SCORE!!!!!!

I scored! ....a goal. In soccer. No euphemism there, unfortunately.

I'd been telling everyone prior to tonight that I hadn't scored a goal since I was nine. This is kind of an understatement. I'm not sure I've scored in a competitive match ever. Obviously, I'm a defender. But I'm not just *a* defender. Due to a lack of technical ability and being relegated to defensive duties since age 11 and therefore never learning any sort of offensive move, my entire role is to screw up the other team. Defense is pretty easy, really: get to the loose ball first, block off the passing lanes, and get a toe on every ball that gets near you. If you really stop to think about the physical requirements for dribbling a round object with your feet at a high rate of speed, it's easier to understand why just the slightest misdirection of that ball can completely foil an offensive player. Just a tap can ruin a striker's day. Basically, I'm the one to get run over just before the ball gets to the keeper. I disrupt, not create. So it was a personal victory for me to put one past the gigantic Marine Corps-looking keeper.

When I told Tim - my new housemate, and fellow soccer player/fan - about the goal he responded, "So it's pretty much the best night ever, right?" I told him that the pub was missing its warm sandy beaches and the male strippers never arrived, but it'd been pretty alright nonetheless. Then I had a beer in the shower, which is about as close as Oregonians can get to a cold beer on a warm beach.

Speaking of which, I'm going to Texas at the end of March. Plane ticket prices just rose a bunch though, so I'm contemplating driving. At about that time of year, I'm so craving warmth and sunshine that I often have dreams about deserts and flowers and things, so a road trip down the California coast and through Arizona and New Mexico might just be the cure. My last final is on a Tuesday morning, and I have the following week off as well. I absolutely loved the Texas beach the one long weekend I spent near Corpus Christi. The water was warm and extra salty making one buoyant, which is good for non-swimmers like me, and there were dolphins and fish, and you could walk out for about a half mile before it was too deep. I remember a pickup full of guys that drove past and threw us cans of beer, and all the food was dirt cheap, and the surf clothes affordable. Then there's the rest of Texas, where you can drive 110 and see armadillos and cactus. And Austin! God I love Austin. It's like a warm Portland with even more college kids. I will probably have to spend some time in Killeen, though, which is where my friend lives. Killeen is this dirty military town with all the requisite car dealers, pawn shops, and high murder rate. Good Korean food, though.

PS - I hate that I can't sleep after an evening match. The game was over by 9:15 and here it is 2:55am. Booooo.