Late June

     Finished the first season of The Flash. It was often ridiculous, but it's good to know what everybody's talking about when they mention the characters/show.

     Dad's sinus surgery was Monday, his recovery is coming along.

     Deb died Tuesday night. The cancer got too strong to fight, but she earned her reward. Her and Bob's example - I'm thankful I got to know them, even if it was only for a little while. Praying for Bob and their family a lot recently.
     Garth Brooks' "If Tomorrow Never Comes" has been stuck in my head recently, along with Taylor Swift's "Delicate" and a lot of songs from The Greatest Showman.

      Picked up another freelance writing gig about two weeks ago, covering superhero TV and movie news for a site called Bam Smack Pow. That might be a miniscule bit of money coming in, which is something. And a lot of good credits, given time.

      

Of June

     Yep, that's an Owl City reference in the title.
     My birthday was quiet, but it was nice to see all the texts and Facebook posts from friends.

      Not much has been happening. Tried to call Courtney the other day, but the reception was so bad it was impossible to talk.

     The Washington Capitals captured the Stanley Cup after toppling the defenses of the Vegas Golden Knights, and the Golden State Warriors won the NBA Finals over the Cleveland Cavaliers for the third time in the past four years. The Preakness was won by Justify, who became the 13th horse ever to win the Triple Crown. 

     Caleb's getting back from Youth Tour tomorrow, can't wait to hear all the stories. Trevor loved the Endeavor Games last weekend.

     Been getting into Arrow and The Flash over the past week or so, Cisco Ramon and Felicity Smoak are my favorite characters so far.

May Musings

     The Jets and Knights are playing each other in the Western Conference semifinals on TV, my laptop's tracking the NASCAR race right now. Courtney comes home for a visit tonight, it'll be good to see her. Most of today I've been thoroughly cleaning the garage, which is useful.

     Graduated from high school six years ago today, and from college a year ago tomorrow. That's odd.

     Trevor was in San Antonio last week for a competition, which he enjoyed a ton. Caleb's all set to go to Mexico soonish, and I had lunch with Susan last week, it was really good to catch up. 

     Infinity War was gigantic and epic.

     Heard from Ashland, Daniel, and Amanda recently, which is good.    

April

     A lot of Parks and Rec has been watched this month, as has Infinity War. (Radio silence until enough time has passed for most people to see it.)

     My laptop hard drive failed, I think most info was able to be saved, but it's been irritating to get everything running smoothly again. And the M key is about to wear out, so it's time for the annual keyboard replacement.

     That's about it for what's been happening this month.

Misc

     I took one of those BuzzFeed quizzes today, "Which 2000s Disney/Nickelodeon Character Mashup Fits You?" The answer I got was "You’re a combination of Ron Stoppable and Eliza Thornberry. Like Ron, you will do anything for your family and friends, even if that means putting yourself in danger. And like Eliza, you have a massive sense of adventure. You are strong, courageous, and passionate."
     From reruns that I've seen of Kim Possible, I can live with being Ron. That seems kind of accurate, actually. I've never seen The Wild Thornberrys, but Wikipedia says that Eliza gets along with animals very well, which also sounds accurate.

     Four years ago I posted the following Facebook statuses:
     "How to find Ross Hall: It's pretty easy. Go all the way east on campus, and then it's the only dorm with a bathroom stall parked in front of the building."
     This was part of some prank in a war two of the fraternities were having at the time. (GREEKS ARE STUPID.) But it fit life in Ross very well. Which is why I mentioned it. 
      "Can I write like some combination of Agatha Christie, Brad Paisley, Mark Twain, Philip Gulley, Keith Urban, Jan Karon, Harper Lee, Miranda Lambert, Leonard Kessler, Taylor Swift, William Goldman, Edgar Guest and Lucy Maud Montgomery, please?"
      I think my style has incorporated a lot of these writers since, along with Wendell Berry, G.K. Chesterton, Flannery O'Connor and others I can't think of right now.

