Blake Thompson daht NetI'm just saying….

I must admit, at first you get sorta excited when the first Junior High Dance happens. But then they start to get old.

Our church has a dance for all the junior high students in our community each Friday night after a home football game for Clinton High School. There’s a little hype and excitement at first. But we had three in a row. Then a week off. Then another one tonight.

The new has worn off. Especially for Stevie and me. So then I come home and have all these songs stuck in my head and I’m not sleepy. So now I’ll go to bed, read a book or listen to something, and then fall asleep. But the morning comes early.

Soccer at 8am. Fun stuff.

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I have a problem with books. I like to get them and read the covers and buy them and then get another before finishing the first one. So I have scores of good books that I’ve read some or most of, but not all of.

The other day The Wife needed me to order her some books for her small group she leads. Of course if you use Amazon.com you get free shipping if your order is over $25.00. Her order was $24 and some change. So I, being the frugal husband that I am, wanted to save on shipping. So I bought myself (another) book to get free shipping.

When the lovely Amazon.com box came in, The Wife saw my book in there as well. “You need another book?” I promptly explained the issue of shipping costs, free books, and my frugality. With a furrowed brow she mumbled something like “Okay…”

That night, as we were reading in bed, I had my new book in hand. There are not many things like a crisp new book to look down upon. It’s so different from the ones that your kids have jumped on, broken the spine, spilled milk on, and gotten stuffed in backpacks and gotten all scuffed. The Wife looked at it and said, “Read only that one.”  “Huh?” I said. She challenged me to read this one and this one alone until I finished it.

Always looking for a challenge, I said, “And what will I get?”

“What do you want?” she asked. Without needing a lot of time to think I answered, “The new camera I’ve been talking about!”  “Okay,” she says. “If you finish the book in a reasonable amount of time, you can can get your camera.”

I wanted her to define a reasonable amount of time. She said two weeks. HA! I said I could have it finished before she woke up with that carrot hanging in front of me. I didn’t finish it by morning. But easily w/in the week. [btw, it's a good book. I'll describe it later.]

So I said to The Wife, “Wifey, I guess it’s time to cash in on my reward.” Then she tries to play the surprised look. “What do you mean?” So I go through the whole recap of our conversation. And she acted like she’d never heard that conversation before.  Can you believe it?

So now I guess I have to read another book before I get to get my paws on a new camera.  Right, honey? (I know she’s gonna read this…)

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I know it’s just a game. And I know it’s just first and second graders. But we had a close game today. We sat two of our best players first quarter (six girls on a team, four on the field at a time). At the end of the quarter we were losing 2-0. At the end of the 3rd quarter we are up 6-2. So two of our best were on the bench again for the 4th qtr. And the other team makes a rally.

They score once. Then again. Then again. So it’s 6-5, and tight. The other team is making free subs. I thought you could only do that at the end of a quarter. But the game ends 6-5. We hang on, even though I know we could have made a few substitutions and it been heavily in our favor.

The girls shake hands. All is well. Then someone asks the ref what the scored ended up being. She says, “5-5.” What! No way. Even the opposing coach is surprised (but pleased.) So…it’s just a game, right? Our girls actually still think they won (and so do I.)

Our team won the weekend tournament last weekend. Here’s a picture of them with their medals.

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I remember telling yall a few months back about my new favorite television show. It was a show that I missed the first episode, but caught up quickly with my trusty VCR (what is TiVo?) and NBC.com. I wasn’t sure it’d hold me, but it ended up gripping me very tightly. To the point it rivaled LOST as my favorite show on television.

Friday Night Lights is a show about people who are closely connected to a high school football team. Read that again. It’s about people. Very real people. But it’s not about football. Yes, there’s lots of football in it. But it’s about the people. And I haven’t seen a more “real” portrayal of how people live, act, love, hate, relate, and everything else.

But sadly, it’s not getting good ratings. It gets awesome reviews. If every critic was a Nielson household, it’d be the #1 show around.

Season 2 starts tonight. I’m excited. I just heard a little about the first episode. And already…I’m surprised. Give it a shot. Everyone. Please.

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