January 2008 Archives
, originally uploaded by AMK.
Last year my only new year's resolution was to not drink any more fancy coffee drinks. As you can see, I didn't last very long with that resolution.
I'm not much of a resolution-maker. I've tried in the past and they don't work for me. I can't just wake up one day and decide to do something life-changing. I need to arrive at those kinds of changes more gradually. I have goals for 2008, but they're goals I've had for a while and not really tied to the new year. Here are some things I hope to do in the next twelve months:
- Bike a century (100 miles in one day).
- Run a 5K.
- Keep up with both this blog and Pink Argyle.
- Keep up with my photo-a-day project at least until I've done it for 365 days; then, hopefully, keep it up for the rest of 2008 so I will have done it for an entire calendar year.
- Finish paying off my student loans (that's an easy one; I'll be done in a couple of months), then use the extra money to do some home improvements and get our house ready to sell.
I do think it's good to write down my goals because otherwise I forget to feel a sense of accomplishment; I become too focused on the next goals and the ones after those.
Oh and as for the fancy coffee drinks, I only lasted until sometime last February. I'm going to try it again this January. At least until I can properly fit into my clothes again. That's pretty much the closest I'll come to being on a diet.
I posted a picture on my Flickr page of some yarn I was spinning, and Tina made a comment about commissioning me to make a scarf for her. I proposed that she use her insane thrifting skills to find something fun for me in exchange for the scarf.
In record time, Tina managed to find a wealth of great stuff and send it to me. I'm working on the design of the scarf, but it's going to be a while before it's done.
What, I wasn't supposed to wear it all at the same time?
The dress, cardigan, bracelet and necklace were all from her. I love the dress, and it fits almost perfectly. With a small alteration, I'll be able to wear it. The cardigan is just plain fun, as is the bracelet. But the garnet necklace was the show-stopper. And it happened to perfectly match what I was wearing to a wedding this weekend.
I LOVE it.
Trading with people is the best. Every person has something unique that they're good at. I'd much rather benefit from someone's talent than take their money. That's probably one of the many reasons I'm not wealthier than I am.
Completely random things I have found interesting lately and don't want to forget about.
The Edge Annual Question for 2008: What have you changed your mind about? Edge is a nonprofit group that "promote[s] inquiry into and discussion of intellectual, philosophical, artistic, and literary issues, as well as to work for the intellectual and social achievement of society," according to their website. The site includes answers from such diverse thinkers as Stephen Pinker and Alan Alda. 2007's question sounds interesting too: what are you optimistic about?
The Holiday Yule Log book and DVD. We had a big laugh over this at my parents' belated Christmas celebration last night. You can either play the DVD with Christmas songs or without Christmas songs playing in the background. The best part is it comes with four little singalong books. Nobody would sing along with me. (I think that's the first time in my entire life that I actually wanted to sing in a group. I honestly don't know what came over me.) All I wanted to sing was Good King Wenceslas.
Who is the voice at MSP airport? We had a long conversation at work today about how ridiculous it is that voice of the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport is that of a British woman. You know, the "please step off the moving walkway" voice. Turns out she actually is a Minnesotan.
FreeRice.com. This is a site that gives 20 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program for every vocabulary word you can answer correctly. I can't remember where I first saw this, but it's become a dangerous time suck. If you go to the Options button you can set it to put a cookie on your computer so it remembers your vocab level and amount of rice donated. The highest I've gotten to is level 47, and I'm determined to beat it eventually. I really think this is a brilliant idea; feed people and learn something and have fun at the same time.
Alfred Hitchcock Presents. I've been watching this lately on Netflix's "watch instantly" feature. Brilliant, brilliant stuff. And I love the way Alfred Hitchcock introduces each episode and gives his pithy moral of the story at the end (the Wikipedia entry describes him as "droll" -- an apt description, I thought). I've always been drawn to these kinds of stories, which is why I own an anthology of original Twilight Zone stories and must re-read it one of these days.
