Friday fun

I am trying to prepare everything for my upcoming trip. Today I went shopping hoping to find a nice raincoat and a good sleeping bag. My family has a few sleeping bags that are very large. They are really glorified comforters with zippers. I didn't care about anything but compressability. REI was having a sale. Unfortunately the sale sucked. I was hoping for high quality merchandise at low prices. There was nice stuff but it was all over $100. I was feeling far too cheap for that.

While I was shopping at another store, my friend, Jane called and offered to let me use her very compressable sleeping bag. Hooray! I don't have to spend money on one!
And then my friend, Bethany called and invited me to an Astros game tonight. I had been wanting to go to one but feared they would be sold out. Now I get to go for free! Hooray! Good day!

Lazy days of summer... I mean really lazy!

So, I am pretty much the epitome of lazy today. Maybe that's a bit of an overexaggeration but I am pretty sloth-like these days. I am technically not allowed to work out until next week on the account of my surgery. But I had hoped to work on my writing- I still want to write books someday, though wanting doesn't make it happen. Also I want to start studying for the GRE, in case I decide to go to Grad school. I need some sort of motivation. I figure since I leave Houston in a week, this motivation will come a few days before. Too little, too late.

Other than running random errands, my usual day consists of a lot of reading- (I have read about 6 400+ page John Grisham books since Summer began.) I also spend time cruising the internet for random youtube videos and the like. I have also been watching a lot of TV. Most of it is fairly mindless. There is an exception, though. The other day I watched an amazing new show- "I Survived a Japanese Game Show" It's just so funny! For those of you who missed its premiere this week, here is the gist of it:

Ten random Americans signed up to be on an unknown reality show. They all arrive at the L.A. airport and get into a van. The van drives from arrivals to departures and the contestants are told they are now getting on a plane to Japan. They still don't know what's going to happen. When they get to Japan, they are introduced to the place where they will stay. It's a pretty sweet Japanese style house complete with an older, overweight Japanese woman called Mama San. I am not quite sure what her role is other than to scream at the contestants as she enforces bedtimes and wake-up calls.

In the morning the contestants are told they are going on a tour of Tokyo. They drive them to some famous Tokyo TV studio. Then, the contestants are herded into a dark room, still not knowing what's going on. All of a sudden, the lights go on and they are smack dab in the middle of a Japanese gameshow. There is a wacky host and about a hundred Japanese spectators screaming, cheering, and playing a variety of instruments. The surprised looks on the Americans' faces were absolutely priceless.

Now they finally know what they are going to be doing. They will be competing on a Japanese gameshow to win $250,000. They are broken into teams- The Yellow Penguins v. The Blue Monkeys. They have to compete as a team in a wacky event. The winning team gets a prize. The losing team has to be punished and then pick two players to play an elimination game. The first challenge was where one person had to eat moshi balls off of a tray attached to the head of a team member who was running on a treadmill. When they fell on the treadmill, they ended up in a vat of flour. The whole time they are competing, the zany announcer is saying stuff in Japanese that the Americans can't understand. The audience laughs hysterically. Subtitles let the viewers know that the host is saying things like, "That man with chubby cheeks sure can eat."

The winning team won a helicopter tour of Tokyo while the losing team had to play rickshaw drivers for a few hours. For the elimination challenge, two players are dressed as bugs and must jump on a trampoline to place some sort of marker on a giant pretend windshield. Pretty weird! From my meticulous rehashing of this show, it should be clear that it is my new favorite. It's just so funny. It makes Americans look selfish and dumb at times but that can be true. I highly recommend this show!

Support Musings

It's been a bit weird to raise support for my Asian mission trip this summer. I've raised money for many mission trips before and have been super blessed by my loved ones' generosity. The money always comes in just in time. This time is different because I am no longer a full-time missionary. I have another job, a real job. I probably could have figured out a way to scrimp and save my teacher salary in order to go. But, when I think about what that would be like, I realize it is not the way God intended missions to be.

