I went to the DQ cause I thought I might see you // I went to the Super-K, "Have you seen any recent stray?"

You know what is irritating? In the harsh Michigan weather, when the needle is at empty and you pull into a station and you put down $20 on pump 4 and the pump doesn't have that small groove in the handle that allows you to sit in your car as the gas is pumped...and then, as you are holding the pump, it slows to snail's pace at the $19.50 mark. Come on. It becomes a game of "elements/pump vs. patience" at that point, testing you to see if you can hold out and thus earn that last 50 cents of the petrol.

Sort of like when you work through your 4 days in a row and wake up on your day off with a near paralyzing strain in your neck. Sigh. It has been indoor recess all day with the icepack routine. So I didn't get a chance to make a 2nd all-time visit to the faraway Abercrombie and return the clothes I got for Christmas (thanks Mom, I guess I don't fit that mold, though you did try) It isn't all bad anyway. I actually have time to both eat clementine oranges and also defragment my brain/heart a bit.

Things are slowly beginning to shape together into sensible forms.

Perhaps all the better that I had an entire day spent indoors in rest, as anyone in the know regarding college football might know one of the all-time greatest games ever played went down over the course of late Wednesday night and early Thursday morning. One of those "I really wanted the other team to win, but it was so good that it almost doesn't matter" games. And you could add one more to the column of those who had a emotional interest. Watching that last drive, that 4th & 5 with my Ms. Hagle was one of the most exciting experiences I've had with another watching a game.

Not only had she proudly announced earlier to the rest of her Restaurant staff that she'd learned how downs worked and confided to me in great comedy that uniform color was only #3 on her list of relevance as to her support of USC, I was drawn back to my earliest memories of watching the game. Specifically the disappointment of my California team of destiny, my beloved 49ers, and their struggles before conquering the "hated" Cowboys (I say "hated" in jest mostly; I don't hate anybody & hate is such a strong word, though back then it didn't seem like it was strong enough).

We've known each other for forever, though seemingly in cameo appearances during phases of each other's lives. And it was so great to stand side by side watching that last play and to agonize the predictable yet dramatic result. We hugged tightly and I drifted off into the typical rain of a January Michigan night feeling found.