Amazing Drum Lesson, Odyssey Movie, and Small Moldy Jam Session

 

Yesterday was so, so hot. The church where Travalon and I go to Mass was having a festival, but we couldn't bring ourselves to check it out for even a few minutes after Mass; instead, we went home and sat in air conditioning. I felt like a slug and was kind of down, but on the way to my drum lesson we stopped by the mini rail yard off Fair Oaks, and we saw some graffiti.

The lesson was going to be taught by a woman from Brazil who runs an all-woman samba group. We students got there, but the "real" drummers had a lesson before us, and it was running late, so we had time to chat. One of my fellow students knows a lot about graffiti and even told me where to get supplies. I'm not planning to paint any train cars anytime soon, except maybe model train cars. Then we had the lesson, and the woman teaching it barely said a word, maybe because she doesn't speak much English. We started an infectious groove, and then she would come over and show us how she wanted us to change it up. We drummed for a solid hour, and at first I thought, "I can't do this!" but then the endorphins must have kicked in, and I was flying high. My FitBit said I did "sport" for almost an hour. Oh yeah, both before and after the lesson, I said, "Obrigada" to her, which is Portuguese for "thanks," and both times she gave me a big hug.

After getting cleaned up, I met Famie and the red-headed flute player at a Thai restaurant for dinner. We almost had to leave before getting our food, but they brought it out with enough time for us to eat for ten minutes, since the movie had so many previews. (I brought half my curry squash with tofu home, and even though it sat in the hot car for three hours, I had it for lunch today and feel fine.) Then we went to see The Odyssey. It is a very long movie with a lot of violence, but the story is much deeper than what I remembered from reading it in high school. At that time I thought Odysseus was very clever and resourceful, but now I realize he was a jerk who got himself into situations and then destroyed other people's peace to get himself out of them. For example, I felt VERY sorry for the cyclops, who was just minding his own business, making cheese. At the end of the movie, Odysseus surveys the carnage and realizes how many lives he has destroyed by being so stupid, so at least he had an epiphany. Don't even get me started on Agamemnon, who sacrificed his daughter to the gods for success in battle and then was shocked that his wife killed him when he got home. And I'm not sure why the haters were complaining about a black woman playing Helen of Troy, since she is gorgeous, or a trans man playing a youthful guard who was sacrificed by Odysseus. Most of the actors seemed perfect for their parts. I liked how Agamemnon looked kind of like Darth Vader, but then when he talked, he sounded like a loser, because he was a loser. Who sacrifices his own daughter? They didn't show this in the movie, but he also brought another woman home with him, so can you really blame his wife for killing him?

Today was still very hot, so I only went for a walk in the morning and then stayed inside until going to a small Moldy Jam group at the house of the guy who had his ukulele in the pouch of his guitar case that one time. It was going to be a small group, and there was a woman who was coming, then she wasn't, then she was. There are two women who have similar names, and I thought this was the woman who is a lot, if you know what I mean, but it was a different woman who is much pleasanter. The host had a washtub bass that he had lent to someone two years ago and then couldn't remember who he lent it to, and then two days ago it appeared on his front lawn. He played it on a song, then the really good mandolinist who had the terrible saw accident with his fingers a while back (but is recovered now) played it, and then the other woman played it. Only the guy playing guitar and I didn't try it. I brought both Mandy and the violin but only played fiddle, but it's okay because Mandy will gets lots of love at Choro tomorrow night. The host played guitar, ukulele, and concertina accordion, and the other woman brought a guitar and a fiddle but mostly played different sizes of recorders. Then she told a story and I realized she was Katzooks's sister! I haven't seen Katzooks in ages, and it's been decades since I had seen her sister, until I'd seen her recently at small Moldy Jam groups. Isn't that crazy? What a small world it is!

Tonight Travalon watched videos of British steam locomotives (one was called Capricorn, and another looked like a double-decker locomotive), but yesterday while I was hanging out with the ladies, he went to Mazomanie and took more photos of train art.

I think he has some more photos on his good camera so that's something to look forward to tomorrow.

Famous Hat

Movie Night: O Brother, Where Are Thou?

 

Today I worked from home, and it was such a gloomy day out that at noon I was able to shine the blacklight on our stuffed parrot Jose and get this photo.

