Observations | SLT (again), curry-scented body wash, and my domain (that I still don't have)

BOYS’ DEANS OFFICE – While the weather in Africa isn’t as volatile (yet) as it can be at home, I must say it’s just as impressive.

Since I’ve been here, I think I’ve experienced 3 or 4 real out-of-nowhere rainstorms. You’ll be walking around, enjoying the nice sunny say, walk inside for a few minutes, and hear the sprinkler system hitting buildings outside… but hey, those sprinklers never hit that much. Look outside, and it’s an incredible sight – skies still blue, yet a small monsoon pouring out over the land.

I got to experience another one of these on Wednesday afternoon, while I was on duty. I was sitting at the office computer, writing something, and I’d occasionally peek out the window to make sure all continued to look peaceful. It was a gorgeous scene: the campus’ flowers blooming, sun beaming down, people walking around under a huge blue sky with fluffy, white clouds that looked as if they’d been painted in. I smiled, comforted by the sight, and turned back to my computer. The time was 2:31pm.

Then, out of nowhere, came a rumble so deep I knew it had to either be a massive thunderhead, sitting right above us, or a nearby volcano, ready to assplode. I hopped up from the PC, darted outside, and stared in wonder. The view was exactly the same as before, but now, out of nowhere, raining. The time was 2:34pm.

I found out from one of my students, Aman, that they say whenever the weather’s like this – sunny, pretty, blue skies, and raining – they say a lion is born. If that’s true, I’ve been around for the better part of a feline maternity ward. So cool.

Have I mentioned Africa is awesome?

Three Observations:

1. SLT receives schooling from original SLT. On Wednesday night, Social-Life Terminator performed what might have his first error miscalculation. [NOTE TO READER: SLT doesn’t make errors; He purposely miscalculates to give the enemy a (small) chance.] While supervising the dorm during rec, SLT was not aware of the crimes being committed within striking distance. While SLT did handle the delinquents effectively, he did feel “schooled” in having to be informed of offenses.

First off, the dealing with Luca*, the boy SLT had to nail the other day. Luca* was dorm-bound, as stated earlier, which made his courtship of a certain lady difficult. So what did he do? He sat on the dorm steps with the girl. While technically he was within the dorm/punishment parameters, she wasn’t. Students aren’t allowed to be inside the sidewalk of the opposite dorm (located 20 feet from my door) unless they’re yelling for one of the others to come out. Then, they must talk to the other from the outside of the sidewalk. Luca* was legally on my steps; she wasn’t.

However, this was all out of SLT’s field of vision, so he didn’t know until it was too late. Someone called up the dorm, informing him of the transgression. SLT marched to the scene and “took care of it.”

Moments later, SLT was dealt another misdeed-he-didn’t-know-of: Three guys, at the soccer field, missing out on dorm-bound for a previous offense. SLT had no idea that there were problems with the students, and furthermore, that the guys were out there at all. SLT marched over to the field and arrested the 3, bringing them back to the holding cell that is Tegler Hall.

All in all, another 4 targets tonight, plus a bonus-point girl target. *Wipes hands clean* Just another day…

2. I bought curry-scented body wash. Ok, not really. But man, sure smells like it. I was running low on soap for my showers, and I knew I’d need to pick up some more in town. No problem, I could get more at Nakumatt, so I picked some off on the (uneventful) day off into Nairobi.

Well, since we ate at Ashiano’s, the Indian restaurant, a few weeks ago, I’ve been spicing up Ramen dishes, pasta, tuna, peanut-butter-and-jelly – everything – with small dashes of curry powder. If you’re careful with it, it won’t even burn your throat, and it’s an interesting spice to try out.

The only problem is now that I’ve been eating it more, everything smells like it now. Flowers in the garden, smog in Nairobi, “that smelly smell I smell” in the bathroom: all curry! It got so bad that in the shower, my new body wash required a double-take, just to make sure I got “Manly-man musk” and not “CURRY!”

I need to go on the patch…

3. “www.thedailycowbell.com” will be up… eventually. So I previously bought a domain for the blog, as I reported earlier. But because of the idiots at Dime-a-dozen.com, I was unable to close the deal, and alas, I’m still at this long address.

Just 2 days ago, I took my second shot at the adventure, re-buying it with another company, this time for only $5. However, these idiots don’t support web-address masking, a feature that would let you see “www.thedailycowbell.com” on the address bar. They asked me to confirm my order, also, on a phone number only accessible to the United States. Dummies.

It’ll come soon…

4. ... and heck, just because I haven’t done one in a while, BONUS OBSERVATION: I’m not illiterate! That’s a huge surprise to my millions of readers who really know me. My old bragging line was how I never read, but in the last few months, I’ve polished off all the Dan Brown books, Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Leon Uris’ Battle Cry, and just last night, Paper Lion.

George Plimpton’s book was just incredibly entertaining to me, and not in a football sense, necessarily. Plimpton just uses great stories, real stories, about the adventures a team goew through in training camp. My favorite story involved a player that wanted to spook the great Dick “Night Train” Lane in the middle of the night, so he put on a Halloween mask, slipped into Lane’s closet, and waited for the star to be asleep. While in the closet, however, the player felt a hot breathing down the back of his neck. He turned around and saw the most ghoulish figure ever, and he ran out of the closet, screaming.

The person in the closet was another player, hoping himself to scare Lane, and when he saw that a huge monster (with a football player’s stature) got into his closet, he got frightened himself and started breathing heavy. The monster in the front ran out (scared), scaring the one in the back to run out of the closet. Meanwhile, hearing all the screaming, Lane wakes up, sees two scary things racing out of his closet, and Lane hops out of bed to get away from these demons.

Plimpton’s version is far superior, of course, but still, the book isn’t so much football as it is about a band of brothers. I completely recommend this to the reading list of anyone who appreciates sports, good writing, or just good stories.

Finally, Friday has rolled around, and Sabbath will be here shortly. I’m not on duty this weekend, so I’ll get the opportunity to sleep in tomorrow, go to the game park for Sabbath afternoon, and kill myself (again) on another Mount Kenya prep-hike. Miss you all!

-cw

*Names have been changed to protect the innocent... or presumed innocent.