odd events

it's been one helluva weekend. one thing right after the next. let me see if i can summerize for you.

first off, battle of the bands was a blast! it went exactly as planned except for one little thing...we had so many people! we had no idea what to expect for attendance and the audience really rocked the ballroom. we had such great bands too. i couldn't have asked for a better lineup. our emcee was great also and my fellow habitaters too! they worked so hard and everything was just fantastic. we had 2 hard core bands to start out with, who did bring quite a few groupies, one particularly brought quite a few from the high school and i remember hearing lots of talk about curfews. then the next band was one that one of my co-workers played in and they were doing me a huge favor as one of my bands backed out at last second - and, guess what...they won! it was amazing. the fourth band was a school favorite, but again, they were hard christian rock (i guess they call it screamo). then the last band was just fun. they were a family band from bagley and they played some good country and us habitaters, after working so hard all day, finally got the chance to get down and boogie. it was grand.

the next morning i woke up at 6 (5 hours of sleep) and drove myself and 2 swimmers to DL. we had a pretty good swim meet there, a couple of dq's and some great time drops. my mom and sister and i drove back to gf from there were i met up with the roommies and we went to the und vs. bsu game. unfortunatly bsu lost, it was probably because i was there. we were sitting by nate but then switched over to where there were more bsu fans and the band. i wish i would have gotten to see nate a little longer, although he may tease me relentlessly, i really miss the guy. after the game we went and changed to go out dancing and went and picked up some fellow bsu-ers. the dance was ok...there were a lot of slutty people there and people were smoking all over the place. it's funny how you don't realize that your not used to being aroung smoke since in minnesota there is the smoking ban and in n.d. you can still smoke inside...you don't realize it until you're around it again...it was really weird. the floor at this place was gross...beer all over the place. when it was done i went and got my car and we were leaving and we got onto gateway when i saw the flashing lights. wondering what in the heck i did wrong i pulled over. the officer asked for my driver's license the wiseass in the backseat. aparently, one of my drunk passengers thought he was flicking off the car of some friends but actually flicked off the police officer. he was going to take the guy to jail for this but according the guy the dispatcher asked the officer what he wanted to take him in for and when the officer told him the dispatcher said "on the charge of what?" the officer let him return to my car and then proceeded to tell me that i would have had to go in too as i am responsible for my passengers. ok, i'm the d.d. i can make sure that my passengers are buckled up and get home safely, but while i'm driving, i'm not responsible for trying to keep the middle finger of one of my passengers from sticking up and pointing out the window, I'M DRIVING FOR GOD'S SAKE. unbelievable.

so then we decided to go to another party. once we do a drop off, t and i decided to go get breakfast in the morning but can't find anything open at 2 in the morning. go figure. so we drove around, went back and i decided to sleep in the car instead of going inside. i have now been up for 20 hours, i'm tired and my eyes hurt due to my dried out contacts. so i start to bring my new passengers home (we dropped off the other bsu-ers after the police incident) and they decide that they're hungery so we stop at valley dairy. while they are inside 2 guys pulled up in a car and so i rolled down my window a little bit and they told me i looked tired. if i had a speck bit more energy and nerve i would have told them how my whole night was going (including the fact that i was sore due to my fall on my parents driveway, the tiredness and the police incident) but i just told them that, yeah, i was. then they asked if i want to drink with them. yeah, right. i just told them that i was going to bed and they left. stupid kids. this may also be the reason i will never have boyfriend. i just would rather not talk to guys i don't know.

and then, finally, we make it back to my house. where i sleep hardcore. on my couch. and i wake up with a replica of the black marker design that was on my hand from the dance last night. augghhh memories.

