"It's no secret that a conscience can sometimes be a pest. It's no secret ambition bites the nails of success. Every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief. All kill their inspiration and sing about the grief." ~u2

I've been really into Achtung Baby lately. I think it's my favorite U2 album (which is saying a lot, because they're my favorite band in the world and they've made 14 stellar albums). The more I listen to it, the more I love it. It took me some time to fully appreciate some of the songs, but now I feel like every single song is strong. Hearing some of them live really turned me on to those songs.

So I haven't written for a while. Synchro has been occupying all of my time up until today. Here's a recap of my life in the past few days:

Thursday: Went to see my high school's production of The Boy Friend, which was very good. One student with whom I'm pretty close had a big role, and she was amazing. It made me so happy to see her up on stage dancing, singing, and acting her heart out, especially when she had spent a few of her lunch periods that week crying in my classroom. She's such a great girl, and she's very talented, but she has a tough life right now. I can see that she loves and is passionate about theater, and I really hope that she can keep pursuing it wherever she chooses after she graduates high school.
Thursday night: Sprained my ankle walking from my car to my apartment. The night before I was scheduled to leave for my last synchro meet ever. Good move, Claire.

Friday: Went to the health center, where they gave me crutches and pills. We left for Southern Regionals at the University of Georgia on Friday afternoon. It was a 9-hour bus ride, and there were no empty seats because there were four teams sharing the bus. It wasn't bad, though. We watched 4 movies on the way there. I love my synchro girls, so I enjoyed spending time with them on the bus.

Saturday: Luckily my ankle felt much better and I was able to swim with no problems. My trio did really well. As we were swimming I had the biggest grin on my face; I was thinking about how much I love synchro and how I wanted to make that swim memorable and special because it was my last swim. It was such a great feeling.
My grandparents came to watch, which was amazing. I can't tell you how excited I was to see them. I love them so much. We went out to lunch and ended up at McDonald's because we got lost and didn't have much time because I had to be back at the pool to swim Figures. I wish I could have spent more time with them.
In Figures, I got 6th out of 42, which made me very happy. Somersub was my last figure, and as I was waiting for my turn I kept thinking about how I was about to do my last figure ever. I was nervous. I nailed it, though, and it was a great way to end my season.
Saturday night: We walked around downtown Athens, which is a beautiful little city. It reminded me of a bunch of Cary Streets put together. We ate at a cheap but good local restaurant.

Sunday: After the awards ceremony, we headed back to Virginia. We watched 4 more movies on the bus and the time passed relatively quickly.
Sunday night: I started watching the Oscars immediately when I walked in my door (around 10pm).

My Oscar reactions:
Best Picture: I was very happy to see The Departed win best picture; I probably would have preferred Little Miss Sunshine, but The Departed was my second choice and I thought it was deserving. I watched it for the second time on the bus ride home that day, which made me like it even more. Although as we were watching it I had to keep explaining what was going on to everyone else on my team because they hadn't seen it before.
Best Director: I seriously went crazy when Martin Scorsese won; I was so incredibly happy for him. If he had lost I think I would have destroyed the TV. I. Love. Him.
Best Supporting Actor: I wanted Jackie Earle Haley to win; he was amazing in Little Children. I thought that one of Little Miss Sunshine's main strengths was its fabulous ensemble cast in which no single actor stood out, so I didn't think a single actor from the movie should be recognized, but I do love Alan Arkin so I was happy for him.
Best Foreign Language Film: Seriously? I can't believe Pan's Labyrinth didn't win. Then again, that category was screwed up when the nominees were announced; I still can't believe Volver wasn't even nominated.
Best Score: Should have gone to Notes on a Scandal.
That's all for now. The other main awards (best actor, best actress, best supporting actress) were very predictable. Overall I'm pretty pleased with the results.

I'm sorry if this post is incoherent; I am seriously sleep-deprived. Hopefully I'll be able to start catching up this week.