#like it's a lot of driving to go to Raleigh twice in 2 days

[thefaultinourchickennuggets]

OOOOO the Mcelroys are coming back to NC this summer!!!! Hell yeah!!! Who want's to go with me??

[ecodweeb]

EV Rentals with Turo and Hertz: nope, never again

As you may be aware, I justified the purchase of Karen the Kona based on Albert the Audi being out of service for a drivetrain replacement and my husband needing to rent a car to visit his father for his birthday on a weekend I was supposed to be out of town for work. Needless to say the rental experience made him very, very glad that I bought a second car.

This all started out with optimism: he was going to rent an Ioniq 5, which was a potential candidate as “next car” whenever that time came. He rented the car on Turo from a lady who apparently had a fleet of cars with a “driver” who delivers the cars to the renters. This person doesn’t follow directions, as my husband was detailed with photos as to where the car needed to be parked at his work and which charger to plug it into. They ignored all of that and plugged it into a Level 2 charger in the wrong part of the parking lot, meaning the car wasn’t charged sufficiently for him to immediately hit the road when he got off work.

Not like that was going to happen -- the car was delivered with a flat rear tire and he spent over 20 minutes in fleeting daylight to photograph every wheel on the car which had massive curb damage, every scratch, wrinkle, and tear. This car had just over 30,000 miles on it but looked like it had triple that in wear. He was so late coming home to get the dogs that I called him afraid he’d been in an accident of some kind. When he gets home, he plugs the car into our ChargePoint Home Flex 50A charger so it’ll soak up as much power as possible before he hits the road. I got our Ryobi hand held air compressor out and aired all the tires up to the factory spec. The rear tire was over 8lb underinflated -- not good for tire life.

So after rushing about to install the dog cover in the back seat, harness and load the dogs (remember we have a quasi-geriatric who needs help getting into and out of cars and is prone to puking), and load up all his stuff.... he kissed me on the forehead and said goodbye, walking out and leaving his dad’s birthday card and present on the pool table. Oops. This, however, wasn’t going to be the worst of the weekend. He had to stop twice on his way up to put air into that rear tire. The trip is only ~180 miles so every 90 or so he’d have to stop and air it back up. His consumption was low 3′s - which is poor for this vehicle as it should get over 4 on a trip like this - and he rolled up with 6% state of charge (he left with around 90%) and a low tire warning.

Now, on Saturday - the day after he left - I bought the Kona and had every intention of driving it up to his parents house and dropping off the birthday present, however the whole locking the keys in the car at the Greensboro charging stop derailed those plans. He did look at the car and found that it did indeed have a nail in that tire, and had asked us to bring him a tire patch kit - which we couldn’t do. I felt terrible about this, in fact, I moped about it for days.

He did the smart thing and ignored the car until Monday, when he took it to a tire shop. Turns out this thing didn’t have one, but two punctures in it and it was filled with slime where someone used the roadside kit on it already. There is no way this car should have been handed off to him in this condition. This is where things get ugly, fast. He had been calling the owner multiple times and only getting voicemail. He was messaging her in the app and could see that she read his messages but wasn’t responding. So he called Turo and Turo refuses to replace the tire, saying they’d reimburse him if he did it. The tire shop refuses to let the car drive away with that tire on it. Eventually - after about two hours of calling - Turo agreed to send a roadside tow truck to tow the vehicle back to the Raleigh dropoff/return point. John now needed to rent another car to get home.

HIs mom went to the tire shop and picked him up, she’d intended to take him to Enterprise (which he worked at in college). On the way he saw Hertz and that Hertz had a Tesla Model 3 sitting right in front of the lot, so he asked his mom to pull in there. The Tesla actually needed to go back to North Carolina, so they were delighted that he inquired about it. I was less enthused, because I knew he was going to utterly hate the car but at least he could say he’s driven one on a real road trip and could form his own opinion. He loaded up the pups and headed towards home. I called him at one point and it sounded as if he was talking to me in a tunnel, the audio quality of the Tesla was horrible - worse than the Hyundai, our Audi, or really any vehicle we’ve owned with a factory handsfree system. He said that I, too, sounded like I was in a tunnel to him. I’d say perhaps it was a bad connection, but all calls I made were at home over Gigbit Fiber (T-Mobile Wifi calling for the win). I asked him how he liked the car and he said “on paper I thought I’d love it, but it keeps emergency braking in the middle of sweeping bends on US220 and the last time it threw the old dog against the back of my seat, so I can’t use the cruise control system at all.” Well, that’s both unfortunate but also what I expected. We have a friend who lives out that way and is currently stuck with a Model 3 (intended it to be a 3-6mo purchase then flip for $$$ until the used market for Teslas dropped out). He told me that his does the same thing, and that he’s just accepted that he has to manually drive that section of 220 to get to Roanoke. 

When my husband got home, he didn’t say he hated the car... but he did say we’d never buy one. We’d ridden in Kyle Connor’s 2018 model on I-95 and both complained about the wind noise, he said that this 2020 model was just as bad as the 2018. He also said that the trim that goes around the passenger seatbelt in the B-pillar would squeak/rattle - and I said hold up now, that was an endearing trait on your Volvos (the “volvo squeak”) and he said yes but that wasn’t loud and border line ear piercing. He then went into the common complaints -- the touch screen is annoying to use, nothing about the car was intuitive, and that the minimal interior was too minimal for him.

He didn’t plug the car in, and I asked him why. He told me that Hertz told him so long as they could move it around the lot that he didn’t need to charge it. I told him we should plug it in because I recalled reading an article from Reddit that Hertz (or someone else renting EVs) had modified their return policy so that if you brought it back with over 70% charge there wasn’t a fueling fee, 30-70% there was like a $50 fee and below 30% was a $100 fee. He wanted to argue that “They said,” and I said “It’s Hertz, do you really want to chance this?” So we plugged it in and let it charge until it was over 75% charged to return it. While we waited the owner of the Ioniq 5 messaged him - not called, messaged - that she’d so sorry, she just got off a 16-hour international flight and wasn’t able to respond. John’s exact words were to her were “If you’re going to be renting vehicles and know you’ll be out of touch on a flight, you should have someone to manage this for you.” He was much more polite than I would have been.

We dropped the Tesla off and didn’t think much about it until a few days later when John was dealing with Turo about being reimbursed for his trip interruption. Turo finally agreed to refund him the cost of the Hertz rental, but they wouldn’t refund anything on the actual Turo rental. He flat out said he’d never rent from Turo again. He then checked his credit card and sees an additional $75 charge from Hertz for his rental. He calls Hertz and they tell him it’s because he returned the car without charging it. He argues, no I did. They’re confused. You used a Supercharger, so that’s why there is the fee. He said no, I plugged it in at my house and charged it above 70% before returning it, keeping in line with the online policy. This call gets escalated, and ultimately they’re told the office issued this charge and that he’d need to take it up with them.

So we have a friend who works at the office we dropped the car off at, and she told us that no his rental was closed out by corporate and gave him a number to call. The person who answered again said well you supercharged it, and he said no I charged it at home. The agent couldn’t seem to understand this and I couldn’t help but grin when he said “Madam, we own 6 EVs and three charging stations at home. I charged it at home before returning it, I did not pay to use a supercharger or anything else.” They say they need to send him to a Tesla specialist, that person again wants to argue that he charged at a Supercharger. Well, after standing his ground they come back and say “oops, sorry, yeah, we’ll reverse this charge.” 

At the next run club he saw our friend who works at the office. She said she poked around and saw that the office never closed the rental out when he returned it and had rented the car back out to someone else who did charge at a supercharger and it billed to my husband’s rental. Ultimately this was a comedy of errors that only we could experience.

So, will we rent a car from Turo or Hertz again? Turo’s a hard no - when they were RelayRides I had an account and cancelled it after the Liz Fong-Jones lawsuit. I named their treatment of this vehicle host as the reason I was closing my account, as a result... several years later after they rebranded to Turo, I re-opened my account to rent my BMW i3 to my best friend who took it on a 2800+ mile excursion to Florida before he moved to Colorado. I had to fight because my account is permanently blacklisted from renting card on their platform. I went through many avenues to find out why - it’s not Turo policy to explain why they do things - and the NC Attorney General’s letter to Turo got a written response that was forwarded to me stating that I was deemed high risk due to comments made to customer service and not due to my driving record.

Will I rent from Hertz? Well, we did notice they have Kona Electrics as rentals and since we own that model I’d gladly rent one. However, I’d make sure that I return the car during business hours (we dropped off overnight while they were closed) and ensure my rental is fully closed out and that I do not owe any additional fees. My husband has said he simply refuses to go by car if it’s not his Audi.

[stardustheartbeats]

30 - 50 all the ones you haven't answered yet!! 💖

ahh thank you anya!

31. Have you been to multiple dates for one tour?

yes!!! I saw Walk the Moon and The 1975 both twice on the same tour!

32. Have you been to concerts 2 or more days in a row?

yes! in a festival setting! 2-3 days in a row!

33. Have you ever received free tickets from a contest or an artist’s crew?

no and honestly? that needs to happen TBH

35. Have you ever gotten sick, bruised, or broken a bone after a concert?

Once I saw Bastille in the rain outside and I got a cold afterwards hahaha

36. Have you ever had surprise guests at a concert you attended?

Not that I can remember :(

38. What’s the latest you’ve got home from a concert?

2-3 a.m! when I had to drive 2+ hours to get to a place.

39. When is the earliest you’ve arrived to a venue for a concert?

literally 8 in the morning!!!!!

40. Have you seen your favorite artist in concert?

I’ve been so lucky to see most of my favorite artists in concert! The only one I haven’t seen is Florence + the Machine and I hope hope hope I can see her at some point!

41. Longest you’ve waited in line for a concert?

like 12 hours! when I got to the venue at 8 am for the 1975 one time! it was INSANE and DECEMBER and I would literally never ever do that ever again.

42. Have you ever attended a concert alone? 

not yet!! but I have a couple in the coming year that I’ll be at alone!

44. Have you ever heard/seen an artist soundcheck before their show?

yes actually! by accident. I was going to Ed Sheeran one time and I had to pick up my tickets early at will call, which was inside the arena, so I went in and got them and then no one was supervising me and I could hear him soundchecking so I just like, acted like I knew where I was going and hung around listening to him lol.

45. What’s the biggest venue you’ve been to a concert at?

Probably when I saw Taylor Swift in Hyde Park in London? Lol that’s not really a venue but definitely the biggest place I’ve seen someone.

46. What’s the smallest venue you’ve been to a concert at?

This tiny ass place in Raleigh called the Ritz! I’ve seen lots of people there. Not counting like, coffeeshops and bars where people were doing sets.

47. Have you ever had side stage seats?

actually yes! when I saw Miley Cyrus it was my friend’s birthday and we had seats, but then we also got to go stand right at the stage when she moved to the B stage. it was crazy.

48. Which venue have you been to the most concerts at? 

The Fillmore in Charlotte! I think I’ve seen….12 concerts there? That I can remember?

49. Do you post a lot about a concert you’ve attended on social media or very little?

Depends on the person! If i’m super excited I’ll post more! NEVER excessively though. I know the limits!

50. Has a concert or tour you were planning on going to got cancelled?

yes! I was supposed to see Sam Smith once and he had to cancel!

thank you!!!!

