Dear faithful Readers,

As you may have noticed, I only have two workouts left before I leave for Collegiates. You're probably asking yourself right now, "What are Natalie's goals for this meet?" unless your name is Gichael Mattone because then you really wouldn't care. (Confidential to GM: please get some sleep.) Well, young reading grasshoppers, I have exactly two (2) goals for this meet:
01. Weigh more than 66 kilos. I've been threatened with grave punishment (which may or may not include having to listen to Gichael Mattone tell a story about his college years) if I don't achieve this one. In fact, Rambo is under strict orders not to coach me if I weigh under 65. Gichael enjoys positive reinforcement.
02. Catch my flight coming home. My session starts at 4:00, and the plane leaves at 7:50. You may begin placing bets.

I have no purpose for this entry except procrastination. I'm in the middle of trying to dissect a German news podcast. Apparently some German police officers were having a nice vacation in Libya when they decided it would be a great idea to share some combat tips with some charming chaps on the Libyan security forces. I'm still trying to figure out why anyone would go on vacation in Libya. Wasn't that the first clue something was up? On the bright side, I'm learning lots of useful words. For example, some teacher was "erstochen" the other day by her neighbor's boyfriend. Leave it to the Germans to have a special word just for "stabbed to death."

In other news, the Daily Northwestern is supposedly going to publish the Letter to the Editor I submitted today. I don't know how I'll deal with the fame.

Winsomely yours,
Natalie

Another Grammar Tip for Dana, Who Enjoys Them So Much:
You lie down and go to sleep.......you lay SOMETHING down on the table.
You lay down yesterday........you laid SOMETHING down yesterday.
You have lain down.......you have laid SOMETHING down.
Intransitive verb........transitive verb.
Cannot have direct object.......must have direct object.