cold, wet, and numb

becca and i arrived in athens last night around 8 pm, prior to colette's return from the mog (mall of georgia). since we were staying at her place for the night (my dorm was closed for the break and doesn't open until an hour after the game today) we found other things to do around athens. we first stopped at vision video, didn't see anything too interesting, so we went over to chick-fil-a to grab a light snack of nuggets and milkshakes to make sure that we wouldn't be hungry when our thanksgiving dinner wore off.

met colette, her sister, and her sister's friend lisa at wally world to pick up a few things. back to vision video to pick up the movie lagaan. it was a very good four-hour movie that we started at 10:30. so we were up until 2:30 to finish the movie. it was worth it, though. i highly recommend it if you like musical, foreign films and don't mind reading subtitles.

since we were cramming five girls into colette's apartment, becca and i slept out in the living room/kitchen area. i took the sleeping bag and the floor while becca took the couch. i stole the back cushions off the couch to make a bed for myself...of course, they weren't long enough or wide enough, so i had to double them up side by side and let my legs dangle off my makeshift bed. slept pretty sound until 11 am when i realized that we were going to be extremely late for tailgating. after some morning drama between siblings, we walked over to myers, where we normally tailgate. froze a bit and decided to walk to the bookstore to warm up. man, was it hot in there with about a thousand warm bodies wandering aimlessly through the overpriced georgia clothes and junk. couldn't find any georgia gloves to stay warm. figures the one thing i'm looking for isn't available.

eventually, after standing in the dawg walk mob and not being able to see a thing except the player's faces bob by as they walked into the stadium, we made our way over to the ticket gate. now, i don't think i've mentioned this yet, but i've become a supplier of fake student ids. yes, with a little help from photoshop and glossy photopaper, i've managed to pull off some pretty believable ids. they were for becca, rachel, and lisa, who were all trying to get in on student tickets. we had to be super sneaky trying to get in. we had our first scare when they stopped an older man ahead of us and checked him...so we jumped out of line and headed back into the crowd. i'm thinking it was because he was old and trying to use a student ticket. anyway, we split up in all different ways and managed to get through the gate without any problems after that. bigger problems came when i was trying to smuggle two non-students and myself into the lower level of the student section. our tickets were for the upper deck, where all the frat boys get drunk and its difficult to see the game. we don't like sitting there. its complicated to explain, but in short, we basically have to walk across the stands without the gray-jacket guards discovering us.

we did fine until we got to the edge of the student section. that was the tightest game security i've seen so far...and ridiculous. why do they care if we want to root on the dawgs with students that aren't quite as wasted as the ones above? madness. we tried to blend in with the season ticketers; so close, but so far away. there were about six guards on the stairs between the student section and the section we were sitting in. the two we had to get by were impossible. each time one wasn't looking our way, the other was, and vice versa. 25 minutes later, (about 20 minutes til game time) the owners of the seats we were sitting in showed up to claim their spots. crap. we jumped up and darted across the aisle, weaved through the standing students and successfully joined our buddies. that was a close one. next season, i'd better get lowe level seats.

of course, doesn't start raining until five minutes into the game. and doesn't stop. i was wearing heels (i know, smart one. but hey, my dorm was closed and my only options were old navy flips or black closed toe heels and i voted for the "warmer" one) and standing became quite painful. the cold eventually found its way down to my toes that had no circulation anyway. i could feel the rain seeping through my not-so-waterproof raincoat and got colder and colder. five minutes til half time, we called it quits and i made the painful walk in heels with my numb feet back to myers. we got a ride back to colette's by jo, got into warm clothes, and then watched the end of the game.

man, those penalties kill us, but turned out alright in the end. i would like to know how many passes into the endzone tech missed. congrats to 96 c-something guy on his first attempt and successful fieldgoal kick. wtg. becca is driving around lost right now tying to get home. athens roads are quite confusing. i can't wait to get back to my dorm and SLEEP.