lane lines and vulcans.

this evening i was driving back from columbia city with parker, hannah, and emma.

we were eating dairy queen blizzards, blasting "mirrors" and attempting to sing it, and i said, "what should i blog about?"

and without missing a beat, hannah screams, "THE LANE LINE REEL FALLING IN!"

so i'm going to blog about that. and star trek. because star trek was a thing that happened today.

EMILY BLOGS ABOUT THE LANE LINE REEL FALLING IN

i should probably alert you of what a lane line reel is, and probably what a lane line is too, because sometimes people haven't grown up swimming competitively.

this is a lane line.

it splits the lanes. so every swimmer gets their own lane during a race. 

during practise, us coaches have to put them in and take them out of the pool. we have three of them to make four lanes. putting them in and taking them out is usually a three person process that involves reeling, unreeling, almost getting pulled into the pool at least once a practise, and tightening and loosening them with a wrench that we've named "el wrencho".

this is a lane line reel.

we reel the lane lines onto it. as pictured above.

last night at practise, after our team pictures, we were unreeling the lane lines and putting them in the water. we'd done the first two. parker was putting in the second one with emma, one of them on each side, and hannah was dragging the last lane line down the pool. it was still attached to the reel, just unravelling itself. when emma was done hooking up the second one, she was going to unhook the last one from the reel and hook it into the pool once hannah had it dragged all the way down so it was stretched out across the pool.

emma didn't get to unhook it in time.

i was on the other end of the pool setting out kickboards for the kids. and i heard hannah scream.

the entire lane line reel was sinking into the pool.

hannah had pulled it in unwittingly because the end of the lane line was still hooked up to the reel.

when you almost get in a car accident, or you fall from a scary height, or something dramatic like that whre you almost die, you generally see your life flash before your eyes.

when i watched the entire lane line reel plummet into the pool, my entire life flashed before my eyes and i let out a bloodcurdling scream of agony.

this is because the lane line reel, which is heavy enough that two people have to move it on its wheels on land, was crashing into the pool... in the twelve foot diving well.

torn meniscus, knee brace, and lifeguard rules be damned, i ran toward the other end of the pool like my life depended on, all the while waving my arms and making animal screeches.

while i was running, i was having terrible visions of our monstrous lane line reel sinking slowly to the bottom of the pool while we watched helplessly, unsure of how to get it out.

at arlington park, the summer team where hannah and emma swam when they were little, they had a lane line reel fall into the diving well. the entire team spent an entire practise working together to get it out.

arlington's team is a lot bigger than ours. and at the time, it was full of boys ages 15-18 that were incredibly strong from swimming year round.

we did not have this advantage.

i'm absolutely panicking, pelting toward the other end of the pool while this huge reel is crashing into the pool.

and then, by some miracle of god, the bottom caught on the edge of the pool and teetered there.

praise the sweet lord jesus.

the four of us converged on the half submerged reel, grabbed it, and began to yank it out of the water, grunting and swearing, in front of nearly the entire swim team and their parents. i was breathing extra heavily like i'd just run a marathon because my anxiety had absolutely skyrocketed.

we got the reel out of the pool. i was hyperventilating. emma had to hold me for about three minutes and then i had to hold onto a kickboard the entire rest of practise.

it was intense.

this doesn't do it justice. it was intense. and awesome. and terrifying.

TERRIFYING.

EMILY BLOGS ABOUT SEEING STAR TREK: INTO DARKNESS

when i was in england, i saw star trek posters everywhere. i figured this was because of two reasons.

1. benedict cumberbatch is british.
2. american media dominates england.

seriously. it's everywhere.

i saw the first star trek in like... 2010. and i loved it. mostly because i've always had a thing for zachary quinto. he was the reason why i suffered through american horror story. (i had to spend half of it covering my eyes and wincing.)

into darkness came out when i was in england. i'd seen the trailer and i peed my pants. i saw posters for it everywhere on the tube. i needed to go see it. now.

i've been back from england for almost four weeks. and i finally went to see it with my brother today.

we planned the date. tuesday is carmike's cheaper movie day. we got an early time so i could make it to my first dual meet of the season, which was tonight at columbia city. so we hopped in my car and headed to carmike for the twelve thirty showing.

we were on the only ones in the theatre. HOLLA.

i was so excited i could barely contain myself. aaron was like, "will you sit still" and i was like, "wait let me tweet before i have turn off my phone" and then i was like

STAR TREK TIMEEE MY TIME HAS FINALLY COME

and aaron was like, this is why i almost unfollowed you on twitter.

and then we had like, eight years of previews. and i noted that guillermo del toro's new movie, pacific rim, looks like a big excuse to say, i'm a cool film maker that has access to awesome special effects, so i'll make a stupid movie using them that actually has no plot.

the trailer for monster university made me cry. i will be in line to see that early. little kids can move.

I DID MY WAITING. TWELVE YEARS OF IT. IN AZKABAN.

THEN IT STARTED AND IT WAS AWESOME.

i had feels the entire movie. the BROTP between spock and kirk was strong. (like the force. but that's star wars, not star trek.)

then it cut to england i was like, omg it's london i've been there squeeee and then

i heard benedict cumberbatch's voice and i almost had to change my pants.

i'm going to be honest. benedict cumberbatch is not that attractive. he is a good looking dude. and he is a great actor. i loooove sherlock.

but his voice, hot damn.

and he was pretty badass as khan. i mean, i got to look at that most of the movie.

and i got to look at chris pine the entire movie, but let's be honest, he looks better with a beard.

but i heard benedict cumberbatch's voice and i whispered dramatically to aaron, "IT'S HIM."

i'm not creepy at all.

the movie was all feels. all of them. like, one thing after another, feels.

spock's glorious one liners.

the sheer number of times that bones said "damnit jim!"

scotty's sass.

kirk's determination.

khan's absolute villainry.

IT WAS ALL TOO MUCH!

and i cried like, three times.

during the climax of the movie aaron starts talking to me about the parallels of this movie to the wrath of khan and i was like, SHUT UP THIS IS THE CLIMAX OF THE MOVIE I AM ABOUT TO POOP MYSELF. YOU WILL NOT SPEAK UNTIL THIS MOVIE IS DONE.

then aaron forgot that i watch the entire credits. and he was like, uhhhh why aren't we leaving?

because credits are important.

i want to talk about this endlessly, but i don't want to ruin the movie.

but seriously, GO SEE IT. IT'S THE BEST.

i could not handle my feels when i left the theatre. i worried about my ability to drive. my inner fangirl was screaming and kicking and crying.

i got on social media.

the tweets:

STAR TREK MOTHER OF GOD
STAR TREK STAR TREK OH MY FUGGIN' GOD STAR TREK I WAS NOT PREPARED FOR THESE FEELS UGH STAR TREK I LOVE YOU
still squealing.

the facebook status:

so. i saw star trek into darkness. some stuff.

1. BENEDICT CUMBERBAAAAATCH
2. FEEEEEEEELS
3. BROTP
4. KHAAAAAAAN

the tumblr text post:

i just saw star trek into darkness
my body was not ready

i think about about sums it up.

so i'm not really going to have a nice and neat wrap up to this post.

to be perfectly honest, i drank my blizzard entirely too quickly, which causes stomach discomfort.

i am currently sitting on the floor of my bathroom with my laptop next to the toilet waiting to vomit.

i haven't yet, but i assure you it's coming in the next half hour.

so that's my post about the lane line reel and star trek.

keep it classy, readers.