verbingnouns

Progress & Regress

Last week threw me off. Having so many days off in a row messed up my internal clock so ever since last Wednesday, I'm asking myself everyday "What day is it?". Thanksgiving week was great. I got to see a few old friends who were in Funroe for the holiday, then I went to Nac to my parents. R & A came over with my sweet nephew and the McIntosh's came over from Dallas. A good time was had by all. It was a good mix of things to do and nothing to do...and lots of eating. Too much eating. Oh well, that's what the running's for (hypothetically).
I'm still having a love/hate with the running. In once sense, I'm all, "Hey, I can run 14 miles!" and in another (more realistic) sense, I'm like, "running 14 miles isn't all that fun." But I'm doing it man. If it kills me, I'm going to do it. The big 16 miler is approaching. And I would just like to take this time for a shout out to my old friend Robbie. First of all: Happy Birthday (yesterday). Second of all, thanks for putting up with Angela's running so much. I know it's time consuming, but the end is near! (While I'm at it: Happy Birthday to Deacon, too, if you're reading this. Way to plan a trip to Monroe when I'll be out of the country. I guess we can still be friends.)
In other news: the Christmas CD is made. The playlist has been compiled and the discs have been burned. All that remains is some sort of cover. Hopefully, I'll finish soon so I can get them out this weekend. I feel the need to write a justification (or at least an explanation) for the CD's title ("Slim Christmas") as well as some of the songs. I'm going to try to get it done in time to send with the CD. If not, I'll post here on the ol' blog.
We got our Christmas tree tonight. It hasn't fully unfolded itself from being in a pile o' trees. It will be beautiful, but right now it looks kind of pitiful. I understand that it's not in the Christmas spirit yet - it's hard to be when it's so darn hot outside.
One more thing: I'm almost done reading War & Peace. Man, what a great book! I don't know why I'm always surprised when a classic work of literature turns out to be enjoyable to read. Good stuff. I wish I was taking a class on it so someone smarter than I could tell me all the themes and such of the book.

Thankful

This year, I'm thankful for another year of life. I'm thankful that I still enjoy my life, my church, my job, my family and my friends, and that they are all still there even when I'm struggling. I'm thankful that I've made it through some tough times, spiritually, physically, and emotionally. I'm thankful for the things I've learned by running. I'm thankful that I'm not in charge of the jello for Thanksgiving this year. I