It rained on and off today, so Travalon and I could walk outside in the morning but had to walk around the house at noon. I took a walk outside at three, and another at five, when it was very foggy. I'd heard the train horn outside and hurried to where I could see the tracks. The engine was huffing and puffing as if it were pulling a very heavy load, but when it came into view, it was just a normal length for a train in our neighborhood, nothing too long. It was going very slowly. Then I prayed a rosary while walking outside.

When Travalon came home, we watched O Brother, Where Art Thou, a movie I have waited twenty-six years to see. This was the ideal time to see it, after spending some time in Mississippi on our trip, since the movie was set (and mostly filmed) in Mississippi and really captured the eerie, surreal vibe of the place. The soundtrack also had a lot of the songs we listened to while driving through the state, so I understood a lot more about this movie than if I'd seen it when it came out in 2000, and I hadn't been to Mississippi at all. I have been to almost every state (not Texas, Oklahoma, most of New England, and I don't really count Idaho since I went through the panhandle at night while asleep), and no other state has the same eerie feeling like Mississippi does. Alabama does a little bit, but not to the same extent. I freaked out the first time I entered the state because the sign saying "Welcome to Mississippi" scared me, specifically the S's, but it took me a bit to realize that it's because they look like nooses. Other people have noticed this too, but the state maintains it used an old font. Nice try, Mississippi. We know your history. I even found a story online by a guy who was driving north on the very eerie Highway 45 and found himself in a creepy town that he could never find again. I kind of believe it.

My one coworker believes it too. We have signs that a previous coworker made for us to put on our doors, like "In a meeting," "At lunch," "On vacation," and "Working from home." A couple of weeks ago my "At lunch" sign disappeared, and I searched high and low for it, but it was gone. I asked this coworker if I could use hers, since she never puts her signs up, so she lent it to me. Then on Wednesday as I was getting ready to take a walk with Seabird, the sign seemed to fall from the ceiling. I brought the borrowed sign (which frankly was in rough shape) back to my coworker, and she asked where my sign had been, so I told her the story, and she said, "Sounds like a poltergeist!" I said there had to be some logical explanation, but she just said, "I like to believe there are things we cannot explain." Fair enough - I think so too.

Famous Hat 

The Hat on the Hat, or Ad Hoc Stew: Add Hock

 

This morning Travalon and I met Tiffy for coffee downtown, then Travalon went to the Veteran's Museum and the Memorial Union while Tiffy and I had lunch at the Indian restaurant on State Street and then hung out at her sister's apartment. It started to snow really hard, so we weren't too eager to walk to the Union to join Travalon, who was watching Badger basketball. Instead, he came back our way, and then we drove over to Richard Bonomo's house. 

A couple of weeks ago, Rich had wanted a bunch of us to watch The Court Jester because he said he was always quoting it. (I don't remember him quoting that movie, but he would say, "We have both kinds of music here, Country AND Western," which is from The Blues Brothers, and, "You no eat meat? YOU NO EAT MEAT?? Is okay - I make lamb," from My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which I believe he has never actually seen.) I couldn't make the original showing, so Rich planned a second one for those of us who couldn't come. Unfortunately, due to the heavy snow, the Dairyman's Daughter couldn't make it in from her home out of town, but Kathbert and Cecil Markovitch joined the three of us at Rich's house for his famous lasagna and some leftover truffles before watching this incredibly silly movie. I had a cup of tea during the movie and then had to ask Rich to pause it twice so I could run upstairs and "visit the dragons." The second time I couldn't find my phone (because it was charging in the kitchen, duh!) so I said aloud, "I guess I won't get credit for this one!" and went upstairs. The others all knew I meant I wouldn't get credit for a staircase without my phone tracking it, but Cecil was completely bemused and wondered who was giving me credit for using the bathroom, Travalon? 

That led to hilarity, and more ensued when Kathbert said Rich's vent stunk, he needed to clean his furnace filters, and Cecil said, "His filthy furnace filters," and we started adding any word that began with F (not THAT one) to whatever we said about the filters. We asked him when he last changed them, how many years ago? Was it a number greater than zero? Was it an imaginary number? Then Rich said something about making an "ad hoc" stew, meaning he just added whatever random thing he had around the house to it, and Cecil asked if he added hock to his ad hoc stew. (The Catholic church he and Rich now go to recently had a pork hock dinner.) Rich's list of what he put in his stew was pretty amusing: chicken, pork, beef, onions, green onions... I said, "So just add fifteen kinds of meat and thirteen kinds of onions." Tiffy wondered if there was something he had to have in his stew or it wasn't stew, and I said, "Like how gumbo always has to have okra?" and she said she always has to have beef consomme in her stew. She said you can get it in a can. That led to a conversation about how vegetables were terrible when we were kids, and why are they so much better now? Is it just that we are adults now? But we distinctly remember that Brussels sprouts and spinach and asparagus were awful back then because they were prepared differently. I said it was a revelation when I first had raw broccoli and cauliflower somewhere, and I ate a ton of it, surprised that they could taste so good. They're even better the way they're cooked nowadays, not boiled until almost mush. 

