Scandal After Scandal

Well, a lot has been going on in the past month and it all kind of peaked today. Remember that whole Jerry Sandusky thing and how it started with one person, then dirt got dug up, and before you knew it something imploded? We’re well on our way out here in Missouri. Unlike Penn State though, I’ve actually been involved. Very involved…making this an emotional past three weeks.

I’m not a basketball fan at all – I just don’t like the sport. But my friends do and I got some free tickets to the game November 10th, during which my friends noticed a certain Michael Dixon Jr, or as I was conditioned to call him, Mike, wasn’t playing. One of them said something about academic probation and we moved on. I wasn’t surprised. The basketball players have a reputation for partying and not keeping it all together like the football team has to do. We actually ran into some of the team, including Phil Pressey, that very night when we were out. Pressey told us simply that Mike didn’t play because he was “messed up in the head.” So while the rest of the world went ahead and believed Mike, our senior guard and quite a celebrity, was simply slacking in his classes, in my little group of friends we knew something else was up.

Like I said, I’m involved here. I’ve dealt with Mike and I know at least two other girls who have had similar experiences, so I’ve been a little ahead of the curve as this saga has unfolded. Over break, a girl I’ve known since the first semester of freshman year said something about how Mizzou was about to be under a lot of scrutiny. Why, you ask. Because Michael Dixon was accused of sexual assault. This is where my mind was blown. Because the girl and I, without a doubt, both believed it was true. We weren’t surprised. We know how he is. We’ve dealt with him. I knew the accusation was legitimate, even though I still don’t know who made it. And this is where things got weird.

My friend, who stood by me as much as she could while I struggled with Mike, was the first person I texted when I saw that. I couldn’t find an article online but she believed everything. It wasn’t until the next day that we started seeing the news reports come out. Then I got back to Columbia and really saw what the whole situation was doing to the campus. I don’t have a twitter, but I’ve been informed that ‘Free Mike Dixon’ was trending one night when the public got fed up with him being benched. Then there’s the gender divide.

All the boys, even some football players that sit near me on my hour off every day, think the whole rape thing is some sort of joke. I still see the one footballer’s face as he laughs at the mention of it. The general consensus among the men is that the girl just wants attention and Mike was never charged so nothing went wrong. Then you talk to the girls. Especially ones like me who know him. Our eyes get wide and we just have to say “I believe it. He’s capable of it. He would do it. He’s done it.” I was surprisingly happy this morning to find out, after my roommates asked me about what I thought, since they knew I knew Mike, that they agreed the accusations weren’t unfounded.

I’ve only told two or three people details about dealing with Mike Dixon because it was, and is, so stressful to me. My brother has diagnosed anxiety issues and I feel what it’s like to be him every time someone tries to bother me about Mike. Luckily for me, I’ve pretty much evaded him this semester, but for half of spring semester I wasn’t so lucky. Dealing with Mike Dixon is like getting robbed. You try to push away until you can’t anymore, then give him what he wants and run the other way as fast as you can, hoping he does the same. At least that’s how it was for me.

Anyone who knows Mike knows how pushy he is. And you really don’t know why you put up with it. Mostly because he’s a little celebrity on campus who everyone loves and respects. There’s a feeling of obligation to be nice to him, not upset him, and listen to what he wants. All athletes are entitled, and Mike is exceptionally so. His attitude intimidates you, scares you a bit, but not enough to make a scene when he’s being pushy. Not enough to make him mad or disrespect him. Because going to a Division I school like ours, with games on national television and ranked teams, you become conditioned to see that these athletes are more important than you. Their happiness is more important than yours. Their well-being more valuable than your own. So you put up with them. You make sacrifices.

Because look what happens when you tell. Look what happens when they get in trouble. ‘Free Mike Dixon’ everywhere. Anger and frustration boiling over. A girl who felt violated now afraid to walk around the school because of people calling her an attention whore and a liar. And yesterday it got worse.

