I am gonna try to take a little lunch; so busy this week! Today, thanks to Dr. King, is a "floating holiday" at my work, but it is far too busy to take off today, so looks like I'm basically just getting an extra vacay day :) Speaking of which, I registered with Cheap Tickets, in hopes that some amazing airfare deal a la my trip to Ireland will pop up in my inbox soon, causing me to take full advantage of my new (thanks to moving home) ability to travel!

I guess I didn't do a whole lot this weekend, but it felt pretty eventful -- I'm sure a lot of that feeling has to do with the fact that my whole body is so so sore. Went to the gym and had a pretty solid workout with my sister on Friday night, did four miles with Giselle at Mission Bay Saturday morning, followed by an intense, hour-plus gym workout immediately afterward and a pretty decent hike on Sunday. Ouch. I guess it's mainly 'cause I did a lot of weights, plus the hiking on top of it. Oh well -- no pain, no gain! Plus, I consumed an obscene amount of oatmeal-chocolate-chip cookie dough yesterday. Plus the baked cookies :(

Regardless of all that, the main point of this post was actually supposed to be about a documentary I watched, "Man on Wire." It was about a young French man in the '70s who used to tight-rope walk all over the world, and in terrifying places. Mainly, it focused on his conquering of the newly built (at the time) World Trade Center/Twin Towers in NYC. TERRIFYING. My feet are tingling just thinking about it again. The documentary was alright, but the fact that this man had such a passion for something -- seriously, he is obsessed with tight-rope walking, still to this day -- really made me kind of sad about the world today. People, especially my generation and younger, are so consumed with instant results, the Internet and anything to do with electronics (texting, MP3s, whatever) that I feel like we might start to lose the "criminal artists" (such as Phillipe Petite in the documentary) or even just passionate oddballs that seem to kinda fill in the little niches in societies. Maybe I'm wrong, or maybe I was just sad that I myself have kind of fallen victim to the non-creative, up-and-coming, instant lifestyle I speak of.

Note to self: Try not to.

Home again, home again

"Home again, home again, jiggity jog." That just popped into my head and is now making me wonder whether it's from an actual story/song, or if my grandma just made it up? She used to "sing" it to us in the car when we were headed home from anywhere. Hmm.

Anyway, I am back home! Moved in on Saturday and am not totally sure how I'm feeling about everything, but it is what it is, and it will sure allow me to save some moolah. Here's one thing about moving home I had been looking forward to:


Aww, Marvy.

It was great having help from Vanessa (who amazingly puzzle-packed my whole kitchen up into a few boxes) and my mom, sister and dad, who was able to get a huge flatbed truck with gates and a lift that practically fit all of my furniture. I could not have done it alone (unless I hired movers, of course)!

On a completely unrelated note, I get really irritated sometimes when people at the gym just assume you came there to socialize and converse with them. Case in point: my sister and I went into the sauna last night, not even really talking to each other, and this older dude sitting in there wearing just a pair of shorts and his huge belly, long gray hair and missing tooth, starts talking to us. You know, small talk, what we came to the gym to do, etc. And we were nice at first, but the more and more he kept talking, the less and less we were responsive, and he still did not get it. Sorry, sir, but I'm not interested in hearing about 1) how much you paid for the gym clothes you're wearing (or not wearing, in his case), 2) where you live, what gym you normally go to, and why you're at this particular facility tonight, and 3) how you're old and out of shape, and we're so lucky 'cause we're young, and we don't even know how hard it is to get in shape when you're old, blah blah blah (like, really, what am I supposed to say to that??). Needless to say, he cut our hoped-for sauna time in half, at least.

Anyway, now that I'm moved home and have all that junk out of the way, I really need to start logging in the miles in preparation for my first marathon and the Mission Gorge and/or Black Mountain trail races (probably just the latter, as time is kinda dwindling down) I hope to do. Probably going on a run with Giselle this weekend if it still works for us, and definitely squeezing in a hike with Rachel and Morgan since I couldn't this weekend. Other than that, lots of treadmill running (bleh) and gym time, 'cause it's that or run outside in the dark. Man, I miss all those summer daylight hours ...

January 2nd Resolutions

Well, in my mind, it's still New Years Day -- had the traditional German-superstitious meal of sauerkraut, potatoes and (what is supposed to be pork but tonight turned into) fried chicken -- but since it's just about 1 a.m., I guess it's technically the second. Oh well. I don't usually list out resolutions, and I doubt anyone else is really interested in what I want to improve on, but I figure if I make this list "live" on the Internet, I'll be more motivated to keep my word on things. So, in no particular order, here are some things I'd like to improve on:

Dress nicer for work. It's hard sometimes to conjure the motivation to pick out a cute, professional outfit at 6 a.m. when I know that I'll be sitting in a freezing office, not interacting with the public (usually) all day. But the fact is, I really like my job and respect all of my co-workers and my company, and I feel that I am very professional in all other aspects of my job, so my attire should also reflect that.

Walk my dogs more. This might sound funny, but it's something they love, and I love them and want them to be physically healthy too. They have a big yard to run around in all day, but they really enjoy and need to be walked more. I love my animals to pieces -- they are like super dependent family members, hehe.


Cody


Winnie

Work out more and eat healthier. I'm pretty good about sticking to a regular workout routine, but I've had lazy slumps and horrible eating habits a lot more than I'd like to lately (thanks, holiday festivities). This is something pretty much everyone resolves to do, and with good reason. What better age than now to look and feel my best and establish good habits that hopefully carry through years to come? On New Year's Eve, I registered (finally) for the Rock 'n' Roll marathon. I really like to run, and I figured forking over the hundred bucks to do this will really kick my butt into gear and start training. I even got my sister to (voluntarily, actually) join me! I think I am gonna start to keep a "running journal," like they had us do in cross country in high school where I basically keep track of what I eat each day that I run, and how my run felt as a result of what I ate. It also keeps me conscious of all the unnecessary crap I eat and how it can really negatively affect my workouts.

Be more direct with people. I have a really hard time saying "no" sometimes and making a decision that will make me happy. It all revolves around trying to please everyone and keep everyone happy. I'm a total nonconfrontational person, which I think can be good because a lot of times I can help mediate situations, but I really need to focus on being more direct, I think.

Really be persistent about saving money. This is usually something that comes naturally to me, and I want to keep at it this year. I've already made the decision to move home, which will help me astronomically, so this really shouldn't be a problem. I just wanted to write it down for myself, I guess. I'm really fortunate that I have the option to still live with my parents and save up all the money I would be paying in rent. I do appreciate the fact that my family still wants me there! Ha!


And, I'm sure I'll think of many more, but at 1 a.m., that's about all my brain has time to process in words :)

Happy New Decade, everyone!