Missions is best when it includes interdependence. I am depending on supporters for the funds to go and they are depending on me to spread God's love in Asia. Not everyone can go overseas and it is a real honor for me to have so many supporters behind me. I feel a real sense of responsibility and accountablity to the people who have donated money for me to go. If I had funded this trip myself, I wouldn't have that feeling of support and responsibility. It can be humbling to ask for money but I wouldn't have it any other way. I plan on doing my best to represent those who have donated to me. I want to make them and the Lord proud.

The day before the complete inner nose overhaul

Tomorrow I am having sinus surgery. I like to say that I am having nose renovations. In reality, I am getting a bone spur removed, a cyst removed, and some sort of nose membranes trimmed. They are also going to correct my deviated septum. Sounds like fun, huh?

I am not too nervous. I have grown up with a mom who's a nurse. I have always found value in medicine and surgical procedures. This is my second time to go under the knife. I had an ear surgery in high school.

I have heard several different reports of recovery time. My doctor says that about half his patients go to work on Monday after having surgery on Thursday. He told me that I need to roll gauze and tape it to my upper lip because stuff may drain out. Basically I will be making a gauze mustache. Needless to say, I will be looking really hot. Anyone is still welcome to come keep me cxompany during my recovery but you can't laugh at my gauze mustache. What I am I saying? I certainly would laugh at my gauze mustache so I can't really hold that against you. Luckily both my mom and my roommate are nurses so I should be fine.

Young Life camp

I just got back from Young Life camp. Well, technically I just got back from visiting friends in Georgia for a couple days after Young Life camp. The camp I went to was near where my YWAM friends, Matt and Bethany Laskey for a while. They surprised me by stopping to pick up another one of our YWAM friends, Stephanie Rolon, who happens to be spending her summer working at a summer camp less than an hour from Matt and Bethany's house. Like all YWAM reunions, it was weird and yet not weird at all. It felt like no time had passed. I love these kinds of reunions!!!

As for camp, it was great! Young Life camps are like little Club Meds. The camp I worked at in college was nothing compared to a Young Life camp. They provide sheets and towels in their posh air-conditioned cabins. They have a blob, ropes course, water zip line, basketball, sand volleyball, disc golf, climbing wall, mountain bikes, and more.

It's hard to detail what happened at camp because there was simply so much. I got to know a lot of the girls in my cabin better. In the last few months of school, I wasn't able to hang out with my Young Life kids as much so it was great to get to know them better.

There was another group of urban kids there and I enjoyed watching the white kids from other schools try to dance ghetto style.

I am too tired to right more. Tomorrow I have a pre-op doctor's appt, a picture party and then I am spending the night at my parents' so we can leave early in the morning for South Padre. In the words of the illustrious Ricky Martin, "Livin' La Vida Loca."

Random funny things

Tomorrow is my last day of school! It doesn't even feel real. I don't know what I thought it would feel like but it is not this. On Friday we have a teacher work day and then Saturday night I head to Young Life camp on one of those big buses with TVs.

One of our Young Life kids was afraid her boss wouldn't give her time off work to come to camp. About two weeks ago, she told her boss that she would need the first week of June off for her Grandfather's funeral. Unless she was going to kill him, it'd be a little hard to predict something like that. Needless to say, she was fired.

On another humorous note, today I was hit on by a mentally handicapped guy at Big Lots. For those of you unfamiliar with Big Lots, it's kind of a step up from the dollar store with a similar clientele. I was looking for garish make-up for a skit I will be performing for tomorrow's talent show. As I wandered the aisles looking for make-up, I noticed a guy who seemed to be everywhere I was. He looked normal though seemed to be struggling to carry one of those jumbo multi-packs of paper towels. When I finally found the make-up, he sidled up to me.