Shortly after I met Mike, I learned that a couple of years ago he’d been suspended for something that was never really clear, and we all found out Thursday that it was another allegation involving a woman doing something she really didn’t want to do because of Mike. Once again, I’m really not surprised. I think I always knew in my heart of hearts that it was something along those lines that somehow got swept under the rug because he’s Mike Dixon. But with his reputation already spiraling down, this is the perfect time for anyone who’s ever felt harassed by him to come forward and not worry as much about what people will think. So what did he do?

Last night, Mike Dixon decided to transfer out of Missouri.

When I found out this afternoon, I breathed such a sigh of relief. I felt like laughing and crying at the same time as I was just trying to get to work. Reading the news article on my drive, I could not believe how amazing I felt. Two very close friends of mine know about my anxiety about Mike, has it stopped them from bothering me about him? One of them respected my privacy, the other didn’t until today. And two weeks ago I had a vulnerable moment with a guy I’ve been spending time with, leading to me feeling like I needed to explain myself. He’s an incredible person and it didn’t feel right to have trust issues around someone like him. I thought maybe if he understood, if I could explain why I’m anxious going out at night, and drinking around people I don’t know, especially guys, and why I need so much security, maybe then things would get better. People assume too much these days, and I could tell he was well on his way so I just explained as best I could.

How I met Mike out with friends one night and that’s why I can’t just go out and have fun and let go, worrying he’ll show up where I am. How I need to have someone around I trust and can hide behind, because I HAVE hidden in the past, no joke. How dealing with Mike made me feel so awful about myself that I never feel good enough for anyone, especially someone like this guy I was with, and I feel too damaged to be loved sometimes, if that makes sense. Not that it was all him, because I never had a good relationship with my dad either which we all know only contributes to insecurities in daughters, but Mike just exacerbated those feelings.

So I explained it to him. I’m not crazy. This is what it is and for the most part, I handle it fine, but I have my moments. And this guy is like me – we don’t do well with emotions; we tend to hold back. But there was an air of understanding in his room and a situation that could have been really awkward has been fine. I realize now that I opened up at the perfect time. Because if he had his doubts, like my friend didn’t understand my anxiety about the basketball team, everything makes sense in light of these allegations. I feel so validated, I’m almost smug. I just want to look around at everyone and say “SEE! This is why I NEVER listened to you when you told me to text him. I knew he was like this. I knew this wasn’t right.” They all see now there was a reason I was never comfortable with him, even if I never shared it with them.

But I’m still expecting a lot of angry people, mostly men, in my neighborhood and at my school once the transfer news really gets out. Because Mike is still loved. The fans still want and need him. And most people still see him as innocent because he was never charged with anything. So the highlight of my day was trying to share my joy with the aforementioned guy I know, since he’d just asked me if I’d heard about the Mike Dixon Saga when we were together Thursday night. His response to the transfer news? “Good” then a few minutes later: “Are you alright?”

He doesn’t care about basketball. He doesn’t care about Mike Dixon. But I’d say he cares about me if he’s brave enough to say it’s good Mike’s leaving when the rest of the school will throw a fit. It’s nice to feel like someone’s on my side. Because most people would hear one of my friends say that I knew Mike Dixon and they would freak out in awe, asking questions about him that I didn’t want to answer. Everyone has always been Pro-Mike Dixon. Today, though, I feel like I won. I can go out again, I think. Which is good because a guy I’ve known for a year who’s my buddy in one of my classes gave me an invite to their big Christmas party this weekend. It’s nice to not worry, and to know for sure when I say I’ll go.

Everything’s changing. Or maybe it’s just falling into place. What goes around comes around, and good things come to those who wait…all that good stuff.

Traveler’s Brain

That’s what I call it. This skill I have to remember directions when I’ve been somewhere once, and my ability to absorb languages like a sponge. Last weekend we did the Springfield thing again, but I took a detour no one knows I took, except the people who saw me there. And they were amazed I made the trip all alone. But I have traveler’s brain; it’s what I do. I thrive on my own and during chaos anyway. I was built for this.

