First of all please allow me to apologize deeply for not posting this at the correct time.  I've been jumping from urgent to-do to urgent to-do and never stopping to look at my calendar, which is no excuse but is what happened.  I'm very sorry.

But now, on to the fun!

I was thinking tonight that life is lived in curiosity and discovery, and that a New Year is a good time to celebrate and seek this out.  So I had an idea: since we've had the card exchange, why not a mix CD exchange?

I've been reading American Jesus by Stephen Prothero.  I'm really amazed by how quickly  views of Jesus and God have changed, and how each time the new generation with the new views seems to insist that their view is the right one.  Today I found myself wanting to ask all our resident "baby" and "adult" theologians about this.  

Being a student is (I'm pretty sure) the only thing I'm really good at and have a sizable amount of knowledge about.  I go to Marshall University in Huntington, WV--right on the Ohio River.  I'm an undergraduate student majoring in History and Religious Studies, and maybe adding Latin.

I decided to do this diary because I wanted in on the fun, honestly, and because I think there may be some misconceptions about this part of the world that I can help clear up.  I've lived in WV for almost 10 years now, and spent a few years here as a kid as well.  And if I can't answer a question, I'll ask my goddad whose areas of expertise include WV political history, goatfarming, hiking, various kinds of folk music and a few other things.

Surely that will start a conversation!

Hello everybody...today we have the next to last game of this World Cup. I think it'll be a good one. A friend of mine who is half German recently spent three weeks in Scotland and Germany introducing her boyfriend to her family. Last night Mr. Beck and I went to a party at her house and looked at all her vacation photos and what not, which I think was a nice prelude to the game. She brought us back Fussball-Bunde glasses, so we'll be using those while we watch for sure! Enjoy everyone!

Hi y'all--you know what I like about saying y'all? It keeps you from having to say guys or gals or ladies or persons of indeterminate gender. Anyway, today I'm hoping that France stomps the heck out of Portugal, but after yesterday I officially quit making predictions on this stuff. Today I'll once again be watching at Applebee's and unable to post. And now, a few words from Dumbledore:

"Oddment, nitwit, blubber, tweak!"

My prediction for today's match: Germany will win, but Italy will put up a helluva fight. At least one utterly ridiculous card will be booked. Asked if she's wants Gore to run for president again; "F*** Yes!"  (We see words as just words in our house)

For filler today, my 16 year old sister's thoughts after watching An Inconcvenient Truth. Her most interesting comment according to me was that it doesn't matter if you're a 60 year old hardened politician, if you bring up the climate crisis you are automatically laughed at as a dirty hippie treehugger, and "you might as well be bringing up the lack of cuteness in kittens today for all its worth". Enjoy the game y'all, and enjoy the holiday, however you choose to.

Hi everyone. The Street seems pretty slow today, but I thought I'd put up the football diary just in case anyone stopped by.  Today's morning game is England vs. Portugal and the afternoon is Brazil vs. France--gee, I wonder who'll win that one! My money is on Portugal, too.

Filler...my husband likes sustard-style yogurt, which I think is icky. Enjoy!

Germany vs. Argentina right now, Italy vs. Ukraine this afternoon. I'll root for Germany in honor of Mahanoy, and the Ukraine because I really loved Orson Scott Card's book Enchantment, which was largely set in Ukraine. No score yet. Y'all enjoy!

Need more characters, hmmm, I wish Luna Lovegood could comment on the World Cup. There!

I was reading Wolfie's post on the Gay/Eunuch diary, the post where he references back to a diary he'd done about anger and peace. Somewhere in the comments on that, I found a comment by Mahanoy that really spoke to me, as so many comments and diaries here do. It occured to me that it might be a good and useful thing for me to copy the comments and things that have Truth for me, and keep them so that I can keep learning from them. So I would like to ask everyone if I have their permission to do this. I won't publish these or anything, they'll just stay either in a folder on my computer or in my moleskine so that I can reread them once in a while. If anyone would rather I didn't, just say, and I'll keep a post-it with names on my desk so I don't forget.

England/Ecuador is starting now, Portugal vs. Netherlands is at 3PM EST. Ecuador has an anthem that sounds like a cheery Gilbert and Sullivan tune.

It seems that heat is going to be at least as against England as Ecuador. It's in the low 90s in Germany today, and the heat largely knocked England out in the Cup in Japan. We'll see how this goes. I've been seeing England winning, but now I'm not so sure...

Today's games are Spain vs. Saudi Arabia and Ukraine vs. Tunisia at 10AM EST, and Switzerland vs. South Korea and France vs. Togo at 3PM EST. To fill up some more room so I can publish this diary, here are some of my favorite memories from my trip to France.

Crepes with nutella hot in my hand in the cold night on our way back to the hotel. Knocking my ring on the Eiffel Tower because I just couldn't believe I was really there. Finding a gorgeous red velvet antique couch in the middle of a side street with no one nearby, inexplicable and beautiful. Black swans at the Chateau de Chambord. Everything at Chenonceau. That perfect, adorable, tiny, multicolored duck at Chenonceau that I still can't identify. Being in the actual opera house that Le Fantome de l'Opera was based in/on. Standing in Chartres and feeling the air vibrate, and dear Lord that blue. That should do it. Enjoy!