[duketheman]

Generation 4 Part 4

Skipping ahead seven months

Sunday November 24, 2019

"John Ross comes home for the Holidays"

It's 4:30am & I'm finishing up my cup of coffee & Mary is asleep as she's getting close to the Delivery date & I want her to rest. I'm sure she'll be up before I get back from the Airport with JR! His flight is scheduled to arrive at 6:00am & I'm being cautious as to have plenty of time to park & meet him at the gate! We don't miss Church, so we'll attend evening service tonight! It's 4:45am & I'm on my way to Miami International to pick up JR. Mary is so excited & as for Kellyanne, I've asked George to bring her to the house later! JR wanted to surprise her, so we didn't mention him coming home yet! It's 5:30am & I've arrived at the airport. I park in the Garage & walk across to the terminal to the arrival gate! I go to the coffee shop & purchase a Cinnamon Bun & a cup of coffee, sit down & wait for the flight to land! Ahh, his flight is landing! It 6:15am & late. But no matter, it's here, safe & that's what counts! The airport is just starting to get crowded Thanksgiving holiday & all! It's 6:40am & JR is just getting through Security! I tell: ~JR!!!!~ He sees me & walks towards in my direction. First words out of his mouth: ~Dad, how Kellyanne, God I miss her! Oh you to Dad, how have you & mom been, Is she showing big now?~ I reply: ~We've been fine & yeaaa! She showing real big son! Did Kellyanne tell you she's got a baby sister coming around the same time as you new baby

brother?~ He replies: ~Yea, that's something, isn't Dad! Weird but I like it. They can be best friends! Let's go home Dad, I really want to to see Mom. I miss her so much! Sometimes when I was down & stuck on something I thought I couldn't do; Mom encouraged me & told me I can do anything if I put my mind to it! Just like when I was a kid! She called me allot Dad!~ I reply: ~She's that way son. Always has been. She loves you more than anything! Let's go, she's probably awake & cooking us breakfast as we speak!~ We pick his bags out from the Baggage Carousel, left the terminal & walked across to the garage where my Beamer was parked! It's 7:55am & we're headed for home! We're pulling into our Driveway & it's 9:00am. JR darts for the house! He really missed his Mother! I get the bags & carry them into the house! I open the door & the two of them are hugging each other like it's been years! My wife is crying she's so happy to see her little man! I walk by them with the bags & carry them upstairs to JR's room! I smell food & I welcome it, I'm starving! She's got Bacon, sausage, Biscuits, white gravy, eggs & grape jelly on the table. Grape is JR's favorite! We have Orange juice, milk, coffee & apple juice for Mary. My wife says: ~You boys dig in now, while it's hot!~ Nobody has to tell me twice, I'm hungry! I'm finished eating, & I get up, pick up the table & clean everything up. That gives time for Mary to catch up with JR! Afterall, at 12:30pm, Kellyanne will be here & they're going to be spending an awful lot of time together! I'm done with the dishes, those two are still at it, so I go into the library & read up on seaman regulations! They're constantly changing! Wow, two hours & my eyes are killing me, I need a break! Doorbell is ringing, it 12:25pm. It's George, Lucy & Kellyanne! I invite them in & before I can say anything, Kellyanne sees JR. She yells out in Joy: ~John Ross! 'O John Ross, I didn't even know you were going to be here! When did you get in?~ He replies: ~I wanted to surprise you! I got in early this morning! I've missed you so much Kellyanne!~ She replies:

~John Ross, I've missed you terribly! I'm so happy you're home! How long are are you home for John Ross?~ He replies: ~ I have to leave on January 2, 2020. I'm here until after the Holidays!~ The go into the other room so they can talk! Man, I can't tell who's belly is bigger! Oh well, next month the new ones will be filling everybody's hearts with joy!

Skipping ahead to November 27

It's 7:00am & Mary, myself, JR, George, Lucy & Kellyanne are getting ready to board a flight to Valdosta Regional Airport Headed to spend the Holidays with my parents! Mary's Parents & Julia's Mother will also be joining us at the Mansion! We've checked our luggage & it's 7:30am. Our flight leaves at 8:00am & we're going through Security now! It's 7:55am & we're boarding the plane! The trip is expected to be smooth & take approximately 4 hours with 1 stop. We should be landing at about 12:00pm! I will be happy to see my parents & JR certainly will enjoy seeing all of his Grandparents in one place. This will probably be the last time he'll see his Grandma Rachael! She's been in poor health lately. I'm glad she'll have time with JR! It's 12:05pm & we're landing. We disembark the plane & run through Security. It's 12:45pm & we're heading towards the Baggage Carousel! The ladies are seated so not to put strain on them. They are just about a week from due date! My Father has sent a Limousine service to pick us up because of the amount of people! I spot the Chofer holding a sign with our name on it! I signal him to come & give us a hand! We get a Baggage cart & load the luggage onto it & head for the door. The Car is parked at the loading zone. We help the ladies in the we get in. The Chofer loads the luggage in the trunk! We're on our way to Madison County, just across the State line. About 30-35 minutes from here to the Mansion! It's 1:30am & we're pulling onto the Grounds of Newport Mansion! George says: ~Dang Harry, dis place be beautiful! I ain't neva seen a place be like dis!~ I reply: ~It's just a place to live George! Too big for me!~ My Parents are both outside waiting for us as we pull up! My Mother is quite famous for her Sweet tea & Lemonade! My Grandma Nippy's recipe! She welcome everyone. She kisses me on the cheek & my wife & says:

~We've missed you!~ She shakes the hands of George & Lucy & says: ~You're most welcome here, consider yourselves part of the family. My name is Candace, you may call me Candy!~ She looks at Kellyanne & says: ~Now, who do we have here child? Such a Beautiful young Lady!~ She replies: ~My name is Kellyanne Mam, Pleased to meet you! Mother replies: ~ So polite! Well then Kellyanne, you can call me Grandma if you wish. ~Now everyone, this is Charles, my husband Harry's Father!~ She turns to JR & says: ~Now John Ross, come here my boy & let you Grandma give you some love!~ He walks over to Mother & holds out his arms & my Mother gives her Grandson a hug to remember! She says: 'O John Ross, I've missed you so much! I'm so proud of you & I'm so glad you could make it & spend the Holidays with us!

Rachael, will be flying in tonight, Will & Laura are driving & should be here soon! Our family keeps growing! Now for you two expecting Mothers, arrangements have been made with Madison County Memorial Hospital! I have a Dr Jameson on call in case of an emergency! I believe your Doctor is Kleinpeter? Dr Jameson says that he knows him!

Dr Jameson has with your permission agreed to take over while you're here? Both Mary & Lucy simultaneously say: ~Of course, & thanks Mom, Mary adds!~ Mother calls for Huntington: ~Huntington, please show our guest to their rooms!~ He replies: ~Yes Mam, (looks at us) right this way please?~ George asks: ~Harry, a Butler, well day beat all! Dis place be Beautiful Harry!~ Mother says loudly: ~We've had a late lunch prepared for you, if you're hungry!~ I reply: ~Yes, thank you Mother, I'm quite

hungry!~ George adds: ~Me too, me belly be achin, really achin! Me be thirsty too! Harry, Rich people drink beer?~ I reply: Yes George, my Father was born in Texas. He enjoys a cold Bud once in a while! But he quite likes his Brandy!~ He replies: ~Me too!~ I leave my wife upstairs to change & come down to say a real hello to my Father: ~Hello Father, I've missed you!~ He turns to me & says: ~Son, I've missed you too! I'm so happy you came to spend the Holidays with us!~ He hugs me & says: ~ I love you Son!~ I've always been close to my Father! He's a Good man & has always done his very best for his family! I ask: ~Father, will my Sister & Brothers be joining us?~ He replies: ~Jaime had to make a choice! She's spending Thanksgiving with Bill's parents! They'll be joining us for Christmas! You're Brothers have to work through Thanksgiving because of some bureaucratic meddling! They'll be joining us this weekend!~ Everyone is coming downstairs, let's go into the Drawing room, Huntington will be serving a late lunch! Just some horderves & little stuff like that to hold you over until dinner.~ We all enter the Drawing room & Father asks: ~Drinks anyone?~ George is ready: ~Bud please?~ Father replies:

~Of course George, Would you be a Seaman by any chance my good man?~ aye, Me would Sir!~ Both our wives reply: ~Sprite if you don't mind?~ The kids have already got Coke! I request: ~Scotch on the Rocks~ In comes Huntington: ~Horderves!~ He's serving us one by one! Shrimp, Caviar, Olives, Rolled Ham, & other various treats! Kids ask him if he'd just make the a couple sandwiches & he happily agreed! We sat, enjoyed each other's company toasted the expecting Mother's & my Parents as well as Mary's & of course Rachael! It's nice being around family & friends. I'm really glad we made this trip!

4:00pm & Mary's parents just arrived from Raleigh, NC. They've got to be tired, that's at least a 11 hour trip; allowing stopping to rest & eat! Straight through, mmmmh, I'd say 8 1/2 hours! Either way, it's hard on them at their age! Mary & Mother & myself meet them at the car, & I get their luggage out of the trunk! Laura looks at her daughter & begins to cry out of happiness! She places her hand on Mary's belly, giggles & says: ~I can feel the little guy kicking in their!~ Mother walks up to Laura & says:

~Welcome my Dear Friend, we're so glad you could join us for the Holidays!~ She replies: 'O Candice, we appreciate you guys so much. I wouldn't miss it for the world, & besides; my Baby is having a Baby! Now where is John Ross?~ I reply: ~He's somewhere around here with Kellyanne!~ She replies: ~Kellyanne? Our Little man is not so little anymore, is he?~I reply: ~No Laura, he's in love!~ She remarks: ~Well, that sounds serious!~ I say: ~Yes, it is!~ Mary hugs her Father & kisses his cheek, hugs him again & says: ~'O Daddy, I've missed you so much! How have you & Mom been doing? Have you stayed well?~ He replies:~Yes my Dear, We've been well! I get quite bored with myself since I retired from the University, but it's worth it to spend more time with your Mother! We've missed you too!~ Candace he says: ~Where's Charles?~ She replies: ~Charles has gone to the Airport! Rachael's flight is scheduled to arrive at 5:00pm from Dallas! They'll be pulling in before you know it! Let's go inside?~ We all go into the Mansion & Mother calls for Huntington: ~Huntington, please show my Dear friends to their room?~ He replies: ~Yes mam~ She adds: ~Will, Laura, We'll let you freshen up! We can talk after!~ Huntington grabs their bags & shows them to their room! It's 6:00pm & Father's arrived with Rachael! Mother & I meet them at the car. I open the rear passenger door & help Rachael out. I hug her & say: ~Mom, I'm so glad you could make it! The Holidays wouldn't be the same without you!~ She replies: ~I almost didn't come Harry, I was hurting, but I want to see you & my Grandson one more time before I join my Baby & Jimmy in Heaven! Where is that boy?~ I reply: ~I'll find him for you Mom! He's around here somewhere, he doesn't know you're here yet!~ Mother asks: ~How was your trip Rachael? How are you feeling?~ She replies: ~The trip was fine Candy, I'm just a little tired! How are you doing?~ Mother replies: ~I'm doing pretty good for an old Lady! Come inside & rest, I'll have Huntington take your bags to your room!~ They go inside & I'm in search of my son! There they are, on the swing! I call out: ~JR! Your Grandma Marcantel is here! Go see her!~ He replies: ~Grammy's here, come on Kellyanne, you'll just love her!~ He takes Kellyanne by the hand & heads for the house to see his Grandmother! She has pancreatic cancer & it's spread beyond control! There's no more they can do! This is the last time he'll see her! She's all that's left of Julia besides my son! I go back to the house & go inside! Everyone is sitting in the Drawing room talking & getting to know each other! I ask George: ~How's it going Buddy, enjoying yourself?~ He replies: ~aye Harry, ya be havin a huge family ya be Harry! Me like very allot!~

It's 7:00pm & Huntington announces: ~Dinner is being served in the Dinning room!~ We all go towards the Dining & are seated! George's eyes have doubled in size! I haven't seen this table filled in years, since my Wedding! The food looks Delicious. Tomorrow is the Big one, Thanksgiving! Mother goes all out! We finish dinner & retire to the Drawing room. It's 9:00pm & my Father offers drinks. The kids are drinking soft drinks. The ladies all, except for Mother, request just water. Rebecca needs to take her meds. The remaining four of us have Brandy! We sit & visit & we are truly family! It's 10:00pm & we're all tired! Rachael calls me over & whispers to me: ~Harry, please take me to see my Julia in the morning?~ I reply: ~Of course I will Mom! First thing.... We say Goodnight & retire to our rooms respectfully! My poor Mary, her legs are swelled up, so I run her a warm bath. I wash her back for her, I love pampering my wife! I take a shower & we both get into bed. I rub her legs for her to make them feel better! We lay down & I put my arm around her, resting my hand on her belly! I can feel the baby moving around inside of her, God is Good! Goodnight all!

Thursday, November 28

Thanksgiving Morning

Julia's Grave

It's early, 6:00am, & My son & I are up drinking coffee! The others are still sleeping. I promised Rachael that I would take her over to the East side of the property to see Julia's grave! JR wanted to come along to see his Mother's grave & asked if he could come along! It's 7:00am & Rebecca has come down stairs. I ask: ~Coffee mom?~ She replies: ~No, but thank you Harry! Coffee doesn't agree with me anymore. Maybe some juice diluted with water?~I reply: ~Sure mom, Apple juice okay?~ She replies: ~That will be fine Harry, Thanks!~ She takes out this pharmacy of medication out & begins to take them a few at a time! She asks: ~Harry, can I have a piece of toast, no butter? Just to settle my stomach!~ I reply: ~Sure mom, I'll fix it for you now!~ I give a plate with toast & she nibbles on it until it's gone! 

It's 8:00am & I borrowed my Father's car! We're enroute to the East side of the property where our Family Cemetery's located! It's about a twenty minute drive. It's 8:25 & we've arrived at the cemetery. I help Rachael out of the car & the three of us walk over to Julia's grave. Rachael puts her hand on the Gravestone & talks to her daughter with tears in her eyes: ~I'll be with you & your Daddy soon Baby! We all miss you so much! John Ross is here! He misses you too Julia! But he's doing fine! You'd be so proud of him, he's grown into a fine young man!~ She closed eyes and said a prayer. JR took hold of her hand & prayed with her. He said: ~I love you Mom, I've never forgotten how you use to hold me! I never will Mom, I promise!~ I too had my own private talk with Julia, I shall keep to myself! Rachael asks: ~Harry, what a beautiful Headstone! I've never quite seen one like this before!~ I reply: ~Julia always loved the Dolphins! I only thought it right to have them watch over her!~ She replies:

Thank you Harry for that! She always thought they were the true Mermaids of the Sea! She had a whole shelf full as a little girl!~ I place an array of Julia's favorite flowers on her grave! I say: ~Mom, you know we all love you. You know JR & I love you. My Parents love you! Mom, we'd like to move Dad from Shreveport & lay him to rest beside Julia with your permission! Mom, we've a spot here for you too! She's got tears in her eyes & replies: ~Harry, we have nobody in Shreveport! Yes, of course you have my permission! Harry, our Julia loved you very much! God Bless you

Harry!~ We get back in the car & ride back to the Mansion! Throughout the day we all had time to catch up. Later that evening......

