Friends Make You Do Strange Things

Ok, so, I hate sports. Like, I really don't like sports. There's so much running and people act like idiots when they watch sports. Idiots and running: these are not two of my favorite things. Anyway, so, now, apparently, (I love being able to use four commas in a row) I'm a Razorback fan. It really began as just a social thing, but now I'm actually starting to care about them. All I wanted to do was have something to talk about with everybody else in this state, but then, somehow, I ended up learning some of the rules to football and wearing a Razorback shirt on gamedays. Doing all of the things I didn't want to do. All so that I would look like less of an idiot at church.

The next thing I've noticed is that I've started to like Basketball, too. But, only the games where kids I know are playing. Lately, I've really gotten into the Magnet Cove basketball games (most of the kids in my Youth Group go to Magnet Cove). I go, I watch, I yell and at the end I think, who am I? Who have I become? I don't care about this stuff? It's just a dumb game.

This all climaxed tonight. I came home from church, turned on the T.V. and saw that the Colt's were Playing the Patriot's in the game that leads to the Superbowl. (I have no idea what the official name of this game is.) Anyway, the Colts and Patriots are tied 28 to 28 and ther are 11 minutes left in the game. Now, why is it that I care about this game? Well, one of my neighbors (and very good friends) Jonathan is from Indiana and loves the Colts. He talks about Peyton Manning all of the time. So, I sit and watch the rest of the game. I cringe when the Colts fumble the ball, I get excited when they do something good, I act like someone that cares about football. They won, by the way, but it got me thinking about why I do what I do and why I like what I like. I read Terry Pratchett because all of my friends in High School read Terry Pratchett. I eat anything that my wife wants to eat because I love her and she likes a wider variety of food than I do. I like Razorback football because everyone at church obsesses over it. I like Magnet Cove basketball because I want the kids that I love to win. And I wanted the Colts to win because my friend Jonathan loves the Colts. Friends make you do strange things. But, if it wasn't for my friends and the other people I love, I would never have eaten crawdads (they weren't worth the trouble, but it was an interesting experience), never have yelled at a ball game, and I would never have cared more about what makes my friends happy than what I think is stupid. So, thanks. Thanks for showing me and sharing with me that things that make you happy. Thanks.

The Joy of Saturdays

Saturdays are a recently rediscovered pleasure for me. During my first 16 or 17 years, the really had no value to me. Sure, I didn't have to go to school, but in a land with no cable and no video games, no school meant nothing to do. After the dawning of the age when I could actually do something on those wonderful days away from school, I worked every Saturday. This, frankly, sucked. I remember staring out the windows of that smelly Pizza Hut and watching as my friends "hung out" (hanging out is basically defined in my mind as doing nothing together). I longed for the day when I could leave those low paying wastes of a day behind me and go out in to the world and do nothing with a group of other people who had nothing to do. After years of waiting, I finally have that. This Saturday morning, I woke up, spent time with my beautiful wife, took a liesurely shower, went to the mall (where I discovered that JC Penny will rob you blind if you return an item without a receipt and that the GAP will be happy to accept your returned merchandise and will even refund you $13.99 of the $49.50 that's on the tag by mail, but that's another blog), and am about to spend the afternoon with friends. I write this to say thank you God. Thank you for taking me out of the drudgery of Saturdays at work. I also write this to say "hang in there" to all of you poor people who are still putting in a full Saturday's work: I'll sit a sit down for you, I'll watch T.V. for you, and I'll hang out for you. I dedicate this Saturday to you. Now, hurry up and bring my food.

Blogging; The Recently Discovered Country

Well, this is kind of new for me. Actually, it is very new for me. This is my first blog. I don't know if anyone, with the exception of me, will ever read this, but I've always talked to myself anyway. Hopefully, there will be more to come. Until then, thanks for reading.