My First Fencing Tournament Ever!

So Saturday was my first fencing tournament ever! It was really fun and exciting!
We left on Friday around 6 or 7, because it was at Smith (about 1 and 2/1 hours away) and the tournament started at 9.
We stayed overnight in North Hampton and got up bright and early (6) the next morning for a quick breakfast and then checking out of the hotel and going to happy fencing land, aka the Smith gym, which is big and new. We hung around there, got our equipment checked (they almost didn't pass it because it had dents in it! But I love my dents!) and set up our strip and hung around some more and looked at hot hot hot fencing men and ran around the track and stretched and then it was time for our pools. There are 5-7 people per pool and you fence everybody in your pool and get ranked by how well you do. Then you fence in DE, direct eliminations, where if you lose one bout you're out. The pool bouts are 5 point bouts, but the DEs are 15 point bouts and I was fencing a lefty. I got kinda behind in the beginning, but I was catching up toward the end.....then time ran out and I lost because I had the least amount of points. But I'm proud of myself for almost evening the score (11-14). Then we stuck around for the rest of the day and waited for people to finish bouting. And one of our epeeists came in 3rd out of everyone (many of the new england colleges were there....so that was a whole bunch of people!)
Happy Halloween, happy daylight saving.....hope you all had a good weekend!

It's been a while...

It's been a while, but that doesn't mean that things haven't been movin' and shakin' over here in New England land. Last weekend was parent's weekend and my parents came up and visited for a day and a half and I got to eat off campus. There was a musical performance Saturday with the Wellesley-Brandeis Orchestra, Glee Club, Choir, Chamber Singers and various ensembles that were all really good. That was the afternoon. Then my parents and I went to Back Bay (and we took the car! Man, it's been a while since I've been in a car) and walked around and now I pretend I can find things in that area. If anyone one wants to come visit me and go shopping, that's were all the stores are. Just don't expect to be able to afford anything. For dinner we went to Legal Seafoods and I came back smelling very fishy. Bleck.
Sunday we went for breakfast in the ville (yay for not eating on campus again!) and then checked out the train station. I've been past it several times but I had no idea what it was until my dad was like, "this is the train station." In my defense, it's behind a parking lot, and it's right by the post office and a bunch of stores, so I just kinda assumed the train didn't stop there. Then we had characteristic family time: we went into Wellesley Booksmith and wandered around by ourselves, sampling books like fine wines and expensive chocolates, lost in rapture. Or something like that.

In different but exciting news I made the fencing team and I'll be competing in our first tournament this Saturday. It doesn't count for anything, which is good, because I'm going to do really badly.

I feel obligated to mention that my campus is beautiful. The leaves are all turning orange and red and yellow and falling and being picturesque. The flowers and the cattails by Paramecium Pond are dying and look kind of ugly, but when you step back and look at the still-green lily pads floating in the water, and the weeping willow with yellowing leaves contrasting with the dead, brown of the cattails, it actually looks really pretty.

Anyway. I know there was something I was going to say, but I can't remember it anymore....hm. Well, for anyone who was wondering my lab report is 10 pages long. And it's probably not long enough or inclusive enough, but I've worked really hard on it, so I'm sad that I'm probably going to do badly. It's just too much material, and we did the experiments a month ago and I know none of these are good excuses. But I would just like to say that my Islam paper wasn't even 10 pages, so.....it's ironic or something. I dunno. I'm too tired to be intelligent.

I got to sleep in this morning!

