"The sea's only gifts are harsh blows,

and occasionally the chance to grow strong. Now, I don't know much about the sea, but I do know that that's the way it is here."

That's one of my favorite quotes. I'll finish it later. Maybe you can figure out where it comes from before then.

I'm mulling over two different things I could talk about tonight. The most recent one actually lost the win. Way too embarassing. Trust me when I say, you don't want to know. I didn't want to know, but maybe it would have been better if I figured it out before everyone else did.

I hate the weather here, and I hate the drivers, and I hate how awful last Friday was--but for the most part, I like the people and at this point, one week in, I'm actually relishing the challenge. They say that we can't learn everything they throw at us. Well, I used to think I was stupid, because I didn't get the best grades. Turns out, I was just lazy. Now I can't afford to be, and so I've pushed this last week. And everything stuck.

It's not so special, because most of it I've seen before, but it's there now, waiting in my head. And I can't help but wonder what else I can do. It's like a climb, where your arms are shaking and your fingers feel like they're falling off--the point where you know you're about to bite it and hit cliffside. But you don't. You push into it and through it and suddenly you're scaling a face even though it doesn't look like there's a thing there to hold on to. When that happens to me, and then I actually do get onto the part of the rock that really doesn't have anything, I think, maybe I can do it anyway. Because I just did this. Bet I can. Why not?

I've never really applied it to scholastics before. It's worth a shot, anyway.

That's not what I was going to talk about. I'm tired, and my mind is rambling. Maybe tomorrow.