songs for happiness

after driving all over the state of minnesota and part of north dakota in the last week, i was eagerly awaiting my drive back to bemidji today where i would be able to drive by myself and blare my music. there's something theraputic (sp?) about my music that i love. i was going through and discovering old burned cds the whole trip. i had forgotten about some of my newsboys and christian music cds. i remembered some good times from this last spring and the best concert ever in houston tx. it also reminded me that i hadn't gone to church in a long time. i hate that times change and people move on. i miss going to church with nate and square and wish that last spring was still here, that nate and square were still here. it's not fair that life has to go on. but anyways...i was listening to entertaining angels and million pieces by the newsboys and downfall by mb20. i remembered the time during zach's graduation when erica square and i were cruising through egf and i cranked this song way up and we were all belting it out, gosple choir was strong in the backgroud (i love gosple choirs) and i don't think i could have been more happier at that exact moment. when the gosple choirs were going and i had 2 of my closest friends by my side in the breeze with our arms open wide and all i can remember is the smile on my face and the happiness and love that was flooding my heart.

back

i'm back from i falls, where remarkably, everything went ok. myself and my travel companion are still alive and she made it to class on time. i'm really tired now, however. maybe i'll go home to bed. that sounds good.

next: weigh in 3
tomorrow: battle of the bands, be there!
after that: detroit lakes meet
following: to gf for bsu vs und at the ralph!
then: home

i love it.

i falls

tomorrow i go to international falls (ifalls) for a habitat presentation. my mom didn't want me to go by myself, and well, i didn't either and now, i have a travel companion. great word, eh? i am excited though, i will have to plan my meals out carefully. and i don't really know what i am going to stay, but it will be fun.

in 15 minutes the clock turns over and it marks the 50 days till europe countdown. it's slightly scary but really thrilling. still awaiting my passport and tomorrow or thursday i am going to finish paying off the trip. and i have to say i'm sitting pretty high. i should have around 3 thou to go with. it's amazing.

and remember...if your in bemidji friday night...it's Battle of the bANDS! BE THERE. i know you will. don't leave me hanging. bring your friends. it will be the bomb digitty of the year. woohoo.

half of it, all down the whole

remember how proud i was to have finished up with entering my kids in the meet last night? well, screw that. they sent me the wrong meet file so now i have to change everything and talk to swimmers to change some of their events. i don't have to change everything, but just about half of it.

this sucks.

o well, i guess the worst part is telling the parts what has changed, though it's not much, but just telling them with less than a week that i had obtained wrong information and that everything has to change. or almsot everything. grrr. why?

anyways. happy monday.

o, p.s. my boss tells me that research has indicated that this is the most depressing day of the year, as it's usually the coldest and christmas bills start getting sent out. i'm not having too bad of a day. except that i really need to shower and the whole swimming thing. plus, it's gorgeous out! heat wave!!

weekend's over

it's over. my weekend was pretty much non existant as all i did was go to my eurospring workshops. which completely screwed over my opperation get skinny for europe plan. i lost 7 pounds last week and after this weekend i think they ruined everything. not that they tried. they were trying to introduce us to ethnic foods and i wasn't preparing for it and it completely screwed me over. so i went and used my last coldstone icecream gift certificate. where they gave me more than i asked for and just now, 6 hours later, my stomach doesn't feel like i have a whole apple stuck in it, wholing it up.

but good things did happen.

i played monopoly with j. it rocked.
i now know much more about europe than i did before.
the essay i spent 2 hours on from 1am to 3am before it was due was given a 10 and was read to the whole class. that will make up for the 9 point quiz i failed because i can't memorize 5 things from 70 pages that needed to be read.
i just finished entries for the meet next weekend. 11 swimmers! i think it's a record!!!

so yeah. i'm pumped. next weekend:
-botbands. be there!
-swim meet in dl
-hockey game vs. und with the girls!
-being at home, even though for little time
-seeing an old roommie
-maybe cpr recert?

so yeah, and i'm supposed to go to international falls this wednesday. anyone want to go with me? my mom won't be happy if i made the trip alone. any takers? it's free, and you get free breakfast. we stay till thursday. please? ugh.

msn troubles

sooooo, i'm getting pissed off at my computer. or maybe it's msn i should be pissed off at, i'm not sure. i can't get onto messenger, which is my life. i've tried everything i can think of to get it working. i also can't get onto msn explorer and certain sites when in internet explorer. i can't check my email (hotmail) using firefox, netscape or ie - well, i did get on once, thank God. i can check habitat's email at yahoo but only on occasion for the swim teams mail at gmail. i could only check my income once at wellsfargo.

