Thursday « Kenny Smith | A remarkable thing happens …

Thursday

football / movies / Thursday / video — Comments Off
6
Dec 12

The there-ness of it

What I’ll be doing next May:

I don’t think he’s Kahn. I think he’s Gary Mitchell even less. That’s part of the fun at this point, but you don’t even want to allow yourself that much fun. You know, eventually, you’re going to find out who Benedict Cumberbatch is playing. There will be one too many teasers, or interviews. Someone will see it and write it online. Best not to suspend disbelief at all, then, right?

That shot of the ship stumbling into the water is impressive, though.

My high school was in the state championship football game tonight at Jordan-Hare. I don’t follow them at all — haven’t been to a game since my senior year — but they’ve had a great season. They came into the night 14-0. Their defense hadn’t allowed more than two scores in any one game all season.

The head coach struggled and stammered his way through an embarrassing health class my sophomore year.

They apparently lost their quarterback at the start of the season. The kid calling plays is really a defensive player; still, he’s done well.

Despite a handful of NFL players and more than their share of kids making big college teams this was the first time my school has been in the big game. They let the kids check out early to make the trip to the game. And they’re letting them check in late tomorrow if they made the trip.

They played one of the state’s powerhouses, and they were in rhythm tonight. My school was badly beaten.

They were showing the net yards on the scoreboard. My alma mater broke 100 yards three times. They’d get over and then there was a penalty, moving them back. They’d get over and then turn over the ball. They’d get over and then suffer a sack. This was in the third quarter, when it had become clear that everything was going right for one team and wrong for the other.

The student body cheers, apparently, haven’t changed. The band is not as good as I remember.

One of the players, after the game, said “We had good chemistry on this team … We laughed. We had fun. Now we’re crying, but we did it all.”

But, hey, they made it there. Played on one of the big fields, saw themselves on the big HD screen, got a runners-up trophy for the big display case, met Bo Jackson — the most famous alumni — and dressed in the same locker room he once used. They made it there.

“It was a good season.”

collarbone / iPhone / memories / Samford / Thursday — Comments Off
29
Nov 12

Much better then

The mind and body are amazing things, really. I complained yesterday, a day when I felt as bad as have since, I dunno, let’s call it the end of August. There have been a few other unfortunate days as I recovered from the crash and the helmet and the medication and the surgery and more medication. Yesterday was high up on the list of lowlights. My mood was off; I hurt. It was generally lousy.

I woke up today a new guy, which is to say, like myself again.

This is important because it remins me how I should feel. For the first time since July I felt like myself again. There I was tapping out miles in Orange Beach and now here I am, finally, me again. In between I’ve just been a fraction of myself, perhaps.

The amazing thing, the mind-and-body-are-amazing-things part, is that it took feeling so much more like myself today to realize how far off I’ve been since July. You have an accident and get acclimated to your new condition so quickly, subtly, that you just accept that this is how you are and forget how you are supposed to, in fact, actually feel.

I still hurt some, mind you. That’s improving on its own slow schedule. I finally learned how to not overdo it. I still have painkillers, but they stay in the medicine cabinet and I don’t have that foggy miserable feeling that I’ve come to associate with modern chemistry.

All of this sounds pitiful, but I mean it to say I feel like me again. And while I can’t move furniture or anything just yet — maybe next year — my discomfort doesn’t dictate every thing I do now. Just some of the things. Most important, I feel like myself again.

Samford is getting ready for the Hanging of the Green and the Lighting of the Way. This marks the beginning of the Christmas season here. The tree in Reid Chapel will be decorated. Garlands will be displayed. There will be hymns and prayers and carols. It is beautiful, really.

And then everyone will go out into the crisp night air for a message from the university’s president, more carols, a concert, Silent Night and then then, in the dark, the Christmas lights will come alive, the Lighting of the Way.

Prior to that, just lots of luminaries:

When you go into Reid Chapel there are just the little white bags. During the Hanging of the Green every one of these on the long quad will be lit. Whoever does that knows how to hustle. There are hundreds of them:

And then everyone goes back to studying, or home, or into Harry’s for hot chocolate. Finals are coming up fast.

family / friends / iPhone / photo / Pie Day / Thursday — Comments Off
22
Nov 12

Happy Thanksgiving

“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.” Playwright, novelist Thornton Wilder.

It was a treasure to cut up all of those delicious Fuji apples and sample the cinnamon sprinkled slices:

It was a treasure to pull it out of the oven, smell that delicious, cooked goodness and imagine eating it later this evening:

On this day of introspection, I’m thankful for my friends, my family, my lovely wife and all of our abundant blessings.

I’m also thankful for you. Thanks for coming by, and do come back soon. Happy Thanksgiving.

movies / photo / Storify / Thursday / Twitter — Comments Off
15
Nov 12

The last Twilight Twitter fest

Thankfully these dreadful, dreadful movies are behind us. To sum up: somewhere along the way The Yankee started reading these books. She wanted to see the first movie. Figuring I owed her a movie for some horrible thing I made her watch I went along. I made fun of it on Twitter because it was just horrible and over the years this has been an event, making fun of the movies with a running commentary from inside the theater.

It has become a minor hit and, lucky you, I’ve archived them all. That includes the last installment. We saw it tonight, before most of the country, apparently. (I spoiled nothing below.)

The first movie is at the top. If you want to skip to the most recent movie Storify will continue to load as you scroll. Just do a word search for “And now, the fifth bad movie” and you’ll find yourself at the beginning of my last Twilight commentary.

I am glad this is over, though it was amusing to make fun of it and, as always, nice to make so many people laugh.

collarbone / iPhone / photo / Thursday — Comments Off
8
Nov 12

The bad days which come with the good days

Not sure what I’ve done. A few weeks ago my doctor heard how I, genius observer of things, had come to note a correlation between exertion and pain in my collarbone and shoulder. And, I went on astounding him with my powers of perception, it doesn’t take much to over-exert my dinged wing and find myself in a bad way.

He took me off the self-directed therapy sessions which was derivative of the successfully accomplished and officially guided therapy sessions. He told me to do a lot less. Aside from a very few things I have done much less as my shoulder and collarbone continue to heal.

For instance, this week, I’ve done nothing that would make my surgeon or wife mad at me. And yet my shoulder is all out of whack. There are spasms and other things that radiate from my left shoulder, over into my right shoulder, U-turn and then come back and go up into my neck and, like a sick joke, into my head.

If there’s such a thing as good days and bad days, I’m experiencing that this week and it is not cool. This began sometime last weekend and has been growing less pleasant all week.

There is the possibility, one supposes, that some of this might be the return of sensation in my shoulder. Sometimes I feel more than others. And, usually, I’d rather not. If that is contributing to this problem or not I don’t know. I am a keen observer of the human condition — read above — but it takes awhile.

I can say this: having the sensation of a dull, round, cold cylinder shoved through your shoulder, across your back and somehow up into your neck and the top of your head is a drag.

Don’t break your collarbone, kids. How one good break, surgery, titanium and screws can adversely impact everything from your shoulder blades up proves the accuracy of Dem Bones.

So back to the medicine, then.

Also, the lovely autumn: