Monday, October 18, 2010

First day on the job and a little Harry Potter

Cyber friends!
I felt so cool, riding my new bike to my first day at work this morning, with my packed lunch hanging off the handle bars. (Side note- the Ozone has been resurrected in a new silver light and is back in action in Oxford). I probably looked like a kid on a pony for the first time riding to the candy store, grinning from ear to ear the whole way.  I am so thankful to have this opportunity to work at such a stimulating, exciting place.  Honestly, I am just so excited about everything I am going to learn from the people I am working with and all the experiences coming my way.   The day got even better when I got home and Jordan had lilies in a vase on the kitchen table to celebrate my first day.  Tell me I don't have the best husband in the world. 
new bike goofin on the cadi caprice

After moving in we realized that we live right across the street from the university rugby fields.  Tonight Oxford played the London Wasps and marked my first rugby experience.  wow, what a chaotic game. I'm sure it seemed so chaotic to me because I am not familiar with any of the rules or objectives of the game, but the other part of me thinks that it could just be an insane game.  First of all, why the heck do none of the guys wear helmets or pads? After I realized this, I expected blood to be gushing out of every guy that stood up after getting trounced on by 4 huge guys on the other team. But no- these guys are invincible I tell you.  I gained much respect for anyone who goes out for rugby.  The funniest part for me was when there was a "jump ball" and both teams huddled right next to each other and hoisted up one HUGE player while the referee threw the ball onto the pile of men and the two "flyers" (if you will) fought to knock the ball to their side.  I guess from my days as a cheerleader I expected the lightest, prettiest guy to be the one chosen to be lifted in the air. But it was hilarious to see the burliest, most macho man lifted into the air by his teammates.


Most importantly, Saturday night one of our friends invited me to accompany her and another friend to the Harry Potter dinner at her college.  I must admit, I felt like I was a little unworthy of this experience, seeing that I have only read the first 3 books and have fallen asleep in the middle of every Harry Potter movie I've seen.  But none-the-less I was so pumped to have been invited.  I was told to dress up and spent all afternoon in our room holding up clothes asking Jordan "which one looks witchey-er?" Soon to arrive and realize I had the worst costume there (I had to claim I was merely mud-blood).  People went all out.  One of our friends decked out in gold glitter from head to toe and was the golden snitch, there was a phoenix, a Hagrid, Professor McGonagall, a guy with Aragog around his neck, Malfoy, you get the picture.  It was incredible, when we walked in we were greeted by Dumbledore who was holding the sorting hat.  When we walked in a loud, omniscient voice assigned us to colleges- we were selected as Ravenclaws.  Throughout the night Dumbledore would present challenges that we all had to do in order to win points for our team.  One of the challenges included one person from your team casting a spell and then another person had to receive it.  This is when my lack of Harry Potter knowledge was most evident, people kept casting all of these spells and laughing so hard "what if he cast a rumper-tumper spell instead?" and I had to fake laugh to fit in.  Even the ceiling had a sky that kept changing like in the movie, every detail was accounted for.  It was truly a once in a lifetime experience, I don't know that I will ever be the same, especially after digesting eel.

Dumbledore doing his thing

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