Still laughing at myself over this. I was watching the incredible USC vs LSU football game on Sunday night, and when USC scored their game winning touchdown, I celebrated so hard my watch thought I took a hard fall. 🤣🤣🤣

I’m only a few practices in, but I love coaching. This is going to be a really fun season.

My life is a mess at the moment, and I have no idea what I’m doing anymore. The last thing I want to think about is this online space, so for now, I’m taking a break. I have no idea for how long. It could be a few days, a few weeks, or a few months, or I may never return. I don’t know.

My marigolds have begun to bloom.

What a fascinating analysis by Jomboy.

Will Anybody Ever Love Me?

Yes.

A bit ago, I began my first Italian lesson, and I had fun. I wrote some notes, bought some extra textbooks, and I’m excited to start this journey. Because I’m fluent in Spanish, some of what I learned was familiar to me, so I hope I can pick up this language quicker than, say, Japanese. Why am I learning Italian? I’m planning a trip to Italy at some point in the next year. A big European trip, actually: Spain, France, Germany, Italy. Why not?

The other day, I asked a friend to recommend me some country music artists that I could listen to. I told her that after 11 years living in Montana, it was time for me to get into this genre. She recommended me a few artists, and the one I’ve gravitated toward the most is Zach Bryan.

But I miss you in the mornings when I see the sun
Somethin’ in the orange tells me we’re not done

His lyrics are heartfelt, heartbreaking, and beautiful.

He said the sun’s going to rise tomorrow
Somewhere on the east side of sorrow

I wish I didn’t take so long to get into country music. It is something else, and Zach Bryan is incredible. I am happy to own a few of his albums, and that I’ve let go of whatever stigma I once had about country music. It is a great genre of music.

Almost a year ago, I noted that I reached 5,000 minutes meditated on the Headspace app . This morning I reached 10,000 minutes.

10,000 minutes is a nice, round number, and by itself, it doesn’t tell me much, but looking at it another way, that’s 6 days, 22 hours, and 40 minutes. Since rebooting my meditation routine last year, I’ve meditated for almost a week, and I’m very proud of that. I have noticed the change this habit has instilled in me, and I am for sure a better person because of it.

Now, I’m not saying correlation implies causation, but I’ve definitely noticed the numbers tick up since the school year started in late August. It’s been… a year already, and we’re barely at Thanksgiving break. Thankfully, I am able to increase the time on my sessions, so I may be hitting 20,000 minutes meditated faster than I reached 10,000…

Over two years ago, after I finished reading American Pastoral by Philip Roth, I said that I was tempted to buy the Library of America’s complete collection of Philip Roth’s novels, but I didn’t. I couldn’t quite justify spending $240 on this collection, so I set that temptation aside and moved on with my life. However, that idea never left my thoughts, and earlier this summer, I was fortunate enough to earn a somewhat massive (for me) raise at work, and because of that, I tucked away some money every month until finally… well:

This arrived today. Needless to say, I’m happy.