The Roller Coaster

I'm back in California, training with Rick on the off chance that my duties as alternate (a.k.a as replacement) are required. Workouts have been pretty low-key. It's a very strange feeling, after months and months of practices in which my coach and I were so intense that it was sometimes scary. Medals are made in forges, Olympic medals especially. We turned up the heat because I had a dream, and a deadline. I didn't quite meet the deadline. So what now? I'm keeping my body in shape just in case, but the dream... it's still there, but on the back burner (Please excuse the pun.)

I've decided not to compete at Summer Nationals, which are at the Rose Bowl next week. It was a tough decision - on the one hand, I could have continued the improvement I showed over the last few weeks of Trials competitions, and really been ready to step up and put on a show. On the other hand, my goal meet has already passed. For the last month, I've felt like a ball in a pinball machine, or maybe a balloon that someone's blown up and then let go without tying. No complaints - the ups and the downs and loop-de-loos are one of the things that make diving, and sports in general, great. If you care about something, it's probably going to end up taking you for a ride at some point. If you don't care, why bother? I still love diving, and workouts are actually going quite well. I just don't need a nationals right now. I'm going to step off the roller coaster for a sec.

Currently, I'm focusing more of my attention on what one friend called "The life scavenger hunt."
X Short Term Money-maker
X Career Path
X House
X Roomates
X Etc.

Now that I'm virtually finished training for the 2008 Olympics, it's time for what my parents refer to as "gainful employment." The hunt is going well so far... I pulled up the old resume, which hasn't seen the light of day since a year ago, when I first graduated and was looking for scholarships and grants, and before that not since freshman year, when I applied to work for NBC at the 2004 Olympics. It's so funny.. I've experienced so much in the last four years, but work experience? It's a short list. So now it's time to condense my last four years into bullet points. But I was an English major... this is my bag, baby!