So here's the exciting news of the past couple days:
1. My dad made fudge and sent it to me, and now I have a lot of it and it's good. Revelation of the day: the freshman fifteen is NOT because of dining hall food. It's all those yummy care packages.
2. Kim's parent's ROCK! And they sent me a package tooooooo! And it had cookies and brownies and socks! Yay!
3. So today during practice Gamil posted the list of the people fencing in our first fencing get together and guess who made the foil team? Yes! Meeeeee! And I'm excited because I didn't think I was going to because sometimes I do stupid things and he yells at me about bouncing when I retreat and (hopefully he hasn't noticed) but I've picked up some VERY bad habits from epee and I'm not good at stratagizing....Anyway, the point is I made the team and now I pretend I'm going to practice alllllll the time because I have to do well. Mmmm, warm fuzzies. :)
4. I am so behind on my bio reading it's not even funny.
5. I got my first credit card bill in the mail today. :(
6. Since the comments thing on Kelly's blog hates me and won't let me comment I shall have to do so here. I have a minion named JOE! No way! You've got a cousin named Joe? Well, I've got a cousin who used to go to Nardin. Yeah? Well maybe it's because you never tell me what you're getting me for Christmas! MEEEEEEEEEE! Dang, I always lose. Polar Ice Caps! Remember that?! Fourth grade. Seventh grade. GPPP, Kentucky, reading, writing...me throwing my shoe at the wall, never ever ever fighting ever ever ever, the CUTE TEAM (woot, I wore that shirt today), the Blue team, France, Simple Plan, everything in the world, basically and how awesome we are and how we're the same person and how you rock my socks (yeah right I'm cooler than you! You win the sweetness competition, even if you ARE for ICKY PLAIN waffles) how much I miss you and how you're my BEST BEST BEST BEST BEST best friend ever ever ever ever ever!!!!!
Yeah, I think that about covers it!
Miss you all!

Anywhoooooo...

I'm excited because I think I actually did decently on my Islam midterm! Of course, those could be famous last words, but I'm thinking they're not. And I'm excited because we only have four grades in that class, so doing well on the midterm is a good idea. Wheeeee!
Then I went to fencing and got my butt totally kicked by this really nice girl. It was awesome because she's amazingly fast and it's been a while since I lost so completely and utterly. I hope I get to fence her a lot, and then maybe someday I will be as fast and cool as she is. I had a lesson with Gamil and I fleched- it was SCARY!- and he told me to work on my footwork because I'm really slow. I think he thinks I'm really dumb because I don't follow directions well. But I always kinda freak out during my lesson and try really hard and just end up looking stupid. It's good times. Also, I want to say "yes, sir" after everything he says, and I don't really know why. Hold over from Kung Fu? I dunno.
Warning to all fencers: I'm gonna come back knowing crazy funky moves like the balestra lunge (remember when Joel tried to teach us that? Yeah, we learned it today) and I'm hoping I might actually win sometimes on a regular basis. However, I worry about losing my directing ability (it's all electric here, so all you have to do mostly is look at the lights, lazy, lazy, lazy) and having my lovely form go down the tubes. Gamil is kinda pro-good form, though, so maybe it won't. It's just, have you ever seen a competition fencer with good form? No. So, I'm worried.
Anywho, after that I came home, took the fastest shower I've ever taken, and went to Pom for our second production meeting. Yay! Then I cam back here, ate RAAAAAAMEN from Syracuse, talked to Kelly (ppps- cw + e forever) and then went to As You Like It, a hilarious play by Shakespeare for all of you uninformed people out there, and, though it had a few glitches, it was really really funny. And for probably the same uninformed people out there, I've never read or seen the play before and I still got all the jokes, so you don't have to be some crazy Shakespeare scholar to see this play and enjoy it.
Now I is back here, waiting for my Spring Roll, which should be arriving in about 10 minutes, and then I shall pretend to take a chunk out of the miles and miles of work I have to do, but really I won't.
Then I'll go to bed, and all will be well with the world.

My traumatizing day

Here's what I did today:
First, I had to call someone a "fucker" in Theater and was traumatized for life.
Second I learned how to fleche and was really bad at it, but I don't care because fleching is sacreligous.
Thirdly, Gamil told me I'm not agressive enough. I know, I know. I think Dan made that clear.
Fourthly, I decided to fail my Islam midterm because, well, I did. No, not really. I'm just stressing about it and I should continue studying now. Or go to sleep. Sleep is important.
Anyway, that was my traumatizing day.

