"To old friends who deserved better than they got."

Well, this week's post title comes from none other than Rothfuss's Wise Man's Fear.  I felt compelled to take a picture of that page when I read it, that's how much I like it.

Poor Derek fits into the category of old friends who deserved better; his Ducks did not move on to the next hockey chapter, whatever that would be called.  I know I've been a vocal complainer of all things hockey on this blog, but I really did want them to win, especially after watching three games with him while I was in Middlebury.  I now know 100x more about hockey than I ever thought I would.  Ask me a question--there's a small chance I'll know the answer.  As Kvothe said about learning Adema, my hockenese has "progressed to the point where I could actually be considered inarticulate, as opposed to just confusing."  Maybe that's not a perfect fit, but I read it today, so it came into my mind.


I've been mentally planning a huge, articulate post this week, but I feel really crappy today.  I've definitely got a bad case of allergies, and I'm thinking a head cold, too.  I feel awful, and I'm backpacking starting Thursday morning, which will be zero percent fun if I'm sick.  Right now I feel really lethargic, and 1 mile would sap all of my energy; forget 25 miles with a 35 pound backpack on my back.  Derek can tell you how heavy the backpack gets really fast, because I made him try it on.

So if I don't get to have an amazing, articulate post, I will say as much as I can before I pass out.  Middlebury was super fun.  Some highlights:

• Meeting his friends, particularly Chuck, since there has been so much talk of him here.  He has good taste in Harry Potter books and I liked his style--he's a very cool guy.  I also really, really, really liked David Russell.  All of Derek's friends are great, though.  Before I thought he had a thing for Chuck, but it became evident very quickly that he is in love with Sebastian.  How very wrong I was.

Can you feel?  The love?  Tonight?

Cookie?

• Rock climbing.  Rock climbing was mentally and physically challenging for me.  Despite what Derek implied, I was not very good at all, but I was proud to "top out" the second time we went, or touch the top of the fifteen foot wall.  The picture kind of makes it look like a cookie, but it is very much not a cookie.  Or if it is, the phrase "tough cookie" finally makes sense.
• Borges bedtime stories.  Derek read six Borges stories aloud to me over the course of my stay there, and it was amazing.  They really left a mark on me, thanks to the brilliant cadence of Derek's voice and the genius of Borges.
• Napping.  Those of you who pay attention know how I feel about naps.  Sometimes, Derek had class, so I got to nap.  Other times, Derek didn't have class, and I still got to nap.  I kind of feel like some day I'm going to be on an episode of House and they'll diagnose my unknown illness based on my blogs about my love of napping; it probably reveals some sort of iron deficiency or lupus or something.
• I also read like 700 pages of Rothfuss.  Finished NoTW and am now 63% done with WMF, according to Kindleland.  It's a lot easier to read it on the computer vs lugging around the giant book on my back, and I didn't want to mess up Derek's signed copy, as much as I prefer paper reading.
• Trivia.  Our team won, and that was pretty special.
• Beatles identification game.  I bragged to Derek, somewhat incorrectly, that I could identify the majority of Beatles songs within the first 3 seconds.  We then put his collection of over 220 Beatles songs on shuffle to test this theory.  Hilarity ensued.  We both did pretty well.  Derek has very good taste in music, not just the Beatles, either.
• ...Hockey.  I have never seen Derek so excited about anything, ever.  I wish the Ducks had moved on to the next round.  I was kind of bored during some parts of the games, since they're long, but I liked learning about Don Cherry and asking inane questions.  Derek was really patient about it, and it's obvious he has a real love for the game.  I like learning about the things you guys are passionate about.
• Hiking on Wednesday.  We hiked up to Chipman Hill and it was real pretty, as Derek said.  No pictures, of course.
• Waffles!  Derek knows his way around a waffle.  We had four or five while I was there.  Waffle + peanut butter + cinnamon sugar + bananas + one time I got whipped cream + big glass of milk = PARADISE.  As I told Derek, it's going to be a huge change between being the Waffle Queen to eating acorns when I go backpacking this weekend.  He bawked (balked/gawked?) at the idea of me eating acorns, but who knows what they'll be feeding me.  This is a low quality picture of Derek enjoying B4D (breakfast for dinner) with Chuck.  Yes, the lighting is horrible.  Boo hoo.
  
  
• Generally goofing of with Derek during the week.  Watching Spongebob, calling him awful/an asshole, getting called an idiot, making fun of his hockey obsession, convincing his friends that he was a womanizer in high school, singing Disney songs, siding with David over Derek in all matters, trying to read all of his secrets.  It was a good week.

I think that's about my limit for tonight.  I really feel awful.  I think allergies/colds are the devil's way of making us regret taking good health for granted.  My joints, particularly my knees, also hurt, which I made the mistake of telling my dad, who now thinks I have lyme disease because he's convinced between Vermont and backpacking I'm going to get bitten by ticks.  Forget ticks, I'm just getting old.

Good night, faithful readers.
Rachael

P.S. I also drew this picture of a little old man I'm in love with.