now for the feats of strength

whats cookin good lookin?

tuesday evening was really exciting watching the pros and semi-pros race a criterium in downtown harrisonburg for the kickoff to the 2nd tour of shenandoah. it was also kind of cool trying to explain cycling strategy to erin and dana while walking around watching the race. its much more difficult to do so than i would have thought. it seems like the different strategies in racing really kind of build on themselves exponentially and get more and more complex. also more euro and less american, which doesnt help in trying to explain. but both of them were great sports about it and very quick to pick it up. after the race finished some of us went to dave's for some snacks and beverages. fan-freaking-tastic. everybody had lots of fun. catching up with basic and matt, jakob, kyle, and the two erins was definitely a highlight of the evening. i feel like now that i am going out more often, i run across people i know a lot. its awesome. sort of makes up for the large quantities of time i spent training and racing and being in bunk relationships. they had their high moments too, but its nice to see that the entire social aspect of college never escaped me. i imagine all of these people are out mostly because the semester is almost over and everybody is making sure to get out before they're gone. but regardless, its nice to catch up with people for 5 or 10 mins then go back to hangin out with the cats you came with. ditto for going out weds night. turned out to be even better than tues night. who knew a kid with a broken collarbone could dance so well? haha. one thing about not having gone out as much earlier this semester and going out more now, is that i dont have a clue about the music they usually play. granted last night was 90s night and they were playing mostly classics, but when i heard all of the new stuff i felt like helen keller at the louvre. everybody is singing and yelling the songs and i am standing there thinking, "wow i am really out of the loop". no worries. good thing moving is moving, no matter what the song is!

i have 2 exams today. one will be a final and the other will be the last exam before a comprehensive final next week. honestly, i dont think ive ever had a professor more out of touch with how to organize exams. its really a jerk move if you ask me. especially considering i am taking the class for 2 elective credits and he treats it like a 3 credit course. oh well. almost done.

if you are graduating, i hope that your "college experience" was everything you had hoped it would be. for me, i feel like it was very different than most people (with racing and training all of the time, not getting wasted every weekend, finding it challenging to adjust to college life, the good 'ol awkward phases). but i guess in other ways, it was similar too. kind of split down the middle i suppose. when i look back on my last 4 years here i definitely think that i made the right choice to come to jmu. i have certainly had a lot of fun. there have been ups and downs, but thats life whether you are in college or not. i know that i am going to look back within a month and think "man i wish i was still in school" but at least i will always smile when i think about the epic stuff i did. of course i have regrets, who doesn't. but the clarity in my mind from learning from my mistakes and regrets is incredibly powerful and important. ill carry those lessons with me forever.

sorry. end of the emo stuff.

current jam: proudest monkey - dmb