Oklahoma

Back from Oklahoma. Ugh, long car trips. I went 23:00 in the invitational. No worries, my time should drop big every race. But no expectations.

Midterms went very well. So did my second paper, six pages this time. I know loads about religious mysticism, and the first couple of ruling dynasties after Muhammad's death, plus the Ottoman empire. (click map) Not so much the French occupation of Egypt. There the test got me bang to rights. But what the hey. I know the difference between Sunnis and Shi'is, aka Shiites, aka Shi'as.

Visitors

Ah, WEEKEND! Mom is visiting, and hopefully Eric too.
Too many all-nighters. I finished the mysticism paper last night - well, this morning. I had until 4pm today, but I wanted to get it done.

Now I'm figuring out bus schedules from Denver. What a mess.
But I am so excited! Mom! Eric! and Steak!

Intimidating

Yesterday, XC picture day. I think I was the only one who didn't smile in the individual shot because I wanted to look intimidating. But I smiled in the group photo.
Workout: 4pm, 20 minutes barefoot on the grass with Sonja. She has the same knee problem as me. 8pm, 60 minutes aquajogging with Sonja and Colin.
Day before yesterday: 75 minutes on this awesome mountain road. Running! Saw no bears. Quads were not happy with me, but they're not hurting, they're just whining.

Did I mention the HP's printer would be nice to have? Writing a paper on Islam mysticism. But the Minox camera . . . no thanks.

Good News

I had a run yesterday! My first in two weeks, and my knees were fine so I went for 50 minutes. I have been taking meticulous care of them (I massage and ice every morning at the trainer's.) This is awesome because it means I'm in the home meet on the 22nd.

Dad emailed some pictures with captions:

Dad: Your closet had one gold shoe, why only one? Maybe you have it.

Kate: I lost that one at a meet last year, but it doesn't matter because I have a newer pair of the same model here. And I lost two Sauconys (I think) at SWCC but there was only one in the Lost&Found. One might string it up over the front desk and see if it stridulates for its partner.

Dad: Aaron on his first day of school.

Kate: Aaron on his last morning of freedom.

The Search for Islamic Order: Yesterday and Today

My FYE is really challenging, but I love it and I really like my professor. Yesterday we had class at his (beautiful) house. It's so relaxing, using a nice bathroom.
Good news: CC is providing all of the accommodations that I requested. Yay! They're asking for a longer letter from Dr. Leidel, though, Mom. Dad and Mom: thanks for the mouse, notes, etc.
Last night I went salsa dancing with Sammi and her friend José and basically our whole wing* and RA Tim. Then we had a midnight hall picnic. Today we're lofting my bed.

*Here are my friends in West/Southwest wing of Slocum (3rd floor): Keita, Luke, Soccer Jeff, Short Joel, and Blond Dan; FYE-Lauren, Louisa, Sammi, Eliza, and Christy. Louisa and Eliza were on my Priddy trip. I really like Eliza, we're kinda similar and she's tops.

Aquajogging

Workout:
15 min warmup
0:45 at 85%, 0:45 rest
1:30 at 85%, 1:20 rest
2:00 at 85%, 1:45 rest
2:30 at 85%, 2:00 rest
2:00 at 85%, 1:45 rest
1:30 at 85%, 1:20 rest
0:45 at 85%, 0:45 rest
3 x 3:00 at 85%, 2:30 rest
4 x 0:30 at 90-95%, 0:25 rest
15 min cool down

After afternoon hours, the pool doesn't open until 8pm. It wasn't too soul-crushing, probably because the gang showed up for rec swim and I got to watch their diving board skills whilst flailing in Lane 5. (XC Colin, Brad, Andrew, Chelsea, and Molly)

Weight room

Workout today: 60 minute swim, and it felt great so I went hard. Strange. then weight room. Saw B/T Colin with the basketball team; saw Brad and XC Colin in their most outlandish running gear, riding the fan bike and and flexing in the mirror and grunting loudly with the free weights. I tried not to draw attention to myself because sometimes I would be lifting heavier weights for higher reps than the tall, muscley guy beside me. Although, that is how you get friends sometimes.

Blood test good

Not mono, not strep, just a virus.

This is mono.
Oh man, it was cold this morning.

Tales of Victory and Woe, Chapter 0.5

Thanks to a certain Grandma, now Mom knows that I'm sick. All afternoon and night I was really burning up with a fever. My hallmates are really concerned. Today I was feeling better so I got up and went to Boettcher (Health Center). I thought the fever was all gone, but the NP said my temperature was almost 100° so by comparison last night might have been 102°, or worse. On the questionnaire I was checking off almost every symptom:
yes Face Pain, yes Achy All Over (a total understatement), yes Fever and Chills, yes Coughing . . . you get the picture.

The NP looked down my throat and said what you always want to hear from your doctor: "Gasp" and "Uh oh!" I heard something about "white stuff." She did a strep test and it came out negative. I have to go back Monday for a mono test.
The only good news is that there's no use in quarantining me from my friends because the germs are everywhere anyway and I just made myself more susceptible to them by studying until 2 o'clock in the morning every night this week. So I guess the other good news is I'm not behind in class.

No Press is Bad Press

However, Kateincolorado.blogspot.com prints a detraction of the last posting.

Editorial Page

Dad's Worst Idea Ever
by Kate Rafter

Dad's worst idea ever was to make himself admin of my computer. It just made it harder for IT to set up wireless access, and now whenever there's some slight error with connection I can't fix it myself, but I have to go bug IT again. They are swamped as it is. If my computer were a third-world nation, then I am the puppet government and Dad is the U.S. foreign policy group that never visits the country but won't let me make any administrative action on my own.
Poo.

