This past week, I was able to finally finish the rough draft of my thesis. So, at this moment I am in a moment of euphoria, ephemeral though it is. I exist in the moment between all the hard work to produce and the sudden drop in hope that comes when your professor informs you that what you have written is scut. I know this day is quickly approaching in the next day or so, but I will enjoy what I have now. I hope that it is redeemable, but look to go in with low expectations. That way, everything can only go up.
Also, I was again able to enjoy some hotpot with my old classmates, Lisa and Quincy. Also, another friend, Chad, was able to join us as well. I am always of two minds about situations such as these. I have fun and did have fun, but realize that sometimes I make an utter ass of myself with some conversational topics. As you may guess, I don’t get out much. I did enjoy speaking with them though and look forward to next time.
On Saturday, I went to a gun show down in Sandy, UT. I mostly went out of curiosity, to see if they were any better than the ones back home. Nope. There was the usual assortment of nice stuff clashing ever so badly with a myriad assortment of pawn shop junk. The one difference was the lines. I got there about 20 minutes after it started and I was about 250 or more in line. A lot of people coming out scared of a potential Obama gun ban. I do not experience that fear, because I know that guns will never be banned. Oh, laws may be passed and some may give theirs up. However, I try to explain to people that guns are frightening simple pieces of equipment. All you need is a mill, lathe, and mechanical press. You can start putting out stuff en masse. Watch old videos of freedom fighter arsenals in WWII or go to Youtube and search for Pakistan gun market. Those are made by hand in caves. Modern know-how merged with the right equipment and Dianne Feinstein can kiss my Southern lily-white ~~~. You get the picture.
On the football front, both LSU and the Saints did rather well. LSU barely scraped by against Old Miss. While I don’t have as visceral a reaction against them as I do Alabama, I find that my heart is big enough to widen my hate. Those damn cowbells, rot their souls. I would hate them enough for just that. The Saints last week gave the Falcons their first taste of nastiness. This week it was the Oakland Raiders. Ok, they suck worse than we do, but I liked smoking them. Seems all we need to get the fire back in our pants was the return of Joe Vick. For those of you not in the know, Ol’ Joe was one of the coaches penalized for the bounty scandal and banned for half the season. Next year we should get Peyton back and kick some real tail.
In a final note, I just started a video lecture series on the Civil War that is pretty engrossing for me. Something to do between watching football and writing papers.
This week I have tasted defeat like nothing before. I was defeated by those pansies in Alabama that continue to use a silly euphemism for menstruating as their sports’ greeting. Then that defeat was overshadowed by the national tragedy that occurred on election night. First, let’s start with LSU, because it is the most optimistic of the two outcomes. LSU played its heart out and Mettenburger impressed me like never before. We had a better offense than at any time in the last 2-3 years. The defense played phenomenally as well. The stupid decision to play a prevent defense inside the red box is not their responsibility nor was the outcome. The sheer joy of watching the team kick Alabama’s bloody red ass was joyous, tinged only with a slight bitterness that a great quarterback was able to pull off a victory by the skin of his teeth. Our team is young and by what I saw on Saturday night, is going to rock the football world next year. If the coaches don’t get in the way, of course.