WHAT IS GOING ON!?!?!?!?!

any ideas, anyone? or can no one else get onto messenger?

this just sucks because i didn't touch anything and i'm pretty sure i don't have a virus.

anyways, first eurospring workshop tomorrow. just finished my paper and now i'm off to bed....

goodnight!

p.s. new saying! PFG - pretty fricken good. as in, the was pfg my friend, P.F.G.
from the movie, in good company, which has a really weird end. but the movie was pfg.

a week in my life

a week has pasted since i last posted...well i think anyway. i remember there being the list of stuff for the swim board meeting on there...all that happened a week ago. the board meeting went ok. still, i didn't get quite what i was looking for nor were really any of my questions answered. it's hard to realize that you just may never get your way with some of those people no matter how hard you try. maybe someday, when i'm older, and then they realize that i'm older. i told my mom i should have lied to them right off the bat and told them i was 30 and going back to school to get my degree. if only.

in other news, project get skinny has started. my roommate t and i go to the rec center everyday. it's fun. all this keeping track of food and calories and dietary fiber and fat grams and points is time consuming but i eagerly await the results. i want to look good in europe and i also want to be able to eat what my heart desires over there so i figure i would rather take off the weight and then eat well over there. experiencing europe to the fullest! my first weigh in is tomorrow. cross my fingers!

kt and i are searching for residency for next year. more crossing of the fingers!

my first eurospring workshop is this weekend. because of it, my team cannot go to the grand forks meet this weekend, which is really sad. i would love to bring them to one of the pools where i grew up at and to have them experience a great meet. but nope, i have eurospring workshop, and homework due. 3 - 5 page paper on how france, switzerland and italy are similar anyone? plus 70 pages of this huge textbook need to be read so that i can ace the quiz that will be given. grrr.

and last of the news: battle of the bands next weekend! it's coming up soon...i can't wait for it to be here so i can enjoy and hope that all goes well. i hope it will...more crossing of the fingers.

have a great _____________ (this blank shall be filled in later when i know how long it will be until i blog again)!

splat

speedo underwear

"I'm going to put a no-briefs clause in my contract when I go for the photo shoot next week," Phelps said, joking.

i love michael. well, let's go for a really really like. because i love aaron peirsol.

read the article

swim board meeting tonight

i haven't attended a swim board meeting in quite some time. i have so much to go over with them. in fact i should list them. you can see where all my concern comes from because THEY DON'T TELL ME ANYTHING. sometimes i don't feel like the coach. just someone who stands on deck and tells kids what to do. you have no idea what it feels like when parents and swimmers come to me to ask questions and i can't even answer them because i don't know what's going on. here's my list:

1. THE FACT THAT THE SWIMMERS KNOW MORE INFORMATION THAN I DO. i get to the pool on monday, after waiting for answers from the board as far as how practice is going to go. i didn't know that dev group is going to be m,w,f, for 2 hours and that they weren't offering novice. i didn't know that they were also thinking of a name change. n.a.s.a rockets anyone? i need to be on a mailing list and i need to know what's going on with the team!!

2. THE NAME CHANGE. the kids don't like it. i'm not fond of it. nasa rockets does not sound like a swim team. one kid thought it sounded like a rocket science club, another thought it sounded like bowling club (how, i don't know). they don't get why we need a name change if all we are doing is calling from a larger area. they like bass and i think are a little alarmed as they had no say in what their team should be named.

3. I JUST FOUND OUT THERE WAS GOING TO BE PRACTICE ON FRIDAYS. no problems at all, but again, i would have liked to know that i was working friday afternoons.

