What Just Happened

One of the things that I really liked when I first got into running was how dark it was. I would go after dinnertime during the winter, and it was just me and the moon. Now, they've expanded construction to the far side of the subdivision, so my boulevard of broken dreams has streetlights now.

boooooo

Although, running through sprinklers owned by people who negligently water the sidewalk is a summer pleasantry. It cools the legs, and if you can catch the breeze just right, it feels amazing.

In connection with my last post, I've decided that instead of adding an extra hour to my day, I'm going to attempt to slow time down. When I do things out of my routine, the days seem to last extra long, so I went to the park tonight to exercise instead of running the same old route in my subdivision.

First of all, the park is awesome. There's water and trees and grass and forests and ducks so many ducks there are many ducks yes ducks. And it's great. An established forest is such a nice change from the suburban pavement and construction scenery.

Secondly, I high-five trees when I run past their low hanging branches.

Thirdly, I can't NOT run to Avril Lavigne's song "Girlfriend".

Fourthly, I can't decide if it's okay to run in just shorts and a sports bra. I always see pictures of girls working out in a sports bra in magazines, and there are guys at the park who run topless, but I can't figure out where to draw the line.
Maybe sports bras are like the skinny jeans of working out. Like, if you can rock it, then you could. But if you can't, then for the love of all that is good and holy, don't.

Fifthftlhftlhflthly, I drove home with my windows down blaring playing and screaming singing to Taylor Swift. I pulled in my garage, turned off the car and kept singing. Then I was like, "Oh, look, the recycle people came. I'll just go wheel in my bin." So I keep singing the whole way down my driveway because there's no one out here, right? And then I grab the bin, turn around, and there's my neighbor, enjoying a cup of tea on her porch.

And waving at me.

It's like that time I was singing and my dad sneaked up on me and sprayed me with the water hose.
Except without the water hose.
But with all the overwhelming embarrassment of an eight year old girl.

Should I go back should I go back should I,
TWS

Asthenia; Blink 182

Gear

I organized the hospitality drawer.

The hospitality drawer is a drawer in our kitchen that Mike and I used to throw all the little extras that we saved from restaurants and hotels. Napkins, duck sauce, Wendy's chili crackers, sugar packets, Domino's parmasean cheese, Taco Bell sauce and the like.
Before, it was just a huge assorted mess, which was kind of overwhelming once we started running low on stuff and I had to go rummaging around.
So I organized it into neat little bags. Now when my dad asks for jelly, I can open up the drawer and quickly see that, no, I still don't have any jelly.

Someone put googly eyes on my phone at work. It was a great day.

Tomorrow night, I plan to drive to Savannah, have a nice dinner, spend some wedding store credit (OMG TOASTER), buy Mike some new jeans, maybe get some ice cream...

This is after, of course, we go to the DMV to get my name changed on my license. I was able to get my social security number changed through the mail. I used food stamps.

My food stamps:

I had to buy these from the government.

I'm not even sure Mike wants new jeans. He ripped his only pair chasing after Sam in the backyard, so his Fridays haven't been casual for weeks.

I offered to take him shopping for his birthday, but I realized that was more like a punishment than a gift, since he really hates shopping and trying on clothes. But I can't just buy him stuff and expect him to like it, much less wear it.

Me: I should've just bought you something for your birthday. 

Mike: I'll use my birthday money, I promise.

Me: But I feel like I have this outstanding loan to you. A Michael payable.

Mike: Well, at least I'm not charging you interest.

Me: Are you sure?

Mike: Yes...unless you're interested.

Can you believe I laughed at that? I laughed at that pun. 

I was also on some mild painkillers at the time, but still. I laughed.

Something has been heavy on my heart lately.

Something that I went years thinking at which I was good.

Time management.

In school, this meant getting all your S done before the deadlines.

But now, it's more to make sure life doesn't just pass me by.

I was talking to my dad about this, and he says time isn't moving faster. We just have more "landmarks" than children do, so it just appears to go by faster now than when we were kids.

I've done some of my own research. Here are the things that take the most time:

1. Sleeping

2. Watching TV

3. Miscellaneous crap like reading the mail, checking Facebook, doing chores, plucking eyebrows, picking out your outfit for the next day

Which is why weekends go by so fast because I'm mainly sleeping, watching TV, and doing chores. Mystery solved.

This is how a typical workday is for me:

7:00 - wake up

7 - 7:15 - get dressed/makeup

7:15-7:20 Go downstairs, get coffee

7:20 -7:50ish Bible study

7:50 - 8:05 pack lunch, brush teeth, unload the dishwasher if I feel so inclined

8:05-8:22 commute

8:22 - 8:30 walk across parking lot

8:30 - 5 work

5 - 5:07 walk across parking lot

5:07 - 5:30 commute

5:30 - 7 change clothes, eat dinner, watch shows with Mike

7 - 10 ACTIVITIEEEEEEEEEEES

10 - 10:30 shower/dry hair/read Pillars of the Earth

10:30 - 11ish go to bed

What's interesting to note is that it takes me one more minute to walk from the car to work than it does to walk from work to the car. True story.

Activities include fun ones like playing guitar, sewing, and blogging, but it also includes unfun ones like exercising, cleaning, mowing, and paying bills.

