"In the day we sweat it out in the streets of a runaway American dream. At night we ride through mansions of glory in suicide machines. Sprung from cages out on highway 9, chrome wheeled, fuel injected, and steppin' out over the line. Baby, this town rips the bones from your back, its a death trap, its a suicide rap. We gotta get out while were young, `cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run." ~bruce springsteen

I think I remember "Born to Run" being voted the best rock song ever written in an XPN poll a few years ago. Not that I usually give XPN much credit for their lists/polls/etc., but I wasn't too disappointed with that result (I was thrilled to see something besides "Bohemian Rhapsody" on one of those lists). I'd definitely put "Born to Run" somewhere in the top five of my own list of the greatest rock songs ever written (U2 has to have #1 of course).

I had an interesting dream the other night. I dreamed that I went to a Jeanne D'Arc reunion. It was at a huge restaurant (with multiple floors, bigger than any restaurant that I've ever seen) that had been rented out just for us. It was beautiful, with candles and chandeliers everywhere. My mom dropped me off and I felt awkward when I went inside because all the other girls had brought their parents and I was alone. I saw someone who had been in a cabin with me one year (not in real life but in the dream), and I felt better because she was wearing jeans and everyone else was dressed up, which made me feel like I stood out less. The girl was a younger Kate Winslet, and at first she didn't remember me. I kept waiting for Kelly (my roommate) to show up, which is strange because she didn't go to JDA. I guess it's also strange that I was in a cabin with Kate Winslet (who, by the way, received her 5th Oscar nomination earlier this week). But dreams aren't supposed to make sense. I don't remember the rest of it, but the details of what I do remember are so vivid in my memory.

The dream made me start thinking about JDA. I miss it. I miss campfire most of all. Campfire took place every night before bed, at it wasn't outside around a campfire but was instead inside the Hearth in front of the fireplace, with the lights turned off. We sang songs together for about half an hour. We sang "The House at Pooh Corner" (Cat Stevens), "Father and Son" (Cat Stevens), "Wide Open Spaces" (the Dixie Chicks), and other songs like those. We didn't have the words to the songs from which to read, but we didn't need them. If you didn't know the songs at the beginning of the summer, you knew them by the end. I still have all the words memorized to the songs we sang. I know it sounds like an unbearably corny activity, but it was so...soothing. We all took it seriously and it brought us together.

I've thought about going back to JDA as a counselor before, but it never worked with my schedule (college has always started right before camp would be over for the summer). Maybe next summer. I wonder how it's changed. The pictures on the website make it appear exactly as I remember it.

We have a synchro meet tomorrow at William and Mary, and we're leaving campus at 6:30am. Ugh. At least I'm somewhat accustomed to getting up pretty early. Tonight the team is going out to Pasta Luna for dinner, and that'll be fun.