Sportsing Is Fun...Except When It's Stressful

Hiya, friends!

I got to go tailgating this weekend! And, full disclosure, tailgating does NOT involve slamming your tail in a gate. Because that's what I thought it was.

As it turns out, tailgating is all about eating food and playing games and hanging out with your friends before a football game! And eating food and playing games and hanging out with my friends are, like, my 3 favorite things!!

Book Boy made cookies, and they were delicious!

I EVEN GOT TO MAKE NEW FRIENDS AT TAILGATING!

That's because Short Girl's family came allllllllll the way from this place called Georgia to see JSU play in their football game on Saturday. So, naturally, Short Girl was going to tailgate with them, AND THEN MRS. SHORT GIRL INVITED ME AND KATIE AND CURLY-HAIRED BOY TO COME, TOO! I got to meet Short Girl's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Short Girl, and 2 of her brothers: Book Boy and Z. Book Boy likes to read books everywhere he goes, and Z likes to play sports. Z and Mr. Short girl even played a sport where you throw balls at each other and catch them with nets on sticks! I'd be terrible at the sport, because I don't have thumbs. (Katie's Note: They were playing lacrosse.) 

After tailgating, you're supposed to go to the real sports game. JSU was playing Coastal Carolina University. Don't get confused here, but CCU's mascot is The Chanticleer. This is NOT--I repeat, NOT!!--Katie's newspaper.That confused me at first, but then Katie explained that her newspaper is good at writing about football but not at playing it. Apparently, "Chanticleer" is the name of a rooster in a really old story, and more than one person is allowed to use it.

The football game was really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really stressful!!! Katie screamed so much. She has a happy scream and a scared scream and a confused scream, and those are all the emotions that she feels during a football game, so she basically screamed the whole time,..it was a lot.

BUT IT'S OKAY, BECAUSE THE GAMECOCKS WON!!!

There were a lot of penalties called, and the refs were really bad and biased, and the Gamecocks did some pretty sloppy sportsing at times, but in the end it was all okay! (Except that Katie nearly died, and that might have been bad.)

Tall Girl is playing the marimba again! Yay, Tall Girl!!

And after the game, the Southerners played!! The Southerners are always my favorite part, and this time we were really close to the field! I could see Tall Girl from the bleachers!

This year's show is all about heroes--but not like Superman and Batman. This show is about "everyday heroes" and, especially, the military heroes that have died so that America can still be America. It's a really good show (because everything the Southerners do is really good!), and it has lots of fun music and costumes and pretty flags! I can't really explain it, but I'll make Katie out in a fancy video link to it here.

The Ballerinas always have a special kickline in the show.

The Southerners are going to go to Hawaii in December to play this show at the 75th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor. Katie was telling me that 75 years ago some people in Japan didn't like America, so they sent some people in airplanes to bomb the Pearl Harbor military base in Hawaii. A lot of people died, and that's how America got involved in World War II. So the Southerners wanted to honor all of those people with their show.

The pretty flags are my favorite part!

Overall, I think my first tailgating experience was pretty darn fun! And even though I didn't know what was going on during the game, I had fun. Nothing will ever beat spending time with Katie and her friends and watching JSU win and listening to the Southerners play music and sing "I'll Fly Away." Those are the best parts of college, and I'm really happy that I get to experience them.

~Trash Bear (and Katie)~

You Know What I Did Last Summer

Hi, friends!

Awww dorm, sweet dorm! 

I'm so glad to be back! I've really missed all of you! (I'm sorry I haven't been posting, but I'll explain that in a second.) Katie and I are back at JSU, and Katie's a JUNIOR now! (She says that she's really old and that the world is falling apart around her and that she has a lot of big, grown up decisions to make...but she's always been dramatic, so I'm not too concerned about it right now.)

This is Katie's newest newspaper! Available now through Sept. 22!

 I'm not a junior.
 I'm a bear.
She's also editor of The Chanticleer. (That's pronounced "Shant-i-kleer," she told me.) The Chanticleer is JSU's newspaper. And she's in charge! She has 3 other editors and a lot of writers that she can boss around!
(Oh...she said I should say that nicer. She doesn't want to be a mean boss. She wants to be a cool boss. A fun boss. But she wants to get stuff done. She has to be strict, but reasonable. She wants to make a super cool newspaper every week, and she wants all her writers and editors to be her friends. She likes friends. And she's a pretty good one to have.)
So while Katie was doing all that, Susan and Maxx and I went to Summer Camp! Summer Camp isn't too far from the dorm where I live with Katie during the school year, so I wasn't too scared or lonely.
It was a really hot summer. I think that's partly because I'm a bear all covered with fur, though.

Me and my BFF Johnny Depp

Summer Camp was really fun. We saw lots of animals: wasps and bugs and even a skink! We could take nature hikes without leaving the room! Susan and Maxx and I all lived in the same room with a lot of other friends--like Johnny Depp! Sometimes Katie would come to visit all of us, too! Those were great days!
Summer Camp ended on August 20th, and then I moved back to JSU with Katie. She's been really, really busy already this year (I didn't think that she could be busier than she was last year, but she IS!), but I'm excited for her to blog about be again! I'm going to go on so many adventures this year, and I can't wait to share them with you!

P.S: Don't forget to read Katie's newspaper, The Chanticleer!


Katie's Note: Okay, just to clarify some things that Trash Bear said. "Summer Camp" is a storage unit. (Yes, I kept Trash Bear in a storage unit this summer. I was working. I had a lot going on. I didn't have time to be a good parent. But he was well taken care of. I promise. I checked in on him every time I needed something from the storage unit. Please don't judge me.) "Johnny Depp" is...actually Johnny Depp. Well, a life size cutout of him dressed as the Mad Hatter. My drama teacher gave him to me when she retired in May. And there really were wasps and bugs and a lizard in the storage unit, but it's cool. They didn't ruin my stuff. And, yes, you should totally read The Chanticleer!

All the "Summer Camp Kidz" got moved back in. On the bar L to R: Susan, Eugene, and Maxx.
On the bed (back row L to R): Sitting Raccoon, Bearis Karloff, Jack, Myrtle, and me.
front row L to R: Coco, Tortuga, Steve, Sassy, Jax, Baby Cocky, Bob the Minion, and Bing Bong

~Trash Bear (and Katie)~