I’ve always said there are three schools I couldn’t visit or I would never come back – LSU, Arkansas, and Georgia. When I said it, I was referring mainly to road-tripping to a football game and liking their culture more than Missouri’s. I didn’t put two and two together this weekend. I went. And I should have never gone to Arkansas.

Without getting too much into my ridiculous personal history, I’ve had an irrational attachment to the Arkansas Razorbacks football team, mostly because of one specific person I met in a different era in my life. Being the fan that I am, and the traveler that I am, I decided that since I was in Springfield it wouldn’t be too hard to – oh, shall we say, slip away – to Fayetteville, Arkansas on Saturday. I realized I was crazy to make a 2.5 hour drive to a place I’d never been to watch someone I hadn’t seen in two years play football, but it’s the kind of thing I do because I am just that passionate when it comes to teams I care about. The problem is that I made the journey without thinking about the fact that I knew I wasn’t going to be able to leave there easily. It didn’t click in my brain that I was going to one of the three schools I said I couldn’t visit…on a football Saturday…to actually see the game…during their homecoming. And naturally, I fell in love.

I fell in love with Razorback Stadium and its sea of red. It outdoes anything we have in Missouri, that’s for sure. Bigger, louder, much more beautiful design; and it doesn’t help that red is my favorite color.

I fell in love with Fayetteville. Especially all the fall colors on the trees lining the roads; the way Garland Avenue splits as you approach campus so you’re surrounded by green, not to mention Rick’s Bakery which was my first stop when I got into town. If I weren’t a broke college kid, I would have left with a lot more than my one cookie and brownie.

I also fell in love with the Razorback players. After the game, which I watched from the hill outside the northeast corner of the stadium, I walked myself to the northwest corner where the players come out, even though I don’t know them beyond their quarterback, who I’ve always liked more than my own QB tandem. I used to just like the team and the one boy I’d met, but now I see them more individually and they were all sweet. I ended up talking to a few in passing as I asked a quick question here or there. Since it was homecoming, a lot of families were in town and I made sure not to bother any boys with moms next to them. They actually turned to me and stopped once I’d gotten their attention instead of responding while moving away. Plus, I’m a sucker for accents. The first time I really heard a southern accent was out of the mouth of an Arkansas football player and he and his friend are the reason I even knew they had accents in Arkansas. After I asked about one of his teammates, a player replied, “He’s either come out, or he’s fixin’ to come out” and hearing that “fixin’ to” just about made my day.

And I did get to meet their quarterback, Mr. Tyler Wilson. He came out with people so I didn’t want to bother him, but everyone else was bothering him so I went for it, with the help of two men standing nearby who I’d gotten into mischief with a few minutes before. I was amazed at how sweet he was about it all. He turned to me like it was no big deal, the cutest smile on his face, and put his arm around me like a pro to take a picture. There were people all around but I did get a chance to look him in the eye and tell him good job, because Arkansas hasn’t had it easy this year, and he was limping on his way out.

The players all went from their locker room into the Raymond Miller Hall of Champions where they met their people and got food before facing the world. The guys who took the Wilson picture for me were the ones to realize event staff wasn’t guarding the doors anymore, so the three of us just snuck walked in to see who was still hanging around in there. All the kids outside were happy when I came back out telling them Tyler Wilson, who they were ALL waiting for, was still in there sitting at a table with kicker Zach Hocker and some girls not looking like they were getting ready to go anywhere.

Yeah, I was totally allowed to be in a players-only area at a school I don’t go to…

Most of all, I just fell in love with how I felt in Arkansas. I’d never been to that state before but I felt so natural there. I’m not sure if it was actually Arkansas or just my traveler’s brain that made everything go so well that day. I have a tendency to keep to myself way too much but there I had no problem talking to anyone if I had something to say or needed help. I was comfortable and brave, and going alone gave me this sense of independence and self-worth that I hadn’t felt in a while. The whole day I was really at ease and confident as I went from place to place – not getting lost once, which is more than I can say about my first days in Columbia, Missouri.

