Miss Y'all Too Kentucky Division

The Super Youth Regional fencing tournament started yesterday at the Executive Hotel and Suites and is going on in Louisville this weekend through the 30th.

For a moment it looked like I might get the opportunity to fly up there and once again be the announcer for that event.  But alas, it didn't work out for me this time.

Dawn did call me last night with her latest Louisville update and what's transpiring in her life as well.   We're still tight even though I don't get to spend as much time with her (and Polar) as I used to.

Dawn is working the SYC, and one of the first questions from many of the participants that arrived to check in and participate in the various events was "Where's Monica?" 

It seems that my statuesque presence was missed, especially by the people of LFC, Bluegrass FC,  Indy Sabre, Knight of Swords and the Kentucky Division of USFA.   That made me tear up a little hearing that news.  

It may sound corny , but one of my goals in anything I participate in is to represent myself and my community with dignity and class, do the best job I can while I'm involved with it and leave it in better shape than when I found it. 

Guess I made more of a positive impact on people in the fencing community than I thought.  

On that note, have a wonderful and successful; SYC tournament.   I miss being the announcer for that event and had a lot of fun doing it.

And I miss you too Kentucky Division.



 

Congrats Mayor Fischer

One of the things I also missed with the move from Da Ville was how the 2010 mayoral election played out there.   I was part of the C-FAIR endorsement committee for the primary elections that vetted all the mayoral candidates on the Democratic side and the two GOP ones that sought our endorsement.

I missed the fun of the fall campaigns, but was happy to see Greg Fischer, who I'd met at various liberal-progressive events in Louisville during my time there beat Republican Hal Heiner and become the city's next mayor.

Yesterday was Inauguration Day for Mayor Fischer and the Louisville metro council, so I wanted to take a moment to congratulate him and all the peeps I got to meet during my time in Da Ville who took their oaths of office yesterday.  

May you serve the citizens of Louisville and the state to the best of your abilities. May you have continued success in winning elective office while upholding liberal progressive positions and policies that benefit all citizens and not just a narrow monoethnic slice of it.

Battle Of the Bluegrass At The KFC Yum Center

Another one of the things I miss about Da Ville is the Rivalry Week hype surrounding the annual basketball hatefest between the Kentucky Wildcats and the Louisville Cardinals. 

Come to think of it, any sport that UK and UL play against each other is a red and blue hatefest.

This day on the calendar has been circled ever since the schedules for both teams were released a few months ago.


The nationally televised 2010 edition of the 'Battle of the Bluegrass' taking place later today in Louisville has the added significance of being the first showdown in this hotly contested series that will be played at the Cards new arena, the KFC Yum Center.

The Cards definitely have added incentive to make sure that the first time they play the Wildcats in their new playpen is a successful one.   The Cats want to make sure they spoil the party for the portion of the 22,000 people in attendance that bleed Cardinal red.

I have friends on both sides of the Red and Blue divide who tried for eight years with the zeal of missionaries to get me to join either Cardinal Nation or Wildcat Nation to no avail. 


Yep, should be a fun game   As to which team I'm rooting for, I'm officially neutral.       

Seriously.

Aww (Sniff, Sniff) Thanks Polar and Dawn!

While on one hand I've been celebrating my first full holiday season back in Harris County in ten years, it also means that for the first time since 2001 I'm not with my chosen family members and experiencing all the traditions we'd built up during my time in Da Ville.

I wasn't there to bounce up and down Bardstown Road the first Saturday of this month to experience Bardstown Aglow and play DJ for my Edenside Christian Church congregation.     They didn't get to hear me spin Christmas tunes with soul and ask the holiday revelers to "Sliiiide into Edenside"' and take advantage of our church's holiday hospitality.

And I miss talking to my pastor at Edenside, the Rev. Sally McClain and various people in the congregation..   I also miss Maestro Stawicki, LFC and many of the people I had the pleasure of meeting in the fencing community up there in Kentucky and the USFA Great Lakes region. .

I'm going to miss taking part in the Christmas Eve service at the church, scarfing up Dawn's sugar cookies and homemade waffles, and Christmas dinner with Dawn, Polar and Mama Bear.    I miss riding around checking out Christmas lights with holiday music softly playing in the background on the radio.

I miss those times I got to hang out and spend quality time with Angie Fenton, my homegirl Shaha and various peeps in the Louisville liberal progressive activist community, at U of L and the LPTS.

I'm going to miss seeing the Light Up Louisville ceremony downtown and already miss Impellizzeri's.   I'm also going to miss the pajama breakfast at wonderfully quirky Lynn's Paradise Cafe on New Year's Day.

The snow, shoveling it and 20 degree temps?     Not so much.


That trip down Louisville Christmas memory lane got triggered by a package I received from Dawn and Polar earlier this morning.  In addition to some mail from peeps that didn't get the memo I'm back in the Lone Star State, it had some wrapped Christmas presents in it.

I'd already received Christmas cards last week from Dawn and Maureen Aubrey.    Maureen is one of the members of my Louisville church family who every year since my arrival there sent me a Christmas card.
  
Aww (sniff sniff) Thanks Polar and Dawn.    I miss y'all and the good people of Louisville just as much as I hope y'all miss me.     Merry Christmas.     

And can y'all send a sister some Derby Pie for her birthday?