The aquatic mosh pit

So, now that I'm back to work, I have to find a time to go swimming that isn't the middle of the afternoon. I thought that I'd just stop by after work, swim my laps and then head home for a shower and a quiet night at home. Well, it turns out that at 7:00 on Tuesday evenings, the pool is close to unfit for swimming. Seriously, they turned the lanes around the short way so there were 3.5 (yes, one was really a half) lanes for spurty swimming and the shallow end was roped off for water aerobics. So, there were about 30 severely overweight people lifting waterproof weights to top 40's, aerobics-style, music. Even the instructor was overweight....and I don't mean a little pooch. She was probably 80 pounds overweight. Amy had warned me about the old lady brigade, but this was the shower cap brigade. At one point, I was trying to swim laps in the choppy waters of no-man's-land between the aerobics and the overcrowded lanes when I looked over and cracked up - they all had on shower caps to protect their hair rather than swim caps. So funny. So aggravating and so funny.

Vacation check-in

Well, I just finished day 4 of my vacation. So far, so good. As usual, I can't accomplish quite as many things in each day as I plan, but I'm still accomplishing things.
The living room is now green - it needs another coat, but it's looking good. I've gone swimming thrice and I think this is something I can stick with - yay! Exercise I don't loathe! I've had one career-related meeting and several meetings concerning the event I'm planning. Things are moving right along. (And, I did manage to squeeze a little football-watching in around the edges!)
6 more days of vacation - whoo-hoo!!

Au Revoir, Trader Joe's

I just got home from my last shift at Trader Joe's. I get to reclaim a little more of my time. Now I just need to try find some more creative or more career-related ways to make a little extra cash. Yippee!

The inevitable New Year's Post

Oh, the last day of the year...that day when I get to focus on all that I did NOT accomplish this year. At the beginning of 2006, I posted a few resolutions for the year. They were different than the resolutions of most years... I made things that were achievable, reachable. Well, it turns out that they weren't as achievable as I thought. Here's the year-end status report:
1 - Explore 10 metro stops I've never checked out before. Silver Spring, King Street, Woodley Park, East Falls Church, New York Ave (worth skipping)... I think that's it. So, that's 5. I got a 50% on that.
2 -Read 5 non-fiction books about things I wonder about. I read two. I read a book about the Johnstown flood and a book about Crunchy Conservatism. 40% on this one.
3 - Edit my thesis for publication. Yeah, didn't get anywhere on this one. 0%
4 - Learn a new sport. Again, 0%

So, that's an overall grade of what, 12%? Oh well, that's 12% more than I probably would have accomplished without the goals. However, let's dwell on the positive. Here's what I did accomplish:
1 - I learned a new skill for DC living. I learned to maintain my composure and even keep up when conversations turned to political subjects.
2 - I learned a good bit about event planning, including the fact that I really enjoy doing it.
3 - I landed on my fourth continent - Asia.
4 - I made it through an entire calendar year with one employer...ups and downs marked the ride, but I did it and I'm happy with that.

There's been progress...minimal, but progress nonetheless.
Happy New Year!

Christmas gifts

Ok, so I was reading a friend's blog and she was talking about the gifts she gave which made me want to talk about the gifts I gave. So, Heather, if you're reading this, I'm sorry. I totally stole this from you.
I'm always much more about the gifts I give than the gifts I receive. I mean, don't get me wrong. I get as excited as anybody about a gift card or a well-chosen gift (Thanks, mom, for the slipper shoes - they're awesome), but for me, gifts are all about the giving. I love taking the time to really ponder a great gift for someone. I wish I could say that I did a good job of gift-giving this year, but unfortunately, I was in a major time crunch this fall so my Christmas giving was lackluster at best. And, I did give Amy my mother's gift instead of hers, which she promptly took to Idaho with her. However, I did manage to fit in a few winners. So, without further ado, my list of successful Christmas gifts.
- Taking Mom and Dad to a steakhouse in DC for a really yummy meal that they don't usually treat themselves to. I think that was a winner. They don't say much, but I think they really liked it.
- A good recording of Handel's Messiah for Amy. Amy asked me to borrow mine one day and I realized that I didn't actually own it so I got her a good one... and she's the kind of girl that appreciates it. snazzy.
- Laminated parking instructions for Heinz Field for Tara. You wouldn't think it was so great, but paired with an atlas marked with our road trips and a Steelers car flag, it was a winner.
- a silver "S" necklace for my sis-in-law, Steph. I actually thought I wimped out on this one, but I think she really liked it. She said she'd always wanted one, but never had one. Score.
- a talking pizza cutter for my brother. No, really, I'm serious. Thanks to Tara on this one. It was an impulse buy at Heinz Field on Christmas Eve at her prompting, but it was totally the star of the show. My brother laughed like I remember him laughing ten or fifteen years ago. I love that laugh. That lighthearted spirit is something I love about him. So, if a gift gets that laugh, you're good.
- a book about knots for Jeremy. If you know Jeremy, you know why this is great. Jeremy - have you made me a ladder yet?

