Just Keep On Laughing Up There

At the risk of sounding sacriligious, I can't help but think that God has played a little joke on me. And, just a little one, but one that I still think about with a little smile.

Growing up, one of my least favorite activities was pairing my dad's newly laundered black dress socks. As anyone knows, its a real pain because they are usually just slightly different, but the fact that they are black makes one have to inspect closely the knitwork, material, and worn-ness in order to establish proper pairs, and then of course there are still (as the case with any socks) mismatches. And, maybe people who are less picky with unimportant details don't really have a problem with it, but when it gets to sock pairing, I always want just the right ones.

Anyhow, as I was doing this mundane task in varying stages of my girlhood, I always thought to myself, "Good thing my husband isn't going to wear black socks so I don't have to do this for the rest of my life." Why I thought that, I'm not totally sure. But, as anybody who knows Sam knows, the man wears no other color, dress or otherwise, save a few pairs of white for when he is playing soccer or cricket.

So, there you have it. My life. Sorting black socks.

Isn't God Clever?

Though this title to refer to, well, at least several topics, the topic I had in mind come from Numbers 19. Sam & I have been reading through the Old Testament and when we read through this chapter, we stopped to contemplate its seeming strangeness. Then, I remembered a fuzzy notion I heard somewhere about the ashes of the heifer mixed with water making soap. Anyways, I googled it to get the whole story, and this is what I came up with. Fantastic! I found it thoroughly inspiring. Go on, have a look.Moo

What's in a name

So, I did a lot of thinking about the title of this here blog. My nickname, Laurastu, of course was just a shortened incorporation of my old surname. But, the question was, do I keep it out of historical context? But, if you really want to get literal, "the Venerable Laurastu" was my high school, Miller-note writing, really only Grider knows what I'm talking about entity. And Laurastu, though still a nickname that I don't take any amount of offense at, probably isn't the onwards and upwards direction of embracing my new status & name. I mean, I'm still Stuart in a sense, don't get me wrong, but in the vein of moving forward, I think I'm going to go ahead and phase out Laurastu-ness. (Note: I'm not by any means embracing Lauraneg, because it sounds weird, although I suppose it could grow on me if necessary, but I wouldn't like it prounounced egg but eeg.) Anyways... why not just use a favorite line from a favorite movie? After all, it is truthful-- my life in Norman, OK, is even not to my knowledge remotely or otherwise like unto a trip to Cleveland. So, same old mostly mundane content, new name.

P.S. But I'm still wearing my England jersey.

UPDATE: I wasn't totally comfortable with the intermediary name of this blog, but I want to thank it for lending itself into the gap. Very selfless.

New ride

My new to me bike will be ready from Al's this afternoon, woo! Pictures to come. Along with a much better ride to work, etc.

Update: So here is the picture of my super speedy Nishiki, complete with chubchub- installed speedometer/odometer/trip-timer. And... its not two backpacks I'm wearing, but one backpack and one birthday CamelBak from my favorite Samuel. What a great present! He is so good!

Oklahoma: land of diversity

What with living between two houses, trying to brave the 100+ temps with the A/C sputtering, and getting engrossed in a very clever novel (Crossing California by Adam Langer) there’s been little time to write. Well, that and the fact that there sometimes isn’t that much excitement here in Norman, OK. But, there have been a few items of culture lately that I’ve found greatly enjoyable.

The first came when my dear Heidi invited me to a basically spontaneous (in true Heidi fashion) cookout that she was hosting for 20+ Angolans. There was all kinds of world music, dancing, deep-fried turkey, curry, booty-shaking, Portuguese chatter. Decidedly good times.

The second came from an invitation I received at the first. This event was a semi-traditional (since it was, after all in the states and not India and there was much family & friends missing) Hindu wedding shower for the lovely Nisha. I missed the part where each member in turn sprinkled/ rubbed various spices on her, each symbolizing something different. But, after I got there, there was a ceremony with incense, singing, and chanting in honor of a god (an image of which was sitting in a little shrine on a little table in the living room). We were all then offered a little of the food & drink offerings after they were offered to the god including some sort of tasty pistachio sweet, banana milk, and water with camphor and cardamom in it. It was all most interesting. And, of course, we ate delicious Indian food. After the ceremony, though, there were more traditional bridal shower games, and it was just a good old time. I ended up being the only non-Indian girl there for a good hour and a half at least. But, I knew Jeny & Nisha, and it wasn’t uncomfortable. Too bad I didn’t have a beautiful sari to wear like the other girls, though. They were gorgeous.

And Saturday's highlight (well, hard to call it a highlight wehn it takes up the whole day) was the first cricket match of Sam's that I've been able to attend. It was a home game, which was, finally, not called because of rain or failure to find a playing eleven. Although, even so, they were only able to scrape together ten dudes. Some of the starters (apparently not serious enough about their club cricket) went home to India. Anyways, it was a good old terribly hot time, and I actually enjoyed watching it, and it lasted a good 6 hours (with the lunch break). It was exciting to see Sam bowl and take a wicket lbw on his first ball, and also to see him take a catch in the field! I took my duty as only fan seriouisly and cheered loudly for all taken wickets. The other team's players were from all over the old Empire and unfortunately ended up besting the Sooner Cricket Club, but it was an entertaining day nonetheless.

Wasn't it Romantic?

I was looking through My Pictures and stumbled upon this gem of nostalgia. Sam's first trip out to Norman, and his first haircut (by me). I'd like to point out that that in the picture I have not yet even touched the front. It looks like it was drunkenly butchered, especially the sides, which in fact it was just that, thanks to Mr. Cater back in Atlanta. The back part that I'm chopping was quite a bit longer than you can tell in the picture. Those of you that got to see this highly aggressive ginger mullet are a priveleged few. It was full-fledged. Sam really knows how to impress a girl.

The sights & sounds of Freedom.

Well, it was a fantastic 4th among the Negus & Stuart conjoined households. There's nothing like sleeping in on a holiday. And, I think I kind of liked the 4th being on Tuesday after all, since it was just one half-ass day at work, and then, woo! day off. And some people I know even basically just kicked around a soccer ball all day and got paid for it.

So, highlights included:

1. Waking up in a highly leisurely fashion & enjoying some tasty eggs & tomatoes and coffee.
2. Playing darts (thanks to Doug for teaching us cricket darts).
(3.) I would put the Germany v. Italy game here but it wasn't all that exciting. Poor Germans. Sam was torn between not wanting the World Cup to have to go to a swarthy Southern-European country and feeling glad that the Germans get to feel the same aching disappointment as England.
3. Sam walking down the street to the neighbor's pool, dragging an ice chest of beer, singing the Star-Spangeld Banner as loud as possible whilst wearing an England practice jersey and England cricket hat.
4. Swimmin' and drinkin' by the pool with the whole fam and others.
5. 4th of July feasting.
6. More darts.
7. Sam, barefoot in the front yard, swinging two sparklers in each hand, pipe in mouth, mumbling about the those blasted British, and Freedom!
8. Me almost beating Sam at darts. 2 points away!
9. And, can't forget, my special consolation cake, just for Sam.

Happy 4th of July, babe!

For some more photos of the day, visit here.