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I left for Odyssey with such naïve thoughts.  "I'll update the blog every day."  Haha.  "I'll visit friends and family in my spare time.  I'll make more flashcards and be ready for Nationals."  Even the gods are laughing at my silliness.  Heck, even small forest creatures are laughing.

That's the long way of saying Odyssey was time-consuming.  And it was far more than that.  Mind-consuming, soul-consuming.  Several of the speakers commented that post-workshop divorce rates are a little higher than the norm (they were speaking about other workshops as well, not specifically Odyssey), and I think it has nothing to do with new – what's the word? – alliances and everything to do with this great feeling of change.  Put people in a difficult and alien environment, away from their crutches and helpmates and best friends, and what comes out at the other end is change.

Two days post-Odyssey, I don't know what that change is for me.  I feel it.  Fragility and optimism war with one another.  I feel like I could take on the world or shatter at any moment.

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