After some very awkward silence, he said something like this with very stilted speech, "I have been going up and down aisles of things I haven't been interested in...all to get up the courage to talk to you." Eek! I didn't know what to do as it was suddenly clear that he was of below average intellect. I decided to ignore him. Then he said, "My name is Tim and you seem nice." To this I replied, "It's hard to tell if someone is nice by watching them shop." (It actually would have been safe to assume that I was a hooker since I was buying red lipstick, hot pink blush and blue eyeshadow.) I tried to politely ignore him. I didn't want to be mean but I didn't think I should show any interest for fear of leading him on. He then said, "My parole officer said I am no longer a danger to myself or others." I am not certain whether this was a joke or not because it was delivered in the same stilted monotone. Needless to say, I was not reassured by this; joke or no joke. Then he mumbled something about browsing other aisles.

I quickly gathered my whore make-up and got out of there. Just another day at Big Lots!

Pre-Summer

I had a three day weekend this weekend and I think it was a bit dumb. It's not that I don't think Memorial Day should be a holiday. Obviously I am in support of a holiday that honors soldiers who gave their lives for our country. The dumb part comes with next week's schedule. We are off today, Monday. Then we have a full school day tomorrow, a half day on Wednesday and a half day on Thursday(the last day of school). The teachers have to come in on Friday to wrap everything up. I really don't know what I am supposed to do with one full day and two half days. I am going to bring some kids' movies since I have a suspicion that the other teachers are just going to have kids watch movies all day. We'll see. I guess I will prepare a back-up lesson just in case. The three day weekend did give me a little taste of what summer will be like or more accurately what the two and a half weeks I won't be traveling will be like.

On Wednesday we have a class party and awards presentation. Apparently I have to think of an award for each kid. Some will be very easy but others will be quite difficult. "Smelliest farter," "Most likely to say a cuss word" and "Most likely to end up in prison" are probably not acceptable despite their validity. In all seriousness, I want to validate something I see in them that other people or even themselves might not see. I should probably start thinking and praying about this.

On Friday we went on a field trip to Moody Gardens- a hodgepodge of random attractions in Galveston. The day started off very poorly with an unplanned wake-up call at 8:00am from my teacher friend, Belinda. I normally wake up around 6am and arrive at school around 7:15-7:30am. School starts at 7:45. Needless to say, I felt terrible. I made it to school at 8:30 feeling pretty dumb.

Field trips are good and bad. Good because it's a chance to be with the kids on a more informal way and bad because they won't stop asking the same innane questions over and over again. We went to the aquarium, on a paddle boat ride and watched an IMAX movie. The movie was in 3D and watching all the kids try to touch the 3D images was very entertaining. It was about the Grand Canyon and made me want to go rafting down the Colorado River. Apparently it is super pricey.

Weekend Fun

I had a pretty good weekend. I might as well share it with my blog fans. On Friday night I went out to eat with my parents. That's the way we bond these days.

On Saturday I went to the Pasadena Strawberry Festival with a new friend. It was way bigger than I had anticipated. It was more like a fairly big carnival with a strawberry theme. They had the world's largest strawberry shortcake and I got to eat a big piece of it. Yay! I am sure you are all jealous. The thing was said to be an astonishing 1300 sq feet.

They also had carnival rides but the sketch factor was high and we didn't want to take the risk. There was a mud volleyball tournament that was fun to watch. Maybe I will have to compete next year. They had carnival games and my friend dazzled me with his basketball skills to win me a basketball painted like an eight ball from pool. Now I know you are jealous. My carnival game skills were nothing fancy and I did not win any prizes.

They also had mutton bustin'. We speculated a lot about what this might be. I thought it was where people hit large pieces of lamb meat with a sledge hammer. Luckily I was not correct. It was where small children tried to ride a sheep in a similiar fashion to bull riding. It was pretty funny. The smallest kids seemed to do the best. Maybe they have a lower center of gravity.

All in all the Strawberry Festival was a good time for all. Maybe I will go next year.