But 7-10 just goes by SO FAST for me at night. Sometimes I just sit on the couch thinking about things and then BAM it's 9 already. 

I feel an Enya song coming on. 

whoooooo can say where the rooooad goessssssssssss where they day flowssssss only tiiiiiiiiiiiiime

So I've thought about how I can shove an extra hour in the day. 

How about getting up at 6 instead of 7?

Theoretically, I'd wake up, and get exercise out of the way. I'd have a nice breakfast and maybe clean some around the house. Or I could sew a little and study German/write my German pen pal (oh yes- I have one now!). 

Then do my normal routine starting at 7:15 or so and go to work.

That way, when I come home, I don't have to exercise, and I can just do more activities. But then I feel like I'd get tired an hour earlier, and then it'd just be my same routine with one hour shifted to the front.

Plus, when I get tired, I can't do anything useful anyway. I start acting like a computer that hasn't had a Windows update in a while.

So that's the caviat. The catch 22. The way Milo Minderbinder buys eggs from himself and sells them to himself to make a profit.

I don't really enjoy costume jewelry,

TWS

Tutelage

I was heckled earlier by a fan who urged me to post.
I know. I am SUCH a slacker.
I'll give you the same excuse that I have for not studying German anymore, not playing Roller Coaster Tycoon, and only researching investments on my lunch break:

I get paid to spend 8+ hours in front of a computer, which makes me want to come home and not sit at a computer. So instead, I come home and do ACTIVITIES!!!!!!!

Plus, it's summer, so, yeah.

The blog you should be really excited about is this one. I have THREE, count 'em, THREE new outfits to update on and they are some of my best projects yet. I feel like I'm getting good at things.
According to this illustration, it only takes 7 years to master something. I've been sewing for about 6 years, so I guess I'm approaching it.

Which means my mom is like a god...ess.

I don't feel like I've almost mastered it, though, but there's definitely some evidence. I'm even taking out some of my old poop projects and either fixing them or putting the materials to better use!

Also, I can listen to music or "watch" Gossip Girl while I sew. Serena is retarded. And I just found out today that there is a band called True Story.
True story.

Mike and I built a computer last night. I guess that's what married people do. It took three and a half hours, but it works. Building a computer was never on my bucket list of things to do.
Still isn't.

 I've realized that I've one of these people that saves everything to their desktop.
The following folders on my desktop are named as follows:
"That random folder I miss so much"
"For now"
"New Folder"
And yet I still have a tornado of files surrounding them all.
I think my brain remembers thing by location.
What's the file called? I have no idea.
Where is it? 4 icons up, 2 over. Rise over run, baby.

In order to clean it up a little bit, I dragged and dropped everything in another folder that I simply called "Atrocities."
Now I'm not going to be able to find anything.
Not like I'll ever really need to. Bazinga.

I think one of my projects one day will be to go through all my files and really delete stuff.
Right now, I'll ashamedly admit that I'm still in that vulnerable phase where I come across some huge accounting project from school that I could very well delete but instead think, "What if I NEED it? How will I validate my degree and existence if I don't hold onto all of my spreadsheets of fictional companies!?!?!"

I'm so logical.

I have become better over time, though. Much like Sam, who has become fatter over time.

*picking up KFC one day because sometimes you just gotta use KFC coupons*
Me: Can we have chicken in the car?
Mike: NO! We're not going to be like fat Americans who eat in the car! We're going to be fat Americans who go home and eat it in front of the TV.

I'm now going to talk to you about two things:
1. My blogging process, when I do actually get around to doing it
2. My new job

Blogging Process

Good ideas are kind of like farts. They just come out of nowhere, sometimes when you're not expecting it. And sometimes, they happen in the shower and then you are suffocating yourself in the glass box and cannot wait to get out so you can breathe/write it down so you don't forget it.

Sometimes it will be just a quote, line, verse to a song, or just a culmination of ideas and ruminations.
But these are GOLDEN NUGGETS, and they must be saved!

So whenever I have a good bloggable idea, I go ahead and type it as a draft. Then, when I feel like writing, I just start going and occasionally pick one of these drafts to include or add onto or leave out altogether.
Currently, I have 13 drafts, so it's not like I haven't been busy. Unfortunately, some of them relate to my former job, which isn't relevant anymore.

Example:

Me: How can I pack pasta for lunch? Because pasta doesn't store well, so when you open it up the next day, it's all limp and mealy. What I'm hoping is that I can put pasta sauce on top of the noodles, and then when it microwaves, the sauce will ignite the pasta and burn the building down and then I won't have to go to work anymore.
Mike: Wow. I did not see that coming.

My New Job

I feel nothing like the former paragraph but I am SO AFRAID of saying that I like it because I also liked tax at first, when it was learning everything and doing the fun little work before it got all complicated, stressful, and boring.

But yes, I like it. I like it a lot, actually. It makes me think this is what I should've started off doing right from college.

Again, I'm still in the learning phases, which is really fun for me, but what's also nice is that I have a nice give 'n take of tasks to do.
Working in tax was like standing on a beach watching a tsunami come.
Working in corporate is like sitting in the sand, feeling the nice, ebb and flow of the daily tide.

I took a day off, just to enjoy today.
I'm also going to help some friends move later.
There's something about moving in three digit degree weather that makes me feel alive and dead at the same time.

Haulin' cube,
TWS