More weekend thinkings

There are lots of things that I wish I could do every day or most days, but alas, my schedule is just not conducive to that. Other things (like work and MBA) kind of get in the way. If I could I would do the following things most or every day:

• read scripture
• play flute
• work out
• cook

I played flute several times this weekend. It was so so very good. This marked a break in the longest playing hiatus yet. I played two weddings in 2008 and I honestly can't remember if I've played at all since then! I definitely felt some fear getting the instrument out of its case. I was afraid that I wouldn't remember how to play.. that I would sound so awful that I wouldn't want to play anymore...that my technical ability would be so far gone that it would just be ultimately too frustrating. I can't quite explain how I felt when I started playing. I put Mia (that's my flute's name) together and started with some long tone exercises just to warm up a little. I was nearly overcome with emotion. I fought back the tears, but they were close. It was beautiful. Such a warm, beautiful sound that was so familiar... like someone's voice you haven't heard for years. Comforting, intimate, mine. This may sound corny, but I felt whole again.

It feels so good to be playing again. Right now, I'm not sure exactly where this will go. If I'll find an ensemble to play with, start playing at church again, build a teaching studio, or what. But, I absolutely can't stop playing. This is part of who I am and I never want to lose it again.

Fatgirl's triathalon thinkings

I am considering doing a sprint Triathalon next June. It is a .62 mile swim, 17.5 miles biking, and 3.4 miles running. I am no athlete by any man's standards. However, there is something in me that makes me think I could actually do this.

Reasons I think I could do this:

1 - Though I haven't been swimming for a while, I was regularly swimming a mile as my workout so .62 mile wouldn't be that bad.

2 - I don't really find biking all that hard. 17.5 miles is kind of far, but if I actually trained, I think I could do that without much trouble.

3 - I'm learning to run. Today, I ran 2.4 miles (my longest run ever) so 3.4 doesn't sound so scary anymore.

4 - I have friends that are not in the best of shape and they did the sprint tri without dying.

5 - I am generally capable of doing most things I set my mind to... this should be no exception.

Reasons I think I could NOT do this (or obstacles):

1 - I have never done a workout consisting of two different activities right after each other... let alone three!

2 - I don't even own a bike right now. It is difficult to train for a bike ride without an actual bike.

3 - I am fat. lol Ok, so, I am considerably smaller than I once was, but I am still a big girl and this sounds scary to me.

4 - This will require some serious training, which I don't really have time for given the MBA program, work, intense commute, etc.

5 - I might die.

All of that considered, I think I'm going to give it a sot. Time to start finding a training schedule, I guess. Registration starts 9/20 so I guess I have until then to chicken out.

Today's New Experience

A few days ago, I finally ran into the clarinet player that I've heard practicing in the building over the last year. It turns out that she and her boyfriend play in the marine band and she is working on a masters' program in the area. Anyway, she mentioned that she was playing a solo tonight at a concert on the capitol steps and invited me to come. So, I did!
Shamefully, I have never gone to any of the concerts on the capitol steps, even though there are concerts four night s a week in the summer. It had also been a LONG time since I had gone to a wind concert at all. I have to say that I enjoyed myself. It was 95 degrees, at least, so intonantion was a challenge at points, but there is just something so gratifying in watching people do what they absolutely love to do. Plus, I was introduced to some new music. She played a piece by Andreas Makris called Intrigues. It turns out the composer has deep local connections. Anyways, it was an interesting piece with some real challenges... especially in the heat.
So, there we go -- I discovered a new, fun activity for the summers... and met a new person and a new piece in the process.

