Jersey #9: Kentucky's Journey

Having completed my first all-nighter in many, many months, I'm feeling a little cocky. Though no one ever wants to spend the wee hours of the morning writing pointless papers and studying useless facts (Did you know that the city of Astrakan is located on the Volga river??? Yeah..I didn't think so) somehow, the fact that I'm CAPABLE of doing so makes me want to pat myself on the back at least a little bit. After the 20 hour studying marathon, my yesterday was spent either sleeping or in a couldy daze, and all who came in contact with me were shocked to hear that my hillbilly accent was in rare, uninhibited form. It's not that I ever really TRY to change how I speak - and really, only in professional situations am I even concious of it. Yet somehow my brain seems to adapt to my surroundings without my permission so that when I'm away from my home in the hollers my accent tends to drift out a little. However, when confronted with lack of sleep, alcohol, excitement, or a phone call from a hometown friend my true voice comes back in full swing. Really, I wish it would just stay there. If you know me and have never experienced this, just call me on the phone and instead of beginning the conversation with "Hey, what's up", try something like this: "Wha'ya doin' bub?" or perhaps, "Ay, How 'bout them wil-cats?" or even , "wha'ya been up to keeler?" These key "hillbilly trigger phrases" are sure to bring out the little redneck in my voice.



Aside from the return of hillbillyishness, I'm pretty impressed with this being by far my healthiest finals week ever. Normally all rules of health go out the window right about now and I can be found downing mountain dews by the boatload, scarfing down endless amounts of chinese food, and when it's all over? Well, lets just say more that a little alcohol is consumed for celebratory purposes. And what of my strict workouts?? Well...that time is normally consumed by stress and studying. This time around, however, NONE of those things have happened. Yes, I did pull an all-nighter sunday night - but earlier that evening I ran sprints and lifted for a good two hours. I continued eating only the good-for-me things hanging around my kitchen, spoiling myself with fat-free frozen yogurt and natural peanut butter to spice things up. To stay awake a kept a four-pack of sugar-free redbull on hand, and that did the job nicely. A day of rest, relief, and a sh*t-ton of Vitamin C later I'm back on my feet and ready to hit the world head on once again. All the tough stuff is over, and now I just have to clean the abode and study for a couple measly essay tests. Considering that finals-time type stress usually throws me so far off track from my goals that I have to recommit all over again a week later, I'm pretty impressed with myself...

Perhaps this is a signal of change in my life? Maybe I'm learning how to deal without the stuff in the glass bottle, 5 pints of haagen-daaz, and just general emotional meltdown. It feels good.

Anyhow, the temperature is hanging out somewhere above freezing today, so I'm gonna head out for a nice session of box-kicks and scrumhalf passing - maybe I'll even practice some drop goals just for fun.....like I said, I'm feeling a little cocky =)