Renegade!

It's official!

I'm finally going to stop being an obnoxiously non-committal ninny and I've signed onto play with a competitive mixed club team based in the metro D.C. area! The team name is Renegade and is captained by an AWESOME Wellesley alum who graduated before I began, with whom I've always wanted to play. One of my former Whiptail teammates will also be playing with me, as well as a friend from Stanford who I haven't seen in over a year.

Take a look at this awesome idea for our jersey:

The part that makes me nervous is the time commitment, but I finally realized that if I freak out about being tired/time, after I finally get used to having a 9am-5pm commitment, I'll realize that I have no friends and nothing to do in my free time. I'll have practice twice a week and 2-3 tournaments through the Fall, depending on how far we make it into the Club Series. I also have to do a track workout once a week along with base conditioning which I do anyways, so no big deal!

The first track workout was 6 x 400m sprints. Anyone who has done track or track workouts before knows that that was going to stink. I think that the apprehension with which I approached with this assignment messed with me because I went out WAY too fast on the first one and then ended up being unable to finish the workout. I went 67 seconds, 78 seconds, and then 89 seconds, and then couldn't do the rest. It was really really frustrating and put me in a terrible mood.

The track workout this week was 6 x 300m sprints, still strenuous, but not as bad, because I personally find that last 100m in the 400m to be the hardest part because I seem to run out of gas around the 300m mark. I was smarter about pacing, and it ended up going really well!! I DID manage to finish the workout and I ended up getting the following times:

60 sec, 52 sec, 57 sec, 59 sec, 60 sec, 50 sec

The fact that I was able to go 50 seconds on the last one probably means that I should've gone harder all the way through, but it felt really good to stay under the "fast" benchmark time that our fitness person gave us for the workout. WAHOO!

Knowing that I have a commitment outside of work and a group of people to meet and spend time with right after my move makes me a lot less worried about adjusting to DC life and a lot more excited to move into my new home :)

new song

The landmark years aren't the ones in which you receive some government-granted plastic card, right, or responsibility. Yes, I think the right to vote is incredibly important. But being allowed to drive, being allowed to hold an alcoholic beverage in your hand...negligible when you consider the things you experience at other ages.

At the age of 22, many of us leave college and take our first steps into the "real" world. The excitement of truly being on our own, taking on additional responsibilities, leaving the caring, loving, greatly appreciated, but at times, overbearing, surveillance of our parents, teachers, neighbors, friends' parents...the excitement hits us most immediately and we can't wait to leave. But then the bills, the new rules, the responsibilities, unfamiliar territory that we must learn to traverse and accept...they hit us second, like a stinging slap in the face, like being pushed into a cold ocean. Don't get me wrong: I'm ecstatic. I have an incredible opportunity waiting for me in DC, great housemates, a loving family, wonderful beautiful friends. I'm just nervous, as usual.

I remember listening to "What's My Age Again" by Blink 182 and I have to say that I never thought I would identify with Blink 182 song lyrics after I left high school, but I do now. If you haven't heard this song and listened to the lyrics, give it a spin. They mention the age 23. As do a handful of other songs having to do with the awkward period that is post-adolescence or the early stages of adulthood. I wrote my own song having to do that period of time.

It's in 4/4 and in A-flat major although it goes between some minor and major key progressions. I'm not sure what to call it. Maybe "23" or "On the Verge of 23". Let me know if you think of anything.

Songwriters and poets have decided that this is the age

When glamour and glory start to fade

And the hangings on the wall do start to change

And we learn that everything's not always going to be okay

The first gray hairs appear upon your crown

And a new line is drawn each time you frown

Responsibility weighs heavily

On the verge of 23

Just around each corner sits a sign reading "turn back catch-22"

Leaving me with nothing left to do

But cry, but crying's not allowed when you're outside

So I've got to wait 'til night when I can hide

Regret turning down the hands that came my way as I cling to the phone

Because I once thought that I could do it alone

Responsibility weighs heavily

On the verge of 23

No one told me it would be this hard to learn to live

Asked to pay when I've got nothing left to give

Watching shadows on the wall as I lie awake in bed

Close my eyes so I can rest my weary head, my weary head

On the verge of 23

On the verge of 23

hair cut

I haven't gotten my hair cut or trimmed in a year. So, Mom and I decided it was time that I take care of that, just in time for my big move down to DC and to start my new job.

Goodbye, crazy-maned "hippie" (as my mother put it).

Hello, new hair!

interesting week

I just had one of the busiest, most exhausting, but most fun weeks in a LONG time, and then slept for 13 hours straight to make up for the lack of sleep and constant motion afterwards. Last weekend, after having decided that I was NOT going to Wildwood this year for a variety of reasons, I ended up going! I realized that with various changes in plans, I had basically resigned myself to a weekend by myself at home because I thought that it was going to be a big family weekend. It ended up being the craziest, most spontaneous Wildwood weekends that I've had yet (I've been for 4 years in a row), and one of the most fun. I went with some old friends from Pennsylvania that I've known since high school from high school ultimate and summer league...and we ended up taking 1st place in our bracket!

Here is a full team picture with some other friends of teammates who didn't actually play.

The following week consisted of daily games at summer league...I was sore for a week straight and am still healing from it all, class, a linear algebra exam for my summer class, the end-of-season MCUDL summer league BBQ/Pre-quarterfinals games, and a day trip to NYC to meet up with an old friend.

I don't recall if I wrote about him in my blog La Vie Française, but I met my friend Samuel (a French native from Aix-en-Provence who is a university student in Lyon), at a Halloween party that some of the Wellesley-in-Aix girls threw. We ended up talking a lot about writing, life, literature, etc., and I remember that evening being one of the moments during which I realized that I could actually speak French...well :)

We have stayed in relatively distant contact, chatting occasionally once in a while about nothing, really, until one day he informed me that he was going to be in the United States, in New York City for a vacation with his younger sister, and that he would love it if we could see one another. Now, when I had said "Au Revoir! Si tu es jamais aux Etats-Unis près de NJ, dis-le-moi,"* I have to admit that I didn't think I'd ever see him again. But, this past Friday, I took the train into the city and met up with Samuel and his little sister after a year and a half since the last time I saw him! Life, the world...crazy.

It's August 1st. I cannot believe how quickly time has flown! I'll be moved into my new home in DC with Alex and Lisa within the month...will keep you posted!

*"Goodbye! If you are ever in the United States near NJ, let me know!"