This holiday weekend has been one of highs and lows for me. It started out pretty well when I had Thanksgiving at my Aunt Madge’s house with my cousins Mike and Renee. Renee’s kids were there as well as Aubrey, her granddaughter. I had a great time talking with all of them and eating the food. We had turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, and several other delicious dishes. After that, I went over to my Dad’s and talked to with him and Darlene. I then went to John and Marianne’s house. Jason and DeAnne had arrived from Biloxi, so I got to hang out a little with everyone at John’s. It was a good day although I did get a little irritated. My only brother that I didn’t get to talk to was Doug, who was coming back home from his trip to Gatlinburg. I will see him and everyone else on Dec. 10th though.
Friday was the real high, however, in that I was able to see Arkansas get the stuffing beat out of them by an indomitable LSU team. On to the SEC championship against Georgia and hopefully the NCAA Championship in New Orleans. Arkansas was able to put up 14 points against us initially, which is the biggest deficient we had the entire year. Actually, coming from behind was quite novel as it has been really rare this year. Mathieu and the defense played like professionals. The offense was great as well, especially our depth in running-backs. By the end of the game, dive plays were slicing them like soft cheese. Jefferson played almost the entire game with Lee getting in only a few snaps. I feel quite miffed about this as we are definitely not running a 2 quarterback system. I think it is a slap in the face to Lee, who has proved his ability and loyalty. This was the only stain on an otherwise awesome game. To be honest, it made me wish for some nice pork rather than turkey for dinner. Besides this, I have a message to the rest of the football nation – be afraid, very afraid. Almost every starter on our team is either a Freshman, Sophomore, or Junior. Only a few Seniors and they have great backups behind them. It is downright scary how good LSU is with such a young team.
After that, it seemed to go a little bit downhill. I did not get much sleep as I stayed up to read a book. I was really tired for work Saturday. I know, I know. I accept full responsibility for my actions. I think I got sick from doing this as I slept from 7:00 p.m. Saturday to 9:30 on Sunday. I was feeling too blah for church. The only good thing that came from Sunday was seeing one of the most spectacular episodes of The Walking Dead. This show was getting a little too weak sauce for me and then bam!, it went to another level. Good writing. Yesterday, was a little more of the same. Two nice things happened despite my funky mood – my friends Nathan and Jill had a little girl, Presley Britt, and New Orleans rubbed the Giants’ face in their own mediocrity. If you don’t know it, I will tell you – I despise Eli Manning. It goes back to the 2004 Draft when he refused to play for the San Diego Chargers. I like Peyton, but cheer like crazy when Eli loses. Speaking of the NFL, what is up with Tim Tebow? I am not a fan, but you have to laugh at the fools who said he would not amount to much. I admit to a little bad prognosticating and being a fool, but damn he is winning. It is not pretty, but he is winning.
Perhaps the true low point is that I have decided to sell one of my babies, my SKS. It has brought me great joy in the past but now sits in my closet not doing much. I need the green, so it goes. When my cash flow increases, I may get another or even something else. So, good bye Yugoslavian Type M59/66 SKS. I have only the pictures to remind me of you.
It represents the memory of my youth. Sliced pork loaded with sauce on a toasted bun accompanied by a side of chips and root beer in the bottle. Anytime my family got anywhere near to Hammond, Louisiana, we had to stop in for a Hi-Ho BBQ sandwich. My mother ate there during her time at Southeastern Louisiana University back in the 1960’s and I ate there as well during my stint at SLU.
How can I describe my most loved burger? When I stepped off the plane from China after having been there an entire year, the first thing I did was look for the shuttle at LAX that would take me to the nearest In & Out Burger. My love of this place was consolidated around a decade ago during my mission to California for my church. While I enjoyed Cali, In & Out in a sense capstoned the experience for me. The burger was delicious, the fries were quite good, and in the days before I recognized my inability to process lactose, I downed it with their signature shake. This review is not about In & Out though.
I just finished my PNQ – Personal Narrative Questions for my application for the US State Department. It was quite interesting trying to articulate leadership and management. I have not necessarily aschewed these opportunities but I do not go out of my way to find them either. I should hear the results back sometime in mid-January. If I pass this round, then I continue on to perhaps the most difficult part, the Oral Interview. I am optomistic but realistic at the same time. There are a great many accomplished people vying for only a few jobs. Wish me luck!
I love trying new cuisuine as anyone who knows me could well attest. So, several months ago during a visit to my brother in Biloxi, I heard about a great Caribbean restaurant from my sister-in-law, DeAnne. Since I have never tasted food from this part of the world, I thought I would give it a go. It turned out to be a great decision.
As you may know from reading this blog, I am a fan of Korean food. In addition, I love Korean movies – the romantic ones, the comedies, the dramas, and especially the gangster ones. Korean gangsters, from this film at least, deserve a special little corner of hell reserved for pedophiles, mass murders and the generally more common asshat. They are not just bad, they are real scum. I just got through watching the Man from Nowhere, a film that resembled Léon very much. Except they left the building. A man scarred from his past befriends a young girl. Her idiot, junkie mother steals a great deal of heroin from two really bad brothers. They use little kids as a delivery system for their drug empire and when they are of no more use, harvest their organs for blackmarket donors. Like I said, special place in hell.
Among the ancient Aztecs of what is now Mexico there was a belief that if the god Huitzilopochtli was not given strength through human sacrifice, the world would end as the god no longer had the power to hold back the sun. As each human was slaughtered, Huitzilopochtli was satisfied and all the world settled in its proper order. Today, my world was once more set in its proper order by the defeat of the Alabama Crimson Tide by my beloved LSU Tigers, 9-0. For another year, I was able to look upon the anguished faces of my enemies and taste the sweet flavor of their defeat. I rejoiced! Satan…I mean, Saban, was sent back to Hell…I mean, his locker room for another year to console his team, surrounded no doubt by downcast eyes and the occasional sniffle. Let them tears roll.
*Spoilers* I must admit that I am not an admirer of the works of Takashi Miike. His movies to me are shallow expressions of violence and sexuality seemingly existing only for its shock value. His films usually leave me cold. When I heard that he was going to do a chanbara film, I was filled with trepidation. I love chanbara – from Akira Kurosawa to Zatoichi to the works of Yoji Yamada. Because of this, I put off watching the film until last night. My final opinion was one of admiration. I feel that this work was a great expression of the duality of samurai honor in a modern perspective.