Well, the last week has been an interesting one. I guess I should start from the beginning.

Last Thursday my rugby team left for CanWest. The drive down was fairly uneventful and went by very quickly. We watched some movies, ate lunch in Airdrie and had a little quiz. The quiz was entertaining. Our coach matched us up, rookies with vets and forwards with backs. Then we had a quiz. It was mostly based on alumni and the history of the Pandas team with a few questions from our playbook mixed in. My team did pretty well but I was matched with a forward in her 4th year playing for the team. She knew the Alumni stuff and I knew the playbook stuff. I had been warned that there would be a quiz so I had been studying, but there aren't many good places to study the Alumni information. We arrived in Lethbridge ~2:30 and did a quick run through to get our legs moving and stretch out. Then we went to our hotel and relaxed for the rest of the evening. We had a team meeting that evening and talked about a few technical things, then had a meeting with just the players. It was a sweet time to set our intentions and remind each other why we play Pandas and why we're committed to working so hard. I think all of us came out of that meeting pumped for the weekend and very excited to play. Then the list came out of who was starting for the first game. I didn't expect to be on it and was right, but that was okay with me, I was happy to be there.

Friday was a day of mixed emotions. Our first game went pretty well. I didn't play and was left standing on the sidelines thinking, holy crap, theses guys are good. I'm going to be a spectator all weekend because I'm not this good! We then went back to our hotel, I wrote a final for my rugby PAC class (it went pretty well), ate lunch, relaxed and got ready for the next game. When the list came out I was once again not on it. We went to the field to warm up and half way through our warm up our backs coach came to me and told me I would be starting. One girl got hit funny in the first game and they were concerned she had a concussion so they pulled her for the second game and put me in her spot. I was very nervous before the game but that went away once it started. We also won that game. I can honestly say that it was the best game I had ever played. It was also very weird. I didn't feel a thing the entire game. No pain, not tired, not cold (it was pretty cold outside). I love adrenaline :) The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. We got back to the hotel, had ice baths (cold, but not nearly as bad as you'd think) had supper at a fancy italian place (yummy :) and then I was told to go sit in the bathtub to make my legs loosen up :) For those of you who don't know, hot tubs and warm bath tubs are big no-no's on tournaments because they make your legs go to mush, but our trainer told me to go in because my legs are really tight and need to get looser :)

Saturday we only had one game. We had a pretty lazy morning, a couple meetings but nothing major. Our backs coach had a chat with a bunch of us individually to talk about the game. I wasn't starting (the girl that was pulled for the last game got cleared) but they were still concerned about how she was doing so I was to be ready if needed. I was also told that she (our coach) was happy with how I'd played the day before :):) We warmed up and the game started with me on the sidelines. About 10 minutes in, the same girl took a nasty hit and got knocked out, which means I go in. So I played almost all of that game as well. We played pretty well, especially our defense but the game did not go how we planned and we ended up losing 3-0. That put us in a 3 way tie for first and the 6th tie breaker rule knocked us out of the final. This was a first for the Pandas and all of us were in shock. We had a really good meeting later at the hotel and we let some frustrations out. The thing the impressed me most was that no one got mad at anybody, we were all just sad and trying to console each other. I can say with absolute certainty that this is the best, closest team I have ever been on and I really look forward to the next 4 years, the season just isn't long enough. That evening we had to go to a banquet for the tournament. It was really hard but we went and made our coaches proud. Everyone there was looking at us expecting to see anger, frustration, you name it. But we walked in there unified and proud. It was somewhat entertaining seeing how all the other teams just sat there and watched us the entire evening. Then I went and sat in the hot tub and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

The next morning we got a special treat for breakfast and got to eat at the buffet in the hotel restaurant. The previous mornings we ate in our manager's room, good but not as good as french toast and eggs. However, I was not feeling well and had no appetite. I also had a headache. Some of you may see where this is going. I got hit in the head in Saturday's game. At the time I thought nothing of it but when the little headache I had Saturday night wasn't gone Sunday morning, and then I was falling asleep at breakfast, our trainer decided to have a little chat with me. She decided to pull me for our game that day and about half an hour after our first chat I was doing signifcantly worse then during our chat. Large headache, nauseuos, dizzy, didn't like light or loud noises, no appetite, etc. Pretty much it sucked. Our last game went well and I cheered from the sidelines, despite my headache, once again, I love adrenaline :) I was accompanied by the other girl that got knocked out and one other who also got a concussion in the same game. We all play similar positions, similar size etc. so our team has nicknamed us the concussion triplets. We won the last game handly and had alot of fun doing it, despite the ref. I forgot to mention this. We had the same ref for our last 3 games. He was horrible. I would rant but most of you would not understand my problems with him. Put simply he didn't really understand the rules of the game and made that obvious by the way he called the game. I'll give you one stat. In a 50 minute game, we had 52 SCRUMS!!!!! That's insane! The rest of Sunday sucked. We went back to the hotel to shower, went to the awards ceremony and drove home. The bus shook the whole way home and I wanted to throw up. It was not fun. On top of that I was supposed to write 2 exams Monday morning.

