Good morning from USMC.

Good morning from USMC. Would have hated my life if I weren’t Semper Fidelis.

0600 hours:
Push-ups, abs, jumping jacks, sprinting, screaming cadences and marching around for fly 92 minutes. In the heat of it all I didn’t mind. But I’m feeling the aftermath now. It was easy to weed through and see who would succeed. We figured it was the immunity challenge. I screamed my lungs out, making each step purposeful and every drop of sweat count. (You know what that is Zig-Zag? Those are tears of pain! Do you know what pain is? It came naturally; I replied Pain is weakness leaving the body, sir!)
So when my peers weren’t taking things seriously it made me pretty upset (even now when they joke about it). I have fair background knowledge of most things militant and along with that, inevitably comes an immense respect for members of the armed forces. I needed to prove that I want to be the last student standing.
Brian’s ankle was bothering him during the physical training, yet when we were back in the dorm, dodge ball was a go? Certain things just got under my skin today; the fact that I tried my hardest for the duration of the challenge and others didn’t, and how they can joke about it now. I realized something important as soon as the drill sergeants proposed we recite our cadence extra loud to be able to end our session. It was then that Brian yelled decibels louder. And I thought to myself – why would he behave any differently in this competition? And how can I feel secure in an alliance with someone as manipulative as that?
It was an interesting morning to say the least, and it played into the second part of the challenge.
A good marine takes in their surroundings. So we were tested on our observations of the stores in Clifton Park Center. In a minute and 92 seconds, Alyssa and I jotted down 25 store names in the mall to win dual immunity tonight. I became the RA. We had a little heart to heart, discussing some personal things and some game plans.
For a good while (well, the past 2 days), I was beginning to think I couldn’t trust her. I became suspicious when I saw that Brian went to the computer to blog right after she had – and he wasn’t typing right away. I figured she left a message for him, but I didn’t know how to approach that situation. I became paranoid, thinking that her, Brian and Adam had an alliance and that Jon, Julie and I were coming up on the hit list. I think that winning immunity today was pretty clutch for me. I’m not sure what Alyssa’s personal strategy is – but if she was trying to sell me on something, she doesn’t know who she thinks is shopping. Immediately we needed to decide who was going to be the RA. She suggested I take the position, and I suppose others may have insisted that “No – you should be it.” But honestly – this enables me to have the final say in tomorrow’s elimination, so I was cool with her suggestion. We made an agreement on how she can earn my trust, and I hope everything goes as planned.

This game is one huge court case. If you plan on pursuing a career in law – there are three scenes in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar you must examine. The power of persuasion and groups combined with reverse psychology and a little luck is a classic central conflict that makes for what is apparently, good reality radio.

- RA taz?