So, even though I felt like I didn't get meaningful gifts, I think I still did an okay job in the end. Merry Christmas a little late.

What did you get for Christmas?

Oh, well, thanks for asking. I actually got a spinny bug. What, you ask, is a spinny bug? Well, it's a thing that makes you sick and you feel off-balance for days. On day one, well, you don't want to know about day one... it's gross. On day two, you can have your eyes open as long as your head is supported somewhere and eat small amounts of spinny-approved food. And on day three, you can sit up for limited amounts of time and drink Diet Coke (no really - that's what it said in the manual... honest!) So, that's what I'm doing with my vacation-- a whole lot of nothing!! So much for all of those goals.
What did YOU get for Christmas?

Things learned from changing a lightbulb

Ok, well, only one really. I was up on a chair, changing the lightbulb in the living room when something caught my eye out the window. It turns out that when there aren't any leaves on the trees, I can see the top of the Washington Monument from my apartment. Cool!
And, weird. I mean, those red eyes are ominous. Like big brother watching out over the whole city. But, cool nonetheless!

Addendum: It turns out that we can also see the Capitol from our apartment. Snazzy.

Bows, not bags

Thanks to Colleen, we started a bit of a new tradition last night. It seemed that we had fallen into an unfortunate habit of unceremoniously handing off Christmas presents in their plastic bag wrappings. So, in the spirit of adding a little tradition to the holidays, we got together for a casual dinner, cookie frosting, ornament painting (unplanned, but necessary due to Colleen and Nathaniel's tree only having one ornament!) and gift exchanging. Over champagne, we toasted to the presence of bows and the absence of bags. And, so, Bows, not Bags is born!

Botched gift giving

So, I bought this fabulous recording of Messiah for my friend, Amy, for Christmas. I really wanted her to have it before she left for Christmas today so I left this beautifully wrapped gift in her doorway for her to trip over on the way out the door. She grabbed it on her way to the airport en route to Idaho.
Tonight, I was gathering presents for a gift exchange tomorrow and realized that I still had her CD under the tree. I, being the brilliant one I am, left my mother's Christmas present on her doorstep! Needless to say she was a little confused as to why I would give her a White House ornament!! Oh well, I guess mom's gift will be a little late.

Now that feels awesome!

I just logged out of the class reunion email for the last time! Whoo0hoo! Nothing like actually finishing up a project.
Now, on to the next thing.

Reclaim the margins!

I've recently been very frustrated by the disappearance of margins in my life. Every moment of every day is scheduled out... usually far in advance. One week gets filled up and then the next and before you know it, the white space around the edges of my life is completely gone. This really upsets me. I need my life to be more than scheduled blocks of time all fit together neatly like a tetris screen. I thrive on spontanaeity and when spur-of-the-moment no longer happens, I have a hard time enjoying the craziness of life.
Today, though, I got to hang out with the family in Ebensburg. There's always an adjustment period for me when I come home. I've been going, going, going and then all of a sudden I get plopped down in my parents' living room and life slows down by 240 mph. I don't always handle that well, but today, doing nothing was exactly what I needed. In fact, I worked on a jigsaw puzzle with Mom and Dad and watched a movie I've seen half a dozen times. And, it was really nice.
Now, if only I could figure out how to bridge my inner conflict of being closer with family and handling the rest of my life. But, for now, I will enjoy a weekend at home.
So - go... reclaim your margins!

