Busy couple of days. On Saturday we drove to Holt (near Lansing) for Steven to weigh in for the Border Wars National Championship. He made weight without a problem, and we stopped off in Jackson on the way home and ate dinner at the Old Country Buffet, beloved by preteens and teens everywhere!
This morning we got up very early and headed back up to Holt. The breakfast of a champion, by the way is choclate frosted donuts and Mountain Dew! It was tournament morning! Dan was extrememly hyper and driving the rest of us nuts! Billy was lucky-- the tournament director kept begging for table help so he volunteered. He did a good deed -- they really did need his help -- and he got to get away to the far end of the gym for the whole day. My role for the day was to try to keep peace between Steven and his hyper father, as well as filming Stevie's matches. I'm sure Dan's blood pressure was spiking on him most of the day! And Steven was fine as long as his dad left him alone.
They started out the day with the parade of champions. In order to get into this tournament every boy and girl had to be a champion at a qualifying tournament. The kids paraded around the gym to this song (I edited out the naughtier bits for family consumption):
EMINEM LYRICS
"Lose Yourself"
Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted-One moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip?
His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy
There's vomit on his sweater already, mom's spaghetti
He's nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready
To drop bombs, but he keeps on forgettin
What he wrote down, the whole crowd goes so loud
He opens his mouth, but the words won't come out
He's chokin, how everybody's jokin now
The clock's run out, time's up over, bloah!
Snap back to reality, Oh there goes gravity
Oh, there goes Rabbit, he choked
He's so mad, but he won't give up that
Easy, no
He won't have it , he knows his whole back's to these ropes
It don't matter, he's dope
He knows that, but he's broke
He's so stagnant that he knows
When he goes back to his mobile home, that's when it's
Back to the lab again yo
This whole rap ****
He bettergo capture this moment and hope it don't pass him
[Hook:]
You better lose yourself in the music, the moment
You own it, you better never let it go
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime yo
The soul's escaping, through this hole that it's gaping
This world is mine for the taking
Make me king, as we move toward a, new world order
A normal life is borin, but superstardom's close to post mortem
It only grows harder, only grows hotter
He blows us all over these **** is all on him
Coast to coast shows, he's know as the globetrotter
Lonely roads, God only knows
He's grown farther from home, he's no father
He goes home and barely knows his own daughter
But hold your nose cuz here goes the cold water
His **** don't want him no mo, he's cold product
They moved on to the next schmoe who flows
He nose dove and sold nada
So the soap opera is told and unfolds
I suppose it's old partna', but the beat goes on
Da da dum da dum da da
[Hook]
No more games, I'ma change what you call rage
Tear this ********** roof off like 2 dogs caged
I was playin in the beginnin, the mood all changed
I been chewed up and spit out and booed off stage
But I kept rhymin and stepwritin the next cypher
Best believe somebody's payin the pied piper
All the pain inside amplified by the fact
That I can't get by with my 9 to 5
And I can't provide the right type of life for my family
Cuz man, these ****** food stamps don't buy diapers
And it's no movie, there's no Mekhi Phifer, this is my life
And these times are so hard and it's getting even harder
Tryin to feed and water my seed, plus
See dishonor caught up between being a father and a prima donna
Baby mama drama's screamin on and
Too much for me to wanna
Stay in one spot, another day of monotony
Has gotten me to the point, I'm like a snail
I've got to formulate a plot fore I end up in jail or shot
Success is my only ******** option, failure's not
Mom, I love you, but this trailer's got to go
I cannot grow old in Salem's lot
So here I go is my shot.
Feet fail me not cuz maybe the only opportunity that I got
[Hook]
You can do anything you set your mind to, man
Anyway,my Stevie did just fine on the day. He only lost one match - to the kid who would eventually finish second -- and that was a close bout and he lost by only three points. He pinned all of his other foes, including a kid who had won medals at national tournaments before. He came in third, and he worked his butt off and he earned it.
We stopped off at the Cracker Barrel in Okemos for dinner on the way home. While we were leaving, a woman traveling alone approached us. Her car battery had died and was hoping we could give her a jump. Now, when my father passed, one of his things that I got from his garage was a car emergency kit. it has jumper cables and flares and all sorts of useful items if you are having car trouble. So we were happy to help her out. We didn't realize until we got home that Dan must have left the kit on the ground up in the restaurant parking lot in Okemos. He felt very bad about it, and I had to reassure him for quite sometime that it was OK. I think he knew how irritating he was today, so is now supersensitive and insecure. I have only yelled at one person in something like a year, and that person so entirely deserved it, and even then I felt terrible and guilty about it. So why would I yell at him or get mad at him for a simple mistake anyone could make? Sometimes men can be so strange!
I have never seen such a gloriously lovely autumn. I have been taking the Max, my elderly dog, out about once an hour. Its just beautiful today! 
I actually even briefly napped in my lawn chair on the sidelines during halftime of the game. The sunshine was marvelous!
On the way home we stopped at an apple orchard and bought a gallon of fresh cider and some homemade apple fritters.
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