ESPN NCAA-

My brother Neal does a family/friends bracket every year. Unfortunately, I'm not terribly interested in basketball, so I never do very well. My bracket comes from selective random guesses that normally take the complete wrong team to the top. Oh well, not a huge surprise, since I don't follow basketball. It does remind me every year of a flashlight I got one year from my father's company bracket I filled out completely guessing everything. I don't think I ever used that flashlight. I'm a bum like that, but seriously, who ever uses flashlights?

We went to Houston last week. America and her two kids, my mom, and Christian piled into the car with me and we watched the broken dvd player that kept unplugging and restarting about 2/3 of the way. It was too frustrating for me, so I couldn't watch it. Others did. Bless their hearts.

America's kids have lots of energy and affection. I'm very glad I don't have any children yet. I don't think I could handle that 24 hours a day for years at a time. We went to the Galveston beach one day...my mom, me and the kids. It was full of dog poop and the birds attacked me because I was eating a sandwich. Not a fun day.

We played lots of games, some of which I won. We went through my mission clothes and Sarah said they were acceptable. Later America went through my clothes with me and told me they were all unacceptable. Dumb.

For anybody wondering about my boy situation, I don't really have one. I mean, I got back from Whistler and the 19 yr old wouldn't even sit by me, so I guess that's over. I thought maybe I'd get some man affection right before my mission, but it no longer seems feasible. We might hang out a bit before I leave, but sitting across the room from each other, of course. Anything else would be inappropriate for prospective missionaries.

I'm sure it's good for me or I wouldn't hate it so much. Neal said I shouldn't be dating anyone younger than 22 anyway. I guess that's a matter of opinion but I can guarantee I will not date anyone younger than 21 when I get back from Guatemala. I cannot handle anymore premission drama. Plus, 27.5 is too old for a girl to wait another two years to see if a boy may or may not like her when he gets back. These things change- as we all know.

If I dated anyone my age he would've freaked out about my mission decision, so I think 19 was the only way to go before I left. Just so you know I didn't regret it a bit. Not one. And bits are very small.

I'm getting nervous for my mission, but I leave next Tuesday for Provo, so no surprises there. I need to get some stuff and pack some other stuff. I think I'm about halfway there. I need to stop bumming around though and get it done. It's so easy to do...