FISA world rowing masters regatta 2006

i think virginia woolf really had something good going with the whole stream of consciousness deal. at the moment, my mind is moving like the pages of one of those flip books that is filled with little stick figures; when one flips the pages, the little stick man looks like he's moving, dancing, doing cartwheels, etc. so many great, warm, scary, anxious, inspiring, funny, frenetic moments from my past 5 days in princeton, nj @ the FISA world rowing masters regatta, so little desire to try and marshal those memories into any shape that resembles a traditional narrative. virginia, the next paragraph and the pictures that follow are inspired by you:

the diner @ tannerville and jane's liver and onions; mla's feet on the dashboard; trying to take pictures of the moon; the grumpy hotel desk jockey; the sound of the club truck pulling into the parking lot and dark and stars and jane yelling "we're here leslie and steve!"; shani, kate and kelly trying hard not to wake me up and my feigning sleep; hotel sheets (that were too short for the bed) cold from days of air conditioning against very tired legs; alarms and being thirsty and warm hair against my cheek and wrinkled pyjamas; itchy unisuits, stiff backs, leslie reassuring, calming, rationally explaining why not to row the new empacher; steve and the great hunt for a "package store"; bright lights and rows and rows of perfectly aligned boxes of kashi go lean crunch, upper middle-class, middle-aged women debating over the merits of dr. huschka's moisturizer (which was on sale); giant salad bars and passion potion tea; the pink parallelogram on my back from falling off the boat trailer, grass and dirt and sand and rocks felt through the bottom of my pink (red?) deck shoes; karen singing "c is for coxie"; sun-warmed back, legs, itchy palms, wonder woman, a man with a funny german accent calling lane numbers, event numbers ("race whiskey to the prestart"), and club names, 3 minutes and 55 seconds during which the only thing i remember is the pain of the rubber oar handle shifting the callouses on my right hand and the sensation of my heels driving in to the stretchers, karen's voice "the biggest ten you've ever pulled, gimme ten for leslie!"; breath so hard to catch, lungs burning, seven-ups; did they move the finish line farther down the course? salty sweat drying on my skin, knees hurting too much, can't get out of the boat, shaking, shaking, shaking; sweaty, warm hugs; the post-race chocolate covered pretzel; this is the library (hegemony, counter-hegemony, only a page and half before he mentions gramsci, political economy of culture, defining "ideology", talking about writing with jane, fingersmith) treks to the "real" washrooms; competing for the "mother country", kate's canada rowing t-shirt; yellow tail chardonnay at the olive garden, 3 very big bowls of salad, countless breadsticks and a good-humoured waitress, telling the cubby hole man story, sunlight on the floor of the princeton boat house; lisa putting lip balm on her nose, "how much do you love racing mary louise?"; the middle 500m, kelly's field glasses against the lenses of my sunglasses, power, new race, power, new race, my voice cracking; shoe princessing, cold diet coke for diana, madison avenue "who the hell are you?"; pussycat dolls "don't you wish your girlfriend?"; dirty feet in the shower, my good jeans, defining the "cute, little top", forgetting what it feels like to wear eyeliner; heels in a grassy field? i'd like to see you dance in those! shrimp, sweet things in clear bottles, fiddles and fiddlers with funky shoes, jane step dancing, kate forgetting the words to the american national anthem, being spun around the dance floor by a crazy russian man, mary louise's boyfriend from florida who rows with aligators, peter the naval attaché, screaming the words to "sweet home alabama", dancing like i'm part of the cast from my big, fat, greek wedding, karen and the husky dogs, the moon a white face in a dark sky, dirt and grass between my toes (where are my shoes?); sore calves, sore back, sorer head; must remember to drink water; jane's keys nestled below the driver's seat, miles and miles of cows; 89 and no graveyards!! venti coffees and the impromptu walking tour of downtown binghamton, diana being apprehensive about finding coffee at a hooka bar on a sunday morning, christina aguilera "fighter", jane sleeping in the back seat, yogurt covered raisins and bbq chips, sweaters on the teeth, fiona/gidget the gadget, late afternoon sun and spots of dust on the windscreen.

the diner @ tannerville, where the corn is still frozen, the mashed potatoes are instant, and the liver comes with onions

we had a chance to row a newer, possibly faster boat for two of our races; after consulting with leslie we decided against it. we thought it better not to change anything, including the pre-race ritual of taping our feet into the shoes in the 95

the A4+ before our first race; our team cheer was "ice cream". though it's difficult to see, i'm wearing my wonder woman t-shirt

the A4+ heading to the start

kelly and shani, post race

the bow number on the nascopie for our 8+ race

a single in stretchers in the princeton boathouse; it was the perfect time of morning to sneak in and poke around

talking race strategy at the trailer

the C4+, the crew that brought home the hardware -- world bronze medalists!

over the 5 days we were at the course, leslie was constantly being pestered by this guy who worked holding boats at the starting gates; he also worked at holding my backpack

from this shot of mary louise's game face, you would never be able to tell how much she loves racing. the pig tails made her row faster

kelly, lost in the music

c is for coxie, but who is the mystery man? too bad the picture is a little blurry!

diana, fiona/gidget the gadget (jane's gps system) and mary louise, demonstrating the fine art of car dancing while we blasted christina aguilera's "fighter" driving down the I81 home