Ad Nauseum

Yesterday was a long day, but a great one. It started out around 6:30 am. I got up and drove with my fellow Tiger friend Terri and her fiance Matt to be one of the crazies in the background of ESPN’s College GameDay broadcast from Arrowhead. It was cold, it was snowing but it was awesome. After two and a half hours, we got to watch Lee Corso don Truman’s headgear and pick the Tigers to win versus kU. Smart man, that Lee Corso. There were lots of clever signs, some of them moderately inappropriate, but clever nonetheless.

After CollegeGameDay, I headed back home to warm up and gear up for some serious tailgating. My family brought the grill, some brats, brisket and beers. Man, was it cold though! We hit the parking lot as soon as it was open around 3:00 and stayed until about 6:30 when we headed into the stadium for what was the greatest football game I’ve ever seen. Seriously. Total domination by the Tigers for a good 3 quarters. Then it got a little interesting in the 4th and we let them get a bit too close for comfort, but Mizzou showed poise and steadiness as we hung on to beat #2 kU. And today, we’re Big XII North champs and ranked #1 in the country. Next up is the Big XII Championship against #9 Oklahoma in San Antonio. One game at a time… I’ll post pictures to my Flickr page as soon as I can get them uploaded to my laptop.

GO TIGERS!

For a recap of the game, click here.

I’m thankful for:

• family that puts up with me because they want to, not because they have to
• friends that know me well enough to call me out on my bullshit
• music that puts words to feelings I can’t figure out how to express
• opportunities that you don’t want, but deep down you really need
• books that take my mind off of life entirely
• possibilities
• fleece, scarves, mittens and cold weather
• health and being able to go to the gym and work off stress
• my new car

Apologies, readers.  After luring you here to this new site with the promise of photos and insightful commentary, I’ve gone almost a month without so much as an update.  For this, I am sorry.  Life has just been so busy lately that I haven’t had a moment’s peace to stop and reflect on everything that’s going on.  Between teaching classes at the gym, meetings for Holiday Mart and a little thing called work, I’ve scarcely had time to sleep.  So while I sit here babysitting on a Saturday night, let me share with you what’s running through my brain.

• Mizzou football is having one spectacular season, sitting at 10-1 after defeating K-State today.  Next Saturday, my family will head to Arrowhead to watch our beloved Tigers take on the Jayhawks from kU.  Just so you know, I refuse to capitalize the “k” because kU is neither a proper noun, nor a proper place.   It’s so weird that both MU and kU are doing SO well in football.  Next week’s game is for all the marbles- whichever team wins will take the Big XII North Championship and possibly play for the BCS Championship.  Someone go check hell and see if the temperature has dropped significantly…
• The new car is doing splendidly.  I’ve had it for three months, and I’m having so much fun driving it.  I didn’t anticipate having to purchase a car so soon (I thought I would be driving my Accord for another year or two at least) but I’m glad I had to.  It’s forced me to be much more responsible financially, and lit a much needed fire under my butt to get my credit cards paid off.  I’m well on my way and if things fall into place, it looks like I may be moving out in May.
• Things have picked up at work quite a bit (with both jobs, actually).  I’m getting more work and more responsibility which is great- I thrive on stress.  I feel like I’m contributing more now, but I’m anxious to keep increasing my worth.  Hopefully there will be even more opportunities for me to grow and learn.   

I’ve got a five day weekend coming up due to the Thanksgiving holiday.  Aside from dealing with the large pile of laundry that’s slowly taking over the corner of my room, I’m looking forward to getting some more blogging done, uploading all my pictures to Flickr, pulling out all my winter clothes (hooray for sweater season!) and filing away a whole bunch of papers that have amassed on my desk.  When things get crazy, I exert control over my world by cleaning and organizing.  It’s how I deal with stress and disorder in life.  I’ve found that I feel much better when I’ve put everything into nice, neat little compartments in life.  It’s why I’m obsessed with my Franklin Planner.  Seriously, there is color-coding on my calendar, prioritizing by quadrant, the whole nine yards.  Yes, I might be a little ridiculous, but it’s gotten me this far so I’m gonna run with it.  That’s all for now- GO TIGERS!