Water areobics was fun, except for the fact that it was at an ungodly hour. I almost missed it, too. I woke up to my alarm at 6:30, then turned it off and sunk back into bed. I fought myself for a few minutes, and eventually got back out of bed. It seemed like seconds to me, but the clock told me otherwise. I had been dozing for 16 minutes, and now was late.
I put on some clothes (a bathing suit to be exact), and found Rachel. She was throwing stones at my window to try and wake me up. She laughed when I told her what happened, and then we got in the car and took off. It was a sleepy drive through campus, but it was pretty, most likely beucase there weren't any people out to mess up the view.
Water Areobics reminded me of high school, especially the times I used to go with the choir to the nursing home. Most of the people were over the age of 50, and for some reason they all could float better than I. Over breakfast I told Rachel I thought it was becuase I didn't have boobs. She corrected me and told me it was beucase I didn't have any body fat.
It wasn't really a great work out, but my left leg felt sore anyway. I had beat it up the previous day while doing some hard laps on the track. I put in a mile of extensive tempo, and then launched into a hard 800. From there I did another mile. But I don't think that did it. On the way home, I slipped on a wet manhole cover and twisted my left leg. That's what did it. And I was so sure that I took a nap.
I woke up from my nap and did something, but it wasn't that memorable beucase by now I have forgotten it. Later, Rachel called again and I went to the Gym with her. Brian and Graham came along, and they spent the time being lifting buddies. I did my usual circuit stuff, and Rachel tried out some of the new exercises she had learned from her trips to the trainer.
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The next morning we did the Polar Bear thing, or atleast we meant to do the polar bear thing. The previous evening's surging rain had overrun the gorge, and our once calm and shallow swimming hole had turned into a white water disaster area.
"This drains the largest watershed in Tompkins county," Matt Nagowski told us all. Atleast that's what I think he was saying. Somewhere from about the time when we first heard the water, to when we left, I sort of blocked everything else out. I was too busy thinking about how if I am reincarnated, I want to come back as a mighty river.
With no swimming, I just dove into bed without my customary shower. I then napped until about noon, when I was supposed to be at the Ithaca Journal to meet the metro editor. It's okay that I was late though, he neglected to tell me that he wouldn't be in until 4 p.m. He also neglected to mention that I was coming in. As a result, there was nothing for me to do. So I did what I would have done at home, I read the paper.
Somewhere along the way I had a chat with two of the reporters. One, Anne, also went to Cornell and wrote for the Sun. The other, Lauren (I think it was Lauren), was leaving soon to go to law school. I should ask her why, if I get the chance.
John came in just in time for me to say goodbye and get to my LSAT class. No surprise there, but it was another wasted day at the Ithaca Journal. I guess it wasn't a total waste, however, as I was given a feature assignment by the M.E., and hammered out a quasi-permanent schedule with John. My next day is today (Friday), and I will be working the late shift.
Class was class. I got there, did my thing, fell asleep as we went over some problems (I had gotten them all right, so in my mind there was no guilt). I parted ways with Brian and then headed to Matt's porch, where I was already 15 minutes late for Tuesday on the Porch.
After grabbing some sahlens hotdogs and rushing down the street, I was dissapointed. I was the only one who had shown up so far for porch night. Atleast I was the only one besides Matt who was currently there.
It didn't matter. I threw on some dogs, and the next thing I knew, Phil was there. Min had also come along, and then eventually Hannah and Dan showed up. There was this indian guy, and K, and his girlfriend, too. The indian guy had a name like "meekit?" I'm sure I'll catch it later.
So there we were. We had some great conversation, and it was just amazing to be with people. The night wound down as slowly as it started, but not without a rousing game of 3-D tic-tac-toe. Matt won of course, overcoming the collective brain power of Phil and myself, as well as newcomer Dan. But it was all good, and in the end, I went home with a bike.
I didn't really win the bike, I just kind of cashed in on a friendship. Although cashed in makes it sound like I used it up, and I would hope that I have not.
Anyway, I got up the next morning, threw on some clothes and began looking for a bike helmet. Not finding one, I called my feature person (an antique dealer), told them I'd be there within 45 minutes, and headed up to The Rack (or whatever the hell the Ctown bike store is) and purchased a helmet.
Then I was on my way to Lansing. Ten miles away, my interview was waiting.
And so my 45 minutes stretched itself. I road by the mall, almost got hit by a truck (he even made eye contact with me before he pulled right up to me), and then eventually discovered the beauty of Lansing.