Best Weekend Ever: Second try

Ok, so the dryer did nothing for my clothes. Like, I went down and it was like I'd just put them in there. I should have changed dryers, but there were none open. So here's hoping it works the second time around.
Ok, so Blogger is dumb and completely erased the post I'd been writing for the past hour and I'm a little sad about that, but I'm gonna try again.
So on Friday I had a Bio exam which I barely studied for but was easy anyway (I love you Mrs. Leuchner! You rock!) Then I came back unto my dorm room, showered, finished editing my stupid Islam paper, packed and then went to Islam (with my huge backpack full of stuff). I left right after Islam, took the MIT bus into Boston, took the T to South Station and wandered around the train station for a while, wondering where the bus part was. Turns out it's next door. But the point of the matter is that I got there and got my tickets and bought Burger King and stood in line and got a seat and off I went to...SYRACUSE!!!!!
It was a long bus ride and we ended up changing buses at Albany. There was a creepy guy there (who might/probably was high) who mumbled at me and stood next to me and was generally freaky. Eventually he left, though, and we got on the bus and continued to Syracuse. Note to everyone who takes the bus: the Albany bus station is icky and dingy and gross.
We left a little late, so my bus was 45 minutes late to Syracuse, but it didn't matter because I got there. When I first walked in and was looking for Kelly I didn't see her and I was like "oh no!" but then something orange flew across the room and hugged me. Oh man, it was sooooo good to see her! I missed you SOOOOOOO MUCH, Kelly! YAY!
Then we waited for a taxi to come pick us up because Kelly is tight with the taxi man. But no one came, so we were sad. Then the taxi man called and was like "did my guy come and pick you up" and Kelly was like, "no." So he got really mad and was like, "I'll be there in 7 minutes" and he picked us up and called his employee and swore at him a lot and almost fired him. My favorite part was how the first thing I heard him say was "Hi, F***-bag, why didn't you f-ing pick up Kelly?"
But besides that little fun we got back to the University campus with no trouble and then we stayed up until three talking. Oh man, I missed Kelly so much!
Anyway.
Since we stayed up so late it was a little difficult to wake up at 8 the next morning, but wake up we did, and we got dressed and went to breakfast and saw.....Paul Kenline, of course. I wanted to walk by and accidentally fork him in the eye, but Kelly wouldn't let me. I don't know why. Heeheehee.
After breakfast we went to the fencing room and I fenced Kelly in epee and it was soooo much fun! I haven't fenced in, like, two months, so my leg is a little sore. But I have fencing bruises again, so it's all good. Their fencing gear is funky because they've got only tiny jackets, but all of their masks were huge. What's with that? I also fenced the fencing club president named.....Mike, maybe? I really don't remember his name, but it was a good bout and he hit the mirror on the wall and it made a scary noise. It was hot.
After that we went back to Kelly's room and I borrowed one of her Syracuse shirts so I could masquerade as a Syracuse student. Then I got a walking tour of the campus and surrounding area and we ate lunch at a Greek and Italian place. Kelly saw her French TA on a HOT DATE and I got my Greek music fix, so it was all good.
On the way back to the Hall of Languages we met up with Becca, and she and I made evil plans, by which I mean I asked her if she had a guest pass for Kim and she said yes. Then Kelly was confused. It was funny.
So we hung out in Kelly and Becca's dorm room and I found out that I'm shot down by Brian. (I want a picure CD!). Then we decided to get an early dinner with Becca, so we were going downstairs and Dana called to say that she was really close. So we got take out for dinner and when we came out of the dining hall, who should be there but Dana K and Kiiiiiim! We surprised Kelly because we rock! YAY! It was really cool, but Kelly had to go to work, so we hung out in Kelly's room until she came back. Actually, we miiiiiiiight have taken a liiiiiittle tiiiiiiiny field trip to the third floor......(oksopaulkenlinegotforkedanddanahaspictureproofimeanwhat?butkellyhadnothingtodowithit).
Ahem.
Then Dana went off to celebrate some holiday thing (I don't remember which one) with Becca. After she and Kelly came back we went to Starbucks and found out that Syracuse had lost the game, which was sad, but not surprising. Oh man, there are some high quality Starbucks quotes. Anywho, after that we went back to Day Hall and hung out in Kelly and Becca's room with the Shaw girls and Hong-Diem (or is it Hong-Deim?) and then we went to Hong-Diem's room to watch Love Actually. Good movie, that.
Then it was really late (or should I say early?) so we went to bed.
In the morning we woke up, ate breakfast (but not with Paul Kenline this time...) and then went back to Kelly's room to pack and stuff. After that we went down to Dana's car and stood around talking and jumping around like idiots and harassing innocent passers-by by asking them to take pictures of us. Actually, we only asked one person, and Kelly knew her. But eventually we really did have to leave, so we said good-bye and Kelly went to fencing and Dana drove me to the bus station because she's sweet like that.
Thank you for driving me, Dana! You're a really good driver, even if I squeaked a few times back there. I'm just the worst backseat driver ever. YAY! You rock!
Anyway, the Syracuse bus station is really small and nice and clean. I got a Subway sub and read about Islam and stood in line and then my bus came. It was a long bus ride back to Boston and we changed buses in Albany again. I arrived fine and made it to the T and arrived at Harvard Square 6 minutes too late for the 8:40 Senate Bus. So I sat in front of Harvard in the cold for an hour because I had nothing else to do.
When I got home there was a letter from Kelly in my mail box- YAY- which made it kinda not so sad that I was back. But Sara went home for the weekend, so my room was empty and dark when I got back, and I decided to leave my computer on all night. Nothing like a good screen saver to make you feel less lonely.

