So tired, but yet I'm still awake writting this for no reason. Tomorrow I only have one class because Mil Art is a drop due to the lecture on Monday, and I leave with the Crew team for VA at 10 am.

Reasons I'm tired:
2.5 hours of sleep last night
Morning crew practice
EN302 essay
Afternoon derigging
Excitment about seeing Les Miserables


Les Miserables was awesome, although some other critics disagreed. I was so happy that I actually got to see it again that I ignored anything that would make it less than awesome in my mind. I went to see it with Dieudonne and Lorin.

Time for bed.

Brandon tasked me with coming up with a skit for a saftey briefing. This is the one I thought of for drinking and driving:

People involved: Narrator and two actors.

This is Dan (waves)
This is Jen (waves)
This is Dan having a few beers at a party (pretends to drink)
This is Jen getting ready to go out with friends to a party (pretends to do makeup or whatever)
This is Dan deciding that he's sober enough to drive. (throws keys up in the air and misses them when he tries to catch them)
This is Jen after Dan hits her with his car. ( Jen laying on ground covered by a white sheet)
Don't drink and drive.


Unfortunatly, when I sent it to him he emailed me back and said our topic was drugs, so I had to think of a new skit. Oh well.

:):):) I'm going to see Les Miserables on Thursday evening :):):) I hope the production is done well.

7:48.2...Not Good Enough! I think this is mental, just like how breaking 8.00.0 was mental. My boat's goal is to have everyone under 7:40.0 by the end of the season.

I'm happy. Today I bought The Strongest Strongs Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible and also the cd Myself When I Am Real by Bebo Norman. They aren't supposed to get here until sometime between November 5 and 7th, but I'm hoping that they get here sooner.

I just finished reading Not Even A Hint by Joshua Harris. It's a good book and has a different focus than his previous two books. Now I'm starting to read The Four Loves by CS Lewis. Anne was reading it and kept talking about it so I decided to read it.

Sorry it's a bit late in saying it , but thank you thank you thank you S.Woods for the gift certificate.

One another note, it's grey and rainy here. Wearing my As For Class uniform under raincoat down to the boathouse wasn't such a smart idea this afternoon. By the time I got there my pants were soaked up to my knees. Once again I was reminded of just how similar wet wool and wet dog smell. Gotta love the uniforms here. On the way back to my room Anne and Jordan were jumping in puddles. At first I avoided the puddles and laughed at Anne and Jordan, but then once we got into North Area I decided that I was soaked already and might as well have some fun too. There were a few good puddles that I managed to make a large splash in. It was fun.

I have CS AI in about 15 minutes. Blah...

I'm trying to think up a new Joe Bear episode, but my mind is blank. There are a few ideas, but I'm saving them for later on when they'd be easier to do. Most of my friends seem to like Joe Bear, although Celio emailed me and told me I was scaring him. Of course, that was Celio saying that.

Les Miserables is here this week. I really want to go see it. It's a great show and I've seen it twice. Once in 5th grade and once in 9th grade. I used to have the complete soundtrack, but lost it when I left all of my CD's on the bus to Fort Knox two summers ago during Buckner. The only days that I can see it this week are Thursday or Sunday. Tuesday I have OCF, Wednesday I have Bible Study, and then Friday and Saturday I'll be in Virginia for the Head of the Occoquan regatta.

How did Navy manage to gain 40 seconds on my boat and end up in first place? Grrr... Anyway, that was a freakin awesome race. We rowed the best we've rowed all season. I was a bit nervous because my back has been killing me all week and I wasn't sure what rowing woudl do to it. I was supposed to row a 2k on Thursday, but I went down at 5:30am to row it and found that I still couldn't bend forward without pain. I slept on the the floor Thursday night to see if that would help, but I don't think it did. I've been taking Alleve and streching it out a lot and today it finally seemed a bit better. During the race it hurt some, but I did my best to ignore it and row. The good news is that now, a few hours later, it doesn't seem to hurt at all. I can stand up without pain shooting down my leg. It's still a bit tight, but hopefully if I continue to stretch it and relax, then it'll go away. This is so cool that it's actually better after rowing. I thought it would be a lot worse. I'm sure not going to complain.