Here is a photo that kills two proverbial birds with one proverbial stone. You can see my new Muppets hoodie that I was afraid Kathbert would detest, since she dislikes Niko and my Third Eye toque and all the evil eye protection stuff, but she said, "I have no problem with two eyes. I just don't like that weird one-eyed stuff you have." Also, you can see the little red hat on my new plaid tam. The hat pin is a thing people are doing to protest ICE, because it's a replica of hats people were knitting in Norway during World War II to protest the Nazis taking over their country. I hadn't heard of this before, but the pin is very cute, and it kind of works on the tam.

Some people are knitting actual replicas of the red tasseled hat, but I do not need another hat. I heard the local community radio station has a toque for their fundraiser, and I'm curious about that now. Not to mention my longterm goal of getting that Red Cross toque in 2027. It's important to keep your eyes on the prize, especially if the prize is a hat. Maybe even a famous one!

Famous Hat

Willy Street Fair 2025

 

Today Travalon and I got going in time to go to the earlier Mass closer to us so we could get to Willy Street in time for the annual parade. As always, it was a crazy affair with the Brazilian drumming group, the Bubblemobile, a bunch of post-menopausal women dancing around while dressed as the Statue of Liberty, people on stilts, people fiddling, children on unicycles, a Balkan dance band, political chants, the Forward Marching Band, and two different LGBTQ floats, one of which threw me a piece of candy. (This list is not all-inclusive.) Like, right to me - there were no children around me. It reminded me of when the guy on that Mardi Gras float in Mobile, Alabama threw Hannibal O'Leary the Lime Green Lion right to me. After the parade, we went to the stand with the baobab shakes and the rice jollof, but we should have looked around more, because now there's a stand with tastier jollof and cheaper baobab shakes, as well as the place with the incredible lamb kebabs, but after splitting two servings of jollof, we had no room for them. I bought a pair of sunglasses to support our local radio station, and Travalon bought a Meep Meepleton T-shirt, his favorite shop on Willy Street full of vintage toys. I saw a faculty member and some of my Union peeps. On the way to the festival, we got coffee at Mother Fool's, who were doing a brisk business, and as we were leaving the festival, we got Dubai chocolate.

We met Mamastep, Anna Banana II, Jilly Moose, and OK Cap to see the final Downton Abbey movie, which was enjoyable but won't be winning any Oscars except maybe for costumes - the period outfits were fantastic. When the movie got done, I'd be late getting to the Irish session anyway, and also our band leader said no going to it, we were having band practice, so I went with the others to It's Good for You Pizza, where we sat outside and had an early dinner. Travalon and I hurried home so I could grab the mandolin, but before we headed to the far side of town, I checked my email, and the hostess had said, "See you all next week." I texted Hardingfele, who told me our leader had called her, and she wasn't going, and another fiddler was sick, and our bass player was going to the Irish session, so band practice was canceled. I wondered if our leader had actually gone to the Irish session and found me missing, so we headed over there, and I joined them for the final half-hour of the session. Sure enough, our leader was there, along with her partner, who was playing the ukulele. (As you find at all the traditional Irish sessions.) Famie was there too, but not the red-headed flute player, and our bass player was there with her fiddle, so I sat next to her, where I wouldn't be tempted to look at the music being projected onto a screen, because it was at my back. Our band leader said afterwards that since the bass player and I are always going to these Irish sessions anyway, the band will now go to them twice a month - that is, to all of them. I suspect part of this is because Hardingfele said she refuses to go to band practice every week, so if half the band is missing, then why practice? So if you can't beat 'em, join 'em... at the Irish session. We do supposedly have a gig coming up, so at some point we'll have to practice for that. Stay tuned...

Jilly Moose's nephews made her a clay moose head for her birthday.

This would have fit right in at the Willy Street Fair.

