It's been awhile...

I know, I know. You've been checking everyday for evidence that I am still alive and/or am doing something interesting you might want to read about, and found nothing. To be fair, only 3 interesting things have happened since I posted last (really) and I'll update you on them here:

1. Jeopardy Tryouts

Actually, I tried out for Jeopardy twice. College Jeopardy auditions were Thursday at the U, regular Jeopardy on Friday at the MOA. Step one for both tryouts was stand in line and survey the smart people standing around you (and a few people mocking the smart people). At the college tryouts, people were standing around reading thick books and doing crossword puzzles. I read Mental Floss while in line, so as not to feel left out of the smart-a-thon.

People at the front of the line kept disappearing behind a partition, and I heard at least one person say "I only got 7, I'm out!" Each person gets a 10 question fill-in the answer test on a variety of topics. I figured out if you get between 8 and 10, you move on to the next round. But they can't tell you your score or which ones you got right.

I sat down and just wrote stuff. There were questions about the Mississippi, Heroes (yes!), a Latin question I made up the answer to based on my knowledge of Spanish and Harry Potter. The guy announced I had a perfect score, which pissed off the guy scribbling next to me and made me pee myself. I was to report to Tate Hall in an hour to take phase two of the test: a 50-question exam, 8 seconds per question. Top scores there were interviewed and invited to play a mock version of Jeopardy, and victors there could be invited to the college tournament in Madison. I knew a fair amount of the answers on that test, but not nearly enough. Only one girl made it. I shook her hand on the way out. Watch the College Tournament in May, one U student was bound to make it.

Friday's audition was almost the same, but on a larger scale. The line wound around the Rotunda in the Mall of America, but this time my dad was there to keep me entertained. We quizzed each other and ate mall food while we waited our turn. I was about to count the number of guys that looked like my dad, but that would number in the hundreds. It would have been a short game to count women (seriously, what the heck?) We took our 10 question test and both passed! Yes! We had appointments to take the big test at the convention center the next day, but at different times. I went in the morning and didn't make it, but Dad went that afternoon and did! And I missed his shot at the buzzer and interview with the Clue Crew. In the next 18 months, we're waiting for Alex to call and invite him to L.A.

All in all, one of the sweetest things I've ever done. I heart Jeopardy.

2. Trip to San Diego and Tijuana

Half-way through March, it was time to get out of town. I signed up for a trip the University YMCA sponsors a couple of times a year. They send small groups out on these educational trips with different social justice themes (Environmental issues, organic food, HIV/AIDS), so I chose the Immigration themed trip to San Diego and Tijuana. My group was comprised of five other University students that were similarly crazy enough to want to drive 36 hours to California.

We left on a Saturday morning, with the plan to caravan with two other vans from another group heading to San Diego to study wildfire relief. We left at 8am, and everything was going smoothly until we got to the very edge of Nebraska, near the end of my driving shift. A kid (who we were forced to nickname puke-face) in the wildfire group was carsick and had to stop. I blame the erratic driver of their van, but whatever, we had to stop several times in the next few hours to deal with that. This caused a problem as we were taking an exit in Denver--where was that third van? Stopped to puke on the side of the road, we discovered too late, and for some reason couldn't find their way to the gas station we stopped at--for an hour and a half! Communication was breaking down between the two groups...

Another delay in Pueblo, Colorado. We stopped to change drivers in the middle of the night by pulling off on an exit, parking the three vans in a row on the ramp, and doing a quick switch-a-roo. It would've worked great, but Alexis, who was driving our van (and had already proven to be an either inexperienced or just plain bad driver for the past few hours), didn't put the car in park before he tried to hop out, and the car just rolled into the van in front of us. This caused a dent, and another hour long delay waiting for the cops to come and file an accident report for insurance.

After this, we FINALLY split from the wildfire group (after we had given the nickname Dick Shorts to their incredibly rude group leader), and made our way out of Colorado. When I woke up on Sunday morning, we were in sunny Albequerque. Jess had grandparents living there, so she called them up and they agreed to have us for breakfast! After the night we'd had, breakfast, a sink to brush our teeth in and a hug from a grandma felt amazing. A huge breakfast and a toilet clog later, we were on the road again.

Of course, our delays were not over yet. After an unexplicable traffic jam coming into Flagstaff, we hit a freak snowstorm going out. You may have seen it on the news...several people died in car accidents. We saw 10 cars in the ditch within 10 minutes of driving. Luckily, an experienced Wisconsinite was driving our van, and we were safe. But we did spend an hour and a half completely stopped waiting for a semi to be hauled off the road. Seriously, we turned the car off and contemplated the safety of peeing on the side of the road.

It warmed up a lot as we drove through Phoenix, which made us all feel better. We stopped for dinner at Del Taco, which made us all feel worse. WORST TACOS EVER! It's like if McDonald's tried to make a taco...but, somehow worse than that. Ick. But unbelievable, Cassie came through for us and made the entire trip from Phoenix to our destination in San Diego in one shot. I rode shotgun and have never been so tired by the time we made it, so I'm quite surprised we arrived in one piece, especially with the mountain driving at the end. But let's face it, no one was really awake enough to drive. We arrived at YMCA Camp Surf at 1:30AM.

More to come...

3. M.Ed. Program, here I come!

Yes, many have heard by now that I have been officially accepted to the Master's of Education program at the University of Minnesota. I will be in the English Ed. cohort and I'll start this June. The hope is to be teaching by Fall 2009! I'll be student teaching this time next year! It's crazy. The really exciting news was the offer of some scholarship money, as well as the number of tasks I had to accomplish to accept my acceptance (all in one week). Woo.