The dog ate my homework

I wrote an entry last night on the couch and the battery warning came on so I plugged the computer in and left it till this morning. I got up this morning and finished my writing and hit the Publish Post button... and just like that, it was all gone. I can assure you that had that blog entry survived... the writing was so brilliant and lucid that women would have fainted, children would have been quiet and still and grown men would have cried. But I lost it and all you're going to get now is the following...

Walked all over Oxford yesterday. The boys and I went down to an open air market. It sounded really promising but when we got there, it was less "farmer" and more "flea" on the scale of markets. We bought some tomatoes and some fresh bread. We then walked on to a sports store that we'd been told had some cheap soccer jerseys. Ethan had his mind set on one and he bought himself an England sleeveless jersey. As soon as we got back to the house he tore the tags off and wore it the rest of the day.

I walked a mile or so north yesterday afternoon and visited an area of the city called Summertown. They've got a couple of good grocery stores up there and we bought the goods to fix hamburgers on the grill last night. Stephen walked me past the house where JRR Tolkien lived while he wrote Lord of the Rings. Funny thing is there's nothing to it, really. There's a 14 inch plaque on the front of the house and that's all. There's no tour. There's no LOTR society meetings. Nothing but the plaque.

We grilled the burgers and walked over to University Parks. The park is owned by the University (hence the clever name) and is an oasis in the midst of this city. The Cherwell river runs along one side of the park. The immense grassy fields are smooth and soft. The park maintains at least one tree of every species native to England so there are plenty of interesting trees. The ducks and geese love to be fed, and as Susan can attest, if you don't feed them they're likely to sneak up behind you and have a nibble on your finger. We kicked the soccer ball around till we were all tired then we walked back to the house.

I'm still not exactly on the English time as midnight can roll past and I feel just fine... and then have a bit of trouble getting up in the mornings. I'm sure that just about the time we get ready to fly home I'll have made the adjustment. Now, I've gotta go and get some laundry done. Maybe, someday I'll tell you about the washing machine... it's apparently made on the same scale as the automobiles.

Run it up the flagpole

I don't particularly care if the Sith are avenged. Apparently, this lack of interest on my part puts me in an extremely small slice of America and only a slightly larger slice of the entire planet. I haven't seen the last two (three, four, who really knows?) Star Wars episodes... as a matter of fact I didn't see the first one until it was 10 or 12 years old. I don't know why but Star Wars and Star Trek just never really did anything for me. I don't think you're a nut if you are excited about it coming out... just take comfort in knowing that I will not be the guy who buys the ticket you wanted.

Now, to the folks who took off work and who camped out and who changed their names to Maul and who dressed up in costumes... you people are freaks. I understand that there is a human psychological need to belong to something larger than yourself... may I recommend "reality?"

How proud would my mom be if I called her and told her I was changing my middle name to Annakin or Darth? When you fill out your Absence Report for work, what do you write in for the reason you're missing a week of work so you can sleep on a sidewalk with a bunch of people you don't know to see a movie you already know the ending to? I think it takes a special kind of person to be the high school mascot... what sort of mental state (defect?) does it require for a grown man or woman to buy and publicly wear a sci fi movie costume? If you look to Darth Maul for spiritual guidance... what other literature have you considered?

Don't misunderstand me... I don't care at all that this is happening. As a matter of fact I like it. I love our country and the freedoms that we enjoy. It makes me happy to see the lines of Star Wars groupies outside the theaters because I know that their freedom to dress up as a wookie is the same as my freedom to skip it. I love living in a place where we are guaranteed the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, no matter how bizarre. Let your freak flag fly, baby.