      The CVS Scotch Tape Incident occurred six years ago today. It's really weird how often that night pops up in my memories. "The porch swing silence was my favorite part," Sam commented on the original Facebook link. That was a good part of the night. "'Dylan blandly buys the tape, likely wishing he didn't know any of us' is my favorite part. That's him all over!" Paige commented right below Sam's comment. What can I say? I know my friends.
     Marie's arm was fine after the Red Rover mishap, just really bruised. Last anyone heard she got married a couple years ago, has a 2-year-old son and is currently pregnant with a daughter. Last anyone heard of Sam she was about to get married.

      Courtney's visiting this weekend after working most of spring break, it's been nice to see her. We saw Black Panther again last night with Caleb, and I still didn't like it. I mean, it was fine, but 12th-15th in the MCU rankings. Courtney liked it a lot, which we figured she would. We went to the AMC theater in Tulsa Hills, first time I'd ever been there. It's really nice.
     Caleb and I have been playing a lot of basketball in the driveway recently. In sports, Loyola-Chicago somehow made it into the Final Four, and the NASCAR Truck race at Martinsville this afternoon was postponed due to a blizzard. 
     We were just talking about how much Grandpa would've loved Courtney going to C of O, how he'd always be running up to Branson to see her. He always said one summer he was going to find work up there instead of at the river, live in the RV. She'll be working over the summer, which is good. He would've enjoyed the play, too, I think, and he would've been proud that I wrote it, anyway.

     While they aren't as entertaining as Keith and Nicki's hijinks, Luke and Katy work well together on Idol. On Agents, FitzSimmons' wedding was spectacular, and the episode overall was incredibly emotional in the best way possible. Recorded a cover last week of Rascal Flatts' "Stand" because Amanda asked me to; mostly I've been playing a lot of ukulele recently. 

     Yesterday was National Puppy Day; which the dogs didn't really care about, but Rags and Timmy have been especially needing lots of attention this week. That can be kind of nice.

A Good Weekend

      This week started out with the tension of anticipating the RSU Theatre Program's production of Texaco Mornings, to go along with the nervousness of phantom midterms. So there was a lot of anxious cleaning.
      And then Tuesday morning I heard back from a job-application email the week before, which is rare and stressful, because A: you're talking to a stranger, B: on the phone, C: about yourself, and D: trying to make a good impression. I was basically hung up on, which is how that usually ends, but at least I heard back.
     "Hey, I think I can actually make it! Like maybe Friday night." Ashland texts me somewhere early in the week.

     Wednesday Caleb was supposed to start his first day working for Justin, except he couldn't get there because the truck broke down. (It's since been sort-of-fixed, I think.)
     Crashed the youth group because I hadn't heard the end of David Platt's sermon series on "Angels, Demons and Spiritual Warfare" because my freshman year at NSU had already started. The sermon was interesting. And also, it was DC Talk Night in the Throwback Christian Music series, and I'm like the resident DC Talk expert.

     Thursday night Caleb had a MEND fundraiser he was volunteering for, along with Hope, Mattie, Seth and Laura. That seemed to go well. Trevor and Amy had swimming, so everybody was happily busy. Wasn't able to make it to the opening night, but it's one of those things that couldn't be helped. The quiet house was nice;; read through a book of Billy Collins poetry from the OKC book sale.
     Andrew said there was a great crowd; I know Debra and Cody both made it. "Proud of you, man!" Cody said. Dr. Dial-Driver wasn't able to make it, but she sent me a nice message, and she had everyone give her a report. ("I told her that even if you didn't know Wes wrote it, you'd know Wes wrote it," Dr. Mackie said).

