Picture! By MeeshiSense!!!

so Miss MeeshiSense herself has a picture in the Flint Journal! Yay! Go look at it! (I went to High School with the kid in the background)

http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/flint/index.ssf/2009/01/gig_under_other_name_helps_aut.html

Best Football Game Ever.

I almost cried over this.  I love it so much that I’m going to post the whole article, just in case ESPN takes it off their site for any reason.  Here is where it originally came from:  http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?section=magazine&id=3789373

 

Life of Reilly

There are some games in which cheering for the other side feels better than winning.

by Rick Reilly

 

They played the oddest game in high school football history last month down in Grapevine, Texas.

It was Grapevine Faith vs. Gainesville State School and everything about it was upside down. For instance, when Gainesville came out to take the field, the Faith fans made a 40-yard spirit line for them to run through.

Did you hear that? The other team’s fans?

They even made a banner for players to crash through at the end. It said, “Go Tornadoes!” Which is also weird, because Faith is the Lions.

“I WOULDN’T EXPECT ANOTHER PARENT TO TELL SOMEBODY TO HIT THEIR KIDS. BUT THEY WANTED US TO!”

It was rivers running uphill and cats petting dogs. More than 200 Faith fans sat on the Gainesville side and kept cheering the Gainesville players on—by name.

“I never in my life thought I’d hear people cheering for us to hit their kids,” recalls Gainesville’s QB and middle linebacker, Isaiah. “I wouldn’t expect another parent to tell somebody to hit their kids. But they wanted us to!”

And even though Faith walloped them 33-14, the Gainesville kids were so happy that after the game they gave head coach Mark Williams a sideline squirt-bottle shower like he’d just won state. Gotta be the first Gatorade bath in history for an 0-9 coach.

But then you saw the 12 uniformed officers escorting the 14 Gainesville players off the field and two and two started to make four. They lined the players up in groups of five—handcuffs ready in their back pockets—and marched them to the team bus. That’s because Gainesville is a maximum-security correctional facility 75 miles north of Dallas. Every game it plays is on the road.

This all started when Faith’s head coach, Kris Hogan, wanted to do something kind for the Gainesville team. Faith had never played Gainesville, but he already knew the score. After all, Faith was 7-2 going into the game, Gainesville 0-8 with 2 TDs all year. Faith has 70 kids, 11 coaches, the latest equipment and involved parents. Gainesville has a lot of kids with convictions for drugs, assault and robbery—many of whose families had disowned them—wearing seven-year-old shoulder pads and ancient helmets.

So Hogan had this idea. What if half of our fans—for one night only—cheered for the other team? He sent out an email asking the Faithful to do just that. “Here’s the message I want you to send:” Hogan wrote. “You are just as valuable as any other person on planet Earth.”

Some people were naturally confused. One Faith player walked into Hogan’s office and asked, “Coach, why are we doing this?”

And Hogan said, “Imagine if you didn’t have a home life. Imagine if everybody had pretty much given up on you. Now imagine what it would mean for hundreds of people to suddenly believe in you.”

Next thing you know, the Gainesville Tornadoes were turning around on their bench to see something they never had before. Hundreds of fans. And actual cheerleaders!

“I thought maybe they were confused,” said Alex, a Gainesville lineman (only first names are released by the prison). “They started yelling ‘DEE-fense!’ when their team had the ball. I said, ‘What? Why they cheerin’ for us?’”

It was a strange experience for boys who most people cross the street to avoid. “We can tell people are a little afraid of us when we come to the games,” says Gerald, a lineman who will wind up doing more than three years. “You can see it in their eyes. They’re lookin’ at us like we’re criminals. But these people, they were yellin’ for us! By our names!”

Maybe it figures that Gainesville played better than it had all season, scoring the game’s last two touchdowns. Of course, this might be because Hogan put his third-string nose guard at safety and his third-string cornerback at defensive end. Still.

After the game, both teams gathered in the middle of the field to pray and that’s when Isaiah surprised everybody by asking to lead. “We had no idea what the kid was going to say,” remembers Coach Hogan. But Isaiah said this: “Lord, I don’t know how this happened, so I don’t know how to say thank You, but I never would’ve known there was so many people in the world that cared about us.”

And it was a good thing everybody’s heads were bowed because they might’ve seen Hogan wiping away tears.

As the Tornadoes walked back to their bus under guard, they each were handed a bag for the ride home—a burger, some fries, a soda, some candy, a Bible and an encouraging letter from a Faith player.

The Gainesville coach saw Hogan, grabbed him hard by the shoulders and said, “You’ll never know what your people did for these kids tonight. You’ll never, ever know.”

And as the bus pulled away, all the Gainesville players crammed to one side and pressed their hands to the window, staring at these people they’d never met before, watching their waves and smiles disappearing into the night.

Anyway, with the economy six feet under and Christmas running on about three and a half reindeer, it’s nice to know that one of the best presents you can give is still absolutely free.

Hope.

  

Special thanks to: http://withoutwax.tv/ who originally brought my attention to this article.

Fifty Comments

YAY! Fifty Comments!

Ah Hell

If I don’t find something soon I’m screwed. I am willing to try any job anyone has an opening for.  I’ve worked retail, nicer sit-down restaurants, McDonalds, factory, cash handling, and customer service.  HELP!

President Bush: Reflection From an Anti-Politics Perspective

MSN has a poll on giving President Bush a grade. 

11% said they’d give him an A
16% said B (me included, and I’ll tell you why in a minute)
9% said C
16% said D
48% said F

I gave him a B for a few reasons.

1. He was following after a president that I thought was okay in office, but afterwards I thought was an idiot. (I was pretty young during President Clinton’s office, and I didn’t give a shit about Politics.)

2. He had to deal with 9/11 and all the aftermath, trying to appease the angry, scared, and some blood thirsty American people. 

3. He had to make sure our ego was kept intact and that we weren’t a country to be messed with.

4. He had to deal with the media in his face all the time and many stories, some true, some not, about things that aren’t any of our business

5. The poor man spent 8 years doing something that he might be thinking he didn’t want to do anymore

6. He did a much better job than I could have, considering what went on in the past 8 years. 

I gave him a B.  I don’t like him, but like I said, he did a much better job than I could have, and most everyone I know. 

Now I’m going to tell you about the fact that I am very anti-politics and I am looking at this from a perspective of him trying to do his job, and how I would feel and react if I were in his shoes. 

This is the first election I’ve voted in and it was because I was passionate about not electing Palin as a Vice President. 

I don’t think the White House is ready for a female President or Vice President.  I don’t think the American People are ready for it either.  I also don’t think Sarah Palin was the person to do the job. 

I’m a little apprehensive about Joe Biden being the VP, because I am really scared of something bad happening to Obama.  I come from a very predjudiced place, and I know how cruel and ignorant a group of scared individuals can be. 

Tell me what you think.

Holy St-UCK!

A business is slowly acceleratedly forming in my brain.  It’s a great concept, as are many other business dreamt by many other people.  Now I am asking myself, what makes this different than a pipe dream?!

I don’t have an answer for that one yet.  It feels like I do have an answer for that, I just haven’t found it in there yet.  I feel like the only thing stopping me is money.  BUT- oh But…  I’m starting to feel like the business part is someone else’s job and I should just be the artist that creates the work.  That would also take me out of the financials and other such planning.  I don’t like that thought very much.  I want to cling to Havi and Naomi and ask them a million questions, but they are business women, and I feel it’s not fair of me to ask those questions of them without a proper consultation.  I’d be cheating them of their lively hood, and their customers will have paid to get that information.  I can’t pay for that information.  I literally have $20 to my name.  If it gets any more depressing I’m going to lose what little tiny shred of sanity I’ve been holding onto. 

I am very unsure of how to secure the funds to start this business.  I don’t like that word loan.  That makes me think, how in the hell am I going to be able to pay that back?!  I already have things that I can’t pay back, and I have no real income right now.  I work one, maybe two days a week, and I’m fairly certain it’s only because I owe my boss money.  I wouldn’t owe my boss money if I was either A. given more hours, or B. fired and able to collect unemployment.  (in my mind I totally just sounded like a bum)

Michigan is in bad shape.  It has been for a while now.  I’m not using that as an excuse.  I was in not so good shape before Michigan had a date with a shovel and a deepening hole.  I’ve made some bad choices, and things just keep adding.

I want to sell my car.  I can’t.  I live in the middle of nowhere with no public transportation.  I cannot walk to get anywhere without freezing to death in the winter, or dying of heat stroke in the summer.  It would take me HOURS to walk anywhere of import.  There is also that problem of still owing money on the car.  It’s probably not worth what I owe.  No one can buy a car right now, so I have no one to sell it to. 

I want to get rid of my phone bill.  Fortunately Unfortunately, we do not have a house phone.  If I shut off my cell phone, I would be unreachable.  Most of the time that is a very bad thing.  Right now, however, that is sounding pretty damn good.  The only way to get a hold of me would be over the internet. 

If I didn’t have a car then I wouldn’t need to pay my car payment, or insurance, nor would I need to put gas in that car.  If I didn’t have a cell phone, I would have no phone bill, and then no bills at all.  I would then be stuck in the middle of a corn field with no one to talk to but my birds and my parents.  *almost loses it with that thought*

I’m overwhelmed right now, I’m stopping right here.  Before I do, I have a weird question… Do internet business have to submit to the same regulations as a physical storefront business? I’m seeing all kinds of things about storefront business, but nothing about internet regulations.  ACK!

A Bird and His Girl

My parrot wants me to start a business.  He has no thumbs, and no social security number, so I am his tool. 