My Aunt Sandy and cousin Nikki, or Nicki, came to the race. I haven't seen my Aunt for probably 7 years or so. That's just a guess. I have a great story about how I got to see her today. She had called me on Thursday to find out when my race was, and since it was at 5:15pm she said that her and Nikki would call me on my cell phone and find me after the race. There were a ton of schools there today and I never got a call from her, so I wasn't sure how she was going to find me. After the race was over and we were rowing back to the docking area I said a short prayer that she'd find someone from the Army team that could direct her to where we were and that I'd get to see her. A minute or so after that I Iooked out of the boat (I know I'm not supposed to do that) and saw CPT Windamyer (wrong spelling). We all yelled and said hi to him. Then, I saw a woman and a teenage girl walking down the path. We were pretty far away and I could'nt see their faces, and I haven't seen my aunt in years, or my cousin in a year, but I knew right away that was them. They saw CPT Windamyer and I saw them point in the direction of the Army crew site. Then, I yelled out "That's my Aunt Sandy!" Jamye, Amber, and I started yelling out her name and waving (yet another bad thing for a rower to do while rowing). She looked over and waved, and I waved, although I doubt that either of us could see each other's faces. When my boat finally made it back to the dock and got off, Anne came running up and said "Kate, I found your Aunt" and there was my aunt and my cousin standing there wearing the same color clothing as the people that I had waved to before, so I'm guessing it was them. I only got to talk to them for a few minutes, but it was really cool to see them again. Hoepfully they'll be able to come to the Dad Vail regatta in the spring and bring Dan as well. He had a hockey game today and so he couldn't come.

AHHH!!! I need patience.

Recently I haven't felt like writing, so I haven't been writing much at all.

Yesterday was one of the best birthday's I've ever had, and it was at West Point. Who would've thought? I have the greatest friends in the whole world.

Right now life is really good, although I don't feel like doing much work.

The three scariest words I've heard: "Happy Birthday SGT."

I'M 20!!!! How did this happen?

It's Mike's and my last day as teenagers. I mentioned to Anne this evening at dinner that it was my last meal as a teenager and she said "WHAT? You're still a teenager?!? You are young!." I thought she knew that already, but I can't blame her. I don't know the ages of half of my friends. Actually, I take that back. I do know most of their ages, but the whole age thing really doesn't matter that much to me anymore. Most of my friends are between 19 and 23, but everyone seems the same age when it comes down to it.

My friends keep asking what I want for my birthday. I tell them I want no stress and free time. Unfortunatly, I don't think I'll get either of those. Oh well.

This afternoon I went to the trainers to have my shoulder checked out. They put me on physical therapy for now. In 3 weeks they'll reevaluate me and see if I need x-rays and an MRI. At least the last crew race is in 2 weeks, so I won't have that to worry about.

I'm off to Boston today for the Head of the Charles regatta. My race is on Sunday around noon.

Sleep is good. I think I'll get some more right now.

I knew that once I started watching the game the Sox would lose. Stupid Yankees. Grrr....

It's a grey and overcast day here today. Tonight I have a CS project due at midnight. That''ll be interesting.

Over the weekend Stephanie called. She told me that she's going to be getting engaged soon. I'm really happy for her, but it hasn't hit me yet that one of my friends is getting engaged. First people Heidi's age started to get married, and now all of Betsy's friends are getting married, but people my age...no. I'm only 19. I'm stuck in the place between being a teenager and being an adult. Things like marrige are something I want eventually, but right now seem too far off to even think very much about. Steph, yes, she has a boyfriend, but I think when it actually hits me that she's engaged I'll be a bit more taken aback because that line between childhood and being an adult will be even smaller for me. A few of my classmates in my company are engaged. It doesn't seem real to me. It makes me feel old, but yet so young. I'm no where near that point in my life, as far as I know. Now my friends are going from dating to being engaged to people.