      Friday morning was a good day for blasting Jars of Clay while cleaning.
      I missed the landmark 100th episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. that night, but it was totally worth it. Not every day your play is produced. (But IT SHOWED FITZSIMMONS' WEDDING, which I would have loved almost as much as Andy and April's or Ben and Leslie's. Maybe I'm okay with weddings as long as they're fictional?)
      "Looks like I'll be seeing you tonight," Ashland texts me. She tackle-hugged me as soon as I'd gotten both feet into Baird Hall, pretty much. "I told people I knew you, and it was like, I knew a celebrity or something!"
     About eighteen to twenty people were in the audience, which was a decent size. It was great to see Andrew, David and Dr. Mackie again. I also recognized a couple classmates I knew by sight. The Ruscos came, which I wasn't expecting. It was weird seeing the script performed, but the audience seemed to like it. The acting wasn't the best, but it wasn't awful, either. The actors missed or mangled about twenty percent of the lines, mostly skipping the dramatic parts. "This is a lot funnier than it should be," was all my brain registered in the moment.
     We stopped by Taco Bueno afterward, and were quickly reminded neither of us liked it. But late-night conversations are always good, even if the food isn't great. Mostly the topic was INFJ-ism in the workplace, and commiserating the general difficulties of college and young adulthood  "I was like, 'You okay?' You were really tense," she grinned once we'd gotten into dissecting the performance. (This didn't register at all.) We both graded it a high C, mostly because the actors who played siblings were obviously strangers, which was a little awkward.

     Since it was going to be rainy, and because it was cheap and indoors, we decided to go to the Gilcrease Art Museum Saturday morning. It was fun. We rummaged through Indian artifacts all National Treasure-y, roamed through pretty much everywhere, and wished our photography skills were better. Since the temporary Norman Rockwell exhibit was still there, of course we had to see that - I kept a lookout for security guards while she illegally snapped photos to show her grandma. We didn't get caught.
     Since it was beautiful weather, we prowled around the grounds outside taking pictures of the flowers and tree buds. We got some good pictures, and we also got chased by wasps for our troubles. Ignoring tradition, we actually got a couple good selfies this time.

     We only got minorly lost on the way home, Taylor Swift blasting on Pandora, and we had lunch at Whataburger since she wanted to try it. The food was greasy and delicious, the convo was good.
   
     A huge crowd showed up for Saturday night's closing performance; probably thirty-five to forty people. Talked to Brandon, saw Brittany on the other side of the room. Only about five percent of the lines were missing, and different moments were seen as humorous. Andrew did a great job directing. It got a high B grade. 

     The premiere of the sixteenth season of American Idol was tonight on ABC; the editing was unfocused, but it has potential. Luke Bryan, Katy Perry and Lionel Richie seem like they'll work well together.

Remembering Will

     The weather's been gray, cold, sullen and thoroughly wet for the last several weeks. That's usual weather in our part of Oklahoma for late February/early March. It's made me thankful I haven't had to walk through it back and forth from classes to my dorm. But it's made me wonder what Will is doing.

     Will was the resident Jehovah's Witness missionary at NSU. He was a friendly, soft-spoken, obese, middle-aged guy who had to retire early because of severe back pain after thirty years of working in publishing/printing in Colorado. He has a grown daughter in Denver and several grown sons in Georgia. His wife ran the quilting supplies shop downtown just past Felt's Shoes, where he occasionally helped out when his back allowed. The rest of his time - probably three days a week, on average - was spent manning the table of JW fliers halfway between Seminary Hall and the Fine Arts Building.
      Most of the time he was ignored, accepted as part of the scenery, except for the folks from CCF, who would aggressively attack his theology whenever they had a couple spare minutes. The BCM folks were kind of scared of him.
     I would stop and talk with him for five or ten minutes if I had time; if I didn't I'd always wave and he'd holler a wisecrack about my speedwalking setting the pavement on fire.
     We didn't talk about theology much. Sometimes we would ask each questions about various points about what the other believed, and then we'd try to answer those questions as best we could. I would occasionally take some of his literature to talk over it with him later, and he would occasionally read the online articles I mentioned. Since I was a MassComm major, and he'd worked in journalism, we would usually talk about those kinds of things. Local news, the merits of coffee, campus gossip, what we'd been reading lately, observations about people-watching. And sometimes we'd just sit and people-watch together, since a college campus is an excellent spot for doing that: one girl he always called Pirate Boots, because he didn't know her name and she wore boots that looked piratey nearly every day.
     If I was running down to Morgan's Bakery, I'd once in a while ask if he wanted me to get anything for him. If his health was especially good for a few days in a row, he'd usually go on a baking spree, and sometimes would bring the extra cookies for me that he and his wife didn't eat the night before.
     One day we were talking and he frowned in midsentence and gave me one of those curious, hard stares for a minute. "Y'know, Wes....you're different." I must have looked surprised, because he continued: "I know we don't believe the same things, but you don't try to ram it down my throat like those other people do. You just treat me like a person. I can't remember meeting a Christian who ever did that. Thank you."

