DV

Two notes before I start.

1. Eating with post-oral-surgery jaws is REALLY annoying!

2. I got my subject SAT scores. 760-770 across the board! Yahoo!

That said...

--Day 0. Here we are: loaded up on the bus and ready to leave, More people bid me farewell than I expected, but none of my closer friends showed up. The magnitude of what we are about to begin still has not hit me,

--Day 1. That was a long, rough bus ride. At least I got some sleep at the second stop just now. I dreamed that I had gone to Ultimate Frisbee for PE, but for whatever reason we were wrestling on the field. Nikhil was a better wrestler than I, but I used brute force to beat ATL. In the dream I had real trouble straightening my legs, which almost definitely had something to do with my sleeping position. Now we are on the last leg of the ride.

--Day 2. We just finished lunch: pitas, tuna, and jack cheese. Fortunately, we've hiked far enough to find shade in the canyon. The backpack seems so much heavier with the dromedary (water sack). I'm getting used to the weight, and the worst part now is putting the pack on or taking it off. Looking at my watch I can see that auditions are about to start for non-AWE would-be thespians. Good luck to all of them. Other people are talking, writing letters, and maybe writing in their own journals. I hate using a pen. I've got a pencil, but my backpack seems to have eaten it. This would be a good time to write some poems for Creative Writing...that's one.

--Day 3. I had a large nosebleed this morning, so now my bandana and shirt are really bloody. I'd better make up a good story fo when I get back. Today feels like it will be the hottest yet, but with 20-odd days to go that's not saying much...P said I look like I just came back from a war. That's understandable: I'm wearing all khaki except for my boots, I've got a bandana tied around my head, and, as stated previously, I am heavily bloodstained. We've hiked a fir distance (it's lunchtime now), but we still have a few miles to got before we make camp. Right now everyone's resting. We are at a pretty high elevation, as indicated by the joshua trees growing around us.

--Day 4. We got up early (well before dawn) to reach camp by morning. Thee's another group still here, but we're keeping to ourselves. My brain has been playing songs through my head for the last few days, cycling between The Producers, Chicago, and Tam's version of "Hush, Little Baby." Right now we are surrounded by trees. Not joshua trees, but actual, leafy, "what Death Valley?" trees...Close call. I lost my journal for a while, but K found it. People are now fantasizing abut food (masochists) and talking about writing letters. I'll probably write one once we hit resupply. N and K2 are about to send us on a mini-solo. Hopefully will be interesting.

--Day 4, Mini-solo. An hour and ten minutes? Cake. The afternoon siesta lasted three hours (and I did not sleep) earlier today, so I hardly consider this preparation for the three-day solo beginning around day 16. The flies may prove a trial, however. A thought: the phrase, "simple pleasures for simple minds" is used primarily in a derogatory manner, but it can just as easily be an expression of envy. It all it took to make you laugh was a man on TV falling off a ladder, then would life no be all the more enjoyable? Then again, that appears to be the spirit behind mos cartoons. Oh, to be a kid again, when, by blowing himself up, Wile E. Coyote could send me into hysterics at a moment's notice! But that is something I have probably lost forever. On the other hand, even the crudest or most lowbrow joke may elicit a giggle, and even as I laugh I am disgusted with myself. I can't believe it. I'm actually crying as I write. Do I truly miss having a simple mind so badly? It's not as if, were I to lose my mind, I would miss it. Just ask a Delta or Epsilon. Ask Charlie Gordon. Ask a kindergartener. Do they curse themselves for their ignorance? No! At the same time, if someone offered me the opportinuty to become a (blissful) moron, I could never accept. I could never willingly do that to myself, even if history were to be rewritten so that I had been a moron from the start, because part o meknows that I would be doing myself an immense disservice. I think that to do such a thing would be cowardly. I think that Calvin of "Calvin and Hobbes" said it best: "I've got to stop thinking while I'm ahead." ...Ugh. Looking back on what I wrote now I sound so...the proper adjective fails me. I need to get my mind onto a new subject. At this time there are 35 minutes left in the mini-solo. I am not at all ashamed that I shed tears while writing that entry. Rather, I welcome it. Perhaps now I will be able to push myelf to new emotional lengths as an actor. Not that crying will be particularly useful in America Abridged. Assuming I even get cast. I'm 95% sure I will (or have, since the cast list should be posted by now), but there's still the chance that T changes his mind or that someone absolutely blows him away and bumps me off the cast. I can't gt complacent. Complacency is bad in so many fields, and acting is one of them. If I start taking myself for granted, then acting quality will go downhill. [TANGENT: N and I just had the first of three one-on-one talks. Everything was hunky-dory, but I liked the paralleling fly battle. One of the first htings I mentioned was they annoyance of las moscas, as we talked I eventually excalated to slapping my head with my notebook to keep them away, and as he prepared o leave I finally nailed one with my hand. By the way, when someone says how much I am appreciated to be part of the group in a situation like this, I can't help but wonder how much it is a "form compliment." Does that make me too cynical? END TANGENT] On the other hand, audition quality likewise deteriorates, so that problem presents and solves itself fairly quickly. Better not to have it at all, of course. Hmm. Two full pages of writing? Not bad at all. Just imagine what I'l accomplish when the real solo rolls around!

