Consider yourself lucky, everyone. I was going to post a pic of my thumb, on which I have a slight burn which I got baking cookies yesterday; the burn blistered, and then the blister got sliced off today while I was swimming because I hit the lane rope; now it's red and puffy and oozing pus. The picture didn't come out, though. However, I do have these:



This is a still life shot I took of my tapioca pudding, which I am now eating. It is very tasty, because my mom made it. Does anyone ever notice that things, ordinary things, taste better when prepared by mom? Sandwiches, cookies, spaghetti--I can make all of these things, and make them well, but they just don't seem to be as good as if my mother had made it.



This is somebody's property down the street. (We don't call them yards around here, we call them properties.) As you can see, it's flooded. It has been raining a lot in my part of Texas...flooding a lot too.

Well, today I got back on the swim team. It was tiring, but it felt good to be in the water. Even with all this rain, it's in the 90s and, of course, soooo humid that it's not very pleasant at all. Cool water is pleasant. Hard workouts are not so pleasant, but I know they're good for me. Word to the wise: swimming makes you hungry. It makes you really, irrationally hungry. It's strange, too. If you want to lose weight, you're better off going running, because running doesn't usually inspire hunger, at least not immediately--and not irrationally.

This is my hour of Internet for the day. From now on, I'm going to get on from 8:30 to 9:30. I had to write this on my arm to remind myself. The last 5 minutes before 8:30 were the hardest. Yes, the Internet is such a temptation. The reason I'm doing this, voluntarily I might add, is because I have decided that I really, truly, wholeheartedly want to go to TAC, and I'm willing to do everything I need to do to attain this goal. This will mean working extra hard to catch up on schoolwork, writing dozens of essays for scholarships, and generally getting my act together. Pray for me, please, because I'm trying to do more prayer too.