Thanksgiving Dinner

6:00pm

Huntington rings a bell: Dinner is being served! May I offer my Heartfelt Happy Thanksgiving to you all. Mother announces: ~Today is Thanksgiving Huntington, & you are considered part of this family. You'll be eating with us tonight Huntington!~ He replies: ~Yes Mam, thank you mam!~ I've never seen Huntington smile before, but he's smiling now!

The twelve of us all go to the Dining room & are seated as such: Mother & Father at each end. Rachael is seated on Mother's right & Huntington on her left. Kellyann is seated next to Rachael & JR next to Huntington. Lucy is seated next to Kellyanne & her George next to JR. Mary's Mother is seated next to Lucy & he Father is seated next to George. Mary is seated on my Father's left & I on his right! My Father says Grace over the Thanksgiving Feast. Amen. The table is set in a Formal matter & with a Feast fit for Royalty, everything anyone could imagine. My Mother always does it right!

We eat drink & be Thankful for the food, love of Family & all God has provided us! God is Truly Good! God Bless us all!

We're finished with dinner & all retire to the Drawing room for Drinks & conversation! Mother decides that it's time that we put some Christmas music on! Tomorrow she will be putting up a tree! She has a 21ft Douglas Fur being trucked in from Atlanta in the morning.

We're singing Christmas Carols, we've only 27 days till Christmas! It's 11:30pm. Rachael looks tired. She needs to rest, I help her upstairs to her room! She's in pain & I ask: ~Mom, is there anything I can do?~ She replies:

~No Harry, It'll pass! I just need to rest! Thank you Harry, for everything! I reply: ~Goodnight Mom, Sleep well!~

I go back downstairs & join the rest of the Family! It's 1:00am & we decide to end the night & retire to our rooms.

Mary's Water Breaks!

We say our Goodnights & go upstairs. While in the bathroom, Mary calls me in: ~Harry, it's time,my water broke!~ I reply ~Darling, it's too early!~ I'm quite anxious by now! She has a bag ready & I proceed to take her downstairs, only stopping to knock on Mother's door to let her know & Mary's parents, who's wanting to accompany us. They'll drive since their car is here! Mother's calling Dr Jameson to meet us at Memorial!

We make Madison County Hospital & its 2:15am. Professor Covington drops us off at the Emergency entrance & I grab a wheelchair & wheel Mary in. I'm going out of my mind & Mary is cool, calm & collective. We get her admitted & Dr Jameson arrives. He examines her & says: ~How are you doing young lady?~ Mary replies: ~I'm having a Baby!~ He turns to me & asks: ~Your the Father, Are you going to be in there with her~ I reply I can be there too?~ He replies ~Yes, of course, better hurry & get ready! She's almost fully dilated, it won't be long! He tells the nurse to have me wash my hands, get me a gown & mask. He has Mary get in a gown & lay on a gurney. The wheel her I to the delivery room & I follow. They transfer her to a Delivery table. The Dr asks: ~Want an epidural?~ She replies: No Doctor, I want this to be natural!~ The nurse says: ~She's fully dilated Doctor~ He replies: ~Good, I want you to breathe!~ I'm watching this as he reaches between her legs, gently grasp this little head coming out of my wife!

Friday November 29, 2019

Time of Birth: 4:11am

Harry Jr. 7 lbs 13oz

He's crying as he comes out. I always thought they had to swat the rear end. I'm evidently wrong! He hands him to the nurse who places him on my wife's belly as he cuts the umbilical cord & cleans the fluids out of his mouth & nose! They wrap him in a blanket & hand him to me, while they clean Mary up! He's perfect & healthy & his Mother his okay too. God is Good, thank you Lord!

They're done cleaning her up, I kiss her & say:

~I love you Mrs Newport, he's perfect. ~ She replies: ~'O my Harry, I love!~ They hand her the baby & she's as proud as she can be! She crying & says: Harry: ~His name is Harold Joseph Jr.!~ She named him after me!

They tell they're taking her to the room & will let me know when I & the Grandparents can come in! I go to the visiting room & give Mary's parents the news. They are ecstatic that they have a new Grandson. It's 5:30am & I call my Mother. I spoke to JR & told him he has a new baby Brother. Everyone is excited to hear the news & are making ready to come to the Hospital. It's 8:00am, my parents, JR & Kellyanne arrive to visit Marry! The Baby is in the Nursery for now & can be viewed through a window. George & Lucy will visit later when I come back to the Hospital! Rebecca is not feeling well & is resting in her room. Mother has hired a nurse to stay with us as long as Rachael needs her! It's 10:00am & I kiss my wife, tell her I love her & I need to go get a couple hours rest & check on Rachael! We'll ride home with my parents & I'll return this afternoon. We head home & Mary's parents will follow so she can get her rest. We get home, it's 10:50am. I go upstairs to check on Rachael & find she's in pain. I ring for the nurse & she explains that she just gave her a shot of Morphine & anymore would be dangerous! She get some cool towels so to bring her temperature under control. I ask: ~Mom, how are you doing?~ She replies: ~It'll pass son, thank you~ She told me to get the envelope out of the Nightstand next to the bed: ~Harry, that letter gives you my Power of Attorney to handle any & all my business if necessary! I'm leaving the house to John Ross! It's his Mother's Childhood home! Please see that it's taken care of?~ I reply: ~Mom, you're not going

anywhere!~ She replies: ~Sure Harry, please do as I ask?~ I reply: ~I will Mom!~ The Morphine's doing its job & she falls asleep! She's a good woman & when she's gone, JR's only link to Julia will be too! He loves his Grammy & she loves him! Cancer took Julia, her Father & now it's taking Rachael!

The Christmas tree’s Delivered

It's 11:35am & The delivery truck is here from Atlanta with the Christmas tree. Beautiful tree Mother has them bring it into the house & set it up in the Grand Foyer. She loves to go big! I'm going to lay down for a couple hours so I can get back to the Hospital! It's 2:30pm & I'm headed back to the Hospital, George & Lucy are accompanying me! Lucy's looking pretty tired & I hope she's okay! George is getting excited about having another child! It's 3:00pm & we arrive at the Hospital! We park, go inside & we pass Mary's parents on the way out! Laura says: ~The Baby is perfect Harry!~ Professor Covington adds: ~Yes he is, congratulations my boy! We're going back to the house. See you there!~ I reply: Thanks, I just want you to know, I'm really glad you could be here! Talk to you when we get back!~ We go up to Mary's room, she's breastfeeding the baby! George is immediately embarrassed so she covers he breast & he relaxes! Lucy say: ~How are you feeling Mary?~ She replies~ Alls well Lucy, the baby's healthy & is a perfect little guy! He looks like Harry~ She smiles & winks at me! I'm so happy they're both okay! Mary asks Lucy: ~How are you Lucy?~ She replies: ~Oh, I'm Ooooo, ahh, I'm doing, ohhhhh, George: I think it's time~ as she holds her belly... George replies: ~Time for what me luv? Oh, Oh naw, now?~ He runs out in the hall yelling for a nurse. Lucy calmly walks out & sits in a wheelchair. Mary says: ~Go with them Harry, until he settles down! I'll be fine, not going anywhere!~ I tell George to settle down, & I ask the nurse to call Dr Jameson! Lucy's water just broke & now George is frantic: ~Calm down George, everything is fine. That's supposed to happen! Weren't you there when she had Kellyanne?~ He replies: ~Me wasn't here Harry, Navy, on a

Ship!~ I reply: ~Okay old man, everything's good!~ He settling down, Doctor's here & he takes her into the exam room! Been fifteen minutes & the Doctor comes out & asks George: ~It's time Mr Richards, coming?~ I say: ~Go with the nurse George! She'll show you where to wash your hands!~ He replies: ~Fer what? I reply: ~So you can be in there with her!~ He replies: ~Me, in der, me can be wit me Lucy? Ohhh, Okay, Me be seein ya Harry!~ He looks awfully nervous, I sincerely hope he doesn't faint! I tell him to let me know when the baby comes. I go back to my wife's room, she's holding the baby! She hands the little guy to me. He's grabs my pinky finger. His grip is strong. Just like when JR was born! I'm holding a miracle in my arms, a new life. I'm worried about Rachael too, I don't think she's got long. She says she's ready, she wants to be with Julia & The Rev!.......

Friday, November 29, 2019

Time of Birth: 7:03pm

Anabel 6lbs 2 oz

It's 7:15pm & George comes into the room: ~Me little girl be born at 7:03pm. She be Beautiful Harry, but Me need a beer!~ I ask: ~What's her name George?~ He replies: ~Anabel Josephine Richards, after me Mum!~ I reply: ~That's a Beautiful name George, is she in the Nursery?~ He nods his head Yes, & we go to see the Annabelle! She's really quite a beautiful baby. George says: ~She got me mum's eyes~ I reply: ~She's Beautiful George, Congratulations old man!~ He replies: ~Well then, Me be thankful to God, & Harry, ifin ya not be mindin, Me & me Lucy be wantin fer ya & ya Mary to be da Godmuder & Fadder, dat is, ifin ya not be mindin?~ I reply: ~George, we will be honored!~ Next he takes me to see Lucy, she had a rough time of it. She went natural too, but was in labor four hours! She's doing well now! George says: ~Me neva see nuttin like it Harry! Dat der Doctor reach down der & he pull me little girl out! Harry, she be so little, when I be holdin her, be like a bird! Awhh Me be Lovin her Harry & me Lucy too!~ I reply: ~I know old man! You call Kellyanne yet & tell her she's got a new Baby sister?~ He replies: ~Nay, Me ferget Harry! Me do now!~ I tell him I'm going back to Mary's room, there's only twenty minutes of visiting time left. Both our wives need to get their rest. Mary & Harry Jr are scheduled to be released tomorrow. I'm back in Mary's room. The nurse just gave me a ten minute heads up! I say: ~Darling, you sure gave us a Beautiful baby. I love you with all my life!~ I kiss & hold her in my arms for a minute. It's 9:00pm straight up & the nurse reaffirms it by telling me, Visiting hours are over. I say thanks, kiss my wife & tell her I will be here at 8:00am to sign her & the baby out! I meet George out in the hall, head downstairs & to Father's car! We head back to the Mansion. It's 10:00pm & we arrive, followed by my sister Jamie & her husband Bill Langley. They drove in from Little Rock! We step out of the car & greet them. I introduce George & fill them in with the news. Been a busy last couple of days. Jamie asks: ~How is Mary & the baby?~ I reply: ~They're doing well & Jamie, Little Harry is absolutely perfect!~ She hugs me & kisses me on the cheek: ~I'm glad Harry, you two deserve all the happiness in the world!~ Then she turns to George & says: ~How are your wife & baby doing?~ He replies: ~Good, me be thankin ya fer askin~ We go I to the house & our parents are waiting for me. They didn't know that Jamie & Bill were coming in tonight? Mother sees Jamie, & is surprised: ~Jaime, I wasn't aware you were coming in tonight! She hugs & kisses her hello, hugs Bob, he's a man of few words! Jaime sees Father, & like a little girl, runs into his arms: ~Daddy, 'O I've missed you Daddy! How have you been?~ He replies: ~Quite well Jaime! I've missed you too! I wish we could see more of you!~ They hug & my sister is reluctant to release him. She's always been a "Daddy's Little Girl". Mother calls for Huntington: ~Huntington, please show my Daughter & Son in-law to their room?~ He replies ~Yes Mam! He takes their bags & shows them to the room! Mother says: ~Tomorrow's the first day of December Son! Everyone will be here, the girls will be home from the hospital & we're going to decorate the tree!~ I reply: ~Yes Mother, I'm bringing Mary & the Baby home tomorrow morning. Lucy & their little one should be getting the next day! Right George?~ George replies: ~Right, Sunday!~ Mother replies: ~Good then, this is so wonderful, I just love Christmas time! God has graced us once again with two new lives, what can be better than that?, Goodnight you two! We tell my mother Goodnight & she goes upstairs! My Father says: ~You both look like you can use a drink! I reply reply: ~Scotch please Father?~ George replies: ~Me too, please, Me be thankin ya fer it Sir!~ My Father says: ~Very well~ He pours us both a Scotch on the rocks. We toast each other, drink our drinks & say Goodnight! Its been a long couple of days but we're Blessed!

Continued

[defunctblogtobedeleted]

5/27/17, 1:45 AM - Records Broken, Curses Lifted

This is gonna be the weirdest post I’ve made in a while, I don’t think I’ve ever made a post dedicated to a girl who was actively reading my blog, but I’m gonna try my best not to hold back what I was going to say anyway because fuckit whatever I guess I was going to tell her eventually.

