Oh Mens Swimming and Diving and Other Shenanigans

So today was the infamous "Cortaca Jug" game, and of course, because we are awesome, we won!!

Not that I watched a single second of the game. My parents, all the way in Maryland, saw more of the game than I did.  I was at a swim meet. A very, very long swim meet. Like, FOUR HOURS long. I guess that's what happens when you have 32 total events that include a 1,000 and 500 freestyle that take forever, and 2 20 minute breaks. Honestly, I bet they only give this job to people who have actually swam before.  Seriously, if I didn't know much about swimming or like it, I may have thrown myself off the bleachers at the 2-hour mark.  Even with my heightened appreciation for the art and physical exertion of swimming, I was about to die. I watched, but also fiddled with my tape recorder, which has decided to stop working.  It's probably just a problem with my tape, but still. I'm whining.  

It was fun to watch swimming, and I definitely got my fill of it. What I hadn't counted on was how impossible it would be to get any useful feedback whatsoever from the guys after the end of the meet.  I think the most insightful answer I got was to my question "What does the team need to improve on to be successful at the 4-team meet next week?" It was, "Uhhh...I dunno...swim faster?" 

They did win, which was good. I only got swimmer feedback, though. I had to sprint from the stands, downstairs, through the women's locker room to get to the deck, and by the time I did (about 2 minutes after the meet ended) the coach was no where to be found.  Luckily, I don't have to go to another meet until January.  

Tonight I'm going to see the new James Bond movie (my first, actually). Should be interesting. 

Oh, and Chris Cooley said in his blog that there is only 44 days left of regular season football, and that they've been playing for 115. ONLY 44 DAYS LEFT? How am I going to survive without the NFL? Seriously, last year the symptoms of my post-Super Bowl depression escalated to worrisome levels.  

I am going to have to buy Cheez-Its to cope with the struggle. 

Why I Love Ithaca

I am so glad I chose this place.

Why? This morning I got an e-mail from my producers at the Gridiron Report to the freshmen on the crew telling us all to be safe with Cortaca this weekend, and how to handle the craziness. My favorite part was when they referenced our crazy audio tech: "If you are going to think about doing something stupid, ask yourself, 'would Foster do this?' And if the answer is yes, THEN DON'T DO IT!"  

Priceless.  I love that they care. 

Last night at our Sports Section meeting, it was pretty much just a love-fest about what an awesome job we did these past two weeks. We did so well! We produced 13 pages of sports material in the issue, because we had the winter sports preview.  I had two articles. It was so exciting.  I got a break this weekend, and since Thanksgiving break is coming up, I won't have to worry about a feature for a while now.  I've got a meet write-up Saturday, but then I'm free! 

Yesterday I also had to help with a field segment for the Inquirer.  We went and interviewed a plumber...one that also happened to be the deputy Mayor of Trumansburg, about what he felt about Joe the Plumbers and the fate of plumbers in an Obama administration.  It was excellent.

Today, I realized that in all the business of the past two and a half weeks, I had not done laundry.  This morning, I did the biggest laundry load in the history of my college career. Granted, that's not very lengthy of a time, but I do put off laundry a lot.

I know you care. 

FRIDAY

Seriously, THANK GOD. 

Quick Update

Things you should know, in the limited time I am using to procrastinate:

1. I did, like a big girl, actually call and schedule for a flu shot. It's on Tuesday. Expect a later post discussing how it was either not bad at all, or how I saw my life flash before my eyes. 

2. I have two articles being published tomorrow in The Ithacan! 

3. After hearing horror stories about the Psych professor, I dropped it and picked up "Intro to Global Studies" just in case I want to minor in international studies or something. Because someday, I will have to pick a minor. Someday. 

4. I come home to Maryland in 9 days. Ish. So I get to sit in the awesome recliner in our back room. And see my amazing parents. And maybe even have a fire. Even maybe visit friend A at GWU.  

5. I'm helping with an Inquirer field segment tomorrow. It's sad, because we do our episodes a week ahead of time, and all shows go on a break for the end of November, there's no Inquirer studio filming until December! Sad. 

I've been busy....I AM busy, but the good kind.  I'm getting things done. 

Tomorrow will be busy, but then I have a swim meet this weekend, and hopefully I'll be able to celebrate CORTACA (!!) this weekend. We are going to win.  There is NO other option. 