Notes of Joy from a Long Trip with a Short Boy

Backstory: Yesterday, I got up early and flew with my 6-year-old nephew back to Phoenix and then immediately turned around and flew back home. The boy was safely delivered back to his parents and I was safely, but tiredly delivered back to DC.
Small Joy 1: Just hanging out with my nephew. I rarely get to see him so it was fun to get some one-on-one time with him. Who knows? Maybe this will be something he'll remember when he's grown up.
Small Joy 2: Watching him from a distance and seeing a little piece of my brother's wonderfulness in him. We had about an hour to wait for our first flight so we went and sat at the gate at the end of the terminal so he could watch the planes. He walked over to the window and within two minutes had made a friend with another little boy who was five. One of Scott's great attributes (in my humble, yet accurate, opinion) is that he can engage anyone in a conversation and make them feel special and included. It looks like his son is well on his way to mastering that art.
Small Joy 3: Watching my nephew study the step-by-step safety guide in the seat-back pocket. Seriously. He studied that thing front and back for a good 20 minutes on each flight. If the boy doesn't become an engineer or an architect, the world will be a worse place for it.
Small Joy 4: Getting to see my sis-in-law's excitement at having her little boy back after more than three weeks away from home!
Small Joy 5: The descent into Salt Lake City. Holy cow! What a gorgeous, gorgeous sight. I had been in Utah, and even Salt Lake City, but I had never flown into it. That was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen from the sky. And, it was a total surprise because I didn't even look to see where I was connecting until that morning. Very cool.
Small Joy 6: Making it back home and falling into my bed. A pillow rarely feels as good as it does after a 19-hour day filled with 6000 miles of air travel.

Good times.

Caring for a Small Human

This evening, I'm hanging out with my little nephew before we fly back to his home tomorrow. We went to the park, looked through all of his pictures from his Pennsylvania vacation, grabbed some dinner, and then pretty much hit the hay. He must have been tired... I don't think he even moved after he laid down. Tired little boy, I guess.

I love this kid. I gave him three choices for dinner. 1 - sushi, 2 - Thai food, 3 - pizza. The kid chose Thai! How awesome is that. Now, to be fair, I knew ahead of time that the kid loves Thai food and that was pretty much what I wanted, but I thought it might be a crapshoot with the pizza thrown in there. Anyway, that was awesome.

Tomorrow: 4 airports, 4 flights, 1 6-yr old, and an awful lot of work time

Random Things

Favorite new website: StillTasty.com - As its name suggests, it is a searchable database of shelflife for all kinds of stuff. So far, I've only looked up black beans, but just knowing that it exists makes me a very happy girl.
Thoughts on Inception: I definitely liked it. I don't know that it will go on my list of favorite movies, but I am glad that I saw it. Definitely an originality factor to it. I could have done without some of the gunfire. Ok, so I realize that there's some mass appeal, male audience drawing power with guns and explosions. However, I'm not sure that all of that was really all that integral to the heart of the story. Also, fewer gunshots would have meant fewer minutes spent watching the movie through the crevices of my fingers. Just sayin'. I also thought that a few points were belabored. Some things maybe weren't quite clear enough (though the ambiguity is definitely part of the intrigue), but then other things repeatedly hit the audience over the head. And, of course, no commentary from Hyla would be complete without something about the soundtrack. They definitely chose one emotion and carried it through the whole film. At different points, I kept thinking, "If the music was lighter here, this whole scene would be light." But, truthfully, there was almost no reprieve from the pulsating intensity... if I was recording that score, I think my stress levels would be through the roof at the end of every session. It's just an awful lot of very similar, intense music. Once I saw at the end that Hans Zimmer wrote the score, though, it made a lot more sense.
National-Hyla-relearns-the-flute-month: August will be this month for me. I'm planning to spend the first week just doing tone and technical exercises. That way I won't feel so "flabby" when I actually start reading music again. It's been a long time since I've read much music. I'm hoping that after a month-long action plan, I'll be ready to consider playing in public again at some point.

Things that make me happy

(taken from today's experiences)

1 - holding Sebastian

2 - Pasta with shrimp, dill, peas, and feta

3 - Killer breakfast sandwiches from Presto Gourmet. (No seriously, they'll actually kill you.)

4 - calm evenings -- even if I am working

5 - editing copy (Yes, I know I'm weird.)

6 - planning stuff, like my super-fast visit w/ my sis-in-law on Monday, and seeing Jeremy this weekend.

7 - blogging

8 - diet coke

Dear weather gods,

Remember this?