“Textiles girl [Katy] has become something really special” is how I tried to start a blog post last week but I was drunk and bailed out on it.

Initially I was tweeting about how she was tinder attractive because of her fondness of cats and her familiarity with smash bros. But the more I talk to her the more I get that familiar feeling of “this is a female version of me” that makes me go absolutely bonkers for someone. Yknow, kinda like what happened with Ashleigh but like maybe even moreso.

It started as like cosmically coincidental that I matched with her on the one day out of two weeks that I was visiting raleigh, but then found out that she was going to be spending the summer in greensboro. So since I was going for harem strats my idea was that by chit chatting with her until she moved into town I’d kinda have dibs lmfao.

But like then the more we talked the more and more we’d have in common. She’s one of the only people I know to have the same degree of nearsightedness that I had before I got my vision corrected. We both have the same phobia of commitment after coming out of long term relationships [I mean who doesn’t]. We both order our drinks without ice, she says her favorite color is specifically “royal blue” which is exactly how I worded it until I became a unc student, we got picked on in school the same ways, we both have similarly detailed sex conquest lists, we both have a strange fascination with cheetah print, my birthday is the same as her mom’s while her birthday is only two days off from my dad’s and we even have matching scars on our feet. It’s weird. There’s a lot more but I digress.

I didn’t find out all this before meeting her, but Katy is like the first girl I actually thoroughly enjoyed talking to on tinder. We started snapchatting a few days later and haven’t missed a day since (I think we’re at a fire streak of 17 now). Every day that she’d go to work she’d be bored and beg me to entertain her. It reminded me exactly of when I first started working after I graduated and I used to ask Kailey to try to entertain me. Except the only difference is she wouldn’t. Instead, I’d ask Katy all sorts of questions about herself and it got to the point where I was half guessing some of the answers (but I never got them right. We’re not like carbon copies lmfao). 

Almost all of this talk happened after our pseudo-date plans fell through, and so she’s living out in hickory with her parents. I practically begged her to come with me to lake week, but she couldn’t because of family plans, and instead we messaged each other the whole time.

So in typical Tyler head over heels fashion I decided that I needed to do something dramatic to see if this was legit or if I was just getting catfished yet again. I mean we had actually taken the time to go through each others facebook pictures and like talk about our pasts and shit so I knew she wouldn’t be too far off from what I thought she looked like, but idk I just did my best to stay skeptical. But I was excited enough to meet her to drive all the way out to Hickory the day that the lake weekend was over so that I could finally see her and talk to her in person.

And ho.ly. shit. She was cuter than I could’ve possibly imagined. She has this slight southern twang in her voice that I fucking love, and she’s only just barely taller than me, and her laugh had me giddy like immediately. We went out to see Guardians of the Galaxy 2 in a nearly empty theatre and held hands through like the whole thing. She guided me to a bar, we ate a little food, and we finally actually talked about our lives in person. Parked in a church parking lot and had pretty damn good sex, considering it was car sex. Her parents gave her a curfew and she had work in the morning though. Came home into Ashleigh’s apartment in my boxers and Aaron and her both laughed at me, and I joined them to watch some twin peaks.

I felt absolutely hooked on her though. It was like the best first date I’d ever been on in my life. I felt like I could tell her almost anything, and it was like impossible for us to have an awkward moment. I couldn’t stand the thought of waiting until I got back from Florida to see her again, so I asked if she wanted to see me again on Wednesday.  [tuesday was great too, played some smash and chilled with Aaron and Ashleigh, played some magic, went to bars, smoked with them and discussed theology lol.]

and she did, though. We decided that since we couldn’t hang around her parents place and since we’ve both always wanted to, we’d get a hotel room for the explicit purpose of just having a ton of sex and hanging out in alone. It was fucking phenomenal. Her parents weren’t home when I picked her up so I made her give me a tour of her house so I could meet her pets and see what her room was like (she has SOOO much cheetah shit omg <3). We got some chic fil a, I made an ass out of myself yelling about rubbing fried chicken all over our naked bodies in the middle of the supermarket next to small children while we got cider, and we checked into the hotel. We had about 5 hours until we had to drop her off at home, so we basically alternated dual marathons of sex and rick and morty. I want to get absurdly explicit about how sexy it was, but idt I can right now, I only do that kind of writing in private lmfao. The tl;dr is we broke both our 6-hr records by hitting 7 separate sexings. I came 6 different times in 5 hours, it was fucking crazy hahaha. And we got through like 5 episodes lol. pretty perfect day if I do say so myself.

And what made it all the better was I let her pick between my two pairs of sexy underwear - the space tighties from my NY road trip and the cheetah briefs that Kailey got me as a birthday present. Obviously Katy picked the cheetah ones but my go to would have been the space ones, only because every fucking single time I wore those cheetah boxers in anticipation of a date it’s either fallen through or gone totally shitty. They were literally cursed until wednesday. I swear it’s like a sign or something.

I hate drawing this kind of comparison, but there’s something nagging me like Katy represents all the traits that I had actually wanted in Kailey when we first started dating. Like the interest in video games and cartoons and better music taste while retaining the absurdly high thirst for sex lmfao. But it’s like kinda purified by her allergy to smoke, because I feel like that was the only core connection that me and Kailey had for a long time. For a while I would postulate that Kailey quitting smoking weed would be like me quitting melee, and so I kind of fucking love that Katy doesn’t smoke at all. It makes me not want to, too. The day before I left the lake I smoked my last cigarette in anticipation of seeing her. Haven’t had a problem not smoking since, haven’t wanted to pick up a new pack. I think I’m really done with them.

But so long story short I’m getting feelings for this girl because she’s absolutely incredible to me. I’ve only seen her twice but I feel like we’ve been talking forever and I’m pretty committed to doing whatever it’s going to take to get her to date me eventually. It honestly kind of horrifies me to write that knowing that she’s about to read all this, because I know that she’s just getting out of her relationship and we’ve talked about how she doesn’t want to do anything serious right now, so I was just going to keep these feelings under wraps for a long time so that I didn’t blow things prematurely. Kind of reminds me of Exactly how I fucked things up before lmfao. I hate making the same mistakes twice, but who knows.

😘😘😘😘 Katy, if you’re reading this, it’s too late. Hope ya don’t freak out. Fingers crossed. You’re totally gorgeous and I love spending time with you and every time I get a message from you it makes me a little happier, and persistent thoughts of you have dissolved all of my interest in pursuing any other woman for the time being. So that’s it.

Love life updated.

[eridianshores-blog]

Bitchin’ Haul - Starships Style

Here where I live, in the WF, there isn’t all that much east or north of town, so I make my rounds to what is there less frequently.  To the south we’ve got Raleigh and all its hugeness; to the west is Durham which definitely has a few spots worth checking out once or twice a month; southwest is Cary, and Cary can be a great place for finding new stuff...sometimes anyway.  If you go east far enough you’ll hit Selma, which I went to by accident after turning the wrong way out of a parking lot, and they had an amazing Walmart.  Further east is Smithfield, of some renown for its outlet mall, and it features a Toys R Us Express, which is like a crappy strip mall version of TRU.  We went there once...for some reason it was blazing hot in there and the trip was a 100% bust.  If you just barely go east you’ll end up in Knightdale.  There’s nothing much to write home about, but there is a Walmart and Target worth checking and it’s not that far.  Southeast is Zebulon, and I don’t really know of anything down there except for one of the last remaining Roses, but my son did find some pretty neat stuff he’d been looking for for a long time.  I’d tell you what he found but it’s a lot to explain.  Now north...well...there really isn’t anything north.  Maybe Oxford, but that’s quite a drive.  The one glimmer of hope is a Walmart in Louisburg.  And that’s where I went this morning.

I had to meet the ex at a Post Office in Louisburg so that she could get passports made for the kids for a cruise she’s planning for summer, or maybe Spring Break.  So we meet up and she’s got the full brood in tow: all 4 of her kids (hey now, only ONE of them is mine!) and 2 smaller children she was babysitting.  So the ex did all the important stuff, all I had to do was flash my license around and sign some shit.  My son and I played with one of the babies, while the oldest kid took care of the second youngest who was pushing the youngest around in a stroller.  The ex had the final baby strapped to her back.

Somehow or another we got through our hour-long visit to that cramped little post office without much screaming or crying and absolutely no dirty diapers.  I’ll admit I had a little bit of fun playing with the teeny tiny babies, and I think I actually impressed my son a little at my ability to handle them.

Now the Louisburg Walmart is “technically” on my radar, but it hasn’t yet yielded anything amazing.  I went in today with zero expectations and walked out 20 minutes later, $70 lighter.

Not a bad score, eh? I'm tellin' you, those Mandalorian Talons sell like crack on eBay!

Can you see what I found?  For the record, I snagged 2 of the 2017 Hot Wheels Retro Entertainment pieces, the Batmobile and the Back to the Future DeLorean in Hover Mode.  Cool huh?  Just the tip of the iceberg.  As I started looking at displays on the ends of aisles, I saw just how many Hot Wheels Star Wars Starships they had.  Sure, it was the usual mix of Imperial Shuttles and Rey’s Speeder that tend to clutter the shelves of some Walmarts, but wait a minute - Mandalorian Talon Fighters!  I already have one of these, but back when they came out, they were scarce and people were desperate to buy them off of eBay.  Back then I was able to scoop up 7 or 8 extras for $5 each and I offloaded them in a matter of days for $10 a pop.  In and of itself that’s not a bad idea, however, these things have managed to stay rare, and people are asking anywhere from $15 to $64 (not kidding) for a single ship.

Of course we gotta be smart and look at one they’re actually selling for.  Most are falling in the $10 to $20 range with a few $25′s and damn, one poor bastard who dropped $50 on one.  Right now the lowest priced one for sale is $16.49 plus free shipping.  Honestly I would be more than happy to catch $15 a piece for these guys as long as I can move ‘em relatively quickly.  That covers the whole cost of my purchases and puts me up $5!  I guess I failed to mention it, but in case you didn’t do the math, that’s 5 Mandalorian Talons I’ve got under my belt!

The rest of what I found I have never seen for sale in a store, anywhere.  I bought 2 TIE Strikers (I have one from Hasbro’s Titanium Series and I have a battle-damaged one that came in a 2-pack), 2 AT-STs (are these official “Chicken Walkers”?), and 2 AT-ACTs (AT-ATs with a brick of orange cargo in the middle).  That’s a damn decent haul if I say so myself.

I still haven’t had any luck with the 2-pack contain the Millennium Falcon and TIE Interceptor, and from the back of the AT-ST I just found out about another 2-pack featuring the AT-ST and that Imperial Hovertank thingy from Rogue One.  Friday my kid has early release, so I plan on resting up good and doing some serious searching with our afternoon.  I definitely want to do my Cary rounds (TRU, a very worth Target, and the B&N where I found that freakin’ ARC Fighter), plus there’s allegedly a Roses nearby (can be really great for rare stuff that no one ever grabbed and/or shit that’s been outta production for a while) and there’s that weird old K-mart right there on the edge of Cary and Raleigh which totally has some weird and unexpected shit every few visits.

I’d really like to squeeze in Durham as well, but that whole circuit can be grueling.  We’ve got a TRU, an eclectic Target, and a sometimes-awesome Walmart in the area.  If we pack on a few more miles, we can get over to Southpointe, which has a decent B&N (first place I saw a Jyn Erso car in the wild!) and then a toy store in the mall that I think has some potential if we can hit it at the right time.  There’s also a Target nearby that has consistently had some of the newest toys to be found anywhere, often times weeks before I see the stuff anywhere else.  Rancor 2-pack?  Carbonite Han?  Imperial Freaking Guard!?  I gotta know.  The hunt is on.  Good news is that we can go hunting Saturday and/or Sunday too (more like or, 3 days in a row is a bit much even for me, of course it all depends on how successful you are...massive success can bring about satiation, though it can also be inspiring and energizing...failure can leave you dejected and doubtful about continued searching, then again it can also be inspiring and energizing).

Ideally I’d like to do my hunting during the week if possible, when way less people are combing through toy sections ready to buy anything their kids point at.  Fridays are generally alright, but it seems like lots of families or parents willing to grab a toy for their kids start pouring in late Saturday morning, and from there it’s all downhill.  Of course there are other collectors out there too, and I’m sure we’re snatching shit out from under each other’s noses all the time without even knowing it.

What’s been eating me up lately though is that Luke / Rancor discovery.  Had I seen it pop up on eBay a week later or even 2 I could write it off as good luck.  But with no other sellers and the bidding getting so high, my mind is constantly doing flips just thinking about what the hell might be sitting on a shelf, right now, and how close someone who wants it might just be.  That Boba / Bossk pack is just as weird; ultimately I’m grateful (I think) that I was able to snag it for only $30, but I wonder how high it would’ve risen to?  And what about Carbonite Han / Jabba? Are there a couple of these 2-packs just floating around out there too?  Maybe whoever got ‘em doesn’t have a thing to do with eBay, which is 100% plausible.  IT HURTS ME BRAIN.

