McCain is the King of Tools.
Josh Marshall tipped me off to this.

This is the same John McCain that once called Jerry Falwell "an agent of intolerance." It's almost Shapkespearean, no?

Contrary to my predictions, it appears that the Lord of the Rings musical is pretty good. Who knew.

In other news, I'm feeling much less sick and sore. Training is back on. I had a test today which kind of surprised me by not being super easy. That sounded really cocky, but hey. I go to Yale.

Speaking of Yale: I'm going to live in Davenport next year with my friends in a REAL BEDROOM! With a door! It's a miracle from the Rooming God who hath mercy on us. "Blessed are the annex'd, for they shall inherit the senior suites."

And I'm going to Marcajirca this summer! Look how pretty it is. :sigh:

Recovering...
I worship at the altar of Ibuprofen.

That is all.

Getting rocked by Intervals and rocking them back...
A repeat of today's fitness blog post:

Assigned Intervals on the indoor track...wow.

Coach Ilg says that the difference between a serious athlete and a recrational athlete is intervals. I felt serious today. When I got to the track, there were two men just arriving, including one who looked hardcore, at least on the surface. They were gone by the time I was done, and I never saw them pushing themselves. I knew I had outworked them.

I also ran smart. I think I once tried this workout and didn't finish the required number of reps because I had exhausted myself in the first half. This time, I may have held back a little too much on some of the reps, particularly the 3-minute ones, but I nailed that last intervaland recaptured a little of that glorious finishline agony I used to drink and breath. I also tend to get sideaches during this, and I just ran through the pain this time. My left calf was still unusually sore from my Lower Body day, but I just ignored it, warmed it up well, and then blasted the pain out with sprints. That's warrior style right there.

I had been fearing this workout when I woke up, thinking I should put it off 'til afternoon...I'm so glad I shut out that voice of doubt. Fear won't get anybody anywhere. And fear of what? Brief pain...followed by heaven. Old words from XC came through my head "You can do anything for three minutes," said some voice from running camp. And then Ramos' words at the Peninsula course interval workout, during the summer I trained with Wick for my Yale debut that never was: "Larsen, you're one of the strongest women I know."

And afterwards, after trucking through the full 20-minute cooldown, I felt like I was on a cloud of sweat and stillness. Nothing, nothing feels better than that little bit of divinity.

All this with no iPod, of course...that would have been wrong, somehow. A real cardio workout, afterall, is just another meditation.

Remember, there is no dishonor in throwing up. There is only dishonor in giving up. - Ilg, on Intervals

Randomity
I love this. It's actually warm in March. In New Haven. In March. It's actually warm. I love this.

I'm staying in to work this weekend, though I still am screwing around and I have to keep on re-motivating myself to do lab by romanticizing it as some huge quest. But to my surprise, I am far less intimidated by lab now that I have actually started to do it. Writing the unit summaries - basically, what I put off during break - is something I could get done tonight if I put my mind to it. I just have to stop doubting myself.

I'm going to meditate now. .. -__- ..

Spring is springing!
The daffodils and little blue flowers starting to bloom! It's going to be an earlier spring than last year, I think. I hope that doesn't mean we'll face a late cold snap or something. That would just be mean.

My blogging has declined in quality, so to compensate I'm just going to have to keep up the quantity. So there will be lots of posts like this one.

I Can't Move.
I'm so freaking sore from my hardcore workout in Payne Whitney yesterday. Jeez. Just sitting up in bed is a nightmare for my abs. It's awesome.

So I'm incredibly lazy and not writing much. I finished my unit report for lab (yay) - that's the easy and fun part, but at least it's done. In the next two weeks I have an in-class composition, an exam, a short paper, and a presentation. Add to this the stress of room draw and the specter of the lab from hell and you've got a roomfull of monsters I have to dispose of with my sword called Work Ethic. Which is pretty weak right now, let's be honest.

Josh Eidelson hits the nail on the head with his YDN column on why Dems need to terminate their love affair with John McCain. I could never vote for McCain. He's pro-life and I'm pro-crastination.

^__^

Makeover
Behold! the blog has returned to its original form. I got really tired of those mushrooms, and the colors on the one before that started to annoy me.

The revolt of the machines, Part 4!

This is what my iPod says when I turn it on. Poor baby. It needs to go back to the hospital.

At least it's not me.

The home stretch...
Alas, tomorrow I'm flying back to school to face the music of lab. In this case the music would be something horribly nauseating, like Shoenberg. Aggh. I realized that the only way I can motivate myself to do my best on my lab project is to think about getting a decent grade. I have to approach it not as an annoyance or some tedious obligation, but as a challenge I have to face. One of my weaknesses as a student is that I like almost all classes that I take, so when one comes along in which I really can't stand to do the work, I shut down completely (like in math senior year of high school. Ugh). The only way I will do this is to recognize that the utter pointlessness of lab doesn't mean I shouldn't have to do it; it means I do have to do it. That's the challenge. Bring it on.

So Happy Saint Patrick's Day to all.