When I said I would never be able to leave Fayetteville if I visited, I didn’t expect it to be the way it was. I did not expect to love it there so much. I didn’t expect the people to be as nice as they were. Everything about being there was so effortless for me. How do you leave a place that feels like that to you? I definitely feel like I need to go back, even though no one I know is aware I was even there once.

I also learned that everyone should take a solo journey. It’s daunting, for sure, but you can figure out a lot about yourself spending a day in an unfamiliar place all on your own. You learn about your problem-solving skills, coping mechanisms, strengths and weaknesses, communication style. My ultimate test was when my phone died at 4:30pm, an hour before I left town, and I had to somehow get back to Springfield. In the dark. Alone. No directions. No one knew where I was. But that’s how I learned about my traveler’s brain, because I made it quite easily. It’s also how I know I’m meant to visit Fay again. I’m a big believer in taking cues from the universe and the fact that I made that journey from a city I don’t know well to a city I’d never been to, twice, alone, once in the dark with no directions or lifeline, means it’s a place I’m going to need to remember.

***

In other news, as I wrote this all out, Barack Obama managed to snatch up a second term in office. I don’t like politics just as much as I don’t like religion (fitting, n’est-ce pas?) so I didn’t vote. I wasn’t informed enough to make a good decision. I didn’t have a strong opinion either way. Obama is from the same city I’m from, so I grew up where everyone loves and supports him. I graduated high school – and had my grad party – with Mitt Romney’s nephew and everyone I live with voted for him, so I’ve also heard a bit about his policies. I’m not old enough yet to have any issues I feel very strongly about and, I don’t want to say lesser of two evils, but things are screwed up enough as it is that I don’t know how much worse OR better they could get in the next four years. And I just want to leave the country anyway…

Obama’s a great guy, I’m good with this. Would it have been kind of exciting to have a new president? Yes, I think so, but I’m weird. There’s only so much a president can do. I’m just glad it’s all over. It was exhausting being stuck in the middle. As I put it, I come from a place where everyone is liberal and doesn’t care about politics to a place where everyone is conservative and cares a lot. But now I have to prepare for very unhappy roommates, neighbors, and classmates for the next couple weeks until we all get over it.

 

 

 

 

Destressing After Midterms

The past two weeks have been constant studying as it is midterm time and all classes are scheduling exams and projects right now. It’s made it extremely difficult for me to find the time to go to class, work, workout, study, and still get my social time. Since my roommates go home every weekend and I have the house to myself, I’ve taken to doing at home workouts and am currently addicted to finding the little posters on Pinterest with ideas. I thought I would post some of them here, with notes if I’ve already done them. It’s easier to take an hour or so out of my time at my own house than to think about driving all the way to the Rec on the weekends when I really just want to stay home and rest.

The goal for this one was to hold each of the poses for 1 minute. I did this the other day (eliminating some of the more difficult poses) and was sore in my back and butt for two days. If you attempt to do these, you WILL struggle and you WILL feel it.

This one is my favorite. I do it almost every Saturday and it takes more than an hour – that’s my kind of workout. It’s a good combination of cardio and strength so you get your heart rate up but also work your muscles. And you’re allowed to do the push ups on your knees:)

There you have it. Just a few workouts to do at home that will actually work your body…no equipment needed. And if you’re stressed, you should still find time to exercise because it releases those endorphins that make you happy. It will also counteract all the negative effects stress has on your body. It basically counteracts the college lifestyle as well. I forgot how crazy it was to be this age until this weekend. With Halloween coming up, this was the weekend to celebrate. It also happened to be our homecoming. Mizzou is the birthplace of homecoming (though there are a few who argue) and we celebrated number 101 yesterday, beginning with a parade in the dark at 7am that I slept through. Our game was also early – 11am- against Kentucky and counted as our first SEC win, sadly. Then we went to take naps before going to the mall, where we ended up parking next to our kicker. I was not aware that after winning homecoming football games against conference foes, our football players went to the mall alone. It made me laugh at least. Then we had a full night going out to Whiskey Wild and another football player’s party. Somehow one of our star linebackers, who’s also a captain on the team, got stuck working the door, poor guy. The cops had to come and clear up the road because so many people were trying to get into his house. Since we know him, once the PoPo was gone, we were still hanging around until the very end…living the good life. But it means I’m starting my week behind on sleep already and with 8am classes four days, then another road trip down to Springfield next weekend, I’m just going to have to suck it up.