Oh well, I really should be thankful.  Hell I might be the only person outside of any Hot Wheels insiders that has both the Rancor and Bossk 2-packs...wouldn’t that be cool...?

Stay tuned ladies and gents.  I’m ‘bout to do some serious bitching regarding these goddamn “Japan-only” amiibos...

Update: As I took the time to put the finishing touches on this post, i.e. straightening out the HTML, adding the pic, etc., I've already sold 2 of the Talons!

[pisati]

a coworker in 2014, after my mom had visited the shop:

your mom’s so bubbly! what happened to you?

an awkward laugh, probably. a nod, a shrug. I don’t remember anything else but those words.

I sometimes think I’m just built to be sad. it’s on both sides, no doubt about it. some other things too. but I wasn’t always like that. I don’t remember not feeling such a deep, profound sadness, but it’s definitely changed as I’ve grown.

I’ve seen pictures of myself, ages 3 and 4, with a gentle smile, head cocked to one side as I often did for pictures. no idea why. the blonde, blue-eyed little girl mom always wanted. you were just the happiest little baby; once you got past the screaming stage. ages 7-9 or so, cheesing for the camera, unafraid to smile when asked. unaware of my body; what’s that like? after about 12-13 I started hating photographs. I’d still be in some, but I never wanted to see them. I felt physically sick at the sight of myself. eventually it became a fight because I’d rather no photos of me exist at all.

I remember when my first guinea pig died. I had just turned 9, I think. I don’t think I had a favorite number until then, but I made it 5 because that was how old he was. I cried for weeks and weeks. I kept a locket with his picture in it. it didn’t seem to help that I still had my other guinea pigs, and my aunt had two of his babies. that profound sense of loss was more than I could handle. it was my first. of many, many more, turns out. you get better at handling it the more it happens, I guess, but it always hurts the same.

everything that hurt always hurt so much. I read back on very old blog posts from high school and I could already see the depression stirring. I would deny outright that I was depressed, following my mom’s reasoning of course. I couldn’t possibly be depressed, because being depressed is bad and it means there’s something wrong with me and there’s nothing wrong with me. I was just tired all the time and sad for no reason. 

there must have been times in my life when I was genuinely happy without some kind of lingering melancholy. I just don’t remember them.

there was a girl I went to high school with; she was on my tennis team, and she also did drama and improv and such. her name was becky. she was always very casually cool and funny, but also a genuinely sweet person. maybe not happy, necessarily, but warm. everyone she met liked her. she always talked and listened in a way that made you genuinely feel like she was interested. so many girls in high school, if they replied to me at all... it felt like they were feigning their politeness. not becky. I wanted to be like her, but I didn’t know how. that bothered me a lot.

it still does, if I’m honest. I don’t want to describe myself as cold, but I can be. everyone can be sometimes. but I know I can also be kind of a downer. I resent that descriptor, but I know it’s accurate. I want to be a warmer person; calmer and cooler and just genuinely likable. I just.. I don’t feel warm. I don’t know how to emulate it if I can’t even feel it. I just always feel this ache deep in my chest and it doesn’t go away.

so what do I do about it, then? sit and stew in it? sometimes my own excuses make me angry at myself. it’s bullshit and I know it. I hate being sad all the damn time but it’s all I know. I want to feel a positive emotion and sit in that for a while. I want that to be the feeling that’s constantly nagging at me. 

it almost feels like I wore it out. you know how they say that watching porn over time desensitizes you to those things; it takes more time and weirder shit for people to get off. I remember my first red hot chili peppers concert so clearly. well, parts of it, anyway. I was so excited I remember feeling my heart pounding in my chest when the lights in the stadium went out before they took the stage. I remember hearing one of my favorite songs that I hadn’t been expecting at all (because of course I’d studied their previous setlists beforehand), clapping my hands over my mouth, and just silently crying. I didn’t mind the ringing in my ears afterwards; I didn’t mind the fact that mom and I still had a 6-hour drive home from raleigh the next day. that was the spring of my senior year of high school, when I was dealing with full-blown depression for the first time. I felt so happy. despite nobody wanting to go with me, despite everything else that had been going wrong. I didn’t take off my merch bracelet for months; wore that shit to prom. I couldn’t stop thinking about how amazing it was.  it’s still a little bit of a buzz when those lights go out at a show; once the stagehands have finished changing sets and the headline is ready to go on.  it’s still nice to hear my favorite songs. to get barrier spots, to get to watch artists I love do what they do. I’ve learned over time what to do and what not to do, but now I know. now it just feels routine. earplugs, ticket, cash for merch. comfortable shoes (or at least not heels, but always something with covered toes). ID and ticket ready before you get to the door, right hand out for the 21+ stamp. spare battery for the phone, because inevitably it’ll lose charge. keep snapchat open; lock the phone while snapchat is up; that way when you open it it’ll already be in camera mode. remember ibuprofen in case the leg and back pain is too much this time. I feel like I have to brace myself for being in pain now, more than just enjoying the show. it’s all rote. all routine. I still do it because it’s an experience, and I enjoy it, in theory. but at this point it’s like trying to rub one out when it’s just not happening.

the most content I can remember being was those few months in early 2014. it wasn’t perfect, of course. my anxiety was still worsening, my roommate still hated me because I didn’t have feelings for him and his friends decided to put the moves on me, I still got very confused and almost definitely used by a few people. but, man. I had friends, I had places to go. my grades were excellent, I was going to transfer into my dream program. I had a boy I liked that liked me back. so I thought. things just felt different. or maybe they were just new. well... they weren’t that new after a while, but they still felt like something then. I remember the first time A kissed me. I’d had the biggest goddamn crush on him, my god. I was surprised but happy when he’d texted me over winter break, asking when I was going back to indiana. offered to keep me company while my roommate was at work, because my anxiety got so bad I couldn’t be left alone. and he did! he dropped by right after I got settled in after winter break, and we sat and talked. I remember not feeling well, probably from not eating, lying down on my bed, curled up listening to him pluck away at my bass, trying to figure out what the problem was. it was the action, we decided. I remember one night after an orchestra concert; he and my roommate had gone to get food from the pizza place next door. he let me have one or two french fries after some puppy-dog eyes. I snuck a picture of him from my spot on the couch; just him watching tv in that tux. I remember going to strangers’ houses with him; his friends, of course, but I didn’t know them. I needed company, he picked me up, brought me out with him sometimes. I liked him, of course, but I was mostly just grateful for him being there when I needed it. I never thought I had a chance with him, but it was still nice spending the time together. we watched boondock saints in my room one night, sharing a blanket, every so often having to go outside in the bitter cold with my laptop because the fan didn’t work right and it would overheat. I’d bring homework to his apartment and we’d both work on things separately but together. one night I’m sure I did that, but eventually we ended up watching tv. I think it was a standup routine or two. side by side on his bed. I wasn’t quite sure how to sit, but I remember settling in a little more after a long while and just resting my head on his shoulder. being surprised when he adjusted to maneuver his arm around my waist. I remember looking up at him, playfully poking his cheek, him joking you wanna go? and us wrestling around, trying to land light slaps on each other’s faces. at one point he had me pinned and tickled my sides til I couldn’t breathe. I remember sitting on his outstretched legs, somehow, or at least mine were over his. the lamp on the shelf over his bed lit up his eyes, blue as mine. I remember looking back at the screen, to the movie we weren’t watching. turning back. grabbing his arm in shock, since I wasn’t expecting him to be up in my face. but it was just what I thought it would be. what I wanted, but wouldn’t have dared hope for.  I remember the rest of that night pretty well too, because it was something out of my wildest dreams. granted, I thought that him wanting to sleep with me meant he liked me too. but even without that illusion it still would’ve been... wow. my only experience til then was with the boy I lost my virginity to. he wasn’t quite so gentle with my chest, and he didn’t last anywhere near as long either, ha. this boy went down on me twice in one go; what? he bent me around, kissed my neck, kissed my ankle up on his shoulder; that was all too new and it was just.. I couldn’t get it out of my head. I thought losing my virginity was underwhelming because that was just how sex was, but turns out the guy I lost my virginity to was both 1. not all that good at it and 2. kinda small, ha. it doesn’t matter that much, but when the second one is.. very noticeably different. ay papi. I was sore after that for sure. 

and then there was T. those quiet nights, him brushing up and down my arm. it felt so nice, then. I remember the first time he kissed me too; lying all too close in my twin-size bed after staying up talking most of the night. may or may not have watched something, I don’t remember. I put on a playlist I made of one particular artist I liked a lot at the time, and I still remember the exact song that played first. rolled back over. talked a bit more. I remember him plopping my stuffed dog onto my chest, calling me cute. I hope I’m not being too forward, but... and leaning over me. he’d shampoo his beard, and it always smelled so nice. I remember once he said he liked chin scratches, and I went for it, and he said something like I don’t know why people assume ‘chin scratches’ means going so fast, and after that I’d gently work my fingers through and slowly scratch, kind of like you would for a sleeping dog. he loved that; I loved that he loved it. the ankle kisses reminded me of A. I tried not to think about it. he joked a lot about me bruising like an overripe banana; I remember being so proud of myself the first time I put any kind of marks on him. I hadn’t been able to, meanwhile my neck and chest were covered in spots; all different colors. he liked me on top, though I was pretty self-conscious about it. I still remember leaning back once; feeling hands on my hips. you.. are beautiful. at the time I was surprised to hear it, later I angrily rambled in a blog post about how he’d only ever said it to me when I was on top of him. but I also remember that night I was visiting while I was really, really sick. the whole summer I couldn’t sleep without a blanket awkwardly rolled up under my neck, like his arm. I’d gotten so used to it. I was glad to have the real thing for one night. but I was feeling so sick. I was rolling around all night. once I rolled away from him and I heard a groan, felt him pull me closer. heard don’t go...mumbled into my back. I wanted to cry. I didn’t want to have to go. I’m not going anywhere, I whispered back. I wanted to live in that moment. I missed all of it so bad I physically ached. back then I still felt a little awkward about touch, but it was nice. it didn’t make me sick. I wanted that. I’d trace a finger gently up his arm and back, then up to his ear (a sensitive spot, he informed me), and wait for him to turn to me, because he always would. she’s a gotdam succubus! I can still hear him huffing jokingly to our friends. I liked it. knowing he was the kind of guy you wouldn’t want to get in a fight with; the guy that fell on concrete and chipped the concrete; the guy whose face broke a friend’s hand when he tried to punch him. and he’d melt in my hands. 

something changed. besides my feelings for them. I just don’t respond the same way. to any kind of affection. I feel like I don’t want it. I’d prefer to sleep without any arms under my neck or draped over my side (the latter makes it hard to breathe). I hadn’t kissed anyone for that entire period of two and a half years between my first farm jam and last winter, and when it did happen I didn’t even want it. I pulled away but sucked it up after a second or two; I’d already kissed him plenty before, what would be different about it? but it felt different. everything else felt, tasted, smelled the same. I just. I didn’t want it. if you’d told little 19yo me that one day she’d have to stomach a kiss from the boy she liked so much, she’d probably have laughed in disbelief, but then wondered what the absolute fuck he’d have to have done to make her feel that way. 

 it’s all just touch. it just is. it can be nice, I guess. 

I knew I’d be tense, I didn’t know I’d feel quite that sick. I thought it’d take more pushing to get me more comfortable, but maybe it was just familiar enough that my mind dropped it as an issue. once it stopped feeling.. I don’t know, gross? it went back to oh, this again. wonderful. and stopped being anything. it’s like those nerve endings are fried. rather... I feel it, but it doesn’t connect to anything in my brain. it’s not ~magical~, or ~electric~, it’s not making my heart race. it just is.

but I guess sometimes you just want to be touched. even if it doesn’t feel like anything. 

I can feel myself feeling reckless again. not reckless, exactly... but close to it. I don’t really know what’s going on up there. it feels almost like it did before I was on meds. impulsive. sad, sad, sad. everything just feels bad. but why can’t I just... not feel like that, lmao

I guess that’s why I don’t talk to much of anyone anymore, besides just not having the energy to try and keep up with people who can’t even be bothered. I’m sick of being debbie downer. I can’t be sunshiney, why be in the picture at all? 

it’d be nice if things felt like things again. if my dopamine receptors would just fuckin work, lmao

I don’t know. it’s a lot. it’s a lot and it’s nothing. I’m sick of being how I am. it just kind of feels like a lot of this is inherent to who I am, and I can’t fake being someone I’m not, and why would anyone want this? my diet might end up killing me, but not before making me very sick, can’t even take me out anywhere, there’s so many things I don’t like... what place do I even have here?

I don’t know, though. maybe instead of fighting the sad with self-loathing...