Today I went to a bridal shower for my childhood friend, Leena. She is Indian and so were most of the guests. I was the only white person there and I loved it. I enjoy racial humor (not the offensive kind). At one point the song, "Boot Scootin' Boogie" came on and someone asked if anyone knew the dance. I assured them that despite being white, I did not know how to do it. There was another racial moment when we played this strange party game that awarded points for different things you had or were wearing. One part gave points for green eyes. Everyone looked at me and I reminded them that my eyes were brown, just like theirs. It was pretty funny! I am really excited about Leena's wedding. I have never been to an Indian wedding. I think I am going to get a sari and go all out. Also there is a big dance before the wedding called a garba. It is awesome! I highly recommend them to anyone. Indian people really know how to party!

After the shower I went for a bike ride. Thankfully I am finally getting used to my clip-on pedals. I haven't even fallen down yet. Then I read a book on my porch swing for a few hours. Talk about a good day! Now it's time to make my lesson plans for next week. Only two weeks left! Whoohoo!

Fun and Funny Field Day

Today was my school's Field Day. This is when the kids get to compete in a variety of physical challenges for colored ribbons and the esteem of their classmates. I loved it as a child. In fact, in fifth grade I actually trained for the water balloon toss. What kid trains for the water balloon toss? My neighbor, Sherika and I would go to the park and practice. Since no one else was practicing, I knew we were shoe-ins to win. Unfortunately tragedy struck. I was in a bike accident and broke my arm. Our cheap first place ribbon dreams were dashed. I really let Sherika down.

After this disappointment in my last field day, I had to redeem myself. I did so by winning the joust against my friend, Ms. Flores. It was great fun! My kids did pretty well but it was hard to make sure all kids got to participate and not just let the really athletic ones do everything so we would win. I made the mistake of letting some of the larger kids do the obstacle course and they got stuck. So much for the team gold!

Probably the funniest moment of the day was after the kids had water fun with the water slide. One of my students, I will call him Joey, is kind of an odd kid. He is 9 years old but looks and acts a bit like a grumpy old man. He is a bit of a complainer and wears a dark blue polo shirt and dark blue pants every single day. Today after the water fun, he tells me that he has a secret. Then he whispers in my ear that he is not wearing underwear. Eek! I explained to him that it is called going commando and it's okay but he shouldn't tell people. Pretty funny.

I have a few other funny stories concerning my students' recent community projects. They had to research a foreign country. Some of them either just made up information or just completely misread their facts. A girl said in her project that it never rains in France. Another said that South Africa and Houston are the same in that they both have African Americans...hmmm!. One kid's project listed the number of Wal-Marts in China. Now that's an interesting fact!

Blessings

I have recently begun raising support for my upcoming overseas mission trip. It's always a bit weird to ask people for money even though I have now done it dozens of times. I have never had any trouble raising support but I was had some doubts about this time since I am no longer a full-time missionary. Luckily God is bigger than my doubts.

I sent out support letters last week and got my first response today. I am not going to say who it was from but the amount floored me. It was for $500! That's about 1/7 of what I need and it was only from one person. I am so thankful for people who give generously and selflessly. It also shows me that God is faithful even when I have doubts. So, now I am off to write an incredible thank you note.

sick

I am sick again. I seem to get this sinus mess once every month or so and I hate it. I am hoping my sinus surgery in June will stop this cycle of sickness. I was supposed to go to the art car parade with a new friend tomorrow and now I can't go. I hate to let being sick stop me from doing what I want to do but I know that resting now will help me to get better faster. I guess there is always next year for the parade.

Today I went to school despite my sickness. I couldn't miss our school's Cinco de Mayo program. The student population is 97% Hispanic and more than half of the faculty is as well. This means we do Cinco de Mayo big, real big!