Dear first (or 2nd?) date girl,

Don't let him do that to you again. Seriously. He had 150% of the control of your date. He owned the physical space by leaning like that. He owned the psychological space by asking you all of the questions and then butting in with his own stories. He did everything he needed to do to see if all the little details of your life, your ambitions, even your body would fit into what he wants. The date-cum-interview was honestly a little hard to watch. Don't you see how there would be absolutely no give-and-take in your relationship? Don't go out with him again. You're just going to end up feeling stifled and used.
Sincerely,
eavesdropping-while-waiting-for-my-friend girl

PS - You're really quite beautiful. A little less hairspray and makeup would become you.

Stuff I'm good at

Making quiche and business law exams
1 - Tonight, I made a quiche, including a homemade crust. It was awesome. And, it wasn't difficult at all. I am totally adding that to my repertoire. This one had onions, mushrooms and spinach, but I could add lots of different ingredients. I took it to Colleen and Nathaniel's and it disappeared in good time. (Although, I may have been the one primarily making it disappear. )
2 - I've been hesitant to put this on facebook or anything because I don't want to be too boast-y, but I totally kicked butt on my Law Exam this week. I actually got a 100. (There were 6 bonus points available so I did miss a few questions, but still....) I am very proud of myself. Never mind the intense level of fear I have about my grade on the Cost Accounting exam from last night.

New Goal: Survive this week!

Wow -- One crazy week down -- one crazy week coming up! Today I got up and studied for a few hours, threw some things in a bag and headed for Ebensburg, but not before catching about half of leadership summit. I have about 24 hours here with my big brother and little nephew before I have to head back for a week of work, two finals, and a couple of dr's appointments thrown in there. Whew - hoping I make it through this whirlwind!
More soon!

another life changer

Cilantro and Jalepeno hummus from trader joes. Seriously, I will never be the same again. You should go straight to Trader Joe's and get some. Do not pass go. But, go ahead and collect $200 if the opportunity presents itself!

Super-Hyla!

Well, paint me an S on my chest. I just got back from a run in which I did not stop and walk at all. When I got back, I promptly went to mapmyrun.com and discovered that it was 1.76 miles. Now, this may not sound particularly feat-ful to you, but to me.... well, I feel like a superhero. I don't think I've ever run more than about a mile without stopping before. So, this is a major accomplishment to me. I realize it's not exactly a marathon, but hey, it's something.
Yippity yay for the awesome weather outside tonight so I could do that!

the last, not the next

I woke up in the middle of the night with this going through my head:

I'm not looking for the next guy. I'm looking for the last guy.

I suppose I've felt like this for a while, but I don't know that I've thought about it quite like this. I don't want someone to date anymore. I want someone to spend my life with. I want to stop looking. Dating is difficult and often so hurtful... not only do I get hurt, but all too often, I'm the one hurting someone else. I'm not foolish enough to think that the hurting will stop if I get married, but at least a path of wanton hurt can stop at that point.

I no longer have time or energy for the next guy. But, I certainly have the energy for the last guy.

Today's score

Getting to sleep in a little since I was driving today: +1
Hearing "Single Ladies" on the drive in: +2
Learning that McDonald's now has breakfast snacks: +1
Resisting using new information about McDonald's morning menu: +2
Getting "Straight Up" (that's right - Paula Abdul, baby!) stuck in my head: +4
----------
Today's score so far: +10

Completely Random Things

New Vocabulary Word: penumbra --A partial shadow, as in an eclipse, between regions of complete shadow and complete illumination; An area in which something exists to a lesser or uncertain degree. (This word-of-the-day brought to you by my Law for Business class.)
Me vs. Women's Groups: I love, love, love small groups. Call 'em life groups, small groups, mini-churches, discipleship groups... call 'em whatever you want. I love them. Except... women's groups. I am afeared of women's groups. I've been involved in a few and unfortunately those experiences weren't great. (With the one exception of the Women in Leadership group I attended at 730am a few years ago) Too often, though, women's groups deteriorate into surface-y conversation or gossip or "Singleness is hard" bitch sessions or even too-personal-too-fast scenarios. However, I'm giving it another shot. Tonight I went to a small group led by one of my favoritest chicks. All the women seem to be married or engaged so maybe that will help cut down on the "woe is my single self" factor. Or, maybe in three weeks, I will just feel completely inadequate. Who knows?
Mrs. Warren's Profession: I went to dress rehearsal of Mrs Warren's Profession last night. I'm not very familiar with George Bernard Shaw's work, but it seemed awfully narrative. Monologues that just go on and on and on. Perhaps, I was just too distracted by things I still wanted to accomplish. I don't know. It also seemed that people in the front found it a lot funnier than those of us a section or two back. Maybe the lackluster projection was prohibiting the funny from getting to us? The sets were pretty, though.