4. THE KIDS NEED TEAM APPAREL. they don't feel like a team, they need team suits. i was told not to order anything as there may be a name change. i would like to order the old team caps then for now, at least one per swimmer. i hate the old team caps but they need something. no one knows what team they are from when they are swimming. AND T-SHIRTS! but again, the name change. figures this would come up. grrrr.

6. I know there are meets coming up in Alex and DL. When we get meet
information for those, could someone please get them to me as soon as
possible? I have one weekend a month until I leave for Europe that I
will be in workshops (which means no meets on those weekends) so if I can
figure out meet information and be up to date on the meets that I can go
to and then can organize the team to attend that would be great.

7. Here's something that hopefully someone can help me out with: Tiara
Nelson made state and zones, state being a huge accomplishment for
someone on our team, zones being a huge accomplishment for swimmers
especially in our area of North Dakota/Minnesota. State short course I
believe falls on the weekend of March 18-20, when I will be gone. If she
can financially, I think it would be great for her to attend, and I know
she wants to. However, she will need a coach to be on deck. Any ideas
to this problem?

8. I am going to have an order form for pull buoys and flippers and grab bag suits for swimmers to order, especially since we don't have access to that equipment at the middle school. i guess i can let them order what ever they would like. maybe a generic team suit for now? just so we can look similar?

9. can we get another clock for the pool? the kids down at the far end of the pool cannot see the clock which is depressing since it's the dev kids and they are just learning the clock and i would still like them to keep learning. i wouldn't want them to forget.

10. my coaches book is not all put together correctly. chapters 6 and 7 repeats itself and i don't think chapter 9 is there. anyway i can get a new one so i can finish my test?

11. I also have a coaches expenses form to turn in for the Fargo meet in
November that I need to be paid for.
Thanks so much!

12. contract for this session so i can get paid? that would be nice....

grrr.... so much. i have plenty so to talk about so i will take up plenty of their time.

tonight. 6 pm.

a new monday

this is the monday that is going to start out the new semester, a change for all. new classes, new schedules, new beginnings. as for me, i don't have class, but others will start tomorrow night and wednesday. i just have to work like nothing else matters in the world so that i can go to europe for 2 months.

eh.

swimming starts up again today. it's funny because it doesn't seem like it at all. i have been working to do the suit and cap thing and brainstorming ideas to get these kids in a team like spirit, but it seems so weird that this all starts today. on the agenda: stretching, push-ups, sit-ups, team meeting, team cheer, warm-up, freestyle drills.

i only got 4.5 hours of sleep last night and i feel widely awake. i'm sure it will hit me like a brick wall later when i least expect it. probably at swim practice.

i have gained 10 pounds in less than a month. how, i don't know. but i am very concerned. i have not gained or dropped a single miniscule of a pound for the past 4 to 5 years, and then all of a sudden...BAM. i don't notice it however on my body at all but i am still concerned. i am already much heavier than i look and to add more heaviness to the whole equation is not good. i excersized well yesterday. how come it always seems that it takes no effort what so ever to put the weight on but to take it off i seriously have to kill myself? and i'm not over exaggerating. i swam competitively for 10 years and i would give all that i had every day in practice, but i was still not a little skinny thing. ugh, this is so depressing, especially when i am trying to skinny up for europe...i'm having a hard time seeing it happening. grrrrrr...

habitat also starts up tonight. i have so much to do. how did i get so behind? o wait...that's right. all i did this weekend was sleep, watch movies, work out, and...o wait, that's it.

well, that's all i have to say for now...and by the way, bemidji is starting to be a very scary place....

success!

i have finally FINALLY got my passport stuff turned in and paid for. now i just have to wait to receive it, photocopy it and turn it into international studies on campus.

tonight was fun. had a bunch of good friends over and we watched little black book, ate some good food and played scene it, which my team was winning and then we got some hard crappy question and lost it all. but all's good.