Each grade performed a dance from a different Latin American country. The kids praticed hard and looked really good. I was so proud of him. One of the kids in my friend, Ms. Flores's class is part of a ballet folklorico group. He and his sister performed and it was really neat to see. Some of my kids were in two of the dances. I really enjoyed watching them shake it.

When the fifth graders performed, it got a little weird. They had one of the student's older brothers choreograph it. The brother is in high school and already a flamboyant homosexual. He wears makeup and carries a chiuhuahua around ala Paris Hilton. This guy likes the spotlight. He created a borderline inappropriate routine with his limberness as the main attraction. I almost couldn't believe my eyes. He pranced around, did the splits; the kid could dance. The fifth graders in the show were relegated to mere background dancers in this kid's egotistical wake. It was weird and wrong. All I could do at the time was stare with my mouth open.

The fourth graders did a somewhat provocative dance where some of the kids pop, lock and dropped it. It was borderline scandalous as well. I couldn't fully understand if what they were doing was appropriate because it was part of their culture. We honkies don't have much history of provocative dancing. Oh well, everyone had fun.

A week less ordinary

This week was not your average week at school. For one thing, there were TAKS tests being held on three out of the five days. The third graders took the Math test on Tuesday and those who failed the Reading, took a retest of that one on Wednesday. All principals get really paranoid about TAKS and the condition of the entire school that day. We are all highly encouraged to take field trips. Third, fourth and fifth are all on the same hall so if one of them is testing and we are not, we have to move to an alternate location. It's pretty crazy.

So, on Wednesday while ten of our students took the retest, my co-teacher and I were put together with the rest of our students into a spare classroom. It was pretty strange and hard to get anything done. In the end, we decided to just put on a movie. The other three third grade classes had it worse as they were all crammed in the gym.

On Thursday the fifth graders were taking their Reading TAKS test so we went on a field trip. We got a tour of minute maid park, our local major league baseball stadium. It was a cool tour but a little short. We were left to kill time with the kids for a few hours at a park. It reminded me a bit of being a camp counselor again. The kids' incessant questioning and whining was driving me crazy.

We survived the field trip. On Friday, the moment I had been training for my entire life, came, the faculty basketball game!!!! I actually had trained a bit by shooting around with my dad and Neha at the gym. I just wanted to look like a competent player and make my students proud. Well, my team lost but I still had a great time. I was by far the best girl and that made me feel really good. I wish I had had more playing time but it was just a faculty game anyway. Everytime I scored a basket, I felt like a Houston Rocket as the whole gym erupted in applause. The kids held signs to support their teachers. The best part was that there were several kids that I knew from other grades as well as some I did know who had signs with my name on it. I expected that from my own students but it was really neat to see it from other kids as well. What can I say? After that hot cheetos costume, I am just really popular!

That's TAKStastic!

So, the last round of TAKS testing is upon us. I have already completed my last tutorial including my last Saturday tutorial. Hallelujah! I especially dislike Saturday tutorials. Big Surprise, huh? It's not the actual tutorials themselves but the very idea of being forced to come to school on a Saturday. The principal gave them and us McDonald's cheeseburgers and french fries for this last Saturday. The kids were pumped but it didn't seem much of a reward for the six- ten hours these kids had been spending in tutorials each week for the last five months. Unfortunately many of them will still fail.

As a disclaimer, I must say that I do get paid to do tutorials. But I don't need the money so it feels more like I am being forced to do it. But hooray it is over!!!!

We have the Math TAKS on Tuesday which I have been cramming my kids for all week. We are supposed to try for 90% to pass the Math but it is looking more like 80%. Please pray. I would love a TAKS miracle. The retake for the Reading TAKS is on Wednesday. I really think some of the ten kids who failed will pass this time.

On Thursday the fifth graders take a TAKS Science test so we are going on a field trip to Minute Maid Field. We are getting a behind the scenes tour. I am excited. Afterwards we are going to hang out in a new park downtown. It should be a nice relaxing post-TAKS retreat for students and teachers.

