jaina

Wow. Slept a lot, had a quiet, lazy day, and now I'm mostly recovered from the past four days. Nationals was an absolute blast, but being on my feet for 6+ hours a day was just exhausting. (Waitresses, how do you *do* it??)

The collegiate division yesterday was especially fun, because I got to see a lot of my old teammates. Rachel and Missy are on Miami University Collegiate; I saw them first. They told me that Julia was skating on Bowling Green and Bridget was with Pentagon Inter-Collegiate. I saw them both when their teams came through. Julia was so funny; apparently she'd seen Rachel and Missy and they told her I was here, so when her team came down, she beelined straight for me and basically threw herself into my arms. "Caitlin I'm so glad to see you, I'm so scared, it's my first Nationals!" We were only able to talk briefly, but I'm so glad I got to see her. Little bitty Julia, whom I used to drive to practice every week, is a freshman in college and a good two inches taller than I am! Aie! And then finally I saw Larissa on University of Delaware's collegiate team when they were lining up for the medal ceremony. I saw Missy's mom Carla at the same time; she (ever the hostess) was escorting the president of Miami University and his wife around backstage. "Caitlin! I hardly even recognized you! You look about fourteen!" Um, thanks, Carla.

There were even more reunions yet to come, because I ran into Gilbert and April Chiang, who were also volunteering yesterday. They're really excellent adult ice dancers who used to skate at MIT, and now they apparently live here in San Diego. I sat with them at our dinner break and we had a nice chat.

Overall, it was a really great if tiring experience. I watched a *ton* of skating, I met lots of really great people whom I will hopefully see more of if I can ever afford to skate again, and I saw a lot of teams up close and personal. It was amazing to be that close to so much raw emotion. Teams got off the ice crying if they'd done badly and crying if they'd done well. You couldn't help but be affected when a team had just had a beautiful, clean skate, and they were so ecstatic that they were already screaming and hugging and crying even before they were off the ice. It was pretty emotional at times, but the only time I actually cried was during Team Del Sol's Adult team performance, when I looked up into the stands where the Del Sol fans were sitting, and there was a little girl holding a sign that said "Go Mom!" I just lost it. *That's* what this is about, folks.

Yesterday evening we got our DSL hooked up, and for the first time in a month, I have internet access in the place where I'm living. Hurrah! So hopefully I will be updating my LJ much more frequently, assuming I have stuff to talk about. And even if I don't, I'll probably ramble on about nothing.

Anyway. Life since May 16th.

After seeing Episode II at midnight, we had our usual last-minute scramble to get Con stuff ready (my fault this time), slept for a couple hours, and took off for the airport. Vegas was fantastic, and it was a really great con. So wonderful to see everyone again, and the con was just so-- mellow. Everyone was relaxed and happy, no tension in the air, just a bunch of people coming together and having a good time. Dunc's got a bunch of great pics on her blog at http://www.undermine.net/tracy and Yav just posted some too, but I haven't got the link handy. The flight(s) home were a total nightmare-- well, not the flights themselves really, they were fine, but the stuff before and between. Long, nasty story, and I won't bore you with the gory details.

We came back to MIT, I packed, took my 7.27 final, packed some more, and then got on another plane to go home. We watched Sean graduate in record time-- the entire ceremony, for all 300+ grads, was only an hour. Saw Lindsay and William at the ceremony, also saw Rachel Brickman and Ben Morris, but from a distance. Lindsay and Rogue and I hung out on Saturday. Fun to catch up. :) Mom and Dad took Rogue and me to Ruth's Chris on Sunday, after Sean and Grandma & Grandpa had left. Mmmmmmm, sooooo gooooooooood....

It was nice to relax and do nothing in the week and a half I had before starting work. I took care of some minor stuff in the room (gluing drawer back together, laundry, etc), but mostly just crocheted and watched movies. Empty time is nice sometimes.

I started my summer job (internship at Enanta Pharmeceuticals) last Monday. It's been awesome so far; my project is really interesting and my boss is really nice. :) And my work computer is hooked up to the Internet (although it really hates MIT webmail). Only thing I really don't like is the commute on the bus-- the bus is fine, and the commute's not long, but ugh, lots of sketchy people on public transportation.

I'm being CRB rep for Assassins, and last night was the first night of auditions. It's really funny; I think I learned more about how to audition in that one night of watching 8 people than in almost 3 years of auditioning for shows myself. Second night of auditions tonight; Steeeeeeeve and thedan should be auditioning, so I have lots of auditionees to hug. :)

Since I'm not doing a show this summer, I'm planning to skate a lot-- BU has cheap ice time starting in July, and I have a coach for the summer. Yay! Maybe I can learn an axel. Maybe. But just being coached again, to have someone correcting my little mistakes that have only gotten worse in the three years since high school, will be wonderful. And Heather's really nice.

OK, I should actually be working, so there's enough of an update for now. I doubt anyone's read this far, anyway. ;-)

Saw Champions on Ice yesterday. It was amazing. I've never seen Michelle live before. Even from the nosebleed seats, she was beautiful. Sarah and Tara, keep your gold medals. She doesn't need them to be a legend.

And we closed Tomfoolery last night. All hail the Boston Globe and their calendar section; we made a ridiculous amount of money on the show.

Saggy tells me I should watch X-Files tonight. Perhaps I will-- it's only been what, four years?