Welcoming Winter…and Alabama

Last week a cold front hit and we’ve all come to realize it seems mighty permanent. It made Saturday’s football game against Vanderbilt even tougher to bear and doesn’t bode well for this weekend against Alabama. I’m surprised we all survived last Saturday. Many of our athletes left their sleeves and leg warmers off. A few of the guys had the pockets to keep their hands toasty and some were willing to share with those who didn’t.

Number 99 there, kicker Andrew Baggett, is really the only one we absolutely can’t blame for our 19-15 loss to a 1-3 team. He made all his kicks and the PAT that didn’t happen was the fault of the snapper (same problem we’ve had for a year now). He also just informed me this morning that our loss was Vandy’s first SEC road win in years. I believe he said since 2004, correct me if I’m wrong. Which is a little sad on our part.
A friend and I went downtown to Harpo’s, a bar in Columbia, with a couple of the football players later that night and no one seemed mad about the game (until I saw Andrew today…yikes that boy is whiny, but I’ve known that for a year and accepted it). There was just that general dejected feeling you get after an off day. We all have them time and again. Among our issues was the fact that our starting QB left in the first quarter with a tear in the medial collateral ligament in his left knee, being a nursing major I actually understand that jargon and being a sports fan I’ve said all along he was going to hurt himself if he kept running like that. Also, one of our running backs broke his finger and our usually solid defense was missing Will Ebner. On top of all that, our star freshman, Dorial Green-Beckham, top recruit in the country, missed the game after getting arrested Wednesday night for smoking weed.
I don’t condone this kind of thing, having never smoked anything in my life, but he and his other freshman buddies shouldn’t have been smoking out in a car south of the stadium. They would have been much less likely to get caught if they just did it in their dorms. The athletes at Mizzou all live in South residence hall; I’ve been in there, its not community style, it’s easy to keep to yourself. Staying in would honestly have been the safer option. And I once knew a guy who was an RA in South when the likes of basketball player Mike Dixon and QB James Franklin were there – he said they slack big time on their duties because it doesn’t affect them and saves time and paperwork. Not that Franklin ever did anything wrong. A story about young James that I like happened his first semester at Mizzou – spring semester because he graduated high school early to play ball.
It was a Friday night and everyone was out partying so South was really quiet. The guy I knew was on call and making the rounds around the res hall when he spotted our future starting quarterback sitting alone in a study room writing in a notebook. He opens the door and asks, “James, what are you doing? Why aren’t you out with everyone?” What was James Franklin doing? Writing a letter to his girlfriend back in high school in Texas. Good guy James Franklin, ladies and gentlemen.
Now, Alabama.
It’s been an interesting roller coaster of emotions concerning the Crimson Tide. When we first heard we would be playing Alabama, our ears perked up like a dog’s when there’s a rustle in the leaves. Then they won their second NCAA championship in three years and we were amazed at the opportunity we were about to get, seeing such a dominant team in person. As football started we were still chomping eagerly at the bit to just get Bama here already but as this Saturday gets closer reality has been setting in. Not to be graphic, but as my neighbor M put it: “Alabama’s handing us a 12 inch black dick and no lube.” Our expectations have sunk to a low level as we watch our quarterback struggle with much less formidable foes and the prospect of a slaughter has become a running joke. But every once in a while, we still hear that rare voice that says the words the rest of us are afraid to even think:
“If we win this, we’re rushing the field.”
But it won’t happen with this quarterback tandem. I adore Corbin Berkstresser but Franklin needs so much help as it is, there’s no way Yost and Pinkel can work with Corbin to get him functioning to start by Saturday with Franklin injured.
Other than the game, I’m just excited for the number of Bama fans that will be flooding the town. We thought Georgia was bad, but, and no one really knows this yet, Alabama sold out their allotment of tickets so fast, their fans were buying Missouri season tickets over the summer just to guarantee a spot at this game. This past weekend I met a couple of Vanderbilt guys at the bar, one of them was the roommate of Vandy player Rob Lohr, and I was just excited to welcome visitors to town, as I will be this Friday and Saturday. And a friend and I have recently taken up a new, rather risqué post that almost guarantees us run ins with the out-of-towners. But that’s another story for another day. We’re in the heart of sports season: baseball playoffs, college and pro football, basketball will start soon, and ordinarily hockey would too if we weren’t having a lockout, making October possibly the best month of the year. So I can handle our winter weather because I’ll be entertained.