May should be a lot of fun. Instead of cramming for standardized tests, we can help the kids have fun with learning. Oh and I get to teach Social Studies again. Yay!

Reflections on the road

I have been meaning to write this for a week so I will apologize for its untimeliness.

As I rode my bike for 150 miles in the MS150, I had a lot of time to think. I was surrounded by people that I didn't know. My dad left me in his dust at mile 1. Being on a hybrid bike and not training much meant I couldn't even dream of keeping up with him. He's become a fairly hardcore biker in recent years. He has lots of gear including these funny spandex leg warmers and sleeves.

Anyway, lots of time to think meant lots of Liz-style relevations. And now I share them with the world... for better or worse.

If you have never been a part of an organized bike ride, there are a few things you should know. There are a lot of rules to these things, both written and unwritten. When you are riding in such a large group, you need to announce your pressence when passing someone to avoid a collision. The average person just shouts "Left" as they pass you on the left. Though you are supposed to say this everytime you pass, I didn't mind when people passed several feet away from me without saying anything. Being on a hybrid bike, I got passed a lot. But it drove me crazy when someone would pass inches away from me- close enough for me to identify the gatorade flavor on their breath. It was very dangerous. If I wasn't concerned about my own safety, I would have veered right into them. That would teach them to be more polite, right?

I spent most of the ride wishing I had a road bike as I watched people who were obviously in worse shape pass me by over and over again. I coveted other people's bikes. In fact I convinced myself of my need for a road bike so much that I bought a bike the Friday after the race. Next time I ride I will also have some sort of speakers. You are not allowed to wear headphones but I was very jealous of those people with speakers. It was amusing to take note of the musical tastes of the other riders.

I know I had some other musings but I am tired from riding my new bike 20 miles this afternoon and I desperately need a shower.

I have been pretty busy lately trying to squeeze my MS150 training into my already hectic schedule. For those of you out of the loop, I am riding in the MS150 this weekend. It is a 150 mile bike ride from Houston to Austin to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis. I really haven't trained as much as I should.

I didn't train very much for the first one I did three years ago. I also didn't go to sleep until 4am. I think going to sleep at a reasonable hour this year will make the experience much better. Anything's better than Saturday tutorials, right?

On Tuesday, we went on a field trip in order to clear the school so the fifth graders could focus on their Math TAKS test. We took all our kids (77% of the English kids and 98& of the bilinguals) who passed the Reading TAKS test to a place called Incredible Pizza. It was pretty incredible. It was a big all you can eat pizza buffet and game palace. Wow! Those kids could really put away the pizza. I thought they were going to explode. I saw a girl double fisting a sports bottle of coke and an ice cream cone. I am pretty sure some kids were going back for eighths. The place had lots of video games that dispense tickets to exchange for prizes. I felt like a kid again as these types of places were my absolute favorite back in the day.

I played a fake deal or no deal game and won the grand prize- 200 tickets! I was a natural. Maybe I should go on the real thing. Then I lucked upon a machine that was malfunctioning. I was supposed to get 4 tickets but was given 400! A-MAZING! 15 years ago, this would have made my year. I ended up using my winnings to buy some treats to bribe my kids with. Yay!

I want to write more but I need to get my stuff together for the MS150. Eek! 150 miles!!!

Tales from the third grade

I want to share a few funny story with you:

There is a kid in my class. I will call him Steve. Steve is a bit of a whiner. Everything and everyone seems to bug him. Well, the whole class was practicing how to look up words in the dictionary. All of a sudden, Steve comes up with yet another complaint. He said that another kid, Richard, had called him a crybaby. When I approached Richard, he said he looked up the definition of crybaby in the dictionary and it said someone who complains a lot. He pointed out that Steve does complain a lot so therefore he is a crybaby. The kid had a point. Steve even agreed that he dis complain a lot. I basically told them that though what Richard was saying was true, Steve did not appreciate the title so he needed to stop calling him that.

