Welcome back! I took a short hiatus from blog writing the past few months. I'm not really sure why, I just didn't feel like putting the time into blogging. So, on that note, please forgive me if it's a little rusty. I'm warning you beforehand that it is slightly wordy, but don't worry I included pictures.
Since I last posted I have: been to Mark Twain cave, been a block away from where Amelia Earhart was born, visited the earliest permanent settlement of the Louisiana Purchase, read a few books, watched a lot of Food Network, History Channel, and A&E, survived the end of the world (congrats, it seems that you have too!), was told that I visited a Jesse James hideout...but the details are fuzzy, driven close to 2,400 miles, and I have missed way too many NFL games.
I don't really know where to begin with this post...so I'll start with driving 2,400 miles and it will help to explain the title of my blog. Apparently Shreveport is in an area referred to as ArkLaTex, Northern Texas/Southern Oklahoma is Texoma, and if you have any skills in deductive reasoning you will have guessed that MoKan is the Missouri/Kansas line. Arkansas is the only state I didn't visit in my excursion, but I won't even act as if I'm upset about that.
I like driving a lot. Let me rephrase, I enjoy driving long distances by myself but sometimes too much driving in a short amount of time ends up driving me batty more than anything.
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| That's a long ways. |
B to C - 309 mi - 4 hours, 54 min: Before I begin, I would like to preface that at this point in time I was battling a mysteriously lost voice. After a game one day I noticed that my voice was really scratchy, I couldn't understand why because it isn't like I yell - I have the strong opinion that yelling at someone (especially a girl) does not motivate, cure, or solve any problem. I find that it usually just leads to self-conciousness and crying, both of which aren't really useful when playing basketball. But then again there are always a few butt heads who just need a good tongue lash. Plus, my resting heart rate is 56 and unless I am doing a physical activity, I like to keep it as close to that number as possible.
Anyways, by the end of the night my voice was gone and it was still missing for the next few days. Driving to Marlow I had about 16 bottles of water and 50 throat lozenges so that when I met the recruit I didn't sound like an odd mix of Christopher Walken and Darth Vader. Luckily it worked, but when I left the gym my voice began fading again. Following the game I had a 5 hour drive ahead of me and I didn't get out of Marlow until roughly 8:30pm. Now, what is a girl to do to stay awake at that time? Sing Taylor Swift at the top of her lungs of course. It was a fun time and I sang every note to every Taylor song at the top of my lungs and on key (duh)...I think I injured a vocal chord, but the life of a performer is difficult.
Anyways, by the end of the night my voice was gone and it was still missing for the next few days. Driving to Marlow I had about 16 bottles of water and 50 throat lozenges so that when I met the recruit I didn't sound like an odd mix of Christopher Walken and Darth Vader. Luckily it worked, but when I left the gym my voice began fading again. Following the game I had a 5 hour drive ahead of me and I didn't get out of Marlow until roughly 8:30pm. Now, what is a girl to do to stay awake at that time? Sing Taylor Swift at the top of her lungs of course. It was a fun time and I sang every note to every Taylor song at the top of my lungs and on key (duh)...I think I injured a vocal chord, but the life of a performer is difficult.
C (+ D & E) - 46.2 mi - 9 days: I hadn't been back to Georgepatch since September and I missed it and the people who live there terribly. I love Georgetown a lot, a lot, a lot. It makes me happy and feel safe and at home. I love it. Anyways, I went there to see my friends, my dad, Duke, and a few SU basketball games.
I really like watching the SU games with my 1.08, Kristen (who will be referred to from here on out as Keg) because we have a ton of fun commentating and meticulously deconstructing each move of every player and fan. This ritual was much more fun while actually getting to watch the games together because typically we are just text messaging everything while watching either the live stats or online and it's just difficult.
I dyed my hair on this trip. I also helped Kate and Keg dye their hair. Keg's turned out a little red but it actually looked pretty cool.
We (Lelly, Keg, Kate, & Taylor - not Swift), celebrated Kate's early birthday by going to the UT v. UNC basketball game. Safe to say we had the best seats in the house...
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| A pretty cool picture. |
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| "It could be worse...we could be in that row right behind us." - Lelly Bean |
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| "YES!" - Keg |
To celebrate Kate's birthday we also went down to Austin to see the Trail of Lights. I haven't been there since about 4th grade so it was nice to see it again.
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| Kind of blurry, but the Austin skyline from the Trail of Lights |
E to F - 346 mi - 5 hours, 6 min: This was my second Christmas since I was 3 that I didn't spend in Georgetown. It's just weird. However, while in Shreveport we did some fun things. First thing we did was visit Natchitoches, LA(pronounced Nac-a-dish) to see the Christmas festival thing they have had there for 86 years. It was cool, Natchitoches is the oldest permanent settlement of the Louisiana Purchase, it is also where Steel Magnolia's was filmed. I didn't take a picture of the Steel Magnolias house but I was in the house across the street for a few hours visiting the people who live there and it was cool. According to a reliable source, the movie is loosely based off of some of the people from that town and stuff. We also ate gumbo, meat pies, and bread pudding, that's very cajun of us. In this town they have a festival that starts like November 17th and continues through the new year and each Saturday they have a fireworks show. This was the best fireworks show I have ever seen in my life and I was told it's because, "the people in Louisiana take their fireworks very seriously." And boy do I believe it.
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| Downtown Natchitoches before the fireworks |
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| The American dream. |
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| Short Tail |
F to G to H - 675 mi - 9 hours, 23 min: Things that do not mix - Texans, snow, and automobiles. I decided to go through Dallas because if the roads were all icy, then I didn't want to take all back roads for 10 hours so I headed to 35. Needless to say, I hit some traffic and my drive took me 12 hours and I got there right as practice was starting. That's either referred to as clutch, lucky, or dumb, I'm not quite sure yet.
H - a few days: I was in Ottawa for a few days just going to practice and lounging. It was nice. I also experienced my first like real deal snow. Snow and cold weather give me anxiety, I don't like being cold and I don't know how to function in the snow. I just feel like I end up living in a constant state of tension, and nothing is worse than being tense with cold toes.
H to I to J - 599 mi - 8 hours 51 min: Southwestern was playing #5 Wash U on a Sunday and long story short, I decided to surprise my friends and go watch a good game of basketball. It was fun because my friends really had no idea I was coming to see them so they at least acted excited to see me.
H - a few days: I was in Ottawa for a few days just going to practice and lounging. It was nice. I also experienced my first like real deal snow. Snow and cold weather give me anxiety, I don't like being cold and I don't know how to function in the snow. I just feel like I end up living in a constant state of tension, and nothing is worse than being tense with cold toes.
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| Eh, mixed emotions |
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| Go Pirates! |
Hopefully I can keep blogging, we will see.
I need encouragement.
I need encouragement.
