Hello bloggers!
I have so much to talk about!
Number 1 the rifle team’s third match was on Thursday against Emmaus and wow, what a match it was! By the last relay we were tied 499 to 499.  It was up to my brother to shoot a 100 to win the match. He lies down and gets ready to go and discovers his gun won’t fire. Great. He ends up shooting with a completely different gun that he’s not used to and after a horrific sighter bull he only has 8 minutes to shoot ten shots.  He’s notoriously slow to begin with so we’re losing all hope. My mom is next to me calling his shots, biting her nails with nerves as he shots ten after ten. Miraculously he pulls out a 100 and we win the match 600-599. Emmaus is usually our biggest competition so we’re expecting a good rest of the season.
Number 2 I went skiing for the first time on Friday. I have lived in NEPA all of my life and it took me until now to take part in any type of wintery activity. I have always had an aversion to the cold weather and so hanging out in the snow with two wooden boards attached to my feet never struck me as inviting. However, when my friend Todd invited me to come along as a chaperon on the highschool ski trip he was running I surprised myself and said yes. Yup, not only was I barreling down mountains without a clue as to what I was doing but I was also in charge of 45 highschoolers. I spent the first hour or so explaining that “no, I don’t know where you go to find the snow tubing, no, I’m not sure if you lean forward or backward to stop, no, I have no clue how you put this wicket on your coat”. I fail as a ski chaperon.
Luckily Todd took me out to show me what I was doing and I passed off the q&a session to the other chaperon. Todd was a great teacher and managed to convince me I was indeed getting better after each graceless fall. By the end of the night I had not only mastered getting off the ski lift (much harder than it looks) but also was a total pro at getting up from the ground. This is to say, I fell. A lot. I was often at the mercy of fellow skiers as I never seemed to hold on to my poles when I wiped out. I had a great time though and my last trip down the mountain I managed to fall only once!
The group of kids we had were great. Really, I was surprised at how painless the whole experience was. Everyone showed up on time, we only had one minor injury. Everyone had a good time, even if they fell all the way down the mountain. And there was one kid who just made the entire trip for me. His name was Tyler and he decided he wasn’t doing well snowboarding the regular way and started to improvise. He went down the mountain on his snowboard, on his stomach. Arms by his sides, head up, just like a penguin. Hilarious.
I’m looking forward to chaperoning the next 4 ski trips, if I can. It’s free, it’s a good time, and it’s nice to be out and active during the winter.
Number 3 I forgot to mention previously that I did receive my hand written love letter for Christmas. Swoon. I also received a soft ice cream machine that I have yet to use, but don’t worry, I will. And I’ll make sure to inform you of the results.

My break is almost over. I start back to class on Saturday at 8:00 a.m., which is wrong on so many levels. I enjoyed my time off, I got to see the majority of people I wanted to see and managed to do most of what I wanted to do. I’m slowly working my way through the GRE prep book, and am anticipating the test on Friday with excitement and dread. I don’t understand why the Pythagorean theorem will ever been necessary to me as a professor of women’s studies.