I can't understand why (certain) people don't simply deal with their problems directly. Why a person wouldn't be able to empathize at least a little bit, give others the benefit of the doubt once in a while, or -- I don't know -- maybe actually have a conversation with someone to make sure they're not jumping to conclusions? Why do people waste my time with catty complaints about other people? How is it worth my (or anyone's) time to mediate childish disputes? Why have I always been forced to be the peacemaker, the go-between, the translator, when I'm the last person on earth who would want to be such a person?
It's a waste of time. And a further waste of time because I have to sit here and calm down afterwards. You'd think I'd be used to it by now, but every time this happens, I get stuck wasting more time writing about it and asking myself WHY and trying to glean some insight into the natures of these sorts of people. But I don't think there's any insight to be had.
It's probably bad juju to have such a negative post up here for so long, so I feel like I'd better write something. Problem is, I have nothing much to say. I've been under the weather since last Thursday night when I woke up in the middle of the night feeling feverish. Friday, Saturday and Sunday all went by with an overabundance of naps, throbbing sinuses, and a bit of whining.
And now I'm at work and I've gone far too many hours without a nap, and I'm really tired. So, to cheer myself up, I have just ordered this:
It should be an adventure. Back in July I asked myself how long I could hold out before buying this. I'm surprised I lasted this long.
I've been feeling old and boring lately. I have to ask myself, do I truly believe I'm old and boring, or am I just old and boring by my perceptions of everyone else's standards? Am I feeling insecure lately? I've always been hard on myself, but it's been a long time since I've really cared what anyone else thought of me. But I seem to remember it feeling sort of like this. Weird. How do I make that go away?
So last night I went to spinning class (the exercise kind, not the yarn kind). The new session of spinning started three weeks ago. I told myself three weeks ago that I was absolutely not going to miss any day of spinning unless I was horribly sick or had to unexpectedly travel for work or something. Last week, I wasn't feeling well and I didn't go and then I regretted not going. This week, I went. It was painful. I am so out of shape.
The instructor is all motivatey and upbeat but, amazingly, not really in an annoying way. She just genuinely loves to exercise and loves to motivate other people to exercise. So that's good. Last night she kept telling us to notice and appreciate how strong our bodies are.
Sorry, my body is not strong. Last summer when I was biking 40-60 miles every week and going every week to spinning (where we also have to do crunches and such)... then my body was strong. But in the winter, it's so easy for me to forget how good that feels and to burrow even deeper into my nest of yarn with my cats and American Idol (I've made it through six seasons without getting pulled in and darn it if I'm not getting sucked right into season 7). Especially when it's so bloody cold. It was -15 degrees when I left the house this morning.
The thing is, I feel old because I have no energy and I have no energy because I'm not exercising. I think that's just my reality. If I keep trying, I'll get past the point where exercising is painful and back to the point where it becomes something I actually look forward to.
Besides, if I really am going to bike a century this year, it can't hurt to get in shape as soon as possible.
Last night I dreamed I was at the Minnesota Democratic caucus. Al Gore gave a speech, and then it was my turn to give a speech. Somehow, I was picked as an average person who was supposed to give a speech about what my life is like, what challenges I face, etc.
After Al's speech, I came up to the podium, completely freaked out. But almost everyone left to go have things autographed by Al Gore. And the microphone stopped working. So I decided to go have something signed by Al Gore as well. When I got up to the front of the line, I told Al I was scared to death of making my speech. He told me that I'd do fine, and I was placated.
Then I went back to the podium and people were filing back to their seats and the microphone was working again and I made an effort to make a speech. I must have been really worried about what I was going to say, because I kept waking up and thinking what a weird dream I was having and then falling back asleep and having to make the damn speech again. I don't remember what I said in any of the speeches.
When I finally woke up this morning, my eye was all red. I think I was sleeping with my eye open again.
I've really got to stop engaging in retail therapy. Last time I was having a bad day, I bought a $260 camera flash. This time, I bought this:
In my defense, it wasn't an impulse buy. I really, really wanted to buy this purse when Delight first featured it, but it was a bit out of my price range (if it had been a camera accessory, apparently, it wouldn't have been). Then it went on sale and I got a code for free shipping. The internet is a dangerous place.