The rest of last week was crappy. I didn't write those exams and have a lovely doctor's note to get me out of them. One is being tranferred to the final :( the other I will write once I start feeling better. I went to all my classes but I may as well not have been there. Focusing hurts, reading hurts, writing hurts, even writing this hurts, but I felt I should post so I have been taking lots of breaks to get all of this down. At certain times last week, I would start reading something and by the third paragraph I wouldn't remember what I was reading. You know that feeling when you're really tired and you read something but it doesn't really get through? That's what I was experiencing constantly and if I pushed it too hard my head would start throbbing. I had a constant headache but this would make it worse. I'm starting to get better, but it's going to take awhile. I still can't do much but the consequences aren't as bad. I generally don't have a headache, until I start to do something. THen I get a mild headache, feel slightly dizzy and just generally "off" So as long as I do nothing, and I mean nothing, I'm fine :)

Well, I think that's plenty long enough and in depth enough. Plus my head hurts now so I'm going to say good night and go to bed, my happy place right now :)

Okay Mom, I'll post

Well, this post has been prompted by my mother who insists that the news I recieved this morning was exciting and warranted a post. But, to keep you all in suspense I'm going to fill you in on everything else that has happened in the last couple of months first :)

Well, first of all our trip to Winnipeg was a lot of fun. For some of you it is strange that three sisters would get along well enough to go on a road trip together, and it is a little weird but I'm very glad. My sisters are awesome. I also got to hang out with most of my relatives in Winnipeg. I used to hate going to Winnipeg because it was always so busy and half to time would be spent with people I didn't really know. This year we spent the time with closer relatives, who are all really cool and alot of fun to hang out with and my little cousins are so cute :) I have to say that I look forward to going again, I just have no idea when that will be.

The rest of August was pretty boring. More working and rugby, but not nearly as much rugby. My season was a little frustrating this year. We had a really good start, but then people stopped coming to practice and others disappeared all together so the rest of the season didn't go nearly as well.

Now for the biggest reason I haven't posted since July :) At the beginning of September I tried out for the U of A Pandas Rugby team. I made the team, but oly as a red shirt, essentialy the practice squad, no travelling just lots of practices. The rugby scehdule is a little different from all the other varsity teams. We just play a couple of tournaments, Can West and when we win that, Nationals. More on that later :)

The first bit of school has gone well. I don't do much other then school and rugby right now, but I'm fine with that and it's been a great experience thus far. I'm really enjoying most of my courses so far too :) I'm taking an Intro Anatomy course :):), physiology, Bio (ecology, not as much fun, but it could be worse) a course in Phys Ed that deals with a conceptual approach to teaching Phys Ed, because there's so much to teach and you can't be an expert in everything but you still have to teach it all, and a rugby PAC course. The PAC course has been entertaining. My club coach is the instructor so that's been fun and educational from a coaching perspective as I saw how she introduced certain concepts to people who had never seen a rugby ball before that class. It's also been a bit boring when teaching certain things. I was talking to one friend one day during class and she remarked that I must be so bored. She's standing there trying to put everything together and I'm standing there picking up what is being missed (this was during group presentations). My exams and assingments have been nicely spread out so far so I haven't gone crazy but it might get a little worse in the next couple weeks, hopefully not though.

Now time for my exciting news. Can West, the first tournament, is next weekend and they announced who was travelling this morning and guess who's on the list? ME!!!!!! I've moved up :):):) So on Thursday I get to leave with the team and go to Lethbridge :):) Some history for those who don't know anything about the U of A Pandas Rugby team. THey have been around for 7 years, in that time they have 7 Can West championships and 5 national titles, in other words, we're really good so hopefully that tradition will continue this year:) Well, off to get all the school work done that needs to happen before I leave :) Have a wonderful time and hopefully I'll have time to post about how my weekend goes :)