Belated Blogging

It has been far too long since I have blogged. I am tempted to recap the last two weeks of my life but that would take far too long.

Instead I will just write about today. I got observed by my principal and it went really well. My students behaved and the lesson was good. Then my mood soured a bit because the air conditioning was not working. This made both me and the kids understandably testy. Overall, temperature aside, it was a really good day.

After school I had Young Life. We normally have it on Wednesday nights but this time we crashed another school's club. The other school's group is very different from mine. Mine is primarily lower income black and hispanic kids with a few white kids.

These other kids are very wealthy. I also feel slightly uncomfortable with preppy rich white kids. My own high school was full of well-off students but only a few who would be classified as wealthy. I don't have much experience with the truly wealthy. The girls from the other school were almost wearing a uniform. It was uncanny. They wore a specific style of NIKE running shorts, an oversized t-shirt and brown leather deck shoes.

Those of you who know me, know I must match my clothes. My friend, Britany once dared me to go unmatching for one day and I simply couldn't. My Young Life kids are meticulous matches. If they are wearing black and yellow shoes, they wear black and yellow clothes. If they wear a red shirt, red shoes. These white kids didn't match at all. Athletic shorts and deck shoes? Weird! Everytime I am with those fancy kids, I am glad that I work with the kids I do. I am sure those rich kids are great and I know I would like to swim in their pools and marvel at their mansions, but I know I am where I belong.

Our group "invaded" theirs. They hold their meetings at a local tennis club. I am sure the neighbors were a bit nervous as about 25 of our kids were walking down the street wearing all black and camo. When we got into the club, we sprayed them with silly string. Unfortunately I gave my can away. I just got showered with the stuff with no way to retaliate. It was still fun. After the spraying, we joined them for songs and games and a Jesus talk. Good times were had by all.

The streak ends at Beer Island

The 1993 Houston Rockets championship was the best sports moment of my life. The 2005 University of Texas football championship does come in a close second, though. The reason that the Rockets' championship trumps the Longhorns' is due to my absolute obsession at the time with all things basketball.

I played basketball on a regular basis, papered my wall with posters featuring my favorite players, and wore basketball jerseys. I also collected basketball cards (this accounts for my extensive knowledge of the teams and players of that year). My friends and neighbors also caught Rockets fever after the team won the first 15 games of that season.

We would get together at a neighbor's house to watch the games on Pay per View. My friends and I made voodoo dolls of the players from the other teams. We would rip them apart when necessary. The adults would drink as they got excited and made amazing comments about how one of the other team's player resembled a farmer and how one of our players must buff his head in a bowling ball buffer. And when we played the New York Knicks for the championship, we used to marvel at the enormity of Patrick Ewing's nostrils.

We made many jokes at Patrick's nose's expense. The on-going one was that we could fit a roll of quarters up each nostril. These were not the nicest comments but if you look at the guy's nose I am sure you will see where we were coming from. The great irony of this joke came when I worked at a local record store after college. Patrick was an assistant coach with the Rockets and a regular weekly patron of our store. So here I was, working a cash register with a roll of quarters within arms' reach, when Patrick Ewing- my sworn enemy comes in. God could not have set me up any better to finally determine if Patrick's nostrils could indeed house a roll of quarters. Thankfully or not thankfully- depending on how you look at it, common sense prevailed and I resisted the urge.

When the Rockets won, I was in Heaven. My friends and I celebrated by going outside and banging pots and pans. We held up signs that said, "Honk if you love the Rockets!" and people honked.

So, now that you know a bit of my history with the Rockets; let's fast-forward to today. To be honest, I haven't kept up with the Rockets in the past few years. No other NBA team has stolen my affection, though. I am always a Rockets fan at heart. I recently found out that the Rockets were on a roll again. I decided to become a real fan again. I watched them tie for the second most wins in a row.

