Back in the Saddle Again

It has been six months since I wrote my last academic paper for a class, and despite my initial excitement about the prospect of revisiting the most common (if not most loved) assignment from college, I have quickly tired it. Six months of informal writing (a.k.a. verbal convulsions on paper) confused all useful skills I once had, and I am now unsure of whether to cite quotations with the MLA or with asterisks and witty comments.

In other (and wildly more exciting) news, this morning, despite extreme dehydration and exhaustion (both the result of my evening at 21, for which I was technically overage), I made the decision to attempt a jaunt up the hill on the loop. Since today is my next-to-last day of actually living at the Villa (MR and I will be back Sunday night and Monday morning after Venice to pick up our bags before we head to the Amalfi Coast), I figured I needed to fulfill my goal of making it around the loop twice without stopping.

By my second arrival at the top of the big hill, I was ready to stop. I was only three hills (one not very difficult and two just blips) away from making it around twice without stopping, but I was at a state of imminent dry-heaving* and thought it might be time to throw in the towel. Suddenly, though, just as I was about to stop, I thought, "Which is worse? Almost throwing up, or almost finishing?"

Almost finishing was worse. I finished and did not end up dry-heaving, probably because I was having too much trouble breathing to take the time to dry-heave. Spending the rest of the afternoon exhausted, dehydrated, and sore has been so worth telling everyone I can find that I made it around two times.

Anyway, it's time to get back to gossiping on GChat** and finishing my paper so I can make it up to J.J. Hill's tonight. Ciao -

*Here is when you should begin playing inspirational music, like the Indiana Jones theme or maybe even Carmina Burana.
**During library parties, which happen at least once a day, we like to get on GChat and make fun of each other online. That way, we're still quiet and we can have several chats going on at once so that we can make fun of several different people. We have also learned how to group chat. Today we sat in the library and were completely silent while GChatting for no good reason. It was awesome.