It’s been a little while since I gave any significant updates about World Race preparations, fundraising, and what I’ve been up to, so here’s a quick rundown:
- I finished my last semester of my undergrad degree and graduated with my B.A. in music.
- I was knighted by the business department as an honorary member. (That’s right, knighted, with a sword.)
- I went camping with two of my best friends from school before the two of them left town for the summer. We spent two days exploring and hiking Stony Brook park, getting caught in a downpour and then locked out of my car, and I got to test out some of my gear for the race. (The hammock is proving to be a worthwhile investment already)
- I moved back home to Buffalo for the summer (no, I’m still not completely unpacked… I need to work on that) and started working at a pharmaceutical company. My department is documentation and archiving, which is a fancy term for “moving boxes of files around all day” but I’m glad to have a full-time job until I leave.
- I bought the majority of my gear for the race and bought my plane tickets for training camp! Only 40 days left until I get to meet my squad in person.
- Speaking of my squad, I got to video-chat with 9 of my squadmates, and they’re pretty awesome. We couldn’t get everyone in on one google hangout, but we’re planning to have more before training camp.
- (Quick note – my squad has been officially designated “I-Squad,” which one of my clever squadmates transformed into “iSquad.” That’s how I’ll be referring to it here on in, and you can check out the #iSquad hashtag on Twitter and Instagram for posts from me and there rest of the squad.)
From left: Ada, -who was on the main screen and not in the grid at the time- Anna, Ashley, Bree, Brittany, Craig, Felisha, Jacob, Lindsay, and me. I definitely got caught taking this screenshot – looks like I need to work on my strategy 😉
- My family held a HUGE yard sale this past weekend to help with my fundraising, and the turnout was absolutely amazing. We raised over $1,100 in two days and my house got a long-overdue overhaul of all of the stuff we had sitting around
(I was a little distracted during setup and ended up messing around with silly hats instead. Future teammates be warned – this is the real me.)
- And finally… a major fundraising update! Once a few more donations get processed, I will have in my account so far… (insert drum roll) $7,000! This means I am very, very close to the amount I need to launch in September ($7,500) and I am almost halfway to being fully funded. Interested in making a tax-deductible donation? Click on the “support me” tab on the left side of the page.