Last night, I watched them lose for the first time in 24 games yesterday. Luckily I got to watch it with one of my favorite people and one who was just as zealous as we watched the Rockets in 93, Neha Patel. We went to this place near my house called Beer Island. It looked a lot like a frat party with a hand-painted banner in the front. It was a bar but it did not serve mixed drinks- just beer. The cliental was odd to say the least. Several people brought dogs and for a moment, it seemed that two were going to fight. There was a strange 50ish biker chick with several jump drives hanging from her neck. She was accompanied, quite naturally I must say, by a large biker-esque guy with a mullet. There were some young college-types. There was a lady who was quite loud and enthusiastic, wearing a duct-tape shirt that said 22-0. She really should have updated it to 23. She was obviously excited but strangely alone. She made a lot more sense when her friend came, also loud and also wearing a homeade shirt.

Overall, it was a fun/funny atmosphere despite the loss. And I always love to spend time with Neha. Despite the loss, I am still going to be a fan.... at least for this season.

Spring Break has begun!

My Spring Break has officially begun! Whoohoo! I have already been very productive. I went to the post office, the bank and got a much-needed haircut. I also got a CT scan, which is like a fancy x-ray.

I have had sinus problems since high school but for the last year I seem to have a perpetual sinus problem I can't seem to shake. My doctor told me I had a really bad septum and this CT scan is supposed to show him if my sinus's will need sugery.

The CT scan experience is pretty weird. After reassuring the workers many times that there is absolutely no chance I am pregnant, I had to lay down on a table covered with sheets. Then they put some kind of lead apron on my midsection to protect the baby maker. The CT scan machine looks like a giant donut and is at the end of the table. I don't know if they do CT scans for other parts of your body but for mine, I had to have my head in the middle of the donut. The technician told me not to move. I don't know about you but when I am told I cannot move, despite being perfectly capable of being immobile before, I seem unable to stop moving. Can I breathe? Can I blink? The woman should have been more specific.

The machine flashed lights and moved and made noises while I struggled to contain my movements. I decided to close my eyes in order to no longer worry about the question of blinking. I feared I was moving too much as I breathed, though. Don't they understand that I have bad sinuses? I need to move a bit in order to breathe.

After I went through one cycle of whirring noises and strange lights, I had to do it all over again but in a much more awkward position. I was on my stomach with my head raised and facing forward. They had a little chin shelf to make the not moving thing possible. This time was shorter but definitely less comfortable. Overall, the whole thing wasn't too bad at all. I think about all the weirdly invasive medical tests Sarah has had to go through these past few months and know I have nothing to complain about.

As for complaining, I keep putting off riding my bike even though I know I need to. The MS150 is less than a month away and I have only done minimal training. I am going to try to go to Galveston this week and ride on the seawall. I just get bored when I am going long distances. Oh well. I need to end this blog entry, suck it up, and go for a ride.

Cancer sucks

I am about to go take a nap between school and going bowling with the YoungLife kids. But I want to do a quick little blog first for my random faithful readers.

I hate cancer and it sucks. These things are pretty obvious but it seems that almost daily I hear of someone who is less than the cultural 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon away from me, and has cancer or has died of cancer. I am just getting so tired of it. The latest was Yoon Koller. She was a lady from my church. I didn't know her well but I went to school with her son, Andrew. He's a really nice guy. Apparently she found out that she had stomach cancer two months ago and now she's dead. She was younger than my parents and I believe several of her children are still in high school. It just doesn't make any sense.

I am thinking of doing a reprinting of my "cancer sucks" shirts. I must admit that the slogan is clever and truthful but the reason to reprint is because so many people keep getting diagnosed with various cancers. It does make a great "So I found out you have cancer and I have no idea what to say or do" gift. But I wish there was no need for these. If any of you are interested, let me know your size and color preferences. I wish I didn't know anyone to give one too but unfortunately I know far too many. Cancer sucks!