Symbolism in the Hallway

Late this evening I was in the hallway when former Sandhurst SL returned to the barracks. We engaged in a discussion carried on from the last couple of days in which we compared fishing and shopping. I agreed with my fellow teammate "Mia" that the two could be compared experience-wise and if that was to be disproved it could only be done by someone who had compared the two. We said that since SL hadn't experienced shopping - in particular for dresses - than he couldn't prove the two were incomparable. As we argued, laughing most of the time, me calling him "stubborn" and him calling me "violent" (honestly, as though that had anything to do with the fact that my argument was sound) we dragged various people into our argument. One girl was at the ccq desk and sided with me while random company-mate walking down the hall and having heard about our argument earlier, took SL's side.

For no particular reason rando-guy and I started to wrestle and stopped when we heard a pop and the metallic jangle of something falling on the floor. It was my necklace... the gift from my ex. I picked it up and was only a little sad to find the chain had broken. Is it symbolic though? Am I really over that part of my life now and ready to move on to a new beginning of me really getting to know me? I know the point of the time without my ex at all (even if our interaction was limited to just as friends) is for self-discovery and self-development. I'm hoping that's what this means.

Additionally earlier tonight I was out shopping with Mia and I bought a great bag and five more camis that were $2.50 as well as two cute casual tops that are perfect for the summer. Nothing big, all great deals, I swear! We ate a slice of cheesecake at The Cheesecake Factory which I can finally say I've experienced and talked the whole time about everything really. I tried on so many cute shoes I was sad to remind myself I absolutely needed to buy a medium-sized purse for outings, and I was on the lookout for cute tops to go with my very cute new jeans. My old jeans weren't as classic so I had tops that were the defining part of my outfits or that hid my jeans with loose or long cuts. Now I have absolutely awesome jeans that fit so amazing, the cut of my jeans is ironically called the same name as my cousin whom I called tonight and spoke with. It's funny she says she and her friend only read my blog one time when they were "really bored" in class, which made me laugh.

At the Cheesecake factory it was Rando-guy, Rando-guy's friend, Mia, and I all discussing different aspects of romantic prospects or engaged in conversation about various what not, I guess we were having so much fun the conversation got fuzzy. Those conversations are naturally the best. Mostly we drew common interests and poked fun at each other even on the way back in the car. We talked about GPA's, sponsor families, wine, states (most notably how awesome Texas is), and people in the company. We talked about Rando-guy's fiance and about how Mia and I probably weren't in the business of getting married anytime soon since we're both such independent women. It was engaging conversation and so much fun. Rando-guy's friend commented that even before he and Rando-guy arrived that Mia and I seemed to be "having a ball." I replied,

"That's just what we do you should just hang out with us more often."

It was a great day overall. I am going slightly backwards with the timeline because before the shopping trip I went to Highland Falls for the Relay for Life at which we walked to support research for the treatment of cancer. At the very beginning I arrived with J's girlfriend. She is very nice and very much a BAMF. She runs triathlon and she is going to SAPPER school this summer (an elite school that's a lot like RANGER school except with a distinctly engineer-like flavor so I've heard: essentially sleep and food deprivation wrapped in physically-demanding packaging for four weeks). She has said things like, "As far as kids, I'm hoping to have a team or squad-sized element." which no one has let her live down. She is amazing. We agreed to be doused in water from a giant water balloon that was suspended in a cage that would pop the balloon if a target was hit with a beanbag. We had fun getting each other (although honestly I missed all three times and the guy running the show had to just hit it manually to make it fair... it was free so we didn't lose any money) and it was refreshingly cool in the summer sun. I ran into a lot of people and just had conversation. I ended up walking back with my old team leader and just exchanging stories and talking about everything.

The day was good and long and the weather was great. I couldn't complain about a day like this... especially one that ended so great and that promises an amazing tomorrow as well. I will probably fall asleep with a smile tonight.

Sweet Pensive Afternoon

I think this afternoon was extremely productive. I feel like going out to Flirty Walk and taking a walk and some pictures, or up to the Gray Ghost trail and doing the same. I had a serious talk and some help filtering my thoughts on certain aspects of my life and also my perception of myself. I was given some food for thought on relationships, and also on my self-development. I have started to open up some more. I was called bright today and told to talk more often and the hardest person to convince that I was bright would be myself. I still have doubts which I suppose supports this theory. I was also told - as a compliment - that I "would never be anyone's devoted wife." This sentence both made me laugh and struck me as true.

Yesterday, we practiced the one-rope bridge although a large percentage of the team wasn't there. We were going through Flirty Walk and going off the trail to practice our drill. We came to the cliff by the river and someone jokingly suggested we rappell. We had the rope and the caribigners though... let's say hypothetically we rappelled down the cliff one at a time. We kept every single safety mechanism in place that we'd had during training and we all went down at least once. At one point (again this is all hypothetically) someone said,

"I'm just trying to be the voice of reason..."
and was cut off by,
"Well I'm the voice of INFANTRY!"

Obviously, as someone else said, "Well... fun and safety always seem to be inversely related..." and I love how reason and infantry were set opposed to each other. The day, had this event occurred of course *cough cough*, was hilarious and wonderful and warm. Tomorrow is the Spring Fest and talking about the competition. I slept in for the run today, but I am trying to really defeat the cold I've had since Sunday. Hopefully that and all the liquids I've been consuming and the vitamins will be good enough to get me in tip top health for next Saturday. If anything, my missing a run today isn't going to determine my fitness by then anyway. Apparently the favored team this year suffered an injury to their primary girl so we have an even stronger chance of placing in the top 5 now. I don't really know, but everyone else is optimistic and if anything I am excited. During practice our SL brought up that the Sandhurst sign used to read, '88 Days' and now it's less than 8... Crazy, but I'm truly looking forward to it.

Snow, Sleep, Nightmares

Last night we got a supposed 14" of snow. The sheer amount of snow and the wind that never seemed to die down transformed Thayer Road into a bleak desert of ice. I definitely slid sideways once, however it wasn't as embarrassing as those whose feet literally slipped right from under them resulting in them "eating it" in front of everyone. First hour our instructor didn't show, which resulted in higher spirits because we had an excessively early start today due to suicide briefings in the afternoon for freshmen and juniors. Since I only have morning classes I was done by 1000 hours. It was great and I decided to snooze until lunch. After lunch the sandhurst team found out that our range was cancelled because if there were no civilians to check out rifles there was no way to run a range. It was better this way because we didn't freeze our butts off either. Since our squad leader had the briefings too he designated "H" in charge of the work out. I waited until 1530 hours for an email about practice before falling asleep. Apparently I was racked out, because our squad leader came to get me and said I was practically 'dead'. I missed a rough cross-fit work out and everyone thought I was sick too like Strongbad (another pseudonym for another teammate).

During this nap though I had an insane nightmare about a zombie apocalypse in which I was armed with an M9 Beretta and had to defend a giant battleship shipwreck that had been converted into a historical building in the city.

Then Salsa dance lessons were cancelled due to the weather as well. It was quite disheartening, but I did get a lot of good sleep and apparently I looked like I needed it. I just might have in retrospect.