lessons from a weekend in rayne

Lessons learned from a weekend in south Louisiana:
– It’s a shame UConn’s women’s team had to win the title last night, if only because it meant Oklahoma cutie/All-American Stacey Dales had to lose in the finals. Saw her interviewed after the semifinal win over Duke, and she seemed smart, together, charming, and by-the-way cute.
There was something in her voice that got me, that vaguely schoolmarmish lilt, that sense that she’s a higher order of being stuck explaining simple concepts to a world of second-graders. That’s when I realized the origins of that accent — she’s Canadian! Bestill my heart!
– While we’re talking basketball, go Terps! Not least because Maryland’s starting small forward and emotional leader, Byron Mouton, is from my hometown of Rayne and is by all accounts a good guy. (Not to mention the fact he has his own web page.)
Byron and I are also probably relatives of some sort. My grandmother Mazie‘s maiden name is Mouton. And he grew up a few blocks from me. Then again, he’s black and I’m white, so if our families do have some sort of historical relationship, it probably wasn’t a good one, if you know what I mean.
– Boiled crawfish. Boiled crawfish is good.
– If I make a list of 12 things I’d like to get done over a long weekend, two of them might get done. Partially.
– No matter how boring the drive from Dallas to Shreveport to Rayne is — and it’s pretty damned boring — that’s no reason to try to “liven the drive up” by taking the alternate route via Houston to return. First of all, the “excitement” of the Houston route is basically limited to the Sam Houston statue on I-45. Second, it’s not worth the six separate traffic jams I suffered through last night and the extra two hours it took me to get home.
– Chocolate bunnies are nice and all, but I get a little weirded out by big chocolate crosses. Mazie gave me one for Easter. I know Jesus is the reason for the season, etc., but it strikes me as wrong to cross the faith/commercialism boundary quite so flagrantly. It’s like seeing Santa chilling in the Nativity manger.

5 thoughts on “lessons from a weekend in rayne”

  2. There’s no all-Canadian, so she went for the next best thing, I guess.
    We do, however, have great tasting all dressed pizza and potato chips. Just thought I’d add that tidbit.

  3. I’m a little confused about Byron’s webpage… Those other guys on there, are they the rest of the team? And if so, why does he call two of them “Lacrosse Player 1” and “Lacrosse Player 2”? Maybe I’m putting too much thought into this and should get back to work.

  4. Abby, it’s impossible to put too much thought into interpreting crabwalk.com. There are so many layers of meaning waiting to be revealed.
    Yeah, those other guys are the rest of the team, along with Byron’s “wacky” nicknames for them. I guess LP1 and LP2 just look like lacrosse players. (Of course, I lived in Rayne 18 years without ever seeing a lacrosse player, so Byron’s interpretations may be a bit off. Then again, Maryland is a traditional lacrosse powerhouse, so what do I know.)

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