Easy Chili Recipe

The first time I visited my friends family, back when they were still living just outside Kansas City, we arrived from Columbia late on a cold November night to a pot of homemade chili waiting for us on the stove. Being back with her dad this weekend inspired us to come home and attempt his chili ourselves. I was amazed at how quick and simple it was, but still how tasty. So as colder weather approaches, I’ll definitely be making this again.

Ingredients:
1 pound lean ground beef
1 can kidney beans
1 can pinto beans
1 can tomato sauce
1 can diced tomatoes
Chili powder

A couple of notes: Every can we used was 15-16oz, but you can put as much or as little as you want. Ground turkey would work just as well in this to make it healthier.

First step is to brown the meat in a saucepan with at least a teaspoon of chili powder.
Pour all the beans, tomato paste, and diced tomatoes into a pot and start it heating. If yours is on the runnier side like ours was, crank it up to boiling, if it’s already pretty thick keeping it simmering will be enough.
Add the ground beef to the pot and stir everything together, adding more chili powder to flavor the beans.
Once it’s heated through and at the consistency you like, it’s ready to eat!

I load my chili up with crackers, sour cream, cheese, and sometimes even peanut butter. I know, you wouldn’t think to add peanut butter to chili but I’ve found that a small spoonful added to a bowl makes it taste richer and creamier. This chili is so protein heavy as it is, though, I left out my PB this time.

The amount of meat made this great for our after-swim workout and all the flavor comes from chili powder: no salt added. I try to pick the beans and tomato products without extra sugars and syrups added to them to keep it as healthy as possible.

Some nutrition information: this makes about 6 servings, with around 400 calories a serving. Naturally it will be more once all the fixings are added, but that’s what you get for a good, hearty meal.

Covering A LOT of Ground

It’s a Monday afternoon and I have not seen the inside of my duplex since 7am last Friday, such is the life I live. So I haven’t been keeping up with my workouts, my school work, or anything really. We finally got a weekend off from football, during which I intended to relax, and instead road-tripped it down to Springfield, Missouri where I still fussed over our ridiculous team.

Don’t get me wrong, I love football and I love (most of) my boys but I’m very opinionated when it comes to sports. I spent nearly the entire Georgia game muttering under my breath at our starting quarterback, Mr. Franklin, who I’ve never been a fan of. Our snapping is STILL not right, and during the Georgia game our snapper got in trouble for losing his shoe and not getting it back on in a timely manner, so they went through an entire play with him wearing one shoe. And our defense, bless them, is incredible but it can’t pick up all of James Franklin’s slack so we tend to have minor, or major in the case of Georgia, breakdowns come fourth quarter. So first SEC game: fail.