Stephanie and I played softball and basketball together all through middle school and became really good friends in high school. Now she's in the Air Force and I'm in the Army, but I still think of us like we were in high school. Still young, still growing up. The real world hasn't hit me yet. Perhaps that's because I live a very sheltered life here. Just about everything is taken care of for me in the sense of real world worries. The only things I have to worry about are school work, wpr's, having a clean room, staying in shape, beating Navy, getting places on time, and the other little stresses of life at West Point. Sure, at times they seem so huge, but in comparison to real world problems they are quite small. I have a roof over my head, a place to sleep, and 3 meals a day all provided to me, along with a monthly paycheck. This is the good life. Life here is like middle school. Maybe the outside world is like that as well. Full of rumors of who's dating who, what so and so did, and what new minor stress is placed upon our lives upsetting the rest and relaxation we think we deserve for working so hard at keeping our appearance neat, our grades good, taking care of those for whom we are tasked with resposibility, and playing sports.

This weekend I went to philly for the Navy day regatta and also pass with some of my friends. It was a really good time, except for the fact at the regatta we didn't win, we didn't place, and we lost to Navy. The hotel we stayed at was really nice and right in the center of downtown Philly. On Saturday morning Annah, Anne and I went and watched part of a rugby tournament before our race. Then after the regatta we went to Hard Rock Cafe for dinner with Celio and Leah. After that we headed down to South Street, except we ended up walking in the wrong direction on South Street and had to turn around after about 20 min. It was pretty fun though. I got to talk to Frank that night. I haven't talked to him in forever. We talked for about 40 minutes while everyone explorered a little used bookstore. Around midnight we headed back to the hotel and all crashed in one room and rented a movie. Anne and I were pretty tired and kept falling asleep, except for when Celio thought it'd be fun to attack us. Leah kept him in line for the most part. The movie ended around 3am and we all headed to bed. Our plan to get up and go to Church in the morning pretty much fell through the cracks.

I finally woke up and stayed awake around noon on Sunday. Annah had gotten up earlier to go exploring and get some breakfast, but had left a note saying where she went. Everyone got up and Anne, Celio, and I went and got lunch at a nice cafe that Annah, Anne, and I went to for breakfast on Saturday. Then we met up with Annah and went and watched some protesters protesting something. I had a reaction to what was going on that I hadn't expected. I'm still trying to figure it out. Leah had gone to Catholic Mass and we met up with her when that was over. Then we all walked to the Natural Science Muesum, or is it Academy? Anyway, we explored there for a few hours and took a bunch of pictures. It was about 4pm when we left, so we headed to China town and walked around for awhile. For dinner we ate at a Thai resturant. After that we grabbed a cab and went across the city to a movie theater and watched School of Rock. It's a pretty good movie. Annah loved it. When it was over we got another cab and went back to South Street to the Haggen Daz there for icecream. We were all tired from walking around the city all day and so we headed back to the hotel and once again all crashed in a room and rented Bad Boys II. We all went to bed before the movie was even over. Celio and Leah had a rental car, and Annah, Anne, and I had a rental car, but none of us used them when we were exploring the city.

This morning we left the hotel around 9:30am and went to King of Prussia mall because Anne and Celio both needed some pants, but I don't think either of them actually were successful in finding a pair. Leah and I both got bored clothes shopping and so we went to Build-a-Bear. I ended up making a cowboy teddy bear. He was going to be a soldier, but Leah suggested a cowboy and that seemed lika a good idea for a couple of reasons. Celio watched and laughed. After that we all started the trip back to school. This trip only involved one wrong turn in which we started heading South-West instead of North-East.

Overall the weekend was really fun. It was great getting away from school for a few days. I hope all of the plebes had a good Plebe-Parent Weekend.

