Banana

HELLO!

So, I'm back from my awesome weekend in Wilmington!
I have a TON to do this week, which seems insane; I'm afraid that it might be worse than last week. I hope this gets better, though.

I'm rather mad about some of the things I've found out from people. I'm trying not to dwell on it, though there are definitely some issues that will need to be confronted in the (near) future. Grrr.

I'm sitting here in my room on the floor, surrounded by dirty clothes, homework, and the unfinished unpacking from this weekend. Not quite sure what to do with myself, though I know exactly what needs to be done. I've even got the textbooks open to where I need to be working, bookmarked by a reminder of other work that must be done. I'll take a break from all this, though, and share some snippets of what my weekend was like.

The car ride (rather than bus) on the way down was great fun; senior privileges created time with three of my best friends and Coach. So much laughter, but there was homework and napping tossed in the mix, too. The best part was Crom's dancing, and his subsequent surprise over the lyrics of a song from my iPod turning from cute to... suggestive... but in a cute way? I warned him that my music was weird, but I guess he gets the point now.

The run when we got there was hot and miserable. I barely made it through, and chugged Gatorade. Soon after the beach (still in running clothes) meant frolicking in the waves. Then came dinner, when traditions usually abound but we couldn't quite make it work. Several reasons involved, but most of it was sad. We (the girls) saved the tradition on the way back, so that ended alright, but still, a rather pathetic attempt on the guy's part. The food was quite good, and having a chance to talk to a couple guys whom I don't usually associate with was enlightening, if anything.

Saturday was waking up early, too early and too tired to want to move, but eating peanut butter bagels and trying not to be too sad while watching the news in the coaches' room, because I didn't want to wake up the other five girls in my room. Bus ride over to the school while it was still chilly, wishing that I could just take a nap, and talking probably too-loudly to Colin was an okay start to the day. The boys raced in the rain while we did drills and warmed up, the three of us girls in that race shifting anxiously and not quite sure how to do the cheer with three voices. We cheered anyway, but ended up chatting with our rival school. The sun came out with the heat, the race was tough but I improved (not quite as good as I want, yet), and then the rest of the team raced. We did well and I was proud of them, and continued to cheer on the last races of the day with Eva and Margaret. We were silly, but it paid off as our teammates smiled at us as they continued racing. Subway was brought by my mother for lunch, and then there were awards. We joked around, slightly making fun of the 6th-best-team-in-the-country while savoring the delicious water fountain water instead of the desalinated tap water from our hotel.

Then it was back to the hotel, homework keeping us from the beach for a while, before frolicking resumed and less deep but still quite interesting conversations happened. We dug holes, watching them fill with water before slinging the wet sand all over each others' feet. Exhausted, we headed back up to the hotel and took over the hot tub until the pizzas arrived. We were silly, empowered by the breaking of the rules of the hot tub (we're oh-so-rebellious), and then failed at keeping secrets.

Back to the room, then running around the hotel... back to the beach for dancing and socializing with the other teams there. We chatted some with a Homeland Security translator in the hotel lobby, so I finally got to practice some of my French. Finally, a treat from Cromwell with a good story to go with it, then once again, back to the hotel for our display of senior insanity. Sleep came late as we stayed up late but didn't regret why.

The next morning, we woke up just before Cromwell pounded on the door to let us know that we had to go run again. Dragging ourselves along the flat road going straight ahead, we realized just how tired and sore we were. Words were scarce and flat. A delicious breakfast from the hotel on strange plates, showers, cleaning, and then we were packed and leaving. My mother came and got me; we drove home, stopping for gas, pizza, and driving through Raleigh before getting confused on the highways and making it home.

And now it's the week again, and the Wilmington trip is over. Back to mundane life with too much to do and so little sleep.

A demain!
-Aly