I'm delighted Stanford won Saturday night's NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball championship. It was a breathtakingly exciting match between the Cardinal and Penn State's navy blue. Both teams were astonishingly good. I was tense and exlamatory throughout the four closely-fought games. I usually hate sports, but women's volleyball just blows my socks off. It's fast, it's furious, it's fun. Part of my fascination is with the sight of all that energy. I'm such a low energy person. I've always hated any form of indoors exercise, and I deeply loathed gym class throughout my school years. There's some kind of wish fulfillment going on when I watch the young, athletic women churn through the rotation in volleyball. I can't imagine having that much physical toughness. One girl got an elbow in the face and lost a tooth in the first game tonight. She played all four games, though. Didn't even take a time out. I was awed, and slightly appalled.
I finished my Christmas shopping afterwards. I ordered a telescope for my father and his wife. It's extravagant, but I think he'll like it. If he doesn't, well, he knows he can exchange it. They live in the desert most of the year. I think he ought to learn to look at stars in a non-light-polluted sky while he still can. God knows the California desert is getting more humid each year as the golf courses and property developments continue to expand along with the population. Every time I fly in to see them I can see the network of green patches is bigger. It's sad to think of a desert growing wet and warm.
Some folks got a bit wet and warm from looking at the porn actress' body I grafted my head onto, back in entry 224. I got some pretty disappointed mail when I "revealed" the hoax. Of course, I thought it was glaringly obvious that it was a Photoshopped .jpg, and indeed it was to those who use graphics applications or read the National Enquirer. (As long as I'm exposing hoaxes, let me just point out that those breasts of hers aren't real, either.) Scott, who originally inspired me to put up a graphic featuring some naked breasts, suggested I require a topless photo of everyone who wants to join Archipelago. I had a different vision, proposing to turn everyone into a Nativity Scene. As new people joined I could turn them into shepherds, shepherdesses, or smiling barnyard animals. You never run out of nativity figures, really. The problem was I just couldn't decide who should play which role. It gave me reason to browse through a few web sites featuring nativity scenes. Boy, there's a lot of bad Christian paraphernalia available ("Comes with real turf for the roof!"). I couldn't handle more than about five sites before getting slightly queasy.
Fortunately for Beth who writes Dear Jackie Robinson, I've decided to eschew both topless photos and nativity scenes. She is the latest to join the Archipelago web ring. The ring was, and is, officially closed to new members but with four people on indeterminate hiatus I decided to add just one more. She gives good attitude. I like her prose a lot. She's a tough cookie. In fact, I suspect she played volleyball in school. Fast, furious, fun.
