7-01-07 Summer Salutations Vlad!

Vladimir! I just saw your picture (nice snap) and read the article in the Sunday Times Metro about Bathory taking the Eastern Regionals—so I figured ok my very first post to you should be a humungous congrats! We Debate-challenged scrubs of P.S. 42 only halfway knew what we were up against last weekend in D.C.—our team is let’s just say on the slacker side, and Mr. Winter, our half-asleep-proctor-/-half-awake history teacher hasn’t brought home the gold since 1953 … anyhow, the Baltimore v. Bathory showdown was pretty intense—I watched most of it on Google Current, but then my wingnut li'l bro Hudson (who has been on this environmental crusade, that’s another story) shorted the electricity while trying to get the tv onto a time-save device. To make a bad story short, the tv just popped. Once I realized I could find it as a podcast, the debate was over … sigh ...

Hud gets away with murder because adults just gaze into his green eyes and think he’s an angel—really he’s a little beast. I also have a sister, Maddy (think I mentioned her) who is even more of a handful. U R so lucky to be an only … Maddy shares a room with me, and she makes it like a cave, four humidifiers, clothes everywhere (except for in the hamper), has no clue how to make her bed, ugh. But both rugrats were supersweet when I came home. They even made me a peach and mango fruit salad and spring-pea smoothie for my welcome home dinner (I know, I know, that’s not your style, but seriously, not that bad to be all-raw).

Kinda nuts, Vlad, but I’ve never been away from my sibs! What an awesome experience—when Miss Gillis put my name up for a potential Away Debater, I figured that it just meant one trip to Edison, NJ like last yr. But a week in D.C. (btw I posted all the photos on Facebook. You won’t see any pics of me though, for reasons maybe you have guessed?) goes down in the halls of my memory as an experience to savor when I’m a creaky ole grandma. I’ve been telling Mad and Hud all about how I sat in on Senate session, and touched the Vietnam Memorial, and of course tried a free sample of pineapple-coconut-walnut fudge for the very first (last) time at the Georgetown Mall.

Grade: Ew. Humans eat the craziest stuff.

Of all the spectacles, I gotta say, meeting you was right up there. I remember when I spied you on the stage for the first time, you were sort of lounged back in that folding chair with your arms crossed over your chest, your chin tipped down, like you were listening to something, but maybe you were asleep, and I just knew … well, I’m not sure exactly what I knew. But I felt like something waked up inside me, and later when I started talking to your flirty friend Henry as a way to meet you (sneaky!), and then you walked up and introduced yourself, the pitch of your voice was exactly how I thought it would sound. It was like I already knew your name. I swear. As in, if somebody had asked “What’s that guy’s name?” I really think Vladimir would have been in my top 3 guesses. Because I feel like I knew you from before. Not to creep you out. Or to seem like a stalker … lol … well, now I better go, b4 this post seems too stalker-ishly long.

Write back when you get a chance!