now: i'm going to bed, sleeping in, watching top gun for the first time(i know, i know, you can pick your jaw up from the floor), organizing BOTF and making order forms for swimming, along with some posters i really need to make...and i need to read for eurospring workshops. let the fun begin!

cooooooold

it was -30 out last night and i think it still is...even in this office. i am so cold. i don't quite have the disease my mom has as my fingers and toes don't turn blue, but my hands and toes do get ice cold.

nothing much exciting has been happening here. well...fun stuff but not drop dead exciting. two nights ago, tom and chris came to visit T and i in our igloo (it's cold at the house too) and we tried to play trivia pursuit 6, found out we suck and then watched zoolander. now that i have written that out and realized how pathetic that sounds, i want to tell you that we really are smart...but it's still break and smart people need breaks too!

i have quite the to do list these days, let me share:

-finish swim coach certifications test
-plan and organize battle of the bands
-do homework (presentation, paper) for eurospring workshop
-talk to swim suit dealer about team suits
-make swim team shirts
-re-certified in cpr
-get skinny - i'm not going to europe fat but i may come back fat

and there's more...just not as important as the rest.

i think i'm going to go and work on some eurospring stuff, maybe powerpoint presentation on something or another...i have it written down.

work is so boring...

rockin' sunday

yesterday was awesome. not in any particular way...let me explain:

got up way to early to go and do the last 50 50 raffle for the slovakian vs. belarus game. it was pretty low key. we made so much that last 2 nights we had done it this was our make-up game to give other non-profits a chance it the big dollars. however, wayne gretsky was in the house and zerek, my brother, came within 2 feet of him. he didn't realize it until after he had passed though. alli and i took the suites again but this time no one was up there at all...it was pretty dead. so we walked all around. at one point, down on the main concourse, i noticed team usa warm ups and my mom and i thought it might be drew stafford heading for the pro shop. alli and i ran after him and asked the police officer who said hi to him to confirm his identity, AND ... IT WAS HIM! drew is one of the key players and forward for the usa and plays for und. the police officer had a permanent marker on him and alli and i went over and got him to sign our backs...right on my new maurice's shirt. when i turned around for him to sign he remarked at the word speedy that was on my back, it was great. then as we were leaving after the day's events, i got to get nose close with the stanley cup. it was so cool. however, i didn't get to get wayne gretzky's autograph, but life will go on. i was in the same building as him which is pretty cool anyways.

team usa lost last night to russia, but they still made it farther than expected and were doing pretty awesome for awhile. i figured it was because i was watching. during their last game, i left the room for 20 min and phil kessel scored 5 goals during that time. i'm bad luck :(

square bunked at my house last night in b-town ( i drove back for work today...those roads were soooo icy) and we watched the game, ate pizza and talked. i called booty and talked to her and then she said she was going to call me right back and never did. square and i left her a 6 min message...half of it was me giggling. then we called nate to leave him a message and he answered...which he apologized for but i never expected him to answer! and, breaking news, we actually had a civilized conversation. it was amazing. and a miracle, no one ever thought it could happen. then tessa and i worked our way through who wants to be a millionaire after watching extreme dodgeball on, not the ocho, but game show network. woohoo.

so that was my day yesterday. it was fun. i also went out to eat with my mom at ground round. good food. i am offically broke.

talked to suzy today in germany and i will be visiting her over my easter break while on eurospring. i'll get to see frankfurt and berlin. excitement!

but for me...back to work...january is gonna be h - e - double hockey sticks. watch out.

passport blues

so i went to get all my passport information turned in the other day. went through the metal detector at the court house only to be told to go to the federal building. got lost in the federal building until i found out i needed to be downstairs where i went in. tried to turn in my passport information only to find out that the birth certificate people in bismark are STUPID. who doesn't push in the raised seal before they send out the birth certificate? seriously. so i'm waiting for my $7.00 birth certificate to make it's way back here, only so i can hopefully get it before i go to europe. here's hoping.