I am feeling particularly wordy today. Or erudite (which is how my mom likes to describe my journal).

A giant lightening rod

Sailing this weekend was fun, though short-lived. After waiting for one thunderstorm cell to pass, we hit the water. The first race was supposed to be a windward/leeward (and repeat) course. Except right after we finished the first winward leg, the wind shifted 180 degrees! So it was windward-windward-leeward-windward. Very weird. But ok, cause the windward legs are way more fun for me. And we won first place by a huge margin! That was cool too. The next race was a little less eventful (and we settled into 4th place, making us tied for second, giving us a chance at first place if we did well on the third race).

The weather was definitely turning bad again as we started the third race. I nervously pointed out a huge lightening bolt in the South Shore Harbour area to my skipper ("Did you see that lightening bolt?"), and he snapped "No! I'm watching the boat in front of us, we're catching up! We can win this!" (I teased him about his response a great deal after we were safely ashore). Anyway, as if on cue, another large lightening bolt struck dangerously close (a mast is, after all, a big lightening rod). At this point the entire fleet makes sharp right turns and races back to the dock. That ended that regatta!

Rest of the weekend

I tried to spend as much of the weekend as possible winding down. I took about 2/3s of the drivers' safety class. I watched t.v. I got my hair trimmed. I went over to Jen's house to work on homework (another monster astrodynamics assignment). I went shopping to buy new black shoes (I decided my sandals weren't going to cut it for my intern pitch). I was very happy with the shoes at the store, but the little pair of stockings they gave me must've been thicker than the ones I'm wearing now, because the shoes are a little loose, which is bothering me. And, I only walked around on the store's carpet, and I didn't notice how much of a click-clack sound they make when they hit the floor (which always brings back memories of school teachers walking down the hall). Oh well, too late now, at least they were only $30. I am enjoying the opportunity to wear one of the dresses I bought in Switzerland that has spent the last two years collecting dust in the back of my closet.

Red ski jackets

Cari's photos are cracking me up, because in almost all of them she is wearing a bright red ski jacket. This makes me laugh because it reminds me of Karen's and my first trip (Iceland, Scotland, Ireland) sophomore year. This was before either of us were ultra-confident about European traveling. Anyway, I brought along my only winter coat at the time, my bright red puffy ski jacket. Karen made fun of me the entire trip because she thought I was making us appear to be a target for all the scam artists that prey on American tourists, because my ski jacket made me stand out like a sore thumb compared to everyone else in more stylish winter attire. Of course, this is before we both realized that no matter what we were wearing, everyone would know we were American (accept when we go to Greece and get asked if we're Italian, German, Spanish, or Canadian first).