I do like animals. I like music that stirs up emotions, even if it’s all in minor keys. I like crocheting and learning crafty things. I liked learning language things, when I still had the energy to. I like traveling, when the traveling anxiety doesn’t get me too much. I like specific shows and brands of humor, but there are definitely things I like out there. I like the color purple, and hot fudge brownie sundaes with extra hot fudge and chopped peanuts. I like cool summer evenings and sunsets and looking out at expanses of water. I like classic literature and feeling accomplished when I reach a goal or surprise myself by doing more than I thought I could. soft beds and, sometimes, watching shows with someone. I couldn’t watch some of my favorite shows for at least a year after I transferred schools, because it just wasn’t as fun alone.

I’m grateful too. sometimes I lose sight of that, and I don’t emote too well anymore either. I’m grateful for my pets, just for being there. they have no idea the lengths I go to for them, but I’m just thankful to have another living being in my space with me. harper and micah have been making me laugh every day since I’ve been able to spend more time with them.  grateful for my mom’s help. even though she can be a massive bitch to me quite a lot, she hasn’t been charging me rent and hasn’t made me pay up for my phone or insurance since I’ve been out of work. grateful she hasn’t kicked me out, and that she knows I’m working to figure out what I’m doing with my life. I do wish she’d be a little more understanding about a lot of things, but I’m just glad she’s been as accepting as she has been. grateful for the few people I’m even a little close to anymore. it’s almost overwhelming trying to socialize now. more tiring than anything. eye contact has always been kind of hard for me, but being able to self-isolate means that I’ve lost a lot of social skills too. a lot of the time now I just want to be alone. I used to want that because I was hurt; now it feels like I’m just tired. grateful that anyone puts up with my depression bullshit, still.  grateful for all the opportunities the money from my last job has afforded me. I was miserable there, but I had basically nothing when I graduated college. I have enough now, still, for a solid number of international trips, without really having to think about it.  grateful that I was able to swallow my traveling anxiety to take my first ‘solo’ international trip. grateful that I had good company the whole time, though I know I can be a little abrasive. grateful for all the things I got to see. not everyone gets those chances. not everyone can afford to take a year+ off work and travel when they feel like it, because they feel like it.  grateful that I know I’ve got potential somewhere. that even if I feel otherwise, there’s something I can do. no matter how worthless and useless and unworthy my brain likes to tell me I am... I don’t let that thinking guide me. or at least... I try not to.

I don’t know, man. maybe I do need my meds adjusted. I just hope one day I can be a little closer to the type of person I want to be. I thought I’d be there by now, but I’m not. I won’t say I don’t wonder if I’ll ever be able to change. but maybe one day I’ll start feeling better. physically and mentally. and maybe the rest will follow.

[disnerdkatie]

Every June since 2010, Naval Support Activity Mid-South’s Morale, Welfare, and Recreation Department has hosted the Navy 10 Nautical Miler. This is one of my favorite races (even with my sketchy personal history with it), and it is special to the world of racing because it is the first race in the U.S. to be based on nautical miles instead of land miles. By the way, a nautical mile is 1.15078 land miles, so the Navy 10 Nautical Miler winds up being 11.5078 land miles long. 2019 was the 10th anniversary of the Navy 10NM, and I knew I would definitely want to run it, so I actually registered back in December at the St. Jude expo.

The Navy 10NM starts at 6:00am, which is insanely early. Luckily, I don’t live very far away so I get to sleep in more than my friends coming from farther (further? farther!) away. Still, I set my alarm for 4:33, plus extra alarms just in case. Of course, that mean that Asscat woke me up at least twice, and I had weird dreams that also woke me up. I never seem to have good sleep before a big race. Oh well! I was up at 4:33, and got dressed, brushed teeth, made coffee, & all that stuff by 4:50. Then I realized I had nothing resembling fuel and tore apart the kitchen trying to find something to use – I wound up shoving an oatmeal cream pie in my skirt pocket. Then off I went!

Parking at the race was a nightmare. Well, not true. Getting into the parking lot was a nightmare. It takes roughly 15 minutes to drive to the start line from my house… but then I spent another 15 minutes on Navy Road, waiting to turn into the parking lot. Once I turned in, it was really quick and easy to park, although I was in the grass because the actual paved lot was full.

Lisa, Nikki, and I were planning to run together, but I don’t think we had heard from Nikki yet that morning, and Lisa had sent a message that she made it halfway to the race and realized she didn’t have her race bib, so she had to turn back home. I just assumed I was the first there, so I headed to the start line to see who else I could find to hang with. Found our friend Tad, and chatted with him until he saw another friend and went to talk, and I got in the porta-potty line. Nikki found me there, and after I used the (surprisingly clean) porta-potty we set off to get in the start corral and find Lisa.

Success! We found Lisa!

Lisa’s got a personalized training plan because she has a coach, whereas I’m cobbling together some Hal Higdon and Breakaway Running training plans, and Nikki is gearing up for 50K training. Anyway, so Lisa’s plan was to start out running 1:1 intervals, and then halfway through the race switch to 2:1 intervals. I was like “dude, I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to hang once you switch, but go for it!”

Oh. Back up. Important tidbit: the race announced that no hydration vests would be allowed. I wasn’t actually planning to wear one, but a lot of people do wear one on this race because it is a longer race in the intense Memphis heat and humidity, so there was some outcry about the policy change.

However! The Navy 10NM really went above and beyond with their water stops. There was a stop at every single nautical mile, for one thing. Yes, every single one. And every stop had both water and Gatorade. And it was COLD water and Gatorade. Yes, even at the later stops. One of the cups of Gatorade I had, at a later stop, actually still had ice in it.

So major major major super props to the race directors/coordinators. I’ve never run in nor volunteered for any race that did such an amazing job with the water stops!

There were also porta-potties at every water stop. It is really rare for me to need to use the bathroom during a race, but it was really awesome that they were available for those who did need them.

Hmm… another tidbit that I maybe should have led with is that the course has changed. I first ran this race in 2015, and again in 2017 (although I, umm, decided that I was bored and just done with running that day when I was only halfway through the race, so I… uhhh… just walked off course and didn’t finish…).

    Those are the Garmin maps from the last time I ran the whole course, and the one from this year. You can see that the course is way, way different. To tell the truth, I looked at the new map on the race website and was thinking “This is going to suck major monkey ass” but… it really wasn’t that bad overall. No, the whole thing wasn’t in shade, but there was more shade than I thought there would be. And the weather was amazing for a June race in the Memphis area. It was warm but it wasn’t oppressively hot, and there was a breeze for pretty much the entire time.

We were moving along at a pretty nice clip (our walking was pretty slow but our running was pretty quick so it evened out) and before I knew it, we were about to enter the base. I didn’t take many pictures the whole race, but there are zero from the base, because photography was not allowed. I feel like that is a new rule too, and I definitely feel that it was not advertised enough. Apparently there was a sign as we entered the base (which I missed), but so far as I know that was the only official race communication about it. So, I think they dropped the ball on that, but since I personally wasn’t planning to take pictures anyway it didn’t really affect me personally.

While on base, we started leapfrogging with an older couple who were walking (power walking? speed walking?) the race. On a run interval we would pass them, and then while we were walking they would pass us again. I didn’t catch their names, but if you guys ever read this: you were the highlight of the race for me. Thank you for the jokes and even more for the encouragement! Eventually we pulled ahead, though…

Before I knew it, we were through the base and at the halfway mark of the race! Right past the 5 nautical mile water stop, we turned onto Jones Boyd Road, which I never knew the name of… it was always just “the turn around for the RRS half marathons” road. Unlike the RRS where you just go down the road a little bit and then turn around, this time we would be taking the road all the way to Raleigh-Millington Road. This is also where I decided to see how that oatmeal cream pie would sit if I ate it mid-race. Mmm, those are my favorite Little Debbies!

Before we got there though, it was popsicle stop time! The popsicle stop is a long-standing tradition. That year that I walked off course? I made it to the popsicle stop and just started handing out popsicles instead of taking one and running on. This year, as has happened before, the popsicles weren’t all frozen, but they were still cold… but even better than the popsicles were the smiles and encouragement from all the friends who were handing them out. Thanks guys! It was awesome to see you on course!

At the next water stop, Lisa popped into one of the porta-potties. That delay gave the older couple who was walking a chance to catch up with us again. Hello again y’all! Around this time, my legs started feeling a little bit crampy. Not awful, but not really pleasant either. It was also about when Lisa’s watch swapped over from 1:1s to 2:1s, I think. Or it already had and we were using mine and Nikki’s watches which were only set to 1:1s… but as we came up to the 7 nautical mile marker/water stop, I realized I needed to take a break from the running and stick to just walking. Lisa wanted to run on though, so as we got through the water stop she just kept going.

{Side note: thank you 7 nautical mile water stop! Even though I didn’t take one, the fact that you were offering Gu (and chews? I didn’t see for sure) is freakin’ amazing! You guys rocked!}

Anyway, Nikki said she would hang with me for a little bit and then probably run on ahead later. We continued on the course without any run intervals. As Nikki pointed out at one point, our walking pace improved when we weren’t running. Of course lol! Although to be fair if she hadn’t stayed with me I probably would have been trudging instead of walking at a decent clip.

We turned onto Navy Road, and that was probably the worst part of the whole race. There is zero shade on Navy, and the sun was fully risen. And of course we were walking into the sun. At least there was a nice break as we turned down the YMCA road… umm, yeah technically it has a name but sorry, its just the YMCA road to me. There was tons of shade from lots of trees here! It was around the 8 nautical mile water stop that I realized running again just wouldn’t be happening for me. That crampy feeling had turned into my legs trying to completely lock up, and I was just done.

We found ourselves back on Navy Road, again walking into the sun with not a bit of shade around. Even though the right lane was closed off from traffic with cones, for the runners, we moved to the sidewalk. The camber on Navy is pretty intense and neither of our hips would much appreciate that. But eventually we did have to get down and walk on the street.

I think the only part of the race that I truly hated was the dead skunk on Navy. Ugh. Roadkill is always sad, because those poor animals… but since this was a skunk it was also completely gag-worthy. Yuck!

Finally, we were almost done! One more nautical mile to go! The sign was on Navy and almost right after it we turned left to work around the back roads to the finish line. Once we turned, there was another water stop! Yes! That was actually surprising – neither of us expected on so close to the finish line. And just like every other stop of the day, the water here was deliciously cold. Still don’t know how you guys did it, and you might be sick of me harping on this, but it seriously blew my mind. And it deserves all the praise!

Several left turns later, we were there. The finish line was just around the corner. Even though we had been walking for miles, we agreed to run in, and off we went. Someone was calling out names as people crossed the finish line, but I wasn’t paying attention at all and didn’t realize it. I only know because Lisa came up to us and said, “I knew it was y’all because he couldn’t pronounce Katie’s last name!” The curse of a unique name. Sigh.

Our friend Chelle was also hanging around the finish line. She moved away (last year?) but came back to be a pacer for the Navy 10NM. I was desperate for something to drink and something salty to eat, but before we went off in search of sustenance Chelle got a group picture of us.

Lisa’s first stop was the Italian ice stand, but Nikki and I hopped into the beer line. Okay, I can’t lie… this beer was kind of nasty. I’m going to be generous and say I bet it is because we were at the end of the keg and maybe a fresher cup would have been better? I don’t know. I mean, it wasn’t so bad that I couldn’t finish, but it took a while to get that small cup down. We went inside the gym and found food. I hear the mac n cheese was delicious, but I went for a chicken biscuit. I’m not sure who provided the food, but thanks! Michael said it was probably base commissary food, but whoever it was did good.

After that, I was ready to head home and crawl into bed. Sure, doing that leads to muscles locking up and making you sore later, but I didn’t even care. I was exhausted! So that’s exactly what I did – headed home and crawled into bed.

Even though we all complain about the early race start, and I hated the lack of shade along the end of the race, this really is one of my absolute favorite local races ever. The support along the way is pretty great, and it is neat to be a civilian running through a military installation. The anchor medal is always awesome, and this year’s medal being a spinner was beyond awesome. I can’t say if I will ever run this race again, but even if I don’t run it any more, I will definitely be back to volunteer.

Tell me: Have you ever run the Navy 10 Nautical Miler?

My 2019 Navy 10 Nautical Miler race recap. Every June since 2010, Naval Support Activity Mid-South's Morale, Welfare, and Recreation Department has hosted the Navy 10 Nautical Miler.

[importantcoffeecomputer]

Pre-publication information about a new psychological thriller, to be published by E-CENT Institute Publications.

~~~

One Minor Death in the Family

A psychological thriller,

By Kurt Llama Byron

 An Inspector Glasheen Mystery

 ~~~

Chapter 1: What hell is this?

 1.

“A bitter heart devours its owner”.

Herero adage.

Michael Curran awoke to the sound of the mechanical alarm clock ringing violently, like the bell of a local fire engine. His head was pounding.  Picking up the clock, and switching the alarm bell off, he noticed the time – 5.30 am.  It had gone off half an hour early.  But he was glad to be awake, since waking up pulled him out of the nightmare he was submerged in, up to a moment ago.  