     That's always stuck in my head ever since, and often replayed itself while working on homework late at night. I didn't think of it as anything special; it was just something that needed to be done, so I did it, just like guiding my blind classmate Russell back and forth from Dr. Fuller's psych class freshman year. Will was discouraged, everyone ignoring him like that. It doesn't take much to brighten somebody's day.
     Hope he's doing okay.         

Happy Birthday, Blog

     I created this blog on this day in 2012. I'd been thinking about it for a year or two, and it was the middle of a boring day in February with nothing else much to do. (Also, Facebook was going through one of its redesigns, and there was a rumor that the then-popular Notes section would be deleted, so I wanted to keep my favorites.) Mom was visiting with Trinnica, and everybody else was playing some kind of war game in the backyard with Jonathan.
     Sometimes people wonder about how it got titled this way; so I put out an explanation of the title right up front. It's a Princess Bride quote, from the novel, not the movie.

     The series finale of Parks and Rec, "One Last Ride," aired on this day in 2015. It's one of the most perfect series finales ever. I watched season 7 live, even though I hadn't really met anyone in Pawnee yet, because it was a way to stay connected with everybody at the NSU BCM. (Stephen, Elizabeth, Susan, Bucky and Daniel were especially fans of the show.) I'd just moved to Claremore and RSU, and the humor was a welcome distraction from the roughness of that semester. (There's good people there, but I'm not really a fan of the city of Claremore.) And it was good homework in studying camera angles and shot placement.
      Speaking of NSU ministries, Tom Tucker finally completely retired from leading CCF a couple months ago. And Ryan Galdemez became the pastor of Grace Baptist after Geoff Brown left.

     It's been raining and raining and raining some more all week - cold and gray and drenching weather is hard to be productive in. But at least there wasn't an ice storm, like it seemed there would be earlier in the week. 

     Mom, Amy, Trevor and I went to the Gilcrease Art Museum in Tulsa Friday night because there was a traveling exhibit of Norman Rockwell original art, behind-the-scenes photographs, sketches, and the actual Saturday Evening Post covers themselves. It was amazing.
     The afternoon was spent running errands in Okmulgee, which was useful. 

      Being book hunters, once we heard about the Oklahoma City Library System's annual book sale at the state fairgrounds, Mom and I decided we needed to go. It was spectacular. I found some Faulkner, and a history of Broadway for Susan, and a handful of Shakespeare that matched good copies we already had. Mom found Peterson field guides and I don't know what all else. I found a lot of guides for writing different genres in the Fine Arts section; hopefully some of them will be helpful.
      It was awesome. People were very polite; always apologizing after running into each other due to the intense focus of finding good titles. Going to Oklahoma City always feels a very long way away, when it's only about two hours west. Probably feels that way because the landscape changes a lot. 
     Caleb accidentally locked himself out of the truck while at a photoshoot with a friend, so we drove back home through Henryetta so he could get himself unstuck. That's the usual way to get to OKC, it seems like. Nice to drive through Henryetta again; felt like we should be driving back from a Knights ballgame. High school basketball playoffs started last week; it's a little weird to not be actively covering them. 

   Songs of the Day this week include Bowling for Soup's "1985" and Dustin Lynch's "Cowboys and Angels."

     It's the final day of competition for the 2018 PeyongChang Winter Olympics. NBC's overage seemed a little lacking, mostly because there wasn't many of the inspirational stories shown, and because Bob Costas retired. Mike Tirico did better than I expected, but it still felt wrong. The Russian figure skaters had an epic battle in the ladies' event, and the Americans were all entirely without personality or talent. Snowboard cross was awesome, as usual, and snowboard halfpipe and the speed skating events. The commercials were amazingly inspirational. And the U.S. women's hockey team beat Canada in a shootout in the gold medal game, which is great. 