Hungry

I know what it means to be a starving student now. I haven't been good about taking in enough salt, but today I got the long-overdue craving for it intensely. In addition, I missed breakfast because I was at the Trainer's, so for lunch today I had:
3 pieces of pizza
bowl of cornflakes
plate of green beans
1 Sloppy Joe
mound of tater tots
bowl of Fritos
1 apple
raisin cake

And still I'm losing weight.

Urgent Needs

The notes in red are crucial to what we are learning this week. How soon can they be mailed/scanned & emailed/faxed to me?

• World Religions textbook. location: small dresser/bookcase, bottom shelf
• World Religions binder and notes. location: cabinet above built-in desk. possibly in dark red binder along with Peace & Justice notes. send those too.
• Another pillow. I have pillowcases to go with it. Shall I buy one here or will you send me one of my old ones?
• Skirt or dress
• My mp3 player, armband, and especially headphones
  

Mom, I'll get these on my own:

• Mouse for laptop
  
• Conditioner (no, you gave me 3 shampoos)
  
• Bath net (that lathering thing) no worries, I found a new one on the ground this morning.
• Airborne
• Mini cereals

Also, didn't you see -- I logged in all of my Priddy Trip journal stuff (on their respective days) just for you, Mom. Look at it.

Things I've Got but Don't Need

• Surge strip (dad gave me an old one)
• Bed risers (the bed is high enough)

Snakes on the Plain!

Name update: Many complete strangers know who I am.
I stuffed the comforter into its new cover with my entire body, and Tim snapped a picture of me running up and down the hall like a giant oven mitt.

Run: 60 minutes at Garden of the Gods. We came across a rattling rattlesnake on the path and the girls in front screamed, and that cut the pack in half. Action! Adventure! Then we tiptoed around it and regrouped and laughed; the other seniors were teasing Jocelyn, "Don't pick it up, Joce! You can't pet it."
It felt great, I did better than any of the other freshmen, who all fell behind at some point. I was the only one to run consistently on my Priddy. Should have gone with the girls doing 70 minutes.


We ran by Camel Rock.

However, my knees are starting to hurt like they did sophomore year, and I have to go to the trainer's every morning at 8 this week, and go for an hour before practice. They're having me swim on Wednesday. I'm not surprised. I was (involuntarily) sedentary for 3 months before this season.

Facts

There are at least 72 Kates at Colorado College, and 10 are freshmen. There is a Kate the sophomore on cross country.
There are zero Rafters.

There are 4 Jocelyns. Jocelyn Jenks is the track star.
There are 51 Matts, but I don't know any yet.

There is one Zachariah James Falconer Stout, and he is my FYE mentor.

This is Tim, my RA.

This is a grasshopper.


Like the one I ate.

Individual Letters #1

Mom, I HAVE the recovery discs with me. Do not send the 10 loser CDs that don't work. Ask Dad . . . Got my BBB box. I have to make a trip to the Colorado Springs post office for the Wells Fargo cards.

Luke, Good job on football. Open the The Offspring CD I got you and listen to it. Otherwise, send it to me.

Dad, Do you want me to send the "broken" phone to you? There are absolutely no marks on the phone, it just won't turn on. It only dropped once, I guess it was kind of hard . . .

Grandma, Before you couldn't leave a reply because I had the blog set to "Registered Users Only." So now comments are enabled so that anyone may leave a comment, no signing up for anything. Sorry about that.

Love, Kate

Priddy Trip Day 5: Going Home

Run: somewhere between 60 and 90 min. Best ever. I went for 30 and reached the bridge and got stuck in the silt, tried to clean that off, ran/hiked up one of the foothills in the distance (see Friday's picture) went back, got stuck in the silt again, cleaned it again, and ran the 30 min back to the Horse Shelter. Everyone was playing and saying goodbye to the horses, especially Midnight and Rusty, but I already did that so I hosed off under the pump. Then we got official Horse Shelter t-shirts and took a group photo and drove away. We got pretty close over the trip and the way back went way faster. Pride Points totally forgotten. B/T Colin, Jeff, Dominique and I listened to our mutual favorite bands the whole trip back. Rage Against the Machine, Tool, Alice in Chains, Godsmack, etc. The only thing missing from that beautiful stretch of time was
A SHOWER!

Then we pulled in to my dorm and I had a shower. The End.

Priddy Trip Day 4: We spend the day in Santa Fe

Run: 25-30 minutes. I saw a jackrabbit and the sunrise, then did 150 pushups, then I visited all the horses by myself before the gang woke up.

Then we shopped and ate at downtown Santa Fe. Even though we had great food at two really authentic restaurants (Alicia is part Hispanic from Las Vegas, New Mexico and she knows everything about Santa Fe), it wasn't my favorite day because we didn't work at all. Even so . . . Tommy, Brad, Sam, Scott, and Dominique all bought little girl pony socks and hats and they played jumprope in the parking lot. Hilarity ensued. As Kritika puts it, "It's hard to remember that we're out in public again."

After lunch we met up with 10 other groups at Santa Fe's Rape Crisis Center to listen to an all-female mariachi band. That was fun. We all made a powwow circle, dancing around Kate and her cast. Only problem: We can't smell the horsey smell anymore, therefore we can't tell if we stink. This has been a lot of sweaty, poopy worktime without showers.