Then we played ASU and our boy Corbin Berkstresser got his first start, praise the Lord. In my circle of friends we’ve loved Corbin since we found out how adorable he is quite some months ago. We used to see him at lunch and dinner several times a week and he looks bigger in person than he does on the field. I’m not going to say he didn’t struggle, but he got us a much-needed win, even if we’re still  win less in our conference. Afterward, a friend and I went out back to say hi to the players we know as they trickled out of the locker room. We ended up meeting DGB – the top recruit in the nation who we “stole” from Arkansas and I inadvertently made him crack up while trying to deal with a drunk guy. Then a red-shirted player I’ve known for a few months came out and hugged me and talked a bit. He was bored from standing at the sideline all game and just wanted to go out and drink. Then my boy Andrew Baggett came out, looking very morose. I absolutely adore our kicker, but I don’t trust his kicking skills yet. He and I have known each other since the first day of classes freshman year when we had psychology together. Naturally, I’m rather attached to him and will love him even if he misses 3 field goals a game like he did that night. He was VERY upset with himself but managed to paste on a smile for me. So we’d just won a game and our football players were all either bored, tired, or pissed off… some team. But they’re our team…

we lost power for a time but it didn’t stop the game

Mr. Quarterback and Mr. Moe, fan favorite receiver

My personal favorite SEC kicker

Then after the weekend that left me all smiles, I got the travel bug. My friend’s family lives just outside of Springfield and since I’m the one with the car, we decided Wednesday night that we were packing up the trunk on Thursday and leaving immediately after work on Friday. At 6pm, we started our 3 hour drive down past Jeff City, the Missouri capital, through Lake of the Ozarks (the only real vacation destination in this state), and into the 3rd or 4th largest city in Missouri (we never could figure which). I think I’ve said I work at a daycare and the weekend was just an extension of it with my friend’s 4-year-old nephew hanging around. I gained new-found respect for my parents with him in the back of my car.

“I’m going to play with the window, I’m going to crunch up these chips, now I’m going to throw the chips, what does this do? I’m making your seat dirty, somebody put chips in here! (I wonder who), can I bring my tricycle in your car? My seat belt isn’t fastened!”

Good god, I don’t know how my mother did it with both me and my brother, who is 20 months younger than me, in the back seat. I did win him over a bit by driving everyone down to Silver Dollar City, an amusement park in Branson, Missouri. I realize we were closer to Arkansas than my home in Columbia, but it was still Missouri and the number of red Razorbacks shirts on that beautiful football Saturday was a bit high for my liking. Not that Mizzou was giving us few Tigers fans anything to cheer for. Mr. Franklin had fewer than 20 passing yards the first half and Andrew was apparently the only person on our team who could score, until Mr. Quarterback Corbin Berkstresser came into the game with five minutes left and scored a meaningless touchdown in a 31-10 defeat by the South Carolina Gamecocks.

We rode roller coasters and got soaked and ate kettle corn like we were on vacation in the summertime. I grew up just outside Los Angeles, not far from Disneyland but haven’t been there since 2009. I’d forgotten how much I loved roller coasters until this past Saturday. We even snuck our 4yo buddy onto a roller coaster he was still too short for, Powder Keg, and he loved it after he got over the initial shock of flying through the air. Then with all the excitement of the day, he gave us all a break by napping on the 45 minute drive back to Springfield.

Of course, as with everything I do in Missouri, this trip didn’t come without some culture shock. In my graduating class of 1200, of the 700 girls we only had one get pregnant. Out in rural Missouri, teen pregnancy is almost the norm. My friend’s semi-stepdad (mom’s boyfriend) has a daughter my age who brought her 17 month old over to play with her 4-year-old ‘cousin’. Mommy stayed inside to talk with the other teenage girls while Daddy was outside mowing the lawn and sweeping the driveway so Grandpa “doesn’t bitch”. It was an interesting dynamic, to say the least.

