SLAP OF HANDS

There are many sports that are "team sports." Soccer, basketball, football, the list goes on. And I'll give them that yes they need a team to play them, but in each one of those sports the potential for stars to stand out is huge. Every one of those has individuals celebrity associated with them.
I believe one of the reasons crew has not gotten this sort of fame is because there is no room for stars. No room at all.
And that's why I love it. The word "team" takes on a whole new meaning. And it's not just sitting on that starting line next to some of the most prestigious crews in the nation, knowing that somehow all four of you aren't going to stop rowing until you're two thousand meters down that buoyed lane.
Team is finishing a test piece on the erg and turning to the girl next to you and slapping hands. No words, just a slap. It's the slapping of hands after Every Single piece day after day because you both did it. It's turning to that girl who has been with you stroke for stroke across millions of meters, having her look at you and remind you that what you just did was extraordinary.
Your time isn't taking you to the Olympics, heck it's not even getting you a seat in the boat for the weekend race, but what you just did was extraordinary.
It's extraordinary because you didn't get it for the spotlight. You did it for that slap of hands from a Teammate.
And that's why I row.

M

We have a love seat that came with the room. It's greenish gray and not very attractive. This really bugs my roommate M. Today I came home to a purple sheet covering it. It's a pale ugly purple that just makes the couch stick out in the room. Sticking out in a room where five girls have their stuff is a BIG feat. Everyone has pictures, colors, posters, etc all over the place that there is no overwhelming theme at all. But M decided that our ugly couch needed something to make is less ugly and since one of our walls is purple picked up sheet to "match" it. The wall is a deep purple that I love, the sheet is a pasty icky fake purple that I hate. It also cost $30. M didn't go to Goodwill to get said sheet. No. She went to Bed Bath and Beyond and got one with good thread count. And she wants us to pay her back. I'm not going to. I had no problem at all with the old couch, in fact I liked it better then new covered couch.
All of this happened half an hour ago. Just two minutes ago, M just told me she knows an upholster that could reupholster our couch if we wanted it. I didn't know what to say...I wish I had my headphones on so I could pretend I didn't hear this.

On top of this I have not had that great of a day. Lots of little frustrations and stresses adding up and M is acting like it's a crime that I've been gone all day (class, fiddle lessons, meetings with advisor, practice, student athletic leadership board, midterms) and now wants to talk to me. Ugh.

FIGHT SONG ON REPEAT

Yesterday morning in the weight room, some of the football team were working out at the same time as us. Normally, music is played through the loudspeakers. It's typically some rock, pump up music. Except when the football team is in there, it's always some...unusual. Last week we had the red-shirt freshmen working out so we weren't allowed any music. The week before we had the specials team working out with us and we listened to some metal. This week, I'm not sure who was with us but the music choice was the most interesting of all. It was the USC fight song. Over and over and over and over again for an hour straight. (We're playing USC this weekend in football.)After the second time through we all just wanted to kick the football players out so it would stop, but about half hour into it was surprising motivating. Unfortunately that didn't last very long. We were all very happy when the football players left and we got the last ten minutes of our practice in quiet.

ALARM

I've been getting up at around 5:30 every day for the past couple of weeks. Today was the first morning I did not want to throw my alarm against the wall to punish it for waking me up. I guess this means, my body is adjusting finally.

This morning's calmness might have also been helped by my 9pm bedtime.

MUSICAL PANCAKES

Last night, Greg came over.

We made pancakes. In fact, we made pancakes for more then just the two of us. We started cooking them and girls kept showing up. The peanut butter, the butter, and the nutella were all pulled out. It was quite fun.

Spontaneously, Greg sat down at the piano and started flipping through a praise music book sitting around. He played piano and I sang. It was quite fun.

And we rounded off the evening by watching So You Think You Can Dance.