If you ride Tripphammer straight out, you will eventually hit route 34. Before that, however, you will sit in traffic by the mall, die of boredom as you pass farm after farm, and then eventually ralize something. The view from the road is fantastic.
Somewhere after a place I like to call farm #368, the westward view opens up to reveal a stunning vissage of Cayuga Lake (*note* There is no such thing as Lake Cayuga).
But I didn't have time to admire it. I was late, and my interviewee had an appointment coming up. I made it to the store, dismounted, took a deep breath and ran in. There, behind the counter was a short middle aged woman with glasses, whom I grew to know over the next half hour.
Barn Store Antiques was amazing, eclipsed only by its proprieters. If they don't have an antique or collectible you're looking for, you can get on a list, and they'll try and find it. Now that's service.
I finished up, took down her home phone number for further information, and was soon riding back down route 34 B. It was a lot easier going back, as most of the ride was down a gentle hill. I got back home around 3:30 and after another hour was ready to call it a day. I watched some Mets baseball, made dinner, and caught myself falling asleep on the couch.
So what did I do?
You guessed it. I stayed up until 4 a.m. Oh, but it was worth it. I downloaded a whole bunch of Bernie Mac, Dave Chapelle, and Chris Rock. It will be worth a fortune on our upcoming sports roadtrips. Hell, we'll probably listen to Brian Regan a bunch more times before we do anything else, but I can't wait for some Bernie Mac. He's pure genius.
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I awoke to the sound of claning pots. It turned out that the properties place had finally sent someone to fix the stove. Of course, they had to do it early in the morning. The stove guy ( suspiciously the same guy who got rid of our Bat a month earlier) left, and I went back to bed.
I got up again to find that Katie (graham's girlfriend, and a good personal friend of mine) had come to visit. I joined the rest of the apartment around the TV, and soon we found ourselves entrenched in a Euchre battle. Somewhere along the way to Panamanian glory, Echo Cheng, our landlady paid us a visit. She started by inspecting our rooms, and snapping photos of how everything looked. She spent a long time looking at the stain on my carpet, and I wondered if she knew it was there before hand. Shane, the guy who showed us the apartment seemed to, so I wasn't too worried.
She left, Jason and I took Graham and Katie in another Team Panama Victory, and then I spent the afternoon double dipping.
First I watched the Minnesota Twins beat the KC Royals. Then I ate two eggs with two peices of cheese on top. Next I watched Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen in their ABC Family TV show. Then I checked my e-mail. Twice.
Not sure what to do after that, and realizing I smelled bad, I took a shower. It was three days in the making, and once I was gloriously clean, I decided to mess it all at the gym.
Wow.
I love the gym, if only for it's asthetic purposes. There was this hot blonde in a green top on the stairsteppers. Now if they could only move the treadmills so that they were behind the stairsteppers, and not the otherway around...
I walked home at a gingerly pace. I also spotted Ithaca mystery girl (the brunette who said hello on East Seneca last week) walking around on Eddy. She was headed farther up to somewhere near college ave, and while we passed each other, there were unfortuantely no "hello"s this time.
It's okay. I've decided that if it happens again, I'm just going to slip her the tounge and be done with it.
I got home, and realized I needed to go shopping. Rachel hadn't called at all, and while she said she'd call again when she had to go to the store, I just couldn't wait any longer. Grabbing my green bag, hat, and raincoat, I began the walk to Wegmans.
Graham and Jason said it was crazy. Maybe they were right, but about an hour and a half later, I returned. In my arms were groceries, including my dinner.
The two who called me crazy on the otherhand had done a bit of maddness themselves.
While putting my stuff away, I asked Jason what the duo had done in my absence.
"We shaved our heads," he replied.
And that's about the point where I coughed up a nut.
I specifically remember Katie giving some sort of threat to Graham about shaving his head.
Ok, maybe I don't specifically remember it, but I do remember a threat. Anyway, there I was putting away my groceries, when two minutes in, Graham and his shaved head step into the room.
I wasn't sure what to say. Congratulations? I'm sorry? You missed a spot?
Yeah, it was just one of those odd moments. I'm sure I now know how they feel when I hike up my pants, throw on a hat, grab the panamania flag and parade around the house yelling things. To put it bluntly we live in a strange and magnificent place.
So after staring at the hair for a while, we watched a movie. Batman, with Michael Keaton. It was great.
But now it's time for bed. Tomorrow is a big day of sleeping, swimming at Helen Newman, and checking my fantasy scores (I'm in a solid sixth spot, and poised to take fifth this week).
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I'm not listening to anything right now. I'm boring and lame. But not as bad as you people. 12 of you visited 32 times yesterday.
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