birthday party!

Well, last night almost everyone came over and we ate delicious completos and mil hojas (thousand leaves) cake and drank beer and piscola and listened to good music and danced a little and basically just had a fantastic time. I'm not sure I can ever thank Luz María enough for making it happen the way it did. I've said it once and I'll say it again: I got really lucky with this host family. They're terrific. It was the best birthday party I've had in a long time, maybe since Lyle the magician. That, I think, takes the all-time cake for me. Fire into doves...man. But anyhow, it was fantastic and I was just incredibly happy all night. We ended up at a bar in Plaza Ñuñoa afterwards, and that was fun, too, but the party in my house was just great. I'm a little hung over today, but not badly and as soon as I've showered and eaten some of the surely dozens of dogs we've got left and drank a little more of Francisco's delicious green tea (he's a bit of a tea snob, which is great for me because he's also really generous), I'll be golden in time for the Biggest Game Of All Time, which Colin Keiffer accurately describes in his away message as the national championship. You go, Colin Keiffer. I've been flipping out about it for the past 24 hours and now it's less than 4 hours to Armageddon. Oh man. Well, I'd better go shower, but before go, I'm going to sing for you the first of many renditions of the Greatest Fight Song Of All Time.

HAIL! TO THE VICTORS, VALIANT!
HAIL! TO THE CONQ'RING HEROES!
HAIL, HAIL TO MICHIGAN, THE LEADERS AND BEST!

HAIL! TO THE VICTORS, VALIANT!
HAIL! TO THE CONQ'RING HEROES!
HAIL, HAIL TO MICHIGAN, THE CHAMPIONS OF THE WEST!

GO BLUE GO BLUE GO BLUE GO BLUE!