The internet decided that it'd be fun to go down in my room and the 5 other rooms down the hall towards Mac Long. That's why I'm sitting here in the basement of Thayer on a Thursday night about to work on my CS384 project. On the way down here I realized that I'd forgotten to bring the code to unlock the door to the room, so I had to my a stop by a CS major's room who's room is on the way, and who thankfully lives on the first floor. She actually didn't know the combination, but sent me down the hall to someone who did know it. Then I quickly went and visited Amanda and brought her a few of the snickerdoodle's the Jordan and I baked today at the Schumachers' house. I love the Schumachers and don't know how I'll survive next year when they're gone.

I really don't feel like working on my project right now, and to make matter worse, I can't seem to access my email. My email has the email that my teacher sent me telling me what I need to fix. This is all rather annoying. Why am I a CS major? I don't understand anything. On the up side, I passed all of my wpr's last week. I don't know why my grade was for my MA372 wpr, but my teacher told us that they lowest grade in the class was a 70% and that he's going to curve the test a little.

Tomorrow I leave for Philadelphia for the weekend. Well, I leave as long as the TAC approves my pass. On Saturday I have the Navy Day Regatta. The rest of the weekend I'll be hanging out in Philly with Annah, Anne, Leah, Celio, and Kristen. We're all staying in rooms at a 4.5 star hotel for three nights. I'm really looking forward to this weekend. Philly is one of my favorite cities. I like it a lot better then NYC.

Proverbs 16:1-9 keeps showing up recently. Last night I was talking to my friend Amanda on IM and she mentioned it, then this evening I got an email from somebody else that was those verses. I think they also showed up somewhere else today, but I can't remember where. I'm not sure what message I'm supposed to be getting out of the verses as related to my life.

Last night I got 10 hours of sleep. I don't remember the last time I got that much sleep. On Thursday I was planning to go to bed around midnight, but then I started working on my lab report for EE and realized that it required more than I thought. I also started talking to Amanda on IM, and then later Anne, Annah, Leah, and Matt and ended up getting only 2 hours of sleep. Friday I spent in a daze trying to make it through the day. In the evening Leah, Celio, Amanda, Heather, Brian, and I went over to the Schumacher's house. We had taco's for dinner and then roasted marshmellows over a fire in the backyard and made s'mores. After that we headed back inside and Amanda and Brian started wrestling in the family room. Brian took her down really easily each time, and then Celio joined in. Brian and Celio would gang up against Amanda, and the Schumacher's little boys would jump on everybody. I really wanted to join in, but won't unless someone attacks me first. Celio kept looking at me and shaking his head no, which really confused me because I couldn't figure out why he was keeping me out of it. Eventually they all stopped fighting and then Celio attacked me. I had no idea how I would fair against him since he wrestled in high school, but I did okay. He liked to try and go for the chokes, but I managed to avoid those pretty well. At one point I actually had him just about pinned, and he of course had me just about pinned a few times, but we both managed to escape those and keep on fighting. In the end I lost because I didn't have the endurace. MAJ Schumacher is a little worried about my shoulder and he said he was suprised that it hadn't popped out. He doesn't like it when I pop in in and out. I've been able to do that since 5th grade and it isn't a big deal to me most of the time, although occasionally it interferes when I'm doing push-ups, sculling, or holding my arms out.

On Friday at the Schumacher's Celio told me that I was becoming more violent. I'm not sure if that's true or not, but it bothered me in anycase. I talked to Annah about it and she said that it's probably because I'm frustrated and need a way to get out my frustration. She said that her and Anne are the same way. I think she's right about me just being really frustrated recently. Plebe year I used to dread coming back to West Point, but that went away last year. However, that feeling has returned this year. I really didn't want to come back from the trip this weekend. School means lots of stress, little sleep, and no free time.

On Saturday I left for Lowell, MA with the Crew team. We had the Head of the Textile Regatta on Sunday. That went pretty well. It was the longest race of the year, 3.5 miles. As Margo likes to say, you just have to "gut it out." I was a bit nervous because I think I strained my lower back a bit when I fought Celio and it hurt to row and to bend over, but once the actual race started my adrenaline started pumping and the pain went away. We didn't win, but overall we did okay. One boat passed us and we passed one boat.