Famous Hat

Purple Rain

 

Today I worked on campus because we had another open lab to do training in the test environment of the new system. I also walked with Hardingfele at lunch, but it was hotter than I expected, and I was overdressed in my purple top and khakis. Travalon drove me to work and picked me up, and in the evening we went to a showing of Purple Rain at Flix Brew House. We saw this motorcycle there.

A couple watched us take these photos, and I noticed the woman was wearing purple and also a Prince symbol necklace, so I said. "I'll bet you're going to the same movie that we are." It turns out she is originally from France but apparently loved Prince so much that she moved here...? And that motorcycle belongs to her and her husband - it's a replica of the one in the movie. I was a bit surprised that she didn't have a favorite song by Prince; my two favorites are "Erotic City" and "Alphabet Street." 

They gave all of us free commemorative glasses (sorry, no photo yet) as we went into the theater. Neither Travalon nor I had seen this movie before, and a lot of it made us laugh, but I'm unclear if it was supposed to be funny or if it just seems funny now and almost forty years ago it would have been cool. When Morris Day sang his song about doing "The Bird," the women next to us (who looked way too young to have seen the movie back in the day) were laughing so hard that I couldn't help but laugh. Even the ending made us laugh with how cheesy it was. There isn't a whole lot of plot, just two rival bands and of course the leaders of both bands want the same woman, and in Prince's band there is some intra-band strife, mostly in the form of the two women in the band (who seem to be together, if you know what I mean) always trying to get the band to do songs they had written, and Prince insisting no, only he wrote the songs. I'm not sure if the movie is supposed to be autobiographical, because in that case Prince comes off like a big jerk. At least Morris Day is funny, even if he is a horn dog. I mean, they both are, so pick your poison. Morris Day was just a horn dog, but Prince was a bit malicious. Why the girl chose him over Day is a mystery to me. Maybe she should have formed a threesome with Wendy and Lisa in the band.

There was a special drink for this showing called the "Raspberry Beret," which was a raspberry shandy. However, they wouldn't serve it in our commemorative glasses. Mine came in some sort of Jurassic Park glass that had a picture of a dinosaur and said, "Clever girl." Maybe applicable to the drinker?

Famous Hat

Led Zeppelin Documentary

 

Today I worked on campus, and it was so cold that my colleague didn't want to walk at lunch. Instead, I went over to Hardingfele's building, which is a total maze, and we walked through it for half an hour. I had put some stuff in the mail and was frustrated that it never got picked up until a grad student pointed out that today is President's Day, a fact that has no meaning to us state workers who don't get the day off. I also thought I had a fraudulent charge on my purchasing card, which seemed to be for medical supplies and not line up with any of my recent orders from Amazon, but when I looked more closely, I did see that the order number matched some books we had ordered, and the amount was different because only two of them have come in. So that was a relief!

Travalon picked me up after work, and we went to Oliva, the Mideastern restaurant on the corner of High Point and Old Sauk Roads, but it was closed on Mondays so we went to Swagat, the Indian restaurant in the same complex. Just to mix things up, instead of getting my usual chicken tikki masala, I got tandoori shrimp masala, and we had some very garlicky naan, so between the garlic and the tomato sauce it almost felt like I'd had Italian food for dinner. Then we drove south on High Point Road to the cinema to see Becoming Led Zeppelin, a documentary with a lot of old footage of the band members as kids and teens. I did learn quite a bit, like that Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones played on other people's hits like Lulu and Donovan and Shirley Bassey - you can hear them both on the theme song to Goldfinger. Jimmy Page was even on TV when he was a young teen, playing guitar and singing with some school chums, and John Paul Jones was a choir master and organist at a church when he was fourteen. It was also fascinating watching the concert footage of early Zeppelin, because you could really see how Robert and Jimmy were having a conversation: Robert would sing something, and Jimmy would respond on the guitar. Meanwhile, John and John Paul were having their own conversation on drums and bass. It was a shame that so few people were at this movie, because it was really good. Hardingfele and her husband saw it this past weekend.

Here is a photo I forgot to post of yesterday's sunset.

 

I should get going - it's time for bed. Know what else it's time for? Some DuoLingo bragging!

I had half an hour of double play this evening, plus my fifteen minutes of double play from doing a lesson this morning, so that's why I earned so much. Tonight was a lot of fun because I was creating geometric shapes on a graph. That is a lot more entertaining than adding fractions together.