To cap off the road trip, we missed our planned exit on the way home (we were going to stop in Osage Beach) and ended up taking the scenic, back road home. Just as it was getting dark a deer ran out in front of my car, a ’98 Lexus with the shittiest brakes in the world, but luckily he kept going and we all made it out alive. Never in my life have I had to worry about that before. We went to bed with stomach aches from eating so many free donuts from my friend’s dad’s donut shop in Springfield – Ray’s Donuts: go there if you pass through, it’s not far from the highway -  and sore arms from the six trips it took to unload my car of groceries, clothes, and Mountain Dew. The last thing I said before going to the empty room to sleep was along the lines of “If gas were cheaper, I’d probably buy even more of it because I’d be on the road all the time”.

Pretty Osage Beach

 

Oh, and if I can get my passport papers in before October 15 (right now I’ve got the 4th set aside), I’ve got a trip to London planned in December. That’ll be great to experience for a third time and share.

 

It May Be Football Season, But It’s Still Summer

…so I can still swim.

Now that I’ve reached my goal of becoming a more able runner, a friend and I have decided to take up swimming. I absolutely adore swimming and I think it comes from growing up two blocks from the ocean in California. But swimming laps for exercise and not just for the sake of seeing how far off coast I can go is tackling a whole different animal. We’ve been at it for a little over a week and I can already feel my body adjusting. Here some things I’ve already learned from starting a new workout:

• First off, switching it up is GOOD for you. It may not feel good that first day but changing your routine about every 4 weeks keeps your body guessing and allows you to maximize the effect of your workout.
•Its always smart to start on a Monday. Sometimes the inspiration hits us Thursday afternoon and we want to pick up and go just then, but studies have shown you’re more likely to stick to a new plan if you start at the beginning of a week.
•Start slow and ease into it. I’ve had a hard time with this one with my friend who isn’t an exerciser and want to push push PUSH without really thinking about it. Right now we can’t be swimming constantly for 45 minutes, heck we can barely do 50 meters back to back and I’ve had to tell her it’s okay to rest. Instead we’re building up. We had two minutes to get from one side of the other and now we’ve decreased to 1:30.
•That said, go at your own pace. If you’re not pushing yourself to keep up with someone else you’ll save your energy to meet your time or distance goal. And slow with good form works better than fast and sloppy. That’s how people get hurt.
•Also, set a goal. When you go into something with a set end point, you’re much more motivated to keep going. We want to build up to swimming a mile, by starting with just 500 meters right now. The way we swim, that’s accounting for our half an hour. It’s smart to set either a time or distance goal for each individual workout, then to also have a more long term goal to achieve.
•Listen to your body. It will tell you if you’re doing too much too fast. It can also tell you good things. My lungs felt incredible after my first week of swimming. And a little soreness is good for you.
•Don’t be afraid to exercise just because you feel tired or hungry. I exercise on 5 hours of sleep and an empty stomach all the time because as soon as I get going the adrenaline (or epinephrine if we want to get technical) makes any pains go away.
•The first 15 minutes are the hardest. I don’t know why this is or if it’s even like this for everyone, but for me, throughout the whole first 15 minutes all I can think about is ending early. Then all of a sudden I’m good to go. I’ve told this to my friend as she struggles with motivation and it seems to help her to break down the workout into the first 15 minutes then 5 minute chunks until we finish.

I’m an experienced exerciser but I still have a lot to learn because every new activity requires something different from your body. Being healthy and athletic doesn’t mean every physical activity with come naturally to you. Your body has to relearn each time you try something new. This is the reason you can tell the sport a person does just by looking at them. The broad shoulders of swimmers, lean legs of runners, short stature of gymnasts – it’s all from the different ways their bodies require them to work. People always wonder how I can tell who the football players are on campus; it’s not because I know the faces of all 100+ of them but because I know what a football players body looks like since I’m a fan of the game and know the kind of physicality it entails.

That was my transition into football. We had our inaugural SEC matchup with Georgia, a special favorite of mine along with LSU and Arkansas, bless their hearts, those poor boys. We had ride issues so I ended up leaving before the meltdown in the fourth quarter but I’ll tell the whole story with my ‘If You Were There…’ details in another post. Point is: final score 41-20 Dawgs.