (which might actually end up being 5:45 or 6:00 once it’s all said and done…remember, T.I.A!).

once we finally found a gas station that would sell us some gas (right after he finished filling up some other guy’s motorcycle and ‘spare gas tanks’ [read: 6 empty water bottles]), we filled up and were on our way. we made it to the park gate around 7 and they finally let us through around 7:20. after racing through the outskirts of the park for about 20 minutes, we realized that we weren’t going to make the 8:00 ferry into the game reserve, so amy decided to stop off at the lodge where group 2 is staying and confirm the reservations and pay for their rooms. when we found out that the next ferry wasn’t until 10, we decided to relax and have some coffee for a few minutes.

we made it on the 10:00 ferry and crossed the nile into the wildlife reserve. we were getting ready to set off on our safari, when we were met by 4 or 5 trucks, mutatus, and vans, all returning. they told us that the trail was so muddy (from the 12 hours of rain during the previous night) that the trails were nearly impassable. our guide, simon, decided we’d at least check it out before we threw in the towel. we drove a little ways down the path before we saw the major problem: there was a huge truck that was stuck about halfway up the first hill leading into the reserve. simon went to check it out and came back telling us that he thought we could make it if that truck could be moved. after a few minutes, the truck finally was freed from the mud and managed to get up and around the corner, so we made a run for it. we made it past the place where they were stuck fairly easily, but after turning the corner we realized that they had become stuck again. needless to say, we couldn’t stop, because then WE would get stuck, so michael made a run for it…on the shoulder. now, you don’t have to be a civil engineer to know that the muddiest place on most dirt roads is going to be the side, where all of the excess water drains. apparently, michael was feeling a bit overzealous after conquering the last hill with ease. he took us around to the right of the stuck truck…for about 4 feet. we began to slide left, toward the truck, then back right, toward the brush on the side of the road…left then right, then left again and then…nothing. we were stuck. phil and i looked at each other, exasperated, because we knew what was coming next. and, sure enough, it came: “alright guys, get out and push.” now, the term ‘mud’ doesn’t do this stuff justice…it was more like concrete. we pushed the mutatu out without much trouble, but when we were done, our shoes looked like something better suited for gene simmons or neil armstrong. i literally had 3 inches of the stuff caked on my sandals…it was ridiculous. anyway, we all hopped back in and off we went.

after a few minutes of driving, we began to see several different types of antelope. then, we swung around to the left and topped a hill and my jaw dropped. ahead of us, off to the right, were about a dozen giraffes, just a few hundred feet off the road. several of them stared at us and just stood there. others turned and walked away until they felt they were at a safe distance. we kept driving, andsaw pretty much everything in the park except the leopards. we saw tons of water buffalo, hundreds of giraffes, about 5 different species of antelope, a black crocodile (as he scrambled back into the marsh), several hippos, one elephant (pretty up-close, too), several snake eagles and fish eagles (which are a little bigger), a bunch of warthogs, a monitor lizard (which was about 5 feet long), several dung beetles, and, my personal favorite, the lion.

we pulled up and saw a range rover pulled about 30 yards off the path (which simon said was illegal…right before we pulled off with them). i heard him say ‘lion,’ but i wasn’t looking in the right place. at this point, i was hanging out of the window along with several other people, and we had 4 people on the roof of the mutatu as well. i was straining to see this lion, when, all of a sudden, i realized that it was directly in front of us and less than 30 feet away! with visions of this monstrous creature ripping me from my perch on the side of the vehicle, i clambered up onto the top (which, due to the metal bar that splits the window horizontally, was actually easier than climbing back inside). when the driver went to crank the car and drive off, he stripped some of the gears, and the noise did NOT sit well with the lion. he was looking at us already because of the sound of the car starting, but when the gear-grinding began, his gaze of casual indifference became a fierce, intense stare. if he could’ve spoken, he would’ve probably said something along the lines of “alright, i’m about to get mad, and one of you on the roof of that ridiculous-looking van is about to get eaten.” fortunately, our driver eased us away, and we saw numerous other animals before we left the park. the pictures show it way better than i could ever explain it…see for yourself:

http://msstate.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2081231&l=5eebc&id=26501674