He swung his fifty-five-year-old legs out of bed, and looked up at the crucifix on the wall opposite the side of his lonely bed, above the holy water fountain by the light switch. He scratched his greying head of wavy, black hair, and yawned. Over to his left he could see his son Christopher’s blankets rising and falling rhythmically, as he snored through his drunken stupor.  The little drunken bastard.  Under the chair, to the side of Christopher’s bed, Michael could see the quarter bottle of whiskey which Christopher would slug down as soon as he awoke.  Sixteen years old, and already an alcoholic for more than two years.  And getting his booze money by driving a coal truck, below the normal, sensible age for driving.

Michael, who never drank alcohol, stood up on the cold lino, and began to scratch his chest and back, under the long-sleeved vest he always wore in bed.  He was sick of his life.  Sleeping alone in his cold bed, in the box room, for the past eight years, had been a great strain on his mental state.  He was depressed and angry – bitter - and he constantly felt an ache in his heart.  He was sure he would have a heart attack one of these days. ‘My heart is scalded with the lot of them’, was his constant mantra.

He put on his work clothes, and laced up his boots.  He knelt by the side of his bed and began to say his morning prayers.  He could not understand why God was tormenting him so. He wife having sex with other men; his youngest ‘daughter’ not really his; extreme poverty; and this horrible wretch of a son - a degenerate alcoholic at sixteen years of age.  And Dermot, his oldest son, who was just eighteen years old, and the only son who really respected him, had left for England three months earlier, in the middle of June.  He prayed fervently for redemption; for release from his suffering.  He had always tried to be a good man; but he’d lost his farm, then his first job and tied cottage, then his wife, and his life revolved around working as a poorly-paid gardener for toffs in Dublin.

He went down the stairs with a heavy heart, as silently as he could, to avoid waking the house.  In the kitchen, he buttered two slices of homemade brown bread, put some jam on, and made a pot of tea.  In the front room, he sat at the table and read the unread parts of yesterday’s Evening Herald.

At 6.45 am he put on his overcoat and cap, put his bicycle clips on his trouser ends, and wheeled his big, black Raleigh bicycle up the hall, out the front door; closing the door quietly behind him.  Although there was still a whole week to go to the end of September, it was cold and damp that morning, and the light was gloomier than it had been just last week.

Out on the road, he mounted his bicycle and pedalled furiously up the road, to raise his temperature, and then settled down to a steady pace, which would get him to his workplace in about thirty minutes.  He was in the blackest mood he had ever experienced.  He could not imagine carrying on with this farce of a life. Perhaps this day the Lord would liberate him. Oh God. Why hast thou forsaken me?

~~~

2.

“Remember, you are only an actor in a play, which the manager directs”.

Epictetus

Moira Curran heard the door close, even though it was done quietly.  She knew she should get up at once, to get the younger children ready for school. But she was very tired.  It was the tiredness of depression and grief.  She closed her eyes for a quick, forty winks.

Moira heard the door close, even though it was done quietly. She knew there was something wrong. Surely she’d been here already this morning? Surely she’d heard the door close once already.  

She sat up in her big, pink cotton nightdress, and leaned her head and shoulders against the metal bars of the head of her little single bed.  Reaching out, she picked up her alarm clock, switched off the alarm, and checked the time.  It was 7.20. She’s slept for thirty-five minutes after the Old Man had gone out.

She felt confused. Why would the door close twice?  In the past, it would have been Dermot going out to work.  But he was no longer here.

There were five beds in this room, four of which were occupied.  The one in the corner, by the wardrobe, used to be Dermot’s bed, up to three months ago.  She looked across at the tidy bed cover, and the tears welled up in her eyes, as they had done every day since he’d left for England.  And now, about twelve weeks later, she’d only had one letter from him, and that was of little comfort, since she detected no warmth in his dutiful words; and no sense that he missed her or his home.

He was a cold fish, was Dermot; even though he was her big boy; her brightest son; the brains of the family; the one who would become a doctor.

She cupped her hands over her eyes and sobbed gently, until she heard Aileen, her eight year old daughter, stirring in the adjacent, single bed.  She immediately suppressed her tears and sobs, so as not to wake her daughter; swung herself out of bed; and began to get dressed.  She didn’t have to replace her big, pink flannelette knickers anymore in the mornings, since she could not be bothered taking them off any more at bedtime.  She changed them weekly now, whether they needed it or not.  Why bother, since nobody else ever sees her knickers anymore. It’s been a long time since she’s had sex with anybody.  

She remembers how exciting knickers used to be, as a symbol of her womanhood – her femininity – ever since she was thirteen years old.  She would never forget the thrill she got when she cycled down the hill from her mother’s cottage, aged fourteen years; past the entrance to Healy’s farm, where two boys from the village were sitting on the wall with two of the Healy sisters. She was cycling as fast as she could down the hill, the wind blowing her long brown hair out like streamers behind her. She was wearing a hand-me-down cotton, floral-print dress that had belonged to an older sister.

“Get off and piss on it and it’ll go faster”, shouted one of the boys.

They could not have expected what happened next. Moira pulled on her back brake, first; and then her front, and the bike stopped, to a screeching of brake rubber on chrome-plated steel, within two or three yards of the point at which the instruction had been made.  She got off, laid the bike down on the dusty, tarmacked road, pulled up her loose dress, and dropped her knickers.  Bending low, she began to piss on the back gear wheel.  When she looked up, the boys were clearly in a state of high arousal. She loved that feeling of power. She got up, stuck her tongue out at the taller one, who had called out the challenge; remounted her bike, and rode off down the hill.

No such excitement came into her life these days. She hadn’t slept with the Old Man for eight years: ever since he realized that Aileen could not have been his child.  Terry Lynch, her most recent and main lover, never came to see her anymore, because he had very bad piles, which made it difficult to walk.  Declan Cummins was afraid to show his face, in case the Old Man killed him, since she had had to tell him that Declan made her pregnant (against her will) one evening when he drove her home from work at the Nurse’s house. Kevin Jenkins had lost interest in her; and Sergeant Kelly never came near her anymore; not since his wife came out of hospital and he didn’t need her as a child minder or a stand-in lover in his new situation.

She pulled the big pink nightdress over her head, and put on her big bra, which she always removed for comfort; and dressed as quickly as she could.  She went down to the bathroom, at the back of the ground floor, and washed her face.  Then, when she checked the clock in the front room, she found it was almost 7.30. Time to go and wake Christopher.  

Christopher always slept in the locked bedroom of his father, because he could not be trusted to stay away from Aileen, who was just eight years old.  He also could not be trusted to not molest the younger boys. The Old Man locked his bedroom door after he left his room each morning, and Moira, who had a spare key, had to let Christopher out to go to work, around 7.30 each morning.

Moira retrieved the spare key from her hiding place, behind the hot water boiler, and went up the stairs quickly.  When she reached the landing, she had the mortise lock key in her right hand.  Her routine was to jab the key into the lock with her right hand, while knocking on the door with her left.  She wanted to get as far away from the door as she could, as quickly as possible, because it was not beyond the bounds of possibility that Christopher would grab her and rub himself up against her big fat thigh. In her frustrated state, this was quite disturbing; and she did not know how to discipline him.  

But, on this occasion, she was thrown into a frozen state.  For in the lock, she could clearly see the Old Man’s key; still jutting out of the door, instead of being in his pocket, at work.  This had never happened before, in the two years that Christopher had been sleeping in the Old Man’s room.  What could this mean?

Moira approached the door and listened carefully, with her left ear to the wood, to see if the Old Man might still be in there, speaking to Christopher.  But the room was silent. When she tried to open the door by pressing down on the handle, it wouldn’t budge.  So she put her key into her apron pocket, and turned the Old Man’s key in the lock.  When she tried the handle this time, the door opened freely. And as she stepped into the room, it was like she had been struck by a hurling stick between the eyes.  

Her brain froze.  

Her heart raced.  

Her stomach turned over.

For there, on the pillow of Christopher’s bed, was the remains of his crushed skull, with blood splashes up the walls behind and to the side of his bed.  His face no longer existed!

She screamed once, and fainted.  

The floor opened up beneath her and she fell into a living, sleeping hell of horrible possibilities.

~~~

3.

“Joy and suffering never leave us. Life is a long march with a heavy burden”.

Sergeant Tony Delaney was worried. He had been working with Inspector JohnJoe McNally since 1960, when they’d set up the Special Crimes Unit in a caravan out the back of Baggot Street Garda Station. They’d always worked very well together, mostly by working different cases, or working in parallel rather than in tandem.  In that way, Delaney never felt overly-controlled or overshadowed by his boss; and McNally never felt insecure about the possibility of being undermined by his subordinate.  They’d shared an assistant, Detective Una Gilligan, for the past two years. And Gilligan fitted in very well, because she never allowed either of her bosses to know what she did for the other one; and she never gossiped about any aspect of the simplest of cases.

But now Sergeant Delaney was worried, because Inspector McNally had been admitted to Jervis Street Hospital with a serious heart condition.  

Detective Gilligan had opened the letter, four days ago, which informed them that they would be under the leadership of Inspector SB Glasheen, from Wednesday of that week, until further notice.  Nobody knew if Inspector McNally would survive the heart surgery that was planned for him at Jervis Street.

But Inspector Glasheen had failed to turn up as yet, and now there was a special request from the Murder Squad to take on a new case in Wattling Town which had just been phoned in this morning.  

It seemed from the letter, read out by Gilligan, that the Murder Squad was too busy to deal with it; and a sixteen year old boy has been murdered in his bed, at home, in the absence of any evidence of a break-in.  So, the Murder Squad suspect that this is a domestic crime, and a complex one at that; and so it falls under the remit of ‘special crimes’; and besides they cannot spare the manpower to investigate it.

Sergeant Delaney is already up to his eyebrows with special, complex cases.  Just writing up the case notes keeps him at his desk until eight or nine o’clock every night, including Saturdays!

So, in the absence of Inspector Glasheen showing his face, Delaney has, nervously, and unconfidently, asked Detective Una Gilligan to get out to Wattling Town, to interview the family, and to report back to him as soon as possible.

“What kinds of motives should I consider?” asked the detective, who was only twenty-six years old, and in her second year in this role.

“Violent father? Perhaps with a record of alcohol abuse”, suggested Delaney.  “Or a mother who has been pushed beyond human endurance by some kind of unusually challenging behaviour by the dead boy”.

“Anything else?” asked the slender, blond detective, scribbling some notes in her notebook.

“A sibling with a mental health problem? Schizophrenia; straightforward or evil madness; something like that”, suggested the sergeant.

“What about...?” began the detective.

McNally was getting impatient: “Look! Just go!  Use your imagination; your experience; your best guess!  Sniff around; and ask lots of questions!”

Una Gilligan got the message; blushed; and stepped backwards, before turning hurriedly and leaving the room.

Sergeant McNally turned his attention back to the case notes he was analysing.  A bank manager.  Killed in a phone booth.  In Grafton Street.  With an ice pick, which was left in his skull!

~~~

At 11.30am, McNally was punch-drunk from bashing his brain against his case notes, and trying to work out the next steps in a dozen cases that were current; and no closer to understanding any of them, never mind resolving any of them.

He stood up and walked to the window, which looked out across Baggot Street Bridge.  Then he sat on the floor, leaned back against the wall, and felt the warm sunshine through the glass relaxing his head.  Withing seconds he was asleep.

...End of extract.