This morning I had the usual DAC couseling to go over my 8TAP courses and make sure that I have all the classes I need. When we looked over my courses for the rest of my time here he told me that next semester looked like it'd be really rough, especially since I had 2 PE classes. I had been expecting next semester to be a bit easier because I thought I was getting my PE classes out of the way this semester, along with Cow English and a few other courses. This semester seems much harder than any other one, and when he told me next semester looked worse, I was about to cry ( not really, but my moral hit rock bottom). Then I looked at what he was looking at and realized that he had confused this semster with last semester, and this semester is the really really hard one. Next semester should be better. I was so relieved because he had really scared me for a minute. I have 9 classes right now, 6 of which I consider to be really demanding. The other 3 are Cow Fitness, Tennis, and Military Science. They basically just take up more of my time that I could be using to focus on my other classes.

Happy Birthday Matt!

Last night I went to bed right at taps and was out by the time the taps check person came around. At 12 my phone started ringing. I have no idea how I woke up and heard it ringing. Maybe Alyson woke me up and told me my phone was ringing. All I know is that I got up and answered the phone thinking that it was probably one of the people in my Fitness Leader group calling to talk about the project. I didn't recognize their voice and they said their name was Matt S., but there wasn't a Matt S. in my group. I know of a Pat S. who goes to school here who some of my friends are friends with, but I had no idea why he would be calling me. He asked if he had woken me up, and I said yes. He seemed to know me, but I couldn't figure out how. I was really confused and so I asked the person again who they were and they repeated their name. Still no recognition as I racked my brain trying to figure out who it was calling me. Then I think they repeated their name again and all of a sudden I guess I woke up a little more and it hit me. It's Matt! One of the greatest guys in the whole wide world. One of my best friends from homel and who I had tried calling earlier that evening. I let out a happy "Oh! It's you!" Alyson started laughing because she had been hearing me sound really confused. I felt pretty bad for not figuring out who it was sooner. I really wanted to talk to him and catch up because we haven't talked for awhile, but I really needed sleep.

Last night I got 7 hours of sleep, but today I've been in a daze all day and feel like I pulled another all-nighter last night. It should be Friday by now.

I'm now at 80 minutes of sleep in the past 41.5 hours. I shouldn't complain though. At least I was able to get some sleep, and tonight I can sleep. When Mindy sent out an email about the captains practice tomorrow morning, I was very tempted to actually go, but the more I think about it the more I'm realizing that would probably hurt me more than it would help me. We have our first race this week, the Textile Regatta in Lowell MA, and for that I need ot be well rested. Right now the simplest things are far to complicated, such as addition.

Tomorrow is Matt's Birthday. HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATT!!!! I hope he has a great day.

The Thayer Award dinner was this evening. It was presented to GEN (R) Sullivan. The dinner lasted 2 hours.

Yesterday CSM Butts talked to my company about personal character. It was a really good talk, I just wish I could remember more of it right now. I rememeber him using Bill Clinton as an example. CSM Butts talked about how former President Clinton was an amazing orator. He had tremendous speaking abilities and people skills, but he cheated on his wife and had affairs, thus showing a lack of character. He also talked about how you have to develop character. It isn't suddenly handed to you one day. I really wish I could remember more of what he said. Perhaps it'll come back to me when I'm more awake.

40 minutes of sleep in the last 34 hours. I'm about to hopefully get another 30 or so minutes in before practice. Tomorrow morning I don't think I'll make it to the captain's practice. Last night around 4:30am I took a tiny break from my work and wrote a short poem and sent it to a few friends on IM. All I rememeber is that it rhymed. I wish I still had the poem.

There are 30% more D's and F's then usual at 6 week grades right now in the corps. The funny thing is, it's a dean's weekend this weekend, but we're still having a SAMI. Know what would be nice. A break. Wait, those don't exsist here. Nevermind.