Anyway, I'd like to thank Kelly, Becca, Dana and Kim for making this the best weekend I've had in a month! I miss all of you guys soooo much and I can't wait until Christmas when everyone's going to be home and we can be silly and I can hit guys (or talk to guys for that matter) and we can jump around like crazywomen and joke and look at each other funny and do all the stuff we do. I didn't realize how much I missed laughing. Like, I think I've only really laughed hard once since I got here, and I didn't realize how much I missed it until this weekend. Anyway, I miss you all and I love you all!

The Best Weeekend Ever

Oh my gosh. I just spent an hour writing this post and now it's gone.

Waiting

I am waiting for a video that was due back over five minutes ago so I can watch it and write a paper on it. Baaaaaah. I've already watched this video, but it was two weeks ago and I don't really remember it anymore. I also lost my notes on it and I think it's on two tapes and I only got one. So...here I am waiting to watch it again.
Oh man, yesterday I went to go see Flogging Molly at a club with Sara and Naomi and it was fun fun fun. Flogging Molly rocks my socks! It was a hot concert, except I think some people started a fight right near us...or maybe it was just some intense moshing. But we really weren't in the mosh pit and one of the guys ran away really fast, so maybe it was a fight. Regardless, I ended up getting splashed with an unidentified and probably alcoholic liquid. Then, later, other people really did begin moshing right near us (to which I say, if you're gonna mosh, go in the mosh pit!) and it was more splattered alcohol for me. Mmmmmm. Remember last time we saw Flogging Molly and they shot the guy out of the cannon? And I accidentally groped Mr. Man who was stupidly crowd surfing on his stomach. And we saw Colleen Benack and Matt Miller and Derek Smith (why is Brian in the mosh pit? Why is he hugging an random man?) Awwwww, smoking Niko.
We stood right behind this girl that goes to Wellesley that Sara and I ate lunch with once and right next to this kid in Naomi's Japonese class. We lost our fellow Wellesley student, but we ate bagels with random Japonese class man and his friend after the concert. This was because niether Sara nor I had eaten dinner. Fencing practice ran over and I got back late and there was no time. :(
There was massive traffic on the way in to Boston and our bus was jam packed. I mean, people were standing in the aisle. I guess there were several events going on that evening. I think there was an Indian dancing competition or exhibition or something because all of these women dressed in beautiful, beautiful traditional dress were on the bus.

Tuesday is the memorial service for my Uncle Glenn and I'm not sure if I can make it. It's kinda dumb because I'm only three hours away, but I'd have to miss Islam, the second real fencing practice, Glee Club and bells. But I'd really like to go and I'd also like to see my mom. So, I don't know what to do.

Anyway, I'm gonna go see if the video is back yet, and if it isn't I'll cry. Or find some way to entertain myself for another 15 minutes.