Adagio for Haircut No. 1: Variation

Yeah, it's hard to hear. I said, "the hair was getting kinda long, so I took some scissors and trimmed it. Looks okay."

Question for Lawyer Dad and Writer Mom

Today I got a letter in the mail from the International Library of Poetry saying I was a finalist in their Open Amateur poetry contest. I sent in one for laughs.
Now, I know the whole thing is a terrible scam. So what does one do with the offending documents?

Vegetarianism

I am officially a healthy vegetarian. My hemoglobin and hematocrit levels are excellent, so I'm going to keep it up. Must be the pound of tofu spinach salad I eat every night.

Petruskas

The Petruskas are here. I walked right past Caitlin heating her back in the training room without recognizing her. But then I saw her family and they gave me cookies and I watched her team for a bit. (I didn't stick around to watch Whitman get demolished by CC.)
Between games I took Greg and Michele and the brother (I forgot his name already) to see my room in Slocum. If you guys - my real family - come to visit me this year, people are going to be really confused because Michele is blonde and they know I have a brother in high school. They'll be like, "Didn't your family already visit?"
We're going to dinner later tonight.

IT Band Woe

Yes, IT band woe. It's not a season-ruiner, but it means lots more time spent in the training room and doing extra physical therapy.

MONDAY UPDATE: My shoes got in and they're pretty fabulous.

I've been doing lots of swimming and getting super strong, arr! Dad, guess what - after I did a really hard interval workout in the pool, I did a 34 sec 50 meters.

The Freshpeople Race

The big kids did something special for their first race.

Ted was rather impressed with how well they did so early in the season.
Also, meets are quite fun, when you're just spectating.

News: CC [just the freshmen] take fourth at Rust Buster Invitational
9/8/2008
"The women’s cross country team finished fourth out of five teams at the CU-Colorado Springs Rust Buster Invitational on Saturday at Monument Valley Park despite competing with a lineup consisting of all first-year runners."

Headline News

The Room
We're in Slocum on the third floor again but not in the same hall. My RA's name is Jennie Vader

and she's nice. Sammi and I are getting along very well, as usual. We purposely arranged furniture in our room to leave a ton of space,

because we want to put in a table and a couch. This weekend we'll be perusing craiglist and/or garage sales for sub-$30 furniture.

This one looks good.

It seats 8. And it folds!

Send Me Things
Sammi's in Lit Theory this block, and reading Heart of Darkness, so please send my stack of DVDs, especially Apocalypse Now. I have a box of things I'm sending back (including some useless NCL care package things from last year, so don't falsely harangue me for buying a leopard-print wallet.)

Block One
Intro to Some International Relations
I made some contributions to the discussion today, which blows, because now the professor's going to expect me to have insights on future discussions. Sometimes I just don't have something to say on a particularly obvious topic, ya know?
I translated French for my class today (even though our class has a French major, who couldn't do it. heh)

Montesquieu: Une maladie nouvelle s'est répandue en Europe ; elle a saisi nos princes et leur fait entretenir un nombre désordonné de troupes. Elle a ses redoublements, et elle devient nécessairement contagieuse ; car sitôt qu'un Etat augmente ce qu'il appelle ses troupes, les autres, soudain, augmentent les leurs ; de façon qu'on ne gagne rien par là que la ruine commune. Chaque monarque tient sur pied toutes les armées qu'il pourrait avoir si ses peuples étaient en danger d'être exterminés, et l'on nomme paix cet état d'efforts de tous contre tous. Aussi l'Europe est-elle ruinée.

Visitors
When are the Petruskas coming over for volleyball?


2008 women's cross country preview
Future looks bright for young Tigers (ha ha)
My running is going really well. I adjusted to the altitude with no problem; start with daily doubles in the pool tomorrow morning. Just keep swimming . . .

Much Better

I hesitate to unpack boxes before Sammi arrives, because we'll be rearranging furniture. This year calls for a real living space - a pad - for entertaining several people at a time. We need a couch.
And man, do I have a lot of useless things for which I don't have room .

Back on Campus

I'm getting my room organized. The biggest box of stuff exploded right over the doorway into the room. It was quite a mess. Joel laughed for a good five minutes before helping me bulldozer it inside. Thankfully it didn't happen in the elevator or anything.
I texted Sammi and she's coming on Friday. We're missing a bureau but maintenance should arrive with one in a few minutes.
XC people will be here Wednesday. They miss me and say the freshmen are cool.
Everyone I've seen so far, especially Luke Parkhurst, loves the haircut. He (Luke) said that some people get "oh, you got a haircut" and some people get "oh, you got a good haircut" but Rafter gets "oh, you got a bombtastic work of art and you look amazing!" Very flattering.
Now to clean some more. Bye!

Do

I did Locks of Love today, finally. Location: the MAC


Last documentation


Cutting it off . . .


Gaaaahhh! Put it back! Put it back!!!






Jeremy did the cutting. He was very nice.


Finished.

Skykomish, Washington

Here's photos of the vacay with the family. T,his place is a perfect example of the Pacific Northwest. Available for recreation are trails for hiking, mountain biking, rafting, and rock climbing.

The bustling metropolis that is Skykomish.


I took this picture on my run.


Also on my run.


Lake Elizabeth


Lake Elizabeth



Skykomish, Washington is:
51 miles from Leavenworth, that terribly fake Bavarian village.
67 miles from Seattle, home to the EMP which we did not get to visit.
184 miles from Forks, WA, but don't tell anyone that I know that.
234 miles from Portland, and it has even more trees.
1406 miles from Colorado Springs, to which I am ready to return.

I think it would be a great idea to raft guide here next summer and waitress a little at night. This is perfect because, as my (ex-) R.A. Tim said, "If you don't get hired as a raft guide I will be extremely disappointed, because anyone whose name is Rafter should be hired as a raft guide for that reason alone."

Scandinavian Adventure!

My favoritest aunt in the whole world is moving to Denmark!

Here she is:

And here is her blog: cohensindk.blogspot.com

One's rushing a little faster

Ever notice a similarity between this:

and this?

Hilton Head Last Day

I had a nice run into the sunrise yesterday. It's good to start running before 5:30, even in June.
I took all of these with my camera whilst running.



I took these with my camera phone. Technology is a little too good these days.

Work

So I've been home for some time now. I just have some business to take care of before the fun begins. Right.