Sadly, I’m Getting Used To This

Another loss. That’s good. I am known for looking at the worst possible outcomes in life, so here’s what the FSU football team and its fans could be looking at:

1) We could have a 7-6 season. This would happen if we lose to Florida, Miami/VT in the ACC championship game, and our bowl game. This after being 7-1 at one point. Right now that’s difficult to call mostly because our bowl opponent is unknown, but a strong case can be made for why we will be 7-5 going into that bowl game.

2) We could qualify for a BCS bowl as an unranked team. After today’s loss to Clemson we will probably be unranked, having come into the game ranked #17. A loss to Florida would give us even fewer votes. If by some miracle we win the ACC championship game we would go to a BCS bowl, but might not earn enough points by virtue of that single victory to make it back into the Top 25. I would request to play the winner of the Big East, who undoubtedly will also be a team that does not deserve a BCS bid.

All of the teams I like are either losing or not playing. In addition to FSU having a bad year, the Dolphins are struggling to have a mediocre season. Sadly they could still win the AFC East, sitting only a game out of first. A win over the Patriots tomorrow would put them in first (second should Buffalo also win). But it’s just a tease; even if they do win tomorrow I don’t expect them to make the playoffs or even finish with a .500 record. I try to cheer for the Heat but with Shaq injured it’s tough to watch. That and I loathe Antoine Walker. The Panthers are the same old Panthers they’ve been for years. They’re tied for 11th in the East, three points out of the 8th spot. I know it’s early in the season and all but, seriously people, it’s the Panthers. And there is no baseball in November. So, in short, everything I have shelled my pride into has been a bust.

Alright, enough about sports. That’s all I’ve been talking about on here lately.

Two nights ago I went camping out in Quincy. It was just a one-night thing with the Navigators. It was a lot of fun, nothing too fancy but really relaxing. I got there later than most since I wanted to play Halo 2 that night with Jaron, one of my old roommates. But that was only for about a half hour so I didn’t miss too much. When I arrived there were five groups getting ready to present skits. I felt like I was back on a Boy Scout camp trip, only it was co-ed and the skits weren’t as stale. The brisk night was spent around a small camp fire. Songs were song, stories were told. For the first time in a while I got to spend time with people. What my life has degenerated into is saying hey, asking and answering the same bogus questions over the course of three minutes, only for the conversation to end when either the other person or I see someone else they want to engage the ritual in. This was a night when I could sit and talk with a person for a half hour or more and actually talk about something. I didn’t sleep well, in part because the tent was crowded and in part because the bottom half of me and my sleeping bag were sticking out of the tent because it was crowded. In the morning we had a great homemade breakfast. And because the location was so close we were back to campus before 11:00 AM. This might have been the first Nav trip I’ve been on without any structure or schedule (although prayer retreats don’t have much either), and because of that it was one of my favorites.

Last night and tonight people I know have been trying to get me to come out to the fair that’s in town here. Am I the only person who has never been to a good fair? Granted, I avoided the Hebron Harvest Fair like the plague for fear of it turning me in to a northern, and I hear that that fair is actually very good. But no fair in Florida has ever been good. I don’t even know if I could express to you why I feel this way. But there’s just something about the fair, when people start talking about it, that I want nothing to do with. I’ve been to one fair in Tallahassee (I don’t know if these are the same people) and a couple in south Florida when I lived there and they’ve always been expensive and not worth the money. More than that, they’ve not been worth my time. Now I know most of you don’t get this, mostly because I’m not explaining it well but also because you think back to your own fair experiences and you remember good times spent with your friends. And yes, you’re with your friends and friends are fun, so that much of the experience is enjoyable. But you take just about any activity and add friends to it and it’s enjoyable. I am a difficult person to impress, this I won’t deny. But it’s not just that fairs have failed to impress me; they have thoroughly unimpressed me.

At the moment I’m in the Strozier library computer lab not doing the homework I came to do. One of the things I was going to work on was my speech. I’m giving a persuasive speech on Monday on why you should write in a blog. Originally I was going to try to convince people to study abroad but when I brought up that topic in class a couple of weeks ago it seemed like people already had plenty of reasons why they would never do that regardless of what I said. I know it’s just an assignment, but I actually want people to go out and give blogging a try as a result of my speech. I think there are less concrete reasons why people wouldn’t blog than why people wouldn’t study abroad, and I’m going to use that to my advantage.

Wesley isn’t meeting tomorrow, they’re all gone on their fall retreat, and I need to figure out if that means I’m going to a different church or not going to church. I have a ton of sermon recordings that I haven’t listened to yet (lots of Nav classics and other stuff that I’ve accumulated over the past couple of years) but there’s something to be said about actually being in a church and being in fellowship. We’ll see. Both options are tempting. I suppose I could do both: go to a new church but sit in the back with headphones on, listening to my own thing. That’s probably a bad idea.