Introducing....

Pink Camera 2.0 has ARRIVED!! All fans of unattractive and incriminating candids, rejoice. I'm going to start off on a boring note and post some pictures of my room in Vernon, for those abroad/too lazy to hike over to north campus.

Here's my desk and my beloved chair, acquired via craigslist.


A closer look at the chair. It's even more comfortable than it looks.


Gabe agrees.


All of knickknacks and foofaraw.


And here's Mina and Mather, in case anyone forgets what they look like.

You're Welcome

I added some of my favorite links to the sidebar... now you can procrastinate like a pro (ie, me!)

Clogged.

Currently, I am slightly miserable. I've been sick for over a week now and this morning was the worst so far. Thankfully the health center says I don't have strep, but they didn't really offer much else. I just have to ride it out, so I'm very happy that today was our off day.

Since I wasn't feeling great yesterday either, I hadn't planned to do the extra workouts- just to go see Wes and maybe see some video from last week's practice. He wasn't in his office when I went though, so I went downstairs and encountered Amory. For reasons that I'm finding difficult to explain, I decided to do the power erg with her... in sandals, a skirt, and a nice top. I guess it had just looked a lot shorter/easier on paper; when I was done I was very embarrassed to find that I had soaked my (white) shirt with sweat. I think this can be described best as 'a Carmel move.'

Rowing has been fun lately. Being in set boats is great, if you're in a good boat. Being in bow, all I have to really think about is fast catches, and they are very satisfying to get right. Yesterday we rowed the head racing course in 20 on/10 off intervals at about a 33, which was extreeeemely new and difficult but we killed it and it was great. It was a really important step in getting really, really good again.

Oh, for your sweatband detractors: my attire for Saturday morning practice moved Wes to shout across the river through his megaphone, "Purdie, I see you have on another stunning headband. Well done." The sweatband is here to stay.

The only other complaint I have is that it's getting cold. Earlier than I remember it happening last year! I sat in my Seabury class today in a long-sleeve shirt, fleece vest, and jacket, and was still shivering... why? (It should surprise no one that this did nothing to stop me from falling asleep).

Welp, it's time to get down to business and write an arduous 2-page paper so that I might go out on the town tonight... or maybe just get some much-needed sleep.

Ker-plunk.

Today was a very wet day on the water for some of us. Practice involved a fleet of assorted boats racing from Glastonbury to Charter Oak in three segments. It was a windy, choppy, wake-y day. From the stroke seat of a bow-loader four I had a pretty good view of Remi flipping her single, and then the double capsized as well. I didn't think my laughter at them was particularly cruel, but apparently karma did.

When we docked a few minutes later, I undid my oarlock and stepped out of the boat to put my oar down. When I stepped back in to close it, someone stepped out. The boat tipped, I skidded, and saw a rigger rapidly approaching my face. I tucked and rolled to avoid it and hit the river face-first. Observers say it was the most graceful thing I've done in ages.

FYI

This week was a bit of a nightmare, classes-wise. On Tuesday (the last day of add-drop) I found out I was not actually enrolled in enough credits, because one of my enrollments didn't go through. I had to scramble to get instructor consent, fill out forms, visit the registrar many times, etc. It doesn't sound as annoying as it was, trust me. I ended up unable to reach my professor before the end of the day on Wednesday, and was thus ineligible to practice. I was pretty upset; I still drove people to the boathouse but then had to go home. Fortunately I am now cleared to row!

Cracka please.

There's nothing like opening the door to your cozy little room after a long day of meetings, rowing, and hitting up alumni for money and smelling... cigarette smoke. It seems that my next-door neighbor likes to smoke out his window, and since the fabulous quality of my window led to the handle ripping off of my window and falling two stories to the ground as I tried to close it (gently!) one night, it wafts right into mine and slowly asphyxiates me. In fact, I woke up this morning with a sore throat that hasn't gone away. Tomorrow I plan to leave a passive-aggressive post-it on his door. Sharply-worded!

So I have finally gotten my class skedj worked out. I am taking three history classes, an international studies class, and possibly a half-credit of an independent study on Southeast Asia. Challenging but actually interesting.

In rowing news, today I debuted my 70s sweatband and aviators combo, with smashing success. I would only suggest this look for people with large egos and a previous history of unusual headgear. Also, today was my first time back in an eight. It was a little tippy but all-around not bad, although I sat seven so I couldn't see too much of the off-time mayhem behind me. I received not one but TWO Wes compliments, one being that my straight-arm hang was 'a thing of beauty.' If you know Wes, and my role as team whipping boy, I have to assume that your mind has been blown. Additionally, I now hold the record for most bench squats in 20 seconds, with 29.

So all is well, except that I have a buttload of reading to do and I haven't started (sidenote: 'buttload' made it through spellcheck... why?) so, I'm off.

Back to the Boathouse

First day on the water!
I was so excited that I went an hour early to rig (facilitated by getting out of my seminar two hours early- nice!). We rigged up a quad for a small boat practice. Pre-row was long and involved and I got sweaty, WEIRD. Seven of us went out on the water; I rowed bow of the quad. I only caught a crab twice which I was very pleased about considering that it was only my second time ever sculling. It's much easier in a quad than a single, obviously, which was helpful. We were having a little race with the single and the double, but then two jetski-cops came to tell us that there was a severe thunderstorm on its way, so we docked quickly. Then we did the gauntlet post-row, and I finished first... I love starting with push-ups. The thunderstorm unfortunately failed to materialize, although it is raining quietly now which I like as well.
In other news, I had my seminar today, and it was not bad. It's about European encounters with the East, a topic I am quite interested in. One weird part was that the class meets in the seminar room of Summit... it's random, far away, and one whole wall is just a window to outside, so hopefully that will not be too much of a distraction.
I wish I could be a little more interesting, but at the moment I have not been doing much. I don't ever have class until 1:15 pm, so I've been enjoying sleeping super late. I've been missing lunchtime, even, which is ridiculous but also bad because I haven't seen any non-rowing freinds in a while. This will not last long, however, before I start feeling bad about myself for being lazy, so don't worry.
Oh and.... broccoli and cheese soup is delicious.

And So It Begins...

First day of classes are always scary for me. Something that lame about getting older is that as soon as everybody has to declare their major, you start having class with the same group of people again and again. Sadly I do not care for most folks in my major. Today was fine though. I had one class, beginning at the manageable time of 1:15, with the inimitable J Ron Spencer in a new Seabury classroom, and I did end up having a friend in the class.
Afterwards I attempted to figure out the debacle of getting an internship with very minor results. That was/remains stressful as contracts are due on the 5th. If I had to put money on it, I'd say the entire endeavor is going to fall through as it has for the past two semesters. The main reason that would suck is that I would have to join another class, late. Otherwise I can always do one next semester.
Now onto the topic you're likely to care about: the first day of practice. I was so nervous thatI had a stomachache all day which is atypical for me.... I even got sweaty. But I passed two standards and did at least survive the erg test. So, on the water I go. On the whole I'd say we did pretty well. The freshman recruits were cute and there were a very satisfying number of walkons present.
That's about it so I am going to watch Greek... ta ta.