The Weather Really Needs to Make Up Its Mind

On Saturday I happily skipped around SUNY Cortland in flip flops.  Today it is flurrying outside my window.  Seriously?

Anyway, today I'm out of my intro to journalism class way early, because we're getting a little break after the craziness of the past two weeks, with the Tom Wolfe article and the election article.  I got an A- on the Wolfe article and an A on the election article.  I was totally psyched, because before he passed out the Wolfe article, Professor Loop kind of issued a disclaimer.  "Okay, it's a little rough, but don't just drop the major because of one grade."  

Well, I guess I don't have to.  Our next assignment is due December 18th, and it's a 1200 word "investigative profile" written in the Wall Street Journal style.  We're pitching ideas Wednesday, and I'm thinking I may want to go after Ithaca's absurd non-compliance with Title IX.  I want to be able to ask some not-so-nice questions.  Or maybe I'll look into how terrible our facilities are.  I was writing up my final field hockey article yesterday, in which I was kind of digging into reasons why the team was 1-8 on the road.  In my research, I discovered that Ithaca and Elmira are the only two Empire 8 teams that play on natural turf.  The single road game that Ithaca won? At Elmira.  It's a tough adjustment from natural to synthetic turf.  

This week should be busy, but I've just got to manage my time with getting a bunch of reading done.  Obviously, I'm off to a great start because I'm doing this instead of reading.  The last two weeks have been crazy, but Thursday will be amazing, because I will have TWO bylines in this week's Ithacan.  If they give me a feature assignment this weekend, I may want to kill my editor. But at the same time, I'm so happy to make the switch to mens swimming and diving totally.  They've got quite a few characters on that team, and I'm hoping I won't be at a loss for topics to look into. But I want a break. Just a little one.  Long enough for me to finish reading about kinship for cultural anthropology. 

How is it November 10th already? 

OH and by the way it took a lot of maturity (and time) for me to make myself go to the walk-in flu shot clinic today like a big girl would. And then they were out of stock.  WHYYYYY? WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN TO ME?! Now I have to make a special appointment for later. Hopefully they will get more. 

Pictures from a Great Game

Hopefully this weekend will be as fun as the last one was!

Foggy Morning

As you can tell by my creative title, it's very foggy this morning.  It's a Thursday, so that means I'm pretty busy today.  

My interview on the Bomber Nation podcast has been posted! It should be Season 3, episode 8, so click here and scroll down to the bottom of the page to find the episodes, and find the correct episode near the top.  That is, if you want to here me talk about people you probably don't know. Or care about. 

One exciting thing is I might be getting a ride with a diver to the swim meet at Cortland this saturday, which I was looking to do because I missed the first home meet and wanted to get a feel for the team before I do a profile and such.  And, Cortland is close.  So that would be really fun.  

I really, really, need to clean my half of the room.  I actually did laundry yesterday, which was extremely overdue. 

So I'm going to get on that.  Then I've got work, and class. Three weeks until Thanksgiving!

The World I Know

Yesterday Barack Obama was elected to be President of the United States. 

Just in case you haven't heard already.  

I watched in the Boothroyd lounge with about 30 other people.  We erupted in cheers with every state announced for Obama and the excitement was overwhelming throughout the night. The one or two Republicans in the dorm quickly left and chose to watch results in a dorm room instead. 

After it was finally announced that Obama had won, I could look out the window and see people pouring out of the dorms and sprinting to the quad, where about 500 people gathered and cheered and screamed together.  Police pulled up quickly just in case, but didn't have to act because the mass of people didn't get out of hand.  They dispersed quickly as news spread that Obama was about to speak.  The speech was incredible. I am proud to be an American. 

For the first time, at least in my experience, politics reflect the world I know.  I grew up being taught that it doesn't matter what your race is, what your religion is, what your gender is. There was never any distinction made as I grew up.  As I got older I realized that there were not unspoken rules, but there were unspoken barriers.  There were bridges yet to be crossed.  Who knew this would happen in my lifetime. 

I've been thinking a lot about the kids I babysit for, who will grow up with this being history.  Maybe it won't feel strange for them.  It will be something they'll read in textbooks.  That's amazing for me.  

I'm so glad I voted.