   The production of Texaco Mornings will be in two weeks. That's exciting, but also completely terrifying. It felt a little strange to write your own press release talking about your own play, though. But the Okmulgee Times people were happy to run it, and hopefully it will draw some more people to come see it.
     Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will be back from the Olympic break this Friday, and it will air their 100th episode March 9. It's been fun to follow their Instagram and Twitter for memories. American Idol returns for its 16th season March 11; I'm predicting Luke Bryan will be my favorite judge this season.

Standby

     We have these two types of muscle fibers: slow-twitch for endurance, and quick-twitch for explosive movements. Swimming and cross-country running use mainly slow-twitch, tennis and volleyball quick-twitch. Some of us naturally have more of one type or the other. I have more quick-twitch muscles, so I enjoy more explosive sports, like tennis or volleyball.
     But if your muscles are tensed up for an explosion that never comes, that can be extremely tiring. It's like when Skye was trying to understand her new abilities after becoming an Inhuman in season two of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - when she tried to force her powers inward, she wound up breaking her own arm. Not anywhere near that dramatic, but that sense of "standby" is kind of where it feels like everything is right now.
     Not much is happening in Okmulgee County, so there's not really anything to cover for the ONN. Most of the Frontstretch staff is at Daytona for the opening weekend of the NASCAR season, which meant my news day - Thursday - I was on standby for if they needed backup. They didn't, which was fine, but it's hard to be that tensed and ready to spring if there's nothing to pounce. (I spend too much of the day watching our cats.) Macklin and Smudge have had upset stomachs for the last two weeks, so I've been cleaning up their diarrhea way too often - they've been exiled to the garage until they feel better.
     It's hard work waiting for things to happen. For the last six months or so it's felt like things - work, life, church, personal - were just about to fall into place once something happened, like a domino chain. Just hasn't quite started yet.

     Another awful school shooting happened the other day in south Florida. Facebook and Twitter have been filled with people arguing over whether gun laws or mental health systems need to be overhauled. My uneducated opinion is that both sides are probably right. .

     Finished The Perks of Being a Wallflower recently, didn't like it. Novels about stoners make me really mad, because their lack of ambition drives me crazy - in Children's/YA Lit everyone in class wanted to kill the narrator of The Spectacular Now.  And they're unbearably depressing. I still might see the movies of both of those books, though.

     Saw Black Panther last night. Trevor was chomping at the bit to see it, and Dad dragged Caleb and I along. The Orpheum was about 80 percent full, which was incredibly impressive (though the offerings were the newest MCU movie and the final movie of the Fifty Shades trilogy, and it's Okmulgee, so...maybe not so impressive).
     It had to do a lot - the royal intrigue of a Shakespeare history, with the plot of The Lion King, with the amount of worldbuilding of Iron Man 2, Thor,, Guardians or Doctor Strange. Subtitles would have been helpful - some of the accents were so thick the dialogue was kind of lost. It was all right, but I'd rank it in the 12th-15th range out of all MCU movies so far. Caleb and Mom were both astounded I could rank it within two hours of watching..Some of the most interesting characters were killed, which seems like a waste of good acting talent.
     Also, Dad's elbow was jamming into my side and his foot was in my lap, because personal space isn't something he doesn't do very well. That was uncomfortable.
     On the way home he was constantly berating Caleb's driving, which was also uncomfortable. Caleb's a really good driver. It was raining, and somebody was tailgating a little bit on the way home. Dad wanted Caleb to either pull over or stop so they would run into us and it would be their fault. In his best impression of Jack Lankford, Caleb calmly stated that he was driving the speed limit and wasn't going to break any driving laws just because Dad told him to. Dad threw a tantrum, saying that it was his truck and that Caleb couldn't drive it tomorrow for disobeying his orders (we were thinking of going to the Oilers game tonight).
     They both argued their case to Mom once we got home, while Trevor and I hid in the family room and pretended to care about men's Olympic figure skating.

