Incoming cuteness overload.

There is no reason to explain why I like this gif as much as I do. It's probably a clear sign I'm emotionally ready for pet ownership. Just look at it! Gahhh.

[If you're wondering, I'm thinking of either a Bengal or Abyssisian. OR BOTH.]

Friday Night Lights.

Here they determined a standard of excellence for themselves...I can do the same.

Hello, Reader. It's been a while.

I took a job in Odessa, TX, which I'll start in less than 2 weeks. I took it as a great career move that offers much opportunity in both pay and experience, and I know it won't be forever. [I'm a city boy at heart.] The hours will be long and busy, but can be fulfilling. At worst, it's an short investment in a future that I'm trying to see and mold for myself. It won't be easy...but inevitably you have to embrace change, battle complacency, and try to build character to become the best version of yourself.

As with my writing rebirth from my brief stint in San Antonio, I'll take this opportunity to revive this blog yet again. I'll let you know what's going on with me, so you won't be in the dark. I'll be in the middle of nowhere, but I won't be alone. You all will be with me in some way...in both my heart and my thoughts.

Wish me luck.

So apparently in college I had a poetry phase...

...or maybe I intended it more as spoken word?

Anyway, I got an email notice from my UT Webspace about impending deletion so I decided to check out what stuff I still had on it from yesteryear. One of the many gems of Memory Lane was some random poetry that I wrote, and here it goes:

[Mood: Imagine dim lights, maybe a spotlight, bongo drums, and a jazzy walking bass beat. Maybe I'm wearing some kind of artsy funky beret on my head.]

Baking bread with Solar Hands
don't make be break out fans
because I need [some] fermentation
it's not dough aggrevation
in a Japanese nation, where
rice is king; don't say such
a thing, yeast is a microbe.

---

Serendipitous lives
Wind and intertwine
Many loves lost
Cannot compare to mine
Romance and beauty
Ride off into the sunset
And keeps your heart walled
Where safety is a sure bet

---

Time: so elusive yet mutually inclusive
arms of a clock move to indicate passing
the passing of good times and of seasons lost
I have to search deep to ponder the cost
of wisdom gained, innocent souls stained
much disdain, it's easy to regret
the hours and days so easy to forget
How does one come and reconcile
past actions worthy of revile and style?
Our hearts, our souls, our minds commune
to the tune of tick-tocks in time everlasting

By the way, the first one is based on Yakitate! Japan, an anime about competitive bread making. [Yeah, I don't know where my head was at, either.] Enjoy my short lived amateur musings. You are welcome to clap or snap your fingers in unison.

The peaks and valleys of being a Texas fan.

So, I watched the TX/OU game with a bunch of co-workers and I had to endure that beatdown in their company. First, some quick thoughts on the game:

• Stacy Searles to me felt like an underwhelming hire from the start, although still an upgrade from Mac McWhorter at O-line coach. Let's hope that getting owned in the trenches was more a product of inexperience rather than inept coaching (although most likely both).
• Ash is very much the starter for me over McCoy the Sequel. I say if they can't separate themselves in practice, the game QB should very well be the one with the better physical gifts (Ash by a mile).
• Would this 2011 D personnel have similar problems under Muschamp as opposed to Diaz? "Bend, don't break" seems to show promise in a world of rainbows and unicorns, but getting torched for 34 (55 minus 21 def pts) points doesn't inspire much confidence. Time will tell.

As the loser of a bet I had made previously with an OU co-worker, I had to do the following:

• Sing the OU fight song every hour on the hour at work for a week
• Footed the food bill for the game watching shindig
• Wear a headband saying "TEXAS SUCKS" and the score on the back

This afterweek has been way too long. Commiserate along with me, fellow Texas fans. The season is not lost. Let's pick ourselves up, and maybe with a win over OSU, this "rebuilding mode" feeling will subside.

Another reason to carpe diem.

Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. — Steve Jobs, 2005