a. No serious thoughts, obviously. Those go on my other blog. Working on a couple posts, legit. Probably won't get finished for a while, though. Regionals this weekend, studying and applying for work before leaving, going on a family trip once I get back from Regionals, and then down to U of I to shoot a volleyball game and then to No Wisco to watch my Illinois babies in action. But trust that I'm thinking about things and issues other than the usual dumb things I think about.
b. This utter hilarity is via my girl Chan. My thesis was a labor of love, her's was a labor of lust. The best (worst?) part is that I actually know girls at U of I who keep something kind of like what this girl did, only it was a GoogleDoc and not a PowerPoint. Nevertheless ... YIKES.
c. So I like "Glee" a lot, but am I the only person who can't stand Will Schuester? I feel horrible for not liking one of the principal characters of the show. Welp.
d. So I know I'm extra late on this, but I just saw that Braylon Edwards "Teach Me How to Dougie" touchdown celebration that got him the penalty. The best part isn't a. that he knows how to dougie (Yo Braylon, can you teach me how to Douglas?) or b. that he dougies as his celebration, it's that he taps the guy's shoulder, like "Hey look!" and then he hits his dougie. Mad props for that. (Also, note on that video: That's my favorite YouTube video of the incident because of the commentary. "Illegal Use of the Dougie!" BAHA SO GOOD.)
e. COLLEGE BASKETBALL IS ABOUT TO START AND IT'S JUST ABOUT THE THING I'M MOST EXCITED ABOUT IN LIFE.
f. Just gonna get my Illini spiel out of the way right here. SORRY 'BOUT IT.
- Laura DeBruler and Jo Bangert both broke Mary Eggers' school records for career kills and blocks, respectively, last week. I also think Hillary Haen "set" (A-HA, A-HA) a new personal high for assists in a game (63 vs. Northwestern), but I can't be sure because Mike Koon refuses to verify it for me. Jen Bonilla is also a huge badass. I don't understand why people keep serving to her, honestly. The kid could probably dig water out of the Sahara, she's that good. The best part of it is that Illinois now stands alone on top of the Big Ten. Holler holler scoresville.
- Vanessa DiBernardo scored FOUR goals in a win over Purdue last weekend, setting the Illini record for goals in a single game. The kid already has nine goals on the year, and I think 20 points. She's won Big Ten Freshman of the Week and Offensive Player of the week in the same week TWICE already. Boom.
- We've got LDB (Laura DeBruler), and now it looks like we've got ourselves a VDB (Vanessa DiBernardo) too. That said, Vanessa DiBernardo, who is also ADORABLE (you don't get the full effect from that picture, you have to see photos/video of her playing ... the child is SO CUTE), now sits behind Julie "Juice" Ewing as my favorite player on the squad (1. Juice, 2. VDB, 3. Krystin Miller, 4. Shayla Mutz, 5. Jenna Carosio (probably only because of this picture lawl ... speaking of which, where is Cory Steigerwald?), 6. Christina Sahly if only for the following possible nicknames: Sahlsberry steak, Sahl or nothing, Sahlt and pepper, etc).
- According to the Fighting Illini home page, all the freshmen on the volleyball team are 30 years old. Nice.
- I was recently informed that my best friend, Sarah "4 Minute Miles in Basketball Shorts" Rosenwinkel, is on the women's cross country poster. However, the DIA refuses to sell me one. I'm legit in disbelief. Oh just you wait, DIA. Just you wait. I'll be paying a visit to Bielfeldt soon.
I wonder what old boy must have said to elicit that surprised reaction from Jo. Looks like she's saying, "Girl, did you hear what he had said?"
I wonder if Colleen Ward used to play basketball back in the day, because bring her right knee up a little bit more and this could be a photo of her taking a layup.ANYWAY.
I had a lot of random thoughts, but my actual ultimate thoughts will be kind of short.
Regionals is this weekend, and with three bids to Club Naysh for the Central region that means anything can happen. It's gonna be a tough battle, for sure, and I'm definitely excited. Nervous and anxious (especially after how horribly I played tonight at practice), but also ready. To be honest, I don't feel as "worked" as I did in 2009 when we made College Nationals, but I know we've all put in the work for this upcoming weekend. A little luck will help, sure, but I'd rather take our w-o-r-k to the bank.
Thor, our coach for Spicy Tuna, said something tonight that really resonated with me: Regionals is a chance to earn the privilege of practicing more.
Those words are in bold because they mean a lot to me, and are things I think we take for granted sometimes. Nationals is something you have to earn. You work for it and you sacrifice for it, and you trade in your blood sweat and tears for it. I don't care what seed we are this weekend, and I don't care who is seeded above us -- I'm going to work for the win, and if the other team thinks they can just show up and play their "B" or "C" game, they have another thing coming. You have to earn those wins, and work for 'em, I don't care if you're the first or the last seed. I took Regionals for granted. Until the spring of this past college season, I have never worried about making Regionals. But at College Sectionals, I was actually afraid that we wouldn't make it, and that the last tournament weekend of my college career would be most memorable for me getting handed in the face and ending up concussed. There are no guarantees, and we should never take anything as a certainty -- it's a privilege to be playing at Regionals, and it's a privilege to get to play beyond it. It's actually kind of funny. Sometimes I really hate going to practice, but right now, I want nothing more than a few more weeks of practice and a few more weeks of goose shit-infested Wash Park. I want more opportunities to work and get better.
Despite how I played tonight, I'm just real excited. Can't really describe it.
Work hard, dream big.
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