    I have Relient K stuck in my head this morning, and I slept horribly.

Screen Crushes of College

     So, a couple years ago I made lists of screen crushes growing up and as a teenager. And last year I made a list of my favorite couples from TV, since the format lends itself better to studying characters and relationships.

Natalie Portman

Why? She's pretty in an everyday sort of way, and in interviews she's very down-to-earth, and on Saturday Night Live she can make fun of herself easily.

Gwen Stacy - The Amazing Spider-Man

Why? Gwen is smart, resourceful, and a bit of a dork.

Hollie Cavanagh - American Idol season 11

Why? This girl could sing. And she was pretty in a Natalie Portman type of way. And the way her accent would shift in midsentence from Texas drawl to classy British and back was hysterical.

McKayla Maroney

Why? She was focused. And extremely graceful on the vault.

Hilary Duff

Why? Her characters are down-to-earth, quick-witted, smart and independent. Who knows why screen crushes happen?

Skye - Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 1-2

Why? She wears her heart on her sleeve (and her face). Fiercely loyal and protective of her friends, prone to making horrible life decisions, and she has an awful track record when it comes to relationships.

Taylor Swift

Why? She's an amazing storyteller with a mischievous personality.

Jemma Simmons - Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. seasons 2-3

Why? She's brilliant, funny, kind and pretty. Why not in S4? Because she and Fitz make such an amazing couple.

Avril Lavigne

Why? Her lyrics are honest, straightforward and thoughtfully arranged.

April Ludgate - Parks and Recreation

Why? Sarcastic, intensely loyal, and with a kind heart hiding behind her growls, April is amazing. 

Ann Perkins - Parks and Recreation

Why? She's grounded and realistic, but ready to go on adventures at any moment.

Daisy Johnson - Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 4

Why? S4 Daisy has a lot of Skye in her, especially early in the season.

Aly Raisman 

Why? She was always encouraging her teammates on, and very articulate in interviews.

Madison Kocian

Why? She seemed like a normal girl who just happened to be an Olympic gymnast. And she was so graceful on the uneven bars.

This Scene Is a Rerun

     Stop me if I've written this scene before: Wes is wide-awake while the rest of the world is asleep, listening to Spotify while working on a blog post trying to figure out what's on his mind, because he is an INFJ, and that's part of INFJ-ness. It's cold, and it's been a frustrating though semi-productive day, following another difficult weekend where all his nerves stood on end and howled.
      Restless, sad, lonely, hopeless and pissed off at something unidentifiable, that's usual territory. 
      Taylor Swift's "Never Grow Up" is the current song playing, and he's hoping his nieces are doing well, while trying to not to remember that he and Sam were at one point going to record a cover of that song.
   
     The Olympics have been watched a lot, both actually-watched and background-noise-while-reading. This hasn't been a very good month for reading, though I did dive back through Much Ado because it'd been too long since I'd read Shakespeare. Catcher in the Rye was just as stupid as Crick and Beatrix thought it was - I should've listened to them. Smart characters. I wonder pretty often what happened to them, if the dude who wrote Tent City knows what happened to them.
     RSU Theater's Original Recipe shows are running this weekend. They should be good.
     Fiction just isn't happening, I think because just the mundaneity of everyday survival is taking too much energy. Texaco Mornings will run in early March, if things go right, and I still want to explore those characters deeper by translating the script into prose, but again, that would be fiction. Susan likes the characters, though, so that's good.

      My laptop battery is mostly dead, so I'm waiting on the new one to arrive. This will be the third time I've replaced it, I think. And I've replaced the keyboard twice. It was roughly a year old when I got it.
     The internet has been sporadically working lately, including an hours-long stretch this afternoon, which meant I barely made deadline for my Frontstretch column running tomorrow morning.
     I've kind of given up on job hunting because of the deafening silence in response to emails and questionnaires 

     The Eagles' "Desperado" has been a Song of the Day, as has Garth Brooks' "What She's Doing Now."

