Past Entries    • March 10, 2004  • February 26, 2004  • February 17, 2004  • January 30, 2004  • January 16, 2004  • January 7, 2004  • December 29, 2003  • December 27, 2003  • December 26, 2003  • December 10, 2003

Thursday, Jan. 1, 2004

After a fun New Year's eve, I woke up at 6 a.m. on my bedroom floor. I heard voices out in the living room. Why did I have company so early in the morning? Since I was already on the floor, I did 20 push-ups, the last two I tried one-armed, one on each arm. After my shower, I combed my long, beautiful, black hair and got dressed. I went out to see who was in the living room; it was my sister, Heather, talking to my dog, Chance. She was telling him that I was leaving for a couple of days. I think the only thing he understood was the leaving part. He kept on running to the door like he does when I take him for a walk or a car ride. I didn't have the heart to tell him that this time he wasn't going (oh, I dislike away games). There are just so many places where dogs cannot follow their masters. To punish Heather for getting Chance excited, I made her cook me some eggs, scrambled not poached.

After checking and double-checking my bags, I had Heather carry down my bags to the car. Heather placed my bags into the trunk and then held the car door open for me. I instructed my driver to Khadijah's home. We picked her up and headed to Haas Pavilion. My driver dropped us off in the back of the gym, and just as I was getting out, my friend, Nihan, called for a ride. I hopped back into the car and instructed my driver to Telegraph Ave. Nihan came out of her apartment building five minutes to eight, and my driver had to step on it to make it back to Haas in time. We arrived as everyone was getting onto the bus to head to the airport. We both slipped into the line, our tardiness undetected.

Friday, Jan. 2, 2004

As I was riding the elevator in the hotel in Seattle (down and then up again, and then back down and so on . . .), I found myself on the bottom floor. The doors opened, and the back of a man was blocking my view of the lobby. Did he want to ride in my elevator car? I asked him. He turned around, and I realized he was my older brother (who had driven over 700 miles to watch the Bears play). I guess I should have recognized his very distinct spherical body shape, but I was beginning to feel the effects of jetlag. I invited him into the elevator, and my younger brother jumped in too. I went to their room to shoot the breeze (and go to the bathroom). I watched my brothers unload two big bags. The first bag contained bottled water and a six pack of Charmin 2 ply, Extra Soft Double Rolls (I noticed two rolls were gone). The second bag was packed with candy bars, popcorn balls, cookies, SnoBalls, HoHos, Twinkies, cupcakes, Homerun pies, two 12 packs of soda (not diet), chips, white bread, peanut butter, and jelly. So much for their diets! I asked them what possessed them to pack such filth, and they explained that it was their emergency rations in case they had been stranded in the snow on the way up to Washington. I shook my head and went downstairs (via the elevator) to get ready for the game against the Washington Huskies.

Saturday, Jan. 3, 2004

I woke up at 7:30 a.m. to get ready for the 8 a.m. bus departure to the airport. We arrived at the airport on time but found out that our flight had been delayed eight hours. I decided to occupy myself by watching Pirates of the Caribbean. This got me in the mood to play pirates, but my teammates just wanted to sleep. I decided to take a nap, too. I found it was more comfortable to spread out and lie on the ground then to sit in the chairs at the airport. To kill time after I woke up, I watched the movie Face Off. We boarded the plane at 5:30 p.m. We arrived in Spokane and went to eat at a restaurant, which will remain nameless for the following reason. My teammates, Julia and Nihan, decided to share a Cesar salad. About halfway through the salad, they realized there was a bug living under the Romaine. I suggested that it could just be a mutated olive, but do olives have antennae, wings and legs? After dinner, the team got back on the bus and headed for Pullman. We arrived there around 10:30 p.m.

Sunday, Jan. 4, 2004

We had early shoot-around and left the hotel around 7:30 a.m. After shoot-around, the team dined at Denny's. For breakfast, I feasted on "Moons Over My Hammy" and had my hash browns double covered and smothered (psst, don't tell the coaches). Although the Denny's was located within 20 feet of the hotel, I realized that the walk back to my hotel would not be easy. Walking out the door, I realized that my siblings were hiding outside with an arsenal of snowballs. I tried to find something to defend myself with, the only thing by me was my grandmother (should I knock her down and run or would she be of better use to me as a shield). I decided to be a team player and instead of letting my grandmother or teammates go first, I went out by myself. I was ambushed, but I would not go down easily. I grabbed a hold of Kim and knocked her into the three-foot snow bank nearby. I made a few snowballs and threw them at my brothers and sister. I got Heather. I was hit from behind in my shoulder by my brother JP. Luckily for me, I knew that if I ran more towards my brother, John, and farther from JP, the odds of me getting hit decreased dramatically. John couldn't hit me no matter how close I was to him. Luckily for me, my brothers cant run very fast, so I had a better chance of running away. Just when I thought I had escaped with minor wounds, a family friend, Carl, was hiding near the entrance of the hotel. He got a cheap shot in from behind and nailed me in the back of the head. I then stumbled in to the entrance of the hotel. At least, I was safe now. I then went and relaxed in my room before we had to leave for the game against Washington State.

- Jacqueline "Jocko" Sanchez