Scary Stuff

So, today, I'm sitting outside at Furin's in Georgetown, eating a lovely salad and enjoying a beautiful day on my lunch break. This woman walks by me on the sidewalk, leans in toward me and looked like she was staring at my salad. Just as she passed me, she said something that I didn't hear so I said, "What?" "Hey, baby," she said. I kind of turned my head and looked at her and then turned right back to my salad. Before I had time to even digest what had just happened, I heard a familiar voice say, "Don't you recognize me?" It was a friend of mine dressed in drag for Halloween!

Geez! That was about enough to give me a heart attack!!

Happy Columbus Day!

I love holidays that don't have any real events. Because, they end up being actual holidays! I can accomplish so much and don't have to worry about a million different plans or a party or whatever. In fact, it is quite possible that Columbus Day is my new favorite holiday.
So, I was just looking through some pictures and found this one. It was exactly one year ago. Last Columbus Day, I spent the day with Thomas Pappas rehearsing some awesome music and then spending a little time in the city. He grew up in Germany and was asking me how we celebrate Columbus Day, to which I didn't really have an answer, but it turns out that there is a Columbus memorial by Union Station so we took pictures there to celebrate. Perhaps I will make that a tradition and celebrate there again today!

Football is fun. So are friends. So are new-ish friends. I watched the game tonight at Pour House, which is always fun, though less fun when we lose. But, more fun when there are friends around to cheer with me. We definitely had fun... more football to come and hopefully more fun, too.

Update

Ok, I'm feeling much better this morning. I was able to reach a couple of the people helping me coordinate the reunion and at least I don't feel left out to hang by myself. Still lots of friend stress, but the new day does help my perspective a little.

I am so frustrated right now by so many things. I feel like so many things are just going wrong. there are plenty of things going right, but I'm really frustrated by unrealized potential. My class reunion had the potential to be awesome, but it's not going to be... it's going to be totally lame. And, I feel like it's my fault for not wanting to kill myself to work out every single detail myself. I know my friends are going to blame me. And, I absolutely hate letting people down. I know that's probably a result of my selfishness since it's really my image that I'm concerned about more than the quality of the reunion. I just don't want to be blamed for things that aren't my fault. Honestly, I don't even want to go any more. But, I will. I'll get all this stuff done and it will go off and some day I will forget about the absolutely embarassingly awful reuinon I once helped to coordinate.
To top it off, I'm having some friend strife. I'm just barely keeping my head above water with work and my volunteer projects and I don't have time to deal with friendship stress, but yet it is there. I just really want friends that trust me to be their friend and in turn, I can trust them to be mine. It seems like such a simple concept, but obviously, it's not. I'm a loyal friend. I don't purposely do things that would upset my friends and it really distresses me when they are mad at me. My friends are my family and I can't live without them...especially not now.
Well, this is exceedingly long so I had better go and finish putting together the crappy reunion website and designing the crappy invitations to the boring reunion at the lame location with the gross food. Then, tomorrow, invitations, invitations, work, work, work.

God speaks my language

I had the following lighthearted conversation with God today when I was really stressed out and walked into the CVS after work:
Me: Oh, if there is a God in heaven, let there be a Diet Cherry Coke. I really need it today.
God: (silent)
Me: Oh, I'm just joking. I know you exist. Ha, ha.
God: Oh really?
Hyla walks to the back of the store and finds the one last Diet Cherry Coke in the cooler.
Me: Ok, fine. I get it! (much laughter)

Sometimes God knows when I need him to speak just my language. What a great coincidence! (or was it?)

What's this?

I felt a kind of nesting impulse on the way home tonight. Weird. Weird. Weird.
What's happening to me?

Lost in Blogland

Well, it's finally happened. I've failed as a blogger. My life is kind of eating me alive (in a good way - I love being busy) and I feel guilty spending even a short amount of time blogging these days. So, this is my copout for blogging from now until December just in case I don't get around to it.
So - see you then!!

By Request

Amy requested specifics on the games and I must oblige.
We have tickets to the November 5 game against the Denver Broncos and the Christmas Eve game against the Baltimore Ravens.
Whoo-hoo! I'm totally excited. I haven't been to the new field yet and I can't wait to be there in the home crowd excitement.
But, till then I will reign in my enthusiasm unless asked to expound.