Olympics and Life

     The Winter Olympics begin tonight, which I'm thrilled about. Last time that happened I was in the middle of my sophomore year at NSU. Olympics, because they happen roughly every two years, are a good time to stop and reflect on life.
     For my speech class that semester, I recounted a history of the Winter Olympics, because it sprang easily to mind. And also I could watch Cool Runnings as research. And the Arctic feel of Ross Hall made watching the events much more authentic. 

     The other day Jessica asked for help on picking a wedding dress. (I knew watching Say Yes to the Dress reruns would eventually pay off...not that I did that or anything. It's an unexpectedly enthralling show.) Sure, it felt like she was asking basically everyone she knew for advice, too, but still, that meant that she trusts me. And that means a lot. 

     Skyped with Courtney today, school's keeping her busy, but it's going all right.

     Super Bowl LII was Sunday, and it was an amazing game. Philadelphia beat New England 41-33, and I think it was the first time I'd watched the entire game in ten years.

     Budweiser won the commercials this year, which were especially lame. Bud's ad was, when you think about it, classy and yet self-aggrandizing at the same time, highlighting their water-donation efforts during the hurricanes last year. Also, for an NFL ad, Eli Manning and Odell Beckham Jr reenacted Dirty Dancing, which was pretty hysterical. 

Good News

     Last Friday was Amy's cheerleading night with a local Down Syndrome group at a Catholic high school nearby; which is one of the high points of her year. She did great, and had a fantastic time. The Comets were trounced in both games, though.

     Yesterday I got an unexpected encouraging note from the editor-in-chief of Frontstretch.com, thanking me for merging smoothly into accelerated traffic late last season and drafting along well with the rest of the staff. And this morning I was promoted to doing a column for the upcoming season.

      Caleb was raising money for a Special Olympics fundraiser tomorrow morning, and he reached the goal he was hoping for.

     The folk music group the Spencer Family were visiting GBC Sunday night, so Mom and Amy have been listening to their songs all this week. And Mom got to visit with the Guenthers since they dropped by. 

     Ashland adopted a hedgehog earlier this week, which was worth celebrating. "Lol, I'm a mom!" she texted me excitedly. "By adoption, of course." Hedgehogs are maybe even cuter than coatimundis.

INFJ-ness

     Ashland finally took the MBTI last week. I suspected she was also an INFJ, or else a INFP, in part because Trevor said watching us talk, he halfway believed we could be twins.
     (Plus we're both Type Six on the Enneagram; my wing is Five, hers is Seven.) Somebody once explained the difference the personality tests this way: the MBTI tries to explain how our mind works, and the Enneagram tries to explain the motivation behind our actions.

     Whether it's square dancing, cowriting adventure stories, or creating sympathy cards for one of our favorite counselors, it's easy to work with her. She's of the Race of Joseph, sure, and so that's part of it. But it finally clicked; knowing that we're both INFJs. The percentage varies by which chart you're looking at, but it's the rarest MBTI type.

     It explains why we're able to go from photography to country music duets to Greek mythology at the drop of a hat, or why on the rare occasions either of us will answer the phone, conversations can last an hour or more. Why we're trying to help others whenever possible, and able to deep-dive into subjects that seem interesting. 

     This is really. cool.

Mid-January Happenings

     The Okmulgee County Tournament was last week, which meant I covered 22 basketball games in six days through radio broadcasts. Wrote up five articles today for ONN. Wrote two Fronstretch articles last week, too.

     There was a potluck lunch at church yesterday, which I wasn't exactly thrilled about, because it's awkward to eat around other people. Like Frank Gilbreth, I tend to see eating as unavoidable delay. And the fact that four couples have gotten married within the last year, and another two couples engaged, makes it awkward at GBC. I kept an eye on the Selby boys to give Justin and Melody a break, which meant a lot of sprint races from one end of the hallway to the other.

     Caleb got his driver's license on Friday afternoon, which he's thrilled about.

     The Patriots and Eagles will play in Super Bowl LII, they seemingly just played each other in Super Bowl XXXIX, in February 2005 - I remember the year because Mimi was incredibly sick. She died six weeks later.

     I was hoping to borrow Dr. Mackie's habit of writing a poem a day this year, but that hasn't gone very well so far.