--Day 5. Waiting for breakfast. The weather is good, the papaya is bad (no tuna), and I bet I am really beginning to stink. Today I have to give a first-aid lecture on strains, sprains, fracture, and dislocations. Boy, do I know about the latter...The Good: We've reached camp. The Bad: I've got Barney stuck in my head. The Ugly: The mother of all nosebleeds this afternoon turned my old shirt (I'm wearing a new one) into "somehing out of a horror movie."bNow I ought to study more for that injury lecture.

--Day 6. Writing from the top of a mountain (steep walk!) The view back into Death Valley is strongly reminiscent of the long shot of Mos Eisley spaceport. Except for where the straps ride my shoulders, I can barely feel the weight of me pack anymore. I hope our next water refill is a good one: the water we collected at Cottonwood Springs is GROSS. If you're lucky it will only be dirty; if you're unlucky, you might get a root or two in your bottle. Good thing we heavily iodize it. My nose as stopped bleeding (knock on wood), although I picked up a few scratches to compensate and my knees have some fluid buildup. I remain unsunburned. I've had to tighten my pants once or twice, so I guess I've lost a few pounds. Yay. Most of us were talknig about girls, boys, and other things last night, and some people seem to think I have a girlfriend. Next time the subject comes around I'll clear things up...All taken care of.

--Day 7. I went a little crazy this morning. For whatever reason, my normal hiking pace was unusually fast today, and when I had to stop and wait for everybody to catch up, I was mentally in pain. I even took other people's droms to weigh myself down. Also, I now have a neck sunburn. Finally, my to (the ingrown one) has a mysterious white growth by the nail, and it is no feeling more tender than ever. Oh, yes: we stil lhave four or five miles to walk, and I can now smell myself (cue implosion of nose). All in all, it has not been a good day. Wait, I forgot something else: I have been stabbed by a joshua tree five times today, four times on the same tree. At least the rest of the trail is downhill.

--Day 8. Resupply was this morning. I had time to get off a couple of letters, one to the Venetians and one to my parents as per request. We (the group) have been playing a game where we try to guess who would be what kind of superhero as written down on cards a couple of days ago. My chosen ability was telekinesis. I then had to spend some time explaining the difference between telekinesis, telepathy, and teleportation. Come on, people! Later today we'll be diong some rock climbing. P2 and the logisticians (logis for short) gave us a lesson just before lunch. At the moment we are camped by a wide, incredibly flat (by which I mean, "2 inches of elevation change over a span of a couple of miles, not counting the Grandstand) plain called the Racetrack. The way the mud dries, the whole thing appears to be tiled. It's pretty amazing.

--Day 9. This is turning out to be a very eventful day. first off, it was J's sixteenth birthday today. On a les fortunate note, we lost two people today. E had to take today off in order to cae for his knee, and M had to leave the course (for good?) because of some personal issues. They will be missed.

I need to leave now to see Richard III. Impulse gave it a good review, so hopes are high.