~~~

This book is due to be published before the end of 2018.

~~~

[delphialane0037-blog]

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[junker-town]

The top 100 games of the 2017-18 college football season

We move closer to the top, this time counting down 40-11.

We did it. After 834 regular season games, 40 bowl games, 4,376 Nick Saban scowls, and one hell of a national championship game, the college football season is over. To remember and honor the season that was, I (along with a little help from the rest of the SB Nation college football crew) am going to count down the best 100 games of the season. We’ll unveil 30 games at a time on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, then count down the top 10 on Friday.

100 - 71

70 - 41

40 - 11

10 - 1 (Fri.)

Let’s get to the list:

40. Oct. 21: Oklahoma 42, Kansas State 35

After 41 combined points in the first three quarters of Kansas State’s homecoming battle with Oklahoma, the teams scored 36 in the fourth alone. On three occasions, OU took a touchdown lead, but the Sooners had to time the last one — a 22-yard Rodney Anderson run with seven seconds left — to make sure KSU didn’t have a chance to respond.

39. Sept. 29: Washington State 30, USC 27

USC nearly survived the regular season with national title hopes intact, except for a Friday night trip.

Ronald Jones’ 86-yard run helped the Trojans stake a 17-10 lead, but Washington State took a 27-20 lead on Jamal Morrow’s 23-yard reception in the final period. USC tied, but Morrow’s 35-yarder — WSU’s longest run of the entire season — set up Erik Powell’s field goal.

Dreams die in Pullman.

38. Oct. 28: Nebraska 25, Purdue 24

This was a good season for Purdue, with the Boilermakers rising to a bowl win in a single season under Jeff Brohm.

And this was a bad one for Nebraska, as the Huskers finished with four wins for the first time since 1962, the final year before Bob Devaney showed up to resurrect the program.

On the final Saturday in October, roles reversed. Bad-year Nebraska, facing a 24-12 deficit in the fourth quarter, surged by good-year Purdue.

37. Sept. 3: Virginia Tech 31, West Virginia 24

by Alex Kirshner:

This was so good that it overcame being played in one of the worst stadiums in a league neither of these teams plays in. Thousands of fans had to skip tailgates or cram them in just before kickoff.

But once they were inside, Appalachian football’s biggest reunion of the season turned out to be a great one. West Virginia’s Will Grier aired the ball out all night, and Virginia Tech redshirt freshman Josh Jackson announced himself. Grier almost threw a touchdown in the final seconds to tie, but Tech held on with a fourth-down stop.

Virginia Tech took a lot of pride in hoisting the rivalry’s Black Diamond Trophy at midfield, with ex-coach Frank Beamer in the celebration at the start of a season that would end with his selection to the College Football Hall of Fame.

But nobody saw it, because they left to try and beat traffic.

36. Sept. 4: Tennessee 42, Georgia Tech 41

by Steven Godfrey:

This was as functional, effective, and entertaining as Tennessee would be in 2017. The Volunteers gave up 41 points and 655 yards to a team that would limp to 5-6, and the only reason the Vols escaped is because Tech made a bad read on a two-point conversion in OT. This game was the high-water mark.

Photo by Michael Wade/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

35. Sept. 9: New Mexico State 30, New Mexico 28 34. Dec. 2: New Mexico State 22, South Alabama 17 33. Dec. 29: New Mexico State 26, Utah State 20

If you’re a loyal Podcast Ain’t Played Nobody listener (and if you aren’t, why not?), you know that I announced my pet cause as rooting for New Mexico State to reach a bowl and end a 57-year drought.

It began with a wild catch and a rivalry win in Albuquerque ...

... and ended with back-to-back field stormings. First, NMSU took down South Alabama to reach six wins and qualify for the Arizona Bowl.

Then, the Aggies beat Utah State in overtime.

If you watch this and still want to tell me there are too many bowls, then forgive me for the snide words. New Mexico State’s run was the best thing about college football in 2017.

32. Nov. 4: Wyoming 16, Colorado State 13

Fell for the okie-doke there. @wyo_football rips off a huge 40-yard-run to get into scoring position. http://pic.twitter.com/BeuXCwYBCM

— CBS Sports Network (@CBSSportsNet) November 5, 2017

Glorious.

31. Oct. 13: Syracuse 27, Clemson 24 30. Nov. 4: Clemson 38, NC State 31

On Oct. 13, Dabo Swinney’s retooled squad headed to upstate New York with a banged-up quarterback. Kelly Bryant struggled, then got hurt again in the second quarter; backup Zerrick Cooper did no better.

Syracuse dictated the terms, but Tanner Muse’s 63-yard fumble return kept the champs close, and Travis Etienne’s 52-yard run tied the game heading into the fourth quarter. Syracuse’s Eric Dungey (278 yards, three touchdowns) engineered a final field goal drive. Storm the field.

Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports

Three weeks later, NC State led at halftime in Raleigh, until the Tigers seemed to put the game away with a 21-7 run keyed by Tavien Feaster’s 89-yard score. But State cut the lead to 38-31 with under two minutes left and forced a three-and-out.

Ryan Finley completed three passes to work the ball inside the Tiger 30, then hit this fourth-down pass.

Only ... that’s an illegal shift at the bottom. On a fourth-down do-over, Clemson ended the game with a pick.

29. Nov. 25: SMU 41, Tulane 38

Literally as close to bowl eligibility as possible.

SMU Football Video

28. Oct. 28: Northwestern 39, Michigan State 31

Northwestern won three consecutive overtime games on its way to an eight-game winning streak. It took three OT periods for the Wildcats to put away a Michigan State ranked 16th at the time. It also took a play in which State’s Brian Lewerke both fumbled and threw an interception.

27. Dec. 28: TCU 39, Stanford 37 26. Dec. 29: Wake Forest 55, Texas A&M 52

Alamo Bowl Second Half TCU is one of the greatest teams ever. Two years after completing a 31-point Alamo comeback against Oregon (the second-best game of 2015), the Horned Frogs turned a 12-point deficit into a win against Stanford. Jalen Reagor’s 93-yard catch and run made it 31-29, then Desmon White’s 76-yard punt return gave the Frogs the lead. Stanford went ahead again, but Cole Bunce’s 33-yard field goal sealed the deal. And there’s always a shirt change involved when TCU’s unleashing a comeback.

The next day in Charlotte, Wake and A&M had a track meet. Despite a 31-0 mid-game run, Wake trailed in the fourth. But the final two drives of quarterback John Wolford’s career were touchdowns. The Demon Deacons needed both. After A&M responded, the Deacs went 69 yards and won on Matt Colburn’s short score.

25. Oct. 7: Miami 24, Florida State 20

Six seconds left, seven-game Florida State winning streak against Miami on the line, Malik Rosier to Darrell Langham.

24. Oct. 7: Navy 48, Air Force 45

Nuts from the get-go.

Navy scored on runs of 91 and 75 yards.

Air Force scored on passes of 51 and 59.

Navy went up 28-7, then Air Force scored four touchdowns in 18 minutes to take a 45-41 lead with under two minutes left.

Too much time on the clock.

23. Nov. 11: Alabama 31, Mississippi State 24

Alabama nearly fell victim to the SEC’s Bulldogs, blowing a chance to finish a comeback with a field goal but scoring a huge touchdown by little-used freshman DeVonta Smith.

I’m not talking about the national title game. I’m talking about two months earlier in Starkville.

Mississippi State played brilliant ball control, held Bama to 56 snaps, and led most of the way. But the Tide tied in the fourth and survived when, on that 56th snap, Jalen Hurts hit Smith for a 26-yard catch and run. MSU couldn’t complete a Hail Mary.

Smith had seven catches all year. Two were game-winners.

22. Oct. 14: Boston College 45, Louisville 42

Between mid-November 2014 and mid-October 2017, Boston College scored more than 30 on an FBS opponent just twice. Over the final six games of the 2017 regular season, the Eagles did it five times. And their hot streak began with a perfect foil: Lamar Jackson.

Louisville led 21-7 in the first half, and BC had punted on four of its first six possessions. But freshman AJ Dillon scored with 51 seconds left in the second quarter, then twice in the second half. His 75-yard run gave BC a stunning 42-28 lead with 12 minutes left, but Jackson’s 41-yard score tied the game back up.

The Cardinals were driving with under two left when Kamrin Moore recovered a fumble. Seven Dillon rushes — he had 39 for 272 yards — set up a kick at the buzzer.

http://pic.twitter.com/zCG1H43ArL

— BC Eagles (@BCEagles) October 14, 2017

21. Oct. 7: Michigan State 14, Michigan 10 20. Nov. 4: Michigan State 27, Penn State 24

By Jason Kirk:

TCU in the second half of an Alamo Bowl. Michael Jordan with a dubious illness. Lil Wayne in the late aughts. Mark Dantonio in disgusting weather.

Knowing of the MSU coach’s powers made the Michigan game ominous. The Wolverines surely knew they’d need a comfortable lead — in this series: roughly five points — before the forecasted rain arrived. But the Spartans gained a 14-3 lead and docked the tugboat, then pointed and laughed as Michigan kept passing in a downpour.

One month later, the Nittany Lions were doomed once lightning forced a delay. Their fate dimmed as the delay reached three hours, with players sustained by emergency pizza and Chick-fil-A. Seven hours after the first kick, Matt Coghlin hit the last one and splashed across wet turf.

NEVER DOUBTED HIM FOR A MINUTE! http://pic.twitter.com/z4jGFVNgLc

— The Only Colors (@TheOnlyColors) November 4, 2017

19. Dec. 9: Army 14, Navy 13

by Steven Godfrey:

In 2016, Army broke Navy’s 14-game winning streak in the series, but this season was Jeff Monken’s true proof of concept win over the Midshipmen. Navy wasn’t down to a third string QB this time, and for the first time in decades (literally, decades!) the two service academies looked like equals.

18. Nov. 4: Oklahoma 62, Oklahoma State 52 17. Nov. 18: Kansas State 45, Oklahoma State 40

The two most exhausting shootouts in Big 12 play took place in Stillwater.

First, you had the most bedlam of all Bedlam matchups. After only one of the first four possessions resulted in points, OU and OSU scored on 11 of the next 12. At halftime, the teams had combined for 76 points and 645 yards.

Marquise Brown’s 77-yard TD made it 55-45 OU, but OSU drove 75 yards to cut the lead again. When Chad Whitener picked off a Baker Mayfield pass in the end zone with three minutes left, OSU had a chance to steal it. But a fourth-and-8 pass from the OU 38 fell incomplete, and Trey Sermon’s 53-yard run put the game away.

Baker Mayfield on why he wasn’t going crazy celebrating tonight: “Winning around here is expected. Winning against Oklahoma State is expected.”

— Max Olson (@max_olson) November 5, 2017

Two weeks later, OSU still had its sights on a major bowl when 5-5 Kansas State came to town. The Cowboys led 10-7 when Byron Pringle struck. He had four scores of 47 or more yards, all on seven touches. And with 20 minutes left, KSU had a 45-20 lead.

It almost wasn’t enough. Three OSU touchdowns in five minutes made it 45-40 with four minutes left, and after a KSU three-and-out, the Pokes had the ball with a chance to win.

16. Sept. 9: Georgia 20, Notre Dame 19

Jake Fromm’s first start began what nearly became a national title run. The Dawgs relied on their defense, and it worked, in part because of a late Rodrigo Blankenship field goal and this absurd Terry Godwin catch on a third-and-goal.

15. Nov. 11: Boise State 59, Colorado State 52

After a 2-2 start that featured a confusing blowout loss to Virginia, Boise State caught fire. The Broncos would win nine of 10, but their mid-November trip to Fort Collins nearly went awry. It typically does when you spot a talented home team a 28-3 advantage.

The Broncos needed all 60 minutes to cut Colorado State’s lead to zero. Alex Mattison’s 70-yard run made it 35-24 early in the third, and Sean Modster’s 13-yard reception made it 52-45 with 1:41 remaining. Star receiver Cedrick Wilson recovered an onside kick, and five plays later, the game was tied.

In OT, Mattison gave Boise the advantage, but CSU was in position until Leighton Vander Esch forced a fumble at the Boise 5. Comeback complete.

14. Oct. 7: WMU 71, Buffalo 68

At some point, you go from wishing a game would end to praying it never does. You’d have to ask the 17,048 in attendance at UB Stadium where that line was, but I’m guessing it was somewhere around the fourth overtime.

It looked as if this would be a routine road win for the defending MAC champion. But Buffalo caught back up, and a field goal with 34 seconds left sent the game to OT. And OT, and OT, and OT, and OT, and OT, and OT.

The teams traded TDs in each of the first two overtime periods, then went scoreless in the third. Each scored touchdowns with two-point conversions in the fourth, then each missed NCAA-mandated two-pointers in the fifth and sixth. When Buffalo settled for a field goal in OT No. 7, it opened the door, and Franklin ran through it.

The funniest part: It was over in four hours and 31 minutes, only 15 minutes longer than Oklahoma-Oklahoma State, which didn’t go to OT.

13. Dec. 23: USF 38, Texas Tech 34

Eleven seconds left in the Birmingham Bowl, and USF has trailed for most of the game. Quinton Flowers’ last pass:

College football is going to miss the hell out of Flowers. And no, this isn’t his last appearance on this list.

12. Dec. 23: Army 42, San Diego State 35

by Steven Godfrey:

How good is Army? SDSU, one of the most talented G5 programs in the nation, finished with 10 wins, two wins over Pac-12 teams, a No. 34 ranking in overall S&P+, and losses to only the Mountain West’s division champs and ... Army.

You almost certainly didn’t see this game because it was crammed into a holiday afternoon, but after SDSU’s great Rashaad Penny scored his fourth touchdown to give the Aztecs a 35-28 lead with under six minutes, the Black Knights drove 72 yards like a wood chipper welded to a go cart.

Emotional wins over other services academies are comfort food, but this was different. Army beat a really good team, full stop.

11. Dec. 2: UCF 62, Memphis 55

In September, UCF crushed Memphis, 40-13. That was the third of seven straight double-digit wins to start the Knights’ season.

By the end, Memphis was ready for a rematch. The Tigers won seven in a row to win the AAC West and a conference title shot in Orlando.

UCF built a 17-7 lead, but Memphis responded, going on a 24-7 run. It was 34-31, Memphis, when UCF went on a 17-0 run. But the Tigers again responded, tying with 4:13 left and picking off McKenzie Milton at the end of regulation.

Memphis kicked off OT with a 15-yard strike from Riley Ferguson to star Anthony Miller. UCF responded, then scored first in OT No. 2. After a huge fourth-and-7 catch by Miller, Tre Neal picked off Ferguson at the UCF 4 to clinch a New Year’s bid.

Check back tomorrow as we unveil the top 10 games of the year.

100 - 71

70 - 41

40 - 11

10 - 1 (Fri.)