It is absolutely impossible to stay depressed, or stressed, or perturbed or even in a mild funk after your face has been licked by a dog. (I think cat licking would work about as well, except that it takes longer to cover as much area. With a dog, it only takes two or three schlooorrrps to slobber an entire face.)

Well, yes, I have been a little stressed in the past couple of weeks. The problem with doing well in this sort of training, is that suddenly there's all sorts of pressure from a variety of sources (including myself) to finish #1. Okay, so I think I'll be able to hang onto the #1 spot in academics if I continue to bust my ass studying each week. (And by the way, I scored a 100 on this last test! Woo!) But then there are also people (including myself) who are pressuring me to get the #1 spot in Fitness as well. We had our midterm PFT (Physical Fitness Test) on Wednesday, and I did quite well, though I was somewhat disappointed in my run time. For our PFT we have to do a sit-and-reach (to show flexibility), situps (as many as possible in one minute), pushups (no time limit), and run 1.5 miles. This academy uses the Cooper's Standards (which is used nationwide) which has a sliding scale for standards according to age and sex. To graduate from the academy you're supposed to be at 30% or more of the standards for your age/sex.

Needless to say, I had no trouble surpassing the 30% mark. In fact, in pushups and situps, I scored 99% (which is the highest you can get. No one can get a 100% since they say that no one is perfect. Ha.) I got about 70% in the sit-and-reach (I'm really not terribly flexible, despite all the martial arts) and about 70%ish in the run. I managed to run 1.5 miles in 13:50--a time that I was pretty disappointed in. I had hoped to get it under 13 minutes. But, we'll get tested again at the end of the academy too, so I'm hoping to pull that time down some. (It will help if I can get rid of these blasted shin splints.)

And with all the PT I'm doing, I went to my hairdresser yesterday and said SHORT. Really Short. So now it is SHORT. My tits are the only thing saving me from looking like a boy now.

I mentioned in my last entry that I was to be getting a new(er) unit. Well, I did, and I had to spend much of yesterday cleaning the damn thing out. I'm not sure who the previous owner of it was, but they were a pig. There was a quarter inch layer of crushed Doritos in the trunk, and numerous gum-wrappers, cups, and various other trash in the front. It's fairly clean now, after a couple of hours of attacking the inside with 409 and air-freshener. Once it gets a little warmer (it's 26 friggin degrees outside!) I'll attack the exterior, which is only mildly dirty. I'm also going to have to take it up to the maintenance barn as soon as I get out of the academy to get various things on it fixed. Like the wig-wags on my light bar, and the crack in the windshield, and the door panel that wants to come off...

26 degrees... sheesh. I live in the Deep South because I don't like being cold! Bleh.