Famous Hat

Sushi-Making Party

 

Today I went to the most fun party ever: a sushi-making party! It was at Mamastep's mother's house, and her friends, family, and family's friends were there. I think there might have been thirty people at the height of things. Of course I came promptly around 11:00 am, not sure if this was a party where you had to arrive promptly, and then I was put to work rinsing the white off the rice and mixing the rice vinegar, salt, and sugar to mix into the rice. I had to rinse every batch of rice four times, and there were four rice cookers, so that was a lot of rinsing. Meanwhile, other people were chopping vegetables or cutting fish, and I flaked a can of crab meat and folded the cooked rice. We had four brands of peach-flavored saki to do a taste test, and we all agreed on what order we would rank them in for tastiness. Finally, all was ready, and I made my first sushi roll!

Not beautiful, but very tasty! Then I made a second roll, and I was informed about the existence of the sushi cutting mold, or whatever you want to call it, so my second roll was more aesthetically pleasing.

There was also a heart-shaped sushi cutting mold that other people used. Here is a sample. Someone else got an even more perfect heart-shaped bunch of sushi slices, but I didn't photograph that.

Check it out! Mamastep made a roll that looks like Olaf, the snowman from Frozen!

Meanwhile, Travalon went out to watch eagles in Sauk. He said a guy near him with a very large camera said one of the eagles was a golden eagle. He got some photos that I will post tomorrow. He also ran into Cecil Markovitch and the Single B-Boy out there, so they all went to the Wollersheim Distillery for a drink. It was crazy there because it was Port Day at the winery. I remember going for the port release party with the Rosary Ladies one year, and it is nuts that day. Cecil and the B-Boy were going to Devil's Lake to walk across the frozen lake, but Travalon had no interest. He came back to pick me up, and we took a walk in the neighborhood, since it was finally a bit warmer out today.

In the evening Travalon and I went to see the movie A Complete Unknown, about the events leading up to Pete Seeger and Bobbie Dye Lan almost getting into a fight at a folk festival. I really enjoyed the movie, being a musician. Is Bob Dylan a jerk? Yes, but did he have a point? Also yes. Pete Seeger had taken him under his wing as an up-and-coming folk singer, and so did Joan Baez, with whom he had an affair while he was living with another girl. In 1965 he was the big draw at the Newport Folk Festival, where he had played the year before, and Seeger told him everyone wanted to see just him with a guitar. However, the movie showed him playing with a number of people, so I can understand why Dylan wanted a band with him... and they were plugged in. It was kind of a scandal, and the movie showed Seeger trying to turn off the power until his wife stopped him. I'm not sure if that's really how it happened, but I can understand both the audience wanting Dylan to do the songs they knew and loved, and Dylan himself wanting to go off in new musical directions. So who was wrong and who was right? I don't think there's a simple answer to that. Timothee Chalamet did an amazing job playing Dylan, and apparently he even did all the singing himself, and he really sounded like him. The girl playing Joan Baez also sang just like her. I'm not sure why Travalon was so interested in seeing the movie, since I have never known him to be a Bob Dylan fan, but the movie is getting rave reviews and Oscar nominations, so it seemed worth seeing. And it was!

Famous Hat 

Why Is Famous Hat Fat? Give Five Reasons

 

Yesterday I went to a committee meeting; the committee is one I was on for a term of three years, then I re-upped because nobody else would do it, but I didn't re-up this most recent election. And yet here I am, because the Congress wants representation when they are discussing the ARTs. I asked about being a lower pay grade than the other people in the FART, and if people in that situation would be bumped up, but I got the very unsatisfactory answer that those with lower pay grades would do the lower tasks in the FART. I guess the college HR person didn't know who she was messing with, because I have connections. We'll see what happens... stay tuned.

Yesterday I also filled out a packet from a weight loss program that my doctor referred me to, and I swear every question was like, "Why are you fat? Give five reasons. What's keeping you fat? Give five reasons. What's the thinnest you've ever been, and why did you get fat again? Why don't you exercise, you lazy bum? Give five reasons." I didn't even know what to say to that, since I do get quite a bit of exercise. Of course, my doctor also wants to put me on one of these trendy new drugs that make you lose sixty pounds without doing anything, but I feel like there has to be a catch, like in ten years they'll find out it gives you gout or something, so I'm leery. Though believe me, it is tempting.

My hat looked like it was having the same sort of day.

It just sort of landed that way when I took it off. It looks like it has had about enough of this s--t.

