Just a quick one

Louis kept saying, "Free ballin'" over and over again, not really knowing what that phrase really implies.

From across the river. Which is a greater distance than usual.

So, holy smokes- apparently Snohomish (my hometown) is under a lot of water right now! This picture is about half an hour or so away, couldn't find a closer pic:

I am missing all the excitement. I guess I will have to settle for these last few days of 65 degree weather. Oh well.

Dong xi (things)

I got home last night at the same time one of our next-door neighbors did. We small-talked and then she dropped her cellphone, which promptly broke open. She gasped and didn't say a single word until she got it back together. In the meantime, I was trying to find my keys, and getting annoyed at how all the stuff I had in there (including some new purchases from that day) were obstructing my search. I realized, as I watched her intensity and care as she fixed her phone, that her cellphone was her world. Contacts, all that kind of important stuff in there, plus they're kinda spendy. I could replace mine more easily than she could replace hers, probably, and my big irritation was that all my stuff was getting in my way of getting inside. The squeaking of my new items at the same time as her phone making funky noises was sort of poetic to me. This might not sound so huge, and it wasn't really. Just another daily perpective checker.

And by the way: Louis is gonna shovel our snow (it's about 65 today) and all we have to give him is 2 cookies. And maybe some hot chocolate. He showed us yesterday some dancing that looked more rag-time than hip-hop. Don't mess with Louis.

A Sabbatical notice

Today, I was sitting in our dining room. Out of nowhere, I noticed that a dog a few houses down was barking in exact sync with the dripping of a bathroom faucet. This went on for about 30 seconds and then they slipped into syncopation. It reminded me of something Maya Angelou said: "Everything in the universe has rhythm. Everything dances."

Oh my lands... Oh my Louis...

So, not only did I create a gmail account today, but this blog also, and this is my THIRD POST. Here's what this blog is partially for, here's what you have all come for: Louis T.

If you can imagine Notorious B.I.G. at ten, and with a tattoo of his name on his arm already, then you can imagine Louis. Louis is a star. Louis is a kid who brought a whole crab on a broken paper plate for an after-school snack one day and ate the whole thing while other kids were having granola bars.

Louis: Knock, knock
Nate: Who's there?
Louis: Dunkle Donuts
Nate: Dunkle Donuts who?
Louis: Haa haa! Man it sound like you say "Dunkin Donuts"! ha HAAA!

There's a guy named Tim at the afterschool program where we met Louis. Louis calls Tim "Sponge Bob Leprechaun Jaws." There is absolutely no reason for this!

Adam: "Listen, if you knew Louis last year, you would know how much progress he's made. If he could get through a day without setting something on fire or taking his pants off, it was a good day. I'm not kidding."

M.F.E.O!

I was trying to decide on what template or whatever to use for my blog, so I clicked on some random one. Turns out, that click was irreversible, so I was stuck with it until I could change it later. BUT... as it turns out... the little picture in the top right corner... IS A SPOT IN PHILLY. I'm pretty sure (?). No joke. What are the odds? So I'm leaving it just as it is.

Testing. Testing. 1, 2. 1. 2. Tessssst.

Blog is go-