Noise.

I woke up this morning abruptly after five hours' sleep with a scratchy throat and a tired body, which had been up for nearly 22 hours before the five-hour nap (up at 5 a.m., as usual, on Friday; not to bed till about 3 a.m. today). Time waits for no one, and the morning after the long night at the Armory featured a trip to the bowling alley for my son James' regular league play, followed by a trip to Arlington High School for my daughter's big cheerleading competition (more on THAT in a little bit).

By the time I made it to early afternoon, my psyche had been shell-shocked by a nearly constant barrage of NOISE. For those who are not aware, the Armory -- a wonderful track venue -- is very LOUD. There is incessant MUSIC (yes, with Capital Letters), which makes energetic coaching (you know, yelling out splits and stuff ...) very challenging and requiring a coach like me to SCREAM OVER THE NOISE. Coupled with the fact that it was like 80 degrees in that building, and it was a draining night. Thus, the scratchy throat.

Fast forward to post-bowling (James bowled two games of 73, well above his average, NICELY DONE!) and the Cheerleading Competition. Have you ever been to a Cheerleading Competition? Well. OK. Let's assume you have not. Let me tell you: It is LOUD. There are a lot of shrieking young ladies. But there is also a DJ, bumping music very loudly. Did I mention that it was LOUD? So yeah. My auditory faculties have worked overtime, along with the rest of my body.

Working on the MAAC splits now, check back soon ...