What's Happening? Well, I'll Tell Ya What's Happening...

I honestly have never been a fan of Thanksgiving. It makes me feel gluttonous, and means we have to clean.

But this year, it's not so bad. Especially since the break from school was well needed (yeah, that whole thing about Junior year being from hell was preeetty much true). Tuesday night, my friends and I partook in what will surely become a great tradition. We settled in together with cocoa and blankets, a wholesome scene, to be sure...and watched Thankskilling. Great choice guys. Really, it was classy. I recommend it to all who don't mind awful acting, bestiality, and profanity.

This was followed up by an extremely chilly game of Turkey Disc. Everyone who showed up gets an intensity medal, just for being there. It was snowing slightly, and the mud was freezing beneath our feet, but we trooped on, if only to preserve our dignity.

Tuesday, my creative writing teacher told us about the Turkey Trek happening in the City Forest. Four miles, at your own pace. Bring food for the food cupboard. Eight AM. I tentatively raised my hand to say I might show up. And for some disgustingly strange reason, I got up this morning at seven, and did it. The only reason I went was because I convinced my friend to do it with me, meaning that I couldn't back out without being a wuss. Speaking of dignity...

So I hopped on my bike, and rode to his house (coldest ride of my entire life, by the way), from where we drove out to the forest. Four miles doesnt seem like much, but I am nothing of a runner. Zilch. No running. Not since I quit track my freshman year. Once or twice a year, I'll convince my gullible self that I can run, and that it will make me a better person, but it ends with me going for a few (slow and taxing) runs, hurting my lungs or my achilles, and then calling it good. Beyond that, I disc. The. End.

So, God only knows what I was doing in the middle of the woods on Thanksgiving day at eight in the morning with running shoes on. We jogged and walked alternately, because my asthma didn't respond well to the weather, but I did it, and that's all that counts, right? [I almost have myself convinced that I'm a runner now. Becca, you champ!]

On a mostly unrelated topic, I have a cat.

Sort of.

One of my friends has a cat, who has downsyndrome. Or, at least that's what they presume, because she's really really really stupid and has crossed eyes [thanks very much, siamese inbreeding]. Her name is Squeaky [actually, it's Miko, but she only responds to Squeaky], and we were meant to be.

So, she's on loan. We've taken to calling her Squawky, because that's more what her little "MAOW MAOW"s sound like. Little Squawky thought that five thirty was an excellent time to come into my room and squawk at me for a half an hour. This means war.

Halloween! BOO!

I thought I'd be waiting a lot longer to say this. Hoooboy, here it goes...

It snowed yesterday. That's right, a snowy halloween! I woke up, and looking out my window, the first thingI saw was slanted white flakes drilling by. I was so confused that I had to open up the window and stick my head out to make myself believe and understand it.
I was expecting it to continue snowing for about a half an hour, but it just snowed..and snowed and snowed and snowed.
Not much of it stuck, and it stopped snowing around twelve thirty. The aftermath was a wet, muddy ground and a chill in the air.
But did that stop us? Of course not!

Halloween was met with a day full of costume disc (frisbee, but in ridiculous costumes. Most of us opted to keep our shoes on today, considering the risks of hypothermia) and (sort of) scary movies.
When I was growing up, I had a friend whose family didn't celebrate halloween. I think we all know a family like this, someone who's religious and believes that participating in the traditions of such a pagan holiday would be sacreligious. I always felt sort of bad for her, because while we were out getting candy, they were out at the bowling alley, in normal clothes instead of costumes. And the costumes are the best part. Sometimes, I wish I could just dress in weird clothes whenever I feel like it. I should.
I'm pretty sure I'd just look like a freak every day.

On a completely separate note: Nanowrimo has begun. No more blogging, no more fun.
I'll probably be gone for awhile, because I'll be using this study hall for my nanowrimo project, which will hopefully go over better than last year.

On another completely different note, today is my dad's birthday! Happy...47th? Dad!

Utils, and A Step Towards the Meaning of Life

I lied. I am going to tell you a bit about why I do what I do, and why I've done what I've done.
Let's start this way: I play Ultimate. It's also known as Frisbee, Ultimate Frisbee, or Disc (more often than not, it's just called disc by its fanbase.), and is by far the most badass sport on the face of the planet. Haven't heard of it? Wikithatshit.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_(sport)
If you've clicked that link, scroll on down to section six, "Spirit of the Game."
It's the idea that people ought to be fair. Players ought to have a mutual respect, and maintain a true friendliness for all other players. That's how disc is. C'est ca.
Take it one step further, up to the Eutyls level.
I have misspelled the word "Util", it seems.
A Util is a term in economics, "referring to the total satisfaction received from consuming a good or service" (Answers dot com). That's Utils.
Eutyls is Frisbee. It's the Ultimate "club" (If you'd call it that) where I play, and it's the ultimate Ultimate club, as far as I'm concerned.
The originating idea for the club was that one ought to play for the satisfaction of the game. Forget the score. Don't be afraid to lose track of points. Just play.
C'est ca.
A few weeks back, when doing a school project on Ultimate (I love it when we get to pick our own topics), I was looking at the philosophy of Spirit of the Game. And I came to the conclusion that we shouldn't just govern ourselves in such a way during games of Ultimate, but all the time.
That's part one.
Part two is a little less complicated.
Look to the little things. Every person, every single action around you, and every thing around you has a purpose, has a motive, has something miraculous about them or itself. Notice it. Marvel in it. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Learn to smile.
And find the ordinarily extraordinary things in your Everyday.
I want to spread the idea. Why not use the internet?