Mascalzonni International FC

-the blind girl, i went to 'buffalo wild wings for lunch on the weekend with some friends, and got my usual plate of chicken nachos, this place is a sports fan dream, with giant walls full of hd screens playing every nfl game!, on the way out we met a blind girl who was looking for the law school. she was a good mile away. The law school is near my residence- faulkner, and to get there the road goes up a steep hill, with the woods on one side. She had a beautiful labrodor guide dog, but she was also a pretty crappy 'blind' person, you know you usually expect a certain level of autonomy from someone without sight, ive seen some pretty wicked people get around hecktily with just a cane. I had to really guide this girl around the carpark of wild wings and up the curb onto the sidewalk, and point her in the direction up the hill heading toward the law school, telling her to go straight across the road interesectioning about fifty yards ahead.

Who knows what she was doing in the carparks of the barracks road shopping centre, we then had to take andres to play goal keeper in a soccer match, the field was near the law school . Misael found it interesting that she had chosen to study law, and was concerned about the practicalities of taking on such a mighty degree, i figured she must be at least be good at studying because she is crap at being a blind person. there are so many books of required reading for law, she must have a lot of audio books, and someone who spends long hours reading the obscure texts that aren't available in brail.

after dropping andres off, we went back to barracks road shopping centre to pick up some groceries, on the way back down we saw the blind girl again, i had expected to see her nearly at the top of the hill and approaching her destination, so in looking out for her, i caught her on the wrong side of the road, heading in the wrong direction towards some woods not far from where we had left- she had turned left instead of heading straight up the hill at the intersection. A simple walk along a sidewalk is epic when you have no sight.

I had to jump out of the car and stop her from nearly sliding into a ditch that surrounded the forrest, and then get her dog to follow me back out of the alley, across the street and set her on the path again. She told me she had just gone for a walk and got lost. helping her did give me a nice feeling of satisfaction, and proved to be one of those 'times' that you sometimes have, where you stop and look at how much you take for granted, i do wonder how ponderous those moments would really be though, without seeing the misfortune of others. well even if your situation is crap and you cant see or something, i guess there is some relative thing to be happy about,
cephalus in the repulic says life is always onerous no matter what ones situation. Perhaps that is why the blind girl took the risk and went for a walk on such a beautiful day.


Mascalzonni International FC
that is the intra mural soccer team im in, made up of internationals. The reason for taking Andres to the game, i mentioned earlier, was because he was my replacement. I'm out injured! I am the goal keeper, and the first game we played, and my first ever as goal keeper! it got down to a penalty shootout - i saved the day, the next game in the tournament was the same afternoon, and we won too. So we progressed through to sundays matches, i woke up and couldn't move my legs, i was going to take some pain killers and play on like a stoic, but i saw andres in the hall and he said he was a varsity keeper at high school, so i let him take my place and we lost.
-the name mascalzonni is funny too, if you know someone who can speak italian.

-i don't know if you have heard yet, but there has been a shooting at an amish school in pensylvania, seven dead i think. and someone is holding a school hostage at the moment in vegas. I'm glad i go to college here, and not school. since august alone there has been over two dozen school shootings and three this week, the truck driver who shot the amish had been harbouring some twenty year grudge and just wanted to shoot young girls, thats fucked up, he even let people her weren't young girls out, then methodically called 911.


this is fireworks at the rotunda last friday night, thanks to toby futter form new zealand for the shot. I thought it was just another senseless celebration that always happens, but i found out it was a fundraiser for alumni and was broadcast on nbc, apparently 1billion dollars was raised. they are on track to make their goal of 7billion by 2011.
-it was unbelievable a full orchestra was set up on the lawn to play patriotic american songs, while they blasted fuck out of the skyline. in front of the rotunda is the lawn, which stretches down to the jefferson statue at the base, the statue you have to run to and back on a nudey run!
I would like to contrast it with the probable sausage sizzle that aussies would put on, and no one would show up - because it isn't cool to support that kind of thing, but here, there were thousands of people crammed on the lawn, singing school songs and just generally feeling elated at being part of UVA.

Quotes

Homer: Oh no! What have I done? I smashed open my little boy's piggy bank, and for what? A few measly cents, not even enough to buy one beer. Wait a minute, lemme count and make sure... not even close

***

Homer: Bad bees. Get away from my sugar. Ow. OW. Oh, they're defending themselves somehow.

###

Apu: I have come to make amends, sir. At first, I blamed you for squealing, but then I realized, it was I who wronged you. So I have come to work off my debt. I am at your service.
Homer: You're selling what, now?
Apu: I am selling only the concept of karmic realignment.
Homer: You can't sell that! Karma can only be portioned out by the cosmos.
Apu: He's got me there.

@@@

Marge: Homer, a man who called himself "you-know-who" just invited you to a secret "wink-wink" at the "you-know-what". You are certainly are popular now that you've become a Stonecutter.
Homer: Oh, yeah. Beer busts, beer blasts, keggers, stein hoists, AA meetings, beer night. It's wonderful, Marge. I've never felt so accepted in all my life. These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined.

***

Marge: I think you should do it, Homer, you might learn something new!
Homer: Oh, Marge, whenever I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out. Remember that time I went to those duff brewery classes and I forgot how to drive?