The Shot

If you missed it last night, you can see Nichols' 3-pointer here:



For those of you not familiar with Mountaineer sports (what's wrong with you anyway?!), the voice in the clip is that of Tony Caridi, who does play-by-play for the Mountaineer Sports Network. Have I mentioned today that I love Darris Nichols?

I Heart Darris Nichols!

Please tell me you saw that game! What do you mean, "What game?" THE game, the WVU-Mississippi State game! One of the best come-from-behind victories WVU has had this season! It was the first semi-final game in the NIT, and WVU had trailed by 14 in the second half. They clumsily rallied to a one-point lead, but went back down by 2 with something like 9 or 10 seconds left. Darris Nichols (I love you Darris!) missed a 3, but WVU rebounded and burned their last timeout, leaving just 2.1 seconds on the clock. John Beilein called the most brilliant play of his career and had Alex Rouoff inbound the ball not to Frank Young (WVU's man in a clutch), but to Nichols, who stepped back and drained a three as the clock wound down. It was so beautiful! Everyone went nuts! And it couldn't have happened to a nicer kid. Nichols -- always the class act -- didn't go running down the court with his fist in the air or start talking smack to anyone who would listen. No, he just stepped into the sea of his teammates and walked off the court. Darris, I heart you! (Just to keep it legal, the photo is from MSNSportsNet.com.)

That's Hot

So I have this friend, Kristen, who I really admire and love going out with. She's one of those tall, thin, gorgeous, always-put-together people that I normally hate, but I adore her. She's great to dish with; she loves to shop like I do; and she's brutally honest, but in a good way. She's the perfect girl friend...the kind who says, "Um, you shouldn't wear those pants. They make your butt look huge. But I LOVE the shoes." The kind of friend who points out that you have a "bat in the cave." The kind of friend who encourages you to order dessert, and then doesn't judge you for literally licking the last of the whipped cream off the rim of the plate.

Unfortunately, Kristen and I don't get to go out very often anymore because she has two (gorgeous) baby boys; and, obviously, they are the center of her universe. Once in a while, though, Kristen needs a night off, and tonight was one of those nights. We went to dinner and then to a new shop here in town called Runway Couture. Right inside the door was a dress form swathed in this cute little navy dress with white polka dots. Kristen immediately walked over to it and said, "That's really cute! What do you think?" Before I could even weigh in on the retro confection, the owner of the shop swooped in and said, "This is a fabulous dress! Paris Hilton has this dress! Paris loves this brand!" Kristen smiled politely and said, "Really? Paris Hilton?" The lady enthusiastically said, "Uh-huh! We're so excited to have it in our collection!" Kristen and I looked at each other and grinned. Somehow, it wasn't a selling point to us that Paris Hilton had that dress. Instead, it was a reason not to even try it on. Not ten minutes later, I heard the shop owner make that same declaration to another shopper. Only the bottle-job-blonde college student she was talking to was incredibly impressed and said, "Really?! Ohmigosh! I have to have it!" At that moment, Kristen and I knew that Runway Couture was not our kind of store.

St. Patrick's Day Revisited

In the light of day, I can admit that not all of last night was bad. I did have fun for a little while. When we got to St. Mark's, the place was packed, and there wasn't a table to be found. Sharon thought she overheard some guy say that he and his friends were leaving, so she went over and asked them for their table.

There were 4 of them, and they were on a pub crawl.











They had managed to accumulate lots of beads and were very good about sharing...after I bought them a round of beers. So we had a couple of drinks with them and took some pictures before they moved on.






To my friends in Austin...check out the green Longhorns shirt! Hook 'em 'Horns! And what a cutie! Too bad he's only 27.









And finally, one of the girls and me. The boys were off doing their own thing. They were in a strange mood last night. (Pot calling the kettle black, I know.)

I'm So Over My Life Here

It's official: I'm over this place. Here it is, 11:00 on St. Patrick's Day, and I'm already home. St. Patrick's Day!!! This is my big party holiday. This is the night that I go out and just let it all hang it. This is the one day of the year that I look forward to going out and having a good time. And yet I'm already home.

I have to say, I sort of hit a wall about 3 weeks ago. It was Sharon's birthday, and something happened that just made me step back and say, "I need something more than this." It's not important what happened. Suffice it to say that I simply realized that I was over my life here -- going out to the same bars weekend after weekend, seeing the same people time and again, having the same conversations over and over. I'm over it.

Still, I wanted to go out tonight and have a good time. I wanted to let loose for the first time in a month and just enjoy myself. And I did...for exactly 30 minutes. And then I forced myself to have a good time for another 30 minutes. And then I just couldn't do it anymore, and I came home.

I don't want to be at home. I want to be out at some little Irish pub listening to Irish music and laughing and having a good time. But you know what? There's no opportunity for that here. There's exactly one quasi-Irish bar (which is Irish in name only) and no Irish music and no good time. Ever. So why do I stay here? Why don't I try to find a job someplace else and get on with my life? I'll tell you why...because I have no guts. I've established my place here, and I have my house and my job and my sad little life, and I'm afraid to start over again.

But still, there are days when I dream about just picking up and moving out to Seattle. Not for the boy, who is still in Korea, but for me. I just want to go someplace new and open to possibilities. I just want some kind of adventure in my life. I just want a life. Period.