Today I had a quiet day working from home, and it was very cold out so I prayed the rosary while walking inside at lunch and only ventured out to pray a Divine Mercy chaplet during my afternoon break. Then Travalon and I went to Mariner's for dinner, which turned out to be very cheap in the present because we had paid for it in the past by buying gift certificates, so our three-course dinners were like $2.75 plus tip. I had a salad with candied pecans, dried cherries, and blue cheese, and crab-stuffed salmon, while Travalon had clam chowder and walleye, and we both had key lime pie. So good! Then we came home and watched The Wild Robot, an animated film that seemed too deep to be a kid's movie. It's been nominated for an Oscar, and I can see why - the animation is beautiful, and the plot dealt with themes like motherhood, death, and belonging. I enjoyed it, and Travalon did too, although I think he slept through a lot of it. I had wanted to see it in the theaters this past summer, but we never got around to going, and now we can watch it for free on the channel Travalon watches soccer on. Good to know it has movies too.

Famous Hat

Rainy Sunday at Olbrich and Garver Mill

 

This morning Travalon and I went to Mass in a tiny town just west of us. It's further away than where we usually go, but it's also straight down Highway K, so it takes the same amount of time as going to Mass in the gym. Someone told me last night at the party about what a pretty church it is, and they also use some Latin and sing hymns that I know, not this newer stuff I'm not as familiar with. Here's a photo:

It rained all day today, so Travalon and I went to Olbrich Gardens to walk inside. We saw lots of interesting plants and cute birds... and a dead butterfly. Here are some photos (not the butterfly). The first few photos were taken by me.

This is an orchid - I forget the variety, but it starts with a V.

More orchids.

This is actually a plant that is related to pineapple, a bromeliad, with strange flowers.

These were all taken by Travalon using his phone. First, a plumeria.

I think this next one is called a chenille plant.

This is another bromeliad in bloom.

Some little birds.

More birds - finches in the feeder, and quail on the ground.

I think this is a type of ginger...?

Pitcher plants! They're carnivorous.

This is a fake waterfall.

More bromeliads in bloom.

I forget what they call these flowers, but it's clearly an arum.

Despite the wet weather, we decided to go outside too. Not too many people were out there. Here are some photos. Travalon took these first few. The Thai Pavilion was recently renovated.

These are hollow stems for bees to hibernate in,

I took the next batch. Some fall colors to start.

Interesting fungi on a stump.

Look, a pomegranate bush!

I think this is eucalyptus. I love the silvery color.

There was a collection of wooden sculptures from a show earlier this year.

We walked over to Garver Mill, where they were having a vintage flea market, but the tam-o-shanter I fell in love with was too small for even my head (must be for a child), and the guy selling rosaries wanted way too much. There was a cheap plastic one with a cool centerpiece, a cheap metal one from the Vatican he really wanted a lot for, a crystal one that was almost a reasonable price, and the most expensive one had a very basic crucifix and centerpiece but beautiful black glass beads. I thought it was overpriced, but as my regular readers know, I work more on intuition than logic, so after handling all the rosaries, that was the one that really called to me, so I got it. At Garver Mill they had another wooden sculpture that looked like it was part of the same exhibition. 

We hurried home so I could go to Irish class, which unfortunately started at the same time as the Packer game, but I've missed several lately so I felt bad not to attend. It was very interesting - we talked about travel, and one person had been in Chile during some sort of uprising, and another one had gone to Cape Breton to either play or listen to music (my Irish isn't quite perfect), and he used his knowledge of Irish Gaelic to try to speak Scottish Gaelic with them. 

The other thing is that I didn't have a good feeling about the Packer game, although if this is the Lions' year, that is fine with me because they've never had a year. The Bears had their year, back in 1985. I did turn the game on as soon as class was done, and it had been a close game, but right then Jordan Love threw the ball right to a Lions defender like twelve yards from the goal line, so no kidding it was a pick six. The defense seemed pretty lousy too, and they quickly gave up another touchdown. Travalon had been watching at a nearby bar called The Willows, but he came back at halftime, and we decided to watch the rest of the game at Bierock. The Packers really looked bad - I guess they hated playing in all that rain, but they always play outdoors, and the Lions play in a dome and weren't fazed by the rain, so what the heck.

I was too tired to go to band practice, so we sat at home and watched the movie Coco, which is the only Day of the Dead movie I know of. And wouldn't you know, as soon as we finished it, we saw they were showing it on TV, so maybe it is a thing, like all the Christmas movies at Christmastime. I just hope I have the energy to get through a whole day of work on campus tomorrow.

Famous Hat