He insists that he will be the inspiration for all of it, and I must create it. 

Can’t argue with that, can I?

Scrapbooks, altered books, invitations, greeting cards, wedding favors, handmade embelishments…..

Silly birds dream big.  At least around here they do. 

Feedback?

Letter of Reflection

Dear Sir

 

Sometimes you make me feel stupid and inadequate.  You’re not trying to, but it happens anyway.  I feel like you’re looking down at me with some sort of superiority complex.  And maybe you are, but I don’t think you mean to do it on purpose. 

 

When I think like this, it makes me wonder if you really love me, if you just feel like I’m someone who needs someone else to cling to.  Maybe I am someone who needs someone to cling to, but I wasn’t always like this.  At one point I was self-sufficient, and I was always holding other people up.  My foundation crumbled on me.  Maybe you wouldn’t even like the self sufficient version of me, I’m not even sure I liked her. 

 

I’m struggling and struggling with what I feel, truly feel.  I’m asking myself if I’m just comfortable with the way things are and I don’t want to upset a house of cards. 

 

My entire nature is setting up houses of cards and then trying to steal a card from it quick enough that the entire structure doesn’t fall.  It’s all about testing the structure, and when it does fall, building a different structure and testing it until it breaks again. 

 

I read an excerpt from a birthday book about March 5.  It essentially stated that those born on March 5 embody the best, and the worst of a bi-polar complex. 

 

I did some self-reflecting on this. 

Everything really is black and white.  The gray area becomes black because the gray area is such a tragedy to be in.  There is so much drama in the weirdest places.  It’s like if I don’t have something to stir up, I create something.

 

Uncomfortable in the Skin

Doing a little poking around inside is making me realize something very large in scope.

 

I’ve sheltered me from myself for so long, that I can’t find my way back to answer the pleas of help from within.  I literally don’t know where I am in my unconscious thought to help me out.  There are so many delicately laid layers of stuff to distract me from real, raw emotion.  These distractions are interwoven so tightly and so finely that I cannot even fathom what they are anymore, or that there is anything standing in my way at all.  It’s merely blackness around  me, and I’m just realizing it’s not empty space, it’s this interwoven distraction that I can’t see through. 

 

And I always feel, above all else, that I AM WASTING PRECIOUS TIME.

 

I can never feel like I have all the time in the world.  I should be doing something else.  Things should be falling into place so I can move on.  But it doesn’t work like that. 

 

Never has, and I’m damned sure it never will.  Yet I keep feeling like that anyway.

 

I look around bewildered at the disarray that is my space.  Outside and within.  My room is a mess, because I am a mess.  I don’t have the energy to clean either. 

 

I feel like I need to go.  Just go, somewhere that isn’t here. I feel very stagnant.  And when I think of stagnant, I think of decay and depreciation.

 

My toes are cold.

 

 

I’m decidedly Christian, but I revert to old ways that work for me here and there.  To others, I may seem like a big fat hypocrite, and maybe I am, but I do what feels right to me. 

Today I’m going to light some candles in a very wiccan kind of way because that helps.  I’m going to attempt some meditation.

 

Black to repel negativity

Purple for hidden knowledge

Blue for opening blocked communication and spiritual inspiration

Yellow to break mental blocks

 

I say attempt because my brain wanders in directions it shouldn’t when I try to meditate and I just end up thinking about a bunch of things that make me feel worse than better and I forget what I was doing in the first place.  My mind becomes overly prejudiced to new things when I want to try them.  It is very bothersome and suddenly my imagination does not want to work. 

 

Do You Ever Confuse Yourself

Everything has become very abstract in my mind.  It’s probably a defense mechanism, but at the same time it is probably hurting more than helping. 

 

There is no true emotion connecting anything to me.  Sure, things bother me, but in a distant, annoying scratching kind of sense than a piercing anguish. 

 

This worries me that I may traverse in time and go back to doing whatever I felt like, not even believing consequences were real.  They didn’t touch me and I just didn’t care.  That was a very scary me, but she was free. 

 

I’m not sure freedom is worth the price of my humanity. 

 

 

On the upside, things that would make me very upset are not. 

 

Working nine hours a week and not being able to pay for anything.

 

Not being able to find a new job

 

There are other things, but I am unwilling to speak those aloud. 

 

The biggest upside to this kind of mood, my artistic side flourishes.  (At least in the past, I’m unsure whether she will rear her head or not this time)

 

I’ve been catching myself staring at things for no reason.

 

Joe will ask me what I’m thinking about, and I’ll realize, that I was in fact pondering nothing at all whatsoever.  Complete blankeroo between the eyes.

 

 

I’d apologize for myself, but I’m not sorry.  I’m putting down my thoughts exactly as they come to me, in a colorful, abstract manner.  Part of me hopes your intuitive side kicks in and reads behind the words, but the other part swears that no one can read behind words, because the “paper” is solid behind the “ink”.