tennis

I was worried about tennis this year. My doubles hadn't improved much, and I thought that my chance to play was in doubles.

But then practices started, and I was kind of sucking at doubles. Seriously.

After one of our practice/ladder matches, my usual partner asked if I wanted to hit with her for a while. She thought that she would do better at singles than doubles. I said yes, and we went out to the court. After we had started playing, our coach told us to play a set.

Now let me say that last year, I wouldn't have had a chance against this girl, I don't think. She could overpower me to the point that I couldn't do anything at all with her shots.

But I won the set, 6-1.

The next day at practice, coach had me hit with a girl--let's call her Ducky, since she sort of walks like a duck. Ducky is a year below me, and she played first singles on JV my sophomore year. She is a huge pain in the butt to play with, since her form is terrible. Like, textbook what not to do. But she is insanely consistent, which is how she managed to both beat everyone and frustrate the hell out of all of us. Last year, she was our third singles player on varsity. Coach hated having her play. Her form was embarrassing to him as a professional tennis coach.

Basically, this all added up and made me want to beat her really really badly.

6-1. YES.

Then coach gave me the first compliment ever.* "Nice playing," he said.

If I can beat her again, I have a chance to play third singles this year (*knocks on wood*).

This makes me so happy.


*He then proceeded to tell me all the things I needed to work on, but he usually skips the compliment part, so I feel like it was an improvement!

anonymity

I really don't want this blog to become shrouded in secrecy, but I decided it's not really in my best interest for any random person on teh internets to know where I go to college. So I've deleted or edited posts about the college search so they're not as explicit about where I want. The college I spent time at earlier this summer will henceforth be known as First Choice School, or FCS. Any other colleges will be described ambiguously.

$1543

Eight application fees: $555

Two tries at the SAT REasoning test: $90

Three SAT Subject tests: $57

Sending SAT scores: $76

Five AP tests: $430

Two IB tests: $305

Spending over 1500 bucks so I can get into college is so not cool I don't even know where to begin.

And this doesn't even begin to include the incredible emotional, mental, and physical toll that going through all of this exacts on you.

my sister and I are so different.

We both talk to ourselves on the tennis court occasionally.

The other day, I was hitting with her and was trying to be nice. I hit a shot slightly wider than I meant to, and her return went into the net. She said "Good try". I said thanks.

She was talking to herself.

When I talk to myself, it's either "jksdhgh why did you do that?!?!?" or "If you had done x, y wouldn't have happened. Next time, remember x." More often the former.

gmail ads are hilarious

GPS Spouse Tracking - Moniitor Your Spouses Activities w/ Our GPS Vehicle Tracking Devices

I could give you a whole list of things wrong with this. I think the most obvious is the spelling error, which irritates me to no end.

Excellent for a Chilly Summer Day

Hot Chocolate a la mode

Seriously. You must try this. It's supereasy. From this book, which I highly recommend.

1 cup milk (he recommends whole milk, but I used 1% and it was ridiculously rich already.)
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips (don't use fully sweetened. it's already very sweet.)
Ice cream (he says vanilla or coffee. but i used chocolate and it was delicious.)
Whipped cream, if you want.

Heat up the milk until it's very hot. It needs to be really hot. Add the chocolate chips, and let them sit for a full minute. Then whisk until it's smooth.

Put a scoop of ice cream into a big mug. A very big mug, since you need room for the cocoa and whipped cream. Pour the cocoa over it, and top with whipped cream. Eat it immediately, before everything melts.

nuggets from econ

"The United States' military has become a public good. Why on earth would Canada want to spend money on the military? We're not going to let them get taken over. Get them a couple of ponies and they're good."

"The AARP is a truly vicious organization. Really. And they're really fun to watch, but they're just vicious."

"The marginal cost of murdering a second person is approximately zero. If I'm already going to burn in hell for all eternity, what are they going to do, turn up the heat?"

"We tend to be mortals. If you want to be immortal, there are a couple things you can do. You can move to Indiana, and your live will just seem like it's lasting a long time, since there's nothing to do there. Or you can move to a farm in Iowa and eat alfalfa and your life may be lengthened, but it will be as boring as hell."

"I am perfectly willing to sell grades. But nobody has ever offered me enough money."

"What is the greatest fault with our society? Traffic congestion."

Our class meet three days a week. Our professor told us that our TA only had office hours on two of those three days. Yesterday she told us that she had been sitting there alone every week on the third day and getting really confused as to why nobody was showing up.

*happiness*

A few things. This is a bad post to read if you're miserable.

1) Two more hours of shakespeare class, and then it's done. What a boring class. Discussing plays scene-by-scene, with no less than ten hours of class time devoted to each, is mind-numbing. Plus, we say the same things over and over again. (I'm pretending for a moment here that I don't have to write a six to ten page paper about something--anything--I want to, using any texts, and involving any outside sources. But I do have a topic!!)

2) My econ TA is really cool, and has actually given me good advice. Like, what course I should take next year. She tells us that the confusingly-worded questions on our practice exams are indeed confusingly-worded, which makes us feel less inadequate. She laughs about our professor with us, too. And, see number 5.

3) (poofed for anonymity)

4) I heart this school, which will henceforth be known as First Choice School, or FCS. Seriously. I love it here. And I've found my favorite corners and little places to go and where to study, and I feel like I fit in here. (I hate the high sales tax, which is ridiculous to a New Jerseyan. But my only other concern is that I'm bored of the food. Not that I don't like it, just that I'm bored with it. Which is fine, since they have limited service in the summer.)

5) Oh my god. This one has me bouncing. My econ professor is a real big shot here. He used to be the provost, he knows EVERYONE, he teaches incredibly popular courses. And, on the advice of my TA, I asked him for a recommendation. And he said yes!! I am so, so, so, so happy. I asked him after class, which is held in the same building as the admissions office*, if he would write the rec, and as we were talking, he waved his hand towards their office and said "Yeah, I pretty much know everyone in there, so..." I am happy.

6) Tonight they're giving us pancakes. Yummy.


*It's rather unnerving to walk through the admissions office just to get to class. Seriously. And sometimes I have to go through their private little set of offices. Scary.