Well, today was decent. I really love my creative writing class. There aren't many native English speakers in it, so I'm at a real advantage, and the teacher has really liked everything I've done so far. Today he was going around to each person, handing back assignments and discussing them. It was taking a long time, but when he got to me he said, "Hmm... uh, I like all of this, actually," sounding a bit surprised. It was cool. And he's read The Time-Traveler's Wife too, and liked it just as much as I did; he says he's going to use it as an example at some point. I know there are lots of different writing styles and lots of different tastes when it comes to books, but so far it seems like he and I do things pretty much the same way on all literary levels, and that's an advantage when it's the person grading you. :)

I was rather annoyed at myself during swimming today, though, because I started getting that tightness in my throat that I get sometimes while exercising. No doctor has ever said that I have asthma, but my sister has it, and I seem to get mild symptoms of it every once in a while near the end of a jog or after a particularly tough swimming workout. (It's usually when I first stop exercising, though, not during exercise - it's like the adrenaline holds it back.) I guess it could be attributed to any number of things - temperature, hormones, sickness, fatigue level - and it's never gotten to the point where I've felt my life was in danger or anything, but I do have a rescue inhaler (Albuterol) left over from when I was sick last spring, and I carry it in my swim bag. I've never had to use it, but it's good to know I have it. (Even though it expired in October 2004... LOL!) I'm reluctant to use it, actually, because I'm afraid I may become dependent on it, and that's the last thing I want. Anyway, it's quite infrequent, and the better my physical condition is, the less it seems to happen - and this is the first time I've noticed it here - so it should taper off as my fitness level rises. I'll keep an eye on it. (Yes, Mom.)

Speaking of which - boy, am I tired. I was counting today and I realized it's actually been five full months since I was on my nine-times-a-week swim training schedule. It doesn't feel that long at all, but that explains why I felt like such crap in the pool tonight. I swam 6k yesterday and almost 4k today, which isn't that much when you take into account that I was doing 25k every week at school, but I've had an incredibly long 'break', what with the summer and all. In meters, I went from a weekly 25k (school) to 13k (summer) to nothing (Utrecht), and now I'm trying to build back up to about 30k. That's not going to happen all in one shot. But I'm building up - by week, 0k, 5k, 8.5k, 10k, and this week 9.6k and climbing. I figure I should be back to where I was in about a month, but I'm not going to just jump in all at once this time. At school, four of those weekly training sessions were actually for course credit, so slacking off or skipping them wasn't an option. But now I can build up at my own pace, so that's what I'm going to do. (First step: tomorrow morning's planned training at the Krommerijn isn't going to happen, LOL!) I tend to get very impatient with myself - in every area - and want to have everything be perfect 'now now now', but I'm starting to learn not to do that, at least not with swimming. If I'm smart about it, it'll just happen when it happens. At school, I dropped eight seconds off my 50 free in six months, which is pretty awesome. It's not always immediately obvious, but I do make progress. I just have to remember that.

Anyway, speaking of making things perfect, I just got an e-mail that the Brown application is online, so I think I'm going to go fill it out.

EDIT: I started this entry at 22:10 and am just now finishing it, because I was distracted by (a) a Michel-versus-AnneSjoerd cardboard fight in the hallway, (b) pictures, music, and random conversations in my room by some of the people from 'our group', and (c) a short trip to the bar for the 'Upside Down, Inside Out' party (which has a really horrible DJ, which is why I'm already back). Bart, one of the guys from our group, is in the process of making out in the corner of the bar with this girl none of us knows very well; we're currently taking bets as to what's going to happen later. (To clarify: 'our group' is pretty flexible, but it basically consists of me, Dia, and a bunch of guys: AnneSjoerd, Jac, and sometimes Trung, who live on our hall, and Benjamin, David, Bart, and Michel, who don't, but seem to spend most of their time here anyway. Eddy, another dormmate, fades in and out of that as well, as do a couple of the guys' girlfriends. But Dia and I are the only girls on this hall apart from Bamshad's wife Somaya, so we hang out with the guys a lot.)

Okay, and now I really am going to do the Brown application... or at least start it.