Another weird dream

So, I had another totally bizarre dream. I'll leave it to you to decide which detail is the most implausible.
I was shopping at Wal-Mart when a guy with some unruly hair growth on his neck came up to me, shoved an electric shaver/trimmer in my face and demanded that I shave his neck. I employed my usual tactic of dismissively saying "No, man. Sorry." (To clarify, this isn't a tactic developed from experience with shaving requests... more just random people wanting to "walk and talk with me" or asking for money.) Anyways, back to the dream. So, I started to walk away, but he grabbed me from behind and continued to demand that I shave him. When I refused, he started threatening to hurt (kill?) me. So, I started screaming for help right there in the aisle of Wal-Mart. Someone started holding him back and I took that opportunity to grab the trimmer from the guy and throw it across the store. (I'm not sure how that is really helpful, but whatever.)
Once I got free from him, I apparently gained access to the employee break room where my brother was waiting there to comfort me. So, I just stood there and hugged him for a while. Then, I stooped down to tie my shoe. When I stood back up to hug Grant again, Chris (who was apparently an employee of Wal-Mart) was there in his place. I don't remember much else other than that an attorney wanted to talk to me on my way out.
Weird.

A few pictures as proof of state 43

This is my proof that I was in Kansas... that I am holding a Kansas magnet. Because, obviously, this is foolproof.

Me with Maddie and Lizzie (Annie's girls). We had fun getting to know each other for a few days. Yay!

Me and Jeremy! (Apparently, there were no pictures of Annie??? Sorry!!)

Me with the Nelson kids. (Again, no pictures of Lisa!! AAACK!!)

I'm sorry, but is this not the cutest thing ever??

The way the midwest won

I've known for many-a-year that I'm allergic to spring. However, I've most recently been reminded that I am oh-so-allergic to Midwest May. Holy cow! Seriously, I haven't had this serious of a reaction in a long, long time. Perhaps, not even since the horrific outdoor date in Philly a few years ago where I was so full of allergens and sneezing and such that there was absolutely no way that any other human would want to touch me, let alone the hot-former-coworker guy. But, I digress. The point is that I am pretty much unable to go outside here and am quickly acquiring a claritin addiction. Throw a couple of cats into the mix and I am feeling pretty suffer-y. Yuk. Oh well, seeing friends of awesomeness is totally worth it.
Down with pollens!

A Week Away From Reality, Phase 1

So, after all the chaos of getting the new season launched and a new performing arts center opened, I was finally able to slip away for a week prior to my summer classes beginning. So, on Tuesday I flew into Kansas City for a week-long getaway in Kansas (plus airport time in MO). In addition to this being my 43^rd state (yahoo!), I get to spend some long overdue quality time with two of my favorite people. Since Tuesday, I’ve been hanging out with my friend Lisa and her family. We went to both college and grad school together, but haven’t seen each other at all since they moved out to Topeka about 3 years ago. It is so good to reconnect with someone who knows so much of my history and with whom I am completely comfortable just being myself. And, to boot, I get to hang out with kids, which I never get to do. It’s been pretty cool to hang out with Joshua (5), Kayla (3), and Tyler (1) the last few days and realize that they have no idea that I am completely experience-less with kids. They just trust me and love me and want to hang out with me. There’s something so charming about children that just expect you to be a part of their life from the moment they meet you. It’s a crazy-stark contrast to my usual day-to-day life, but it’s really quite refreshing.

Tomorrow, I’m on to Kansas, Phase 2: Jeremy, Annie, and the girls. More reports soon.