Catching up

So to make up for missing yesterday (oops) I'm going to combine two entries into today's entry to make up for it.

Does this mean I've failed at BEDA? I don't think so. I think it's the attempt that matters most, and the willingness to try. And today's entry will hopefully make up for it.

Yesterday into this morning, Kent State hosted their Relay for Life event. Cancer is a disease that has touched too many families and taken too many people away from us long before their time. I have participated and/or donated to Relay for Life for the past few years. I've had several family members affected by cancer, including my own father. I have watched friends struggle with this disease and many people I have known and loved have lost their battle to this disease. It's absolutely horrible.

I remember participating in Relay for Life my first year as a grad student at Kent. I had worked with one of my RAs to help put together the team and even though it was a cold, rainy, 40-degree day in Ohio, we went out and we walked. We sat at our campsite. And we had fun. One of the most powerful moments of the entire day was the survivors lap, where those who are survivors of cancer walk the first lap to kick off the event. Another one of my RAs, Barb, was a survivor of cancer. She was one of the survivors holding the banner. The song for the lap was the Glee version of "I Came to Win/I Believe I Can Fly." As they started walking I remember just feeling so overwhelmed with emotion as these survivors walked their first lap, shouting at this horrible disease that they had won, and that they were going to help others to win as well.

Quite possibly one of the most powerful things I have ever witnessed.

And now...switching gears completely.

Game of Thrones returns tonight. If you haven't started this series, you do not have time to catch up before tonight. But this series is one worth watching. It's intricate. It's complicated. And it's very very VERY plot driven. Also, no one is inherently good. Every character in the series is flawed in some way. It makes it a very interesting show to watch because you do not know what will happen next (unless, of course, you've read the books). There are so many plot twists and changes that you literally do not know what will happen. And no character is safe from death.

Really. I have been a Joss Whedon fan for many years. Joss Whedon has nothing on George R.R. Martin.

I'm excited to see how they adapt this season. I'm one of those people who has read the books so I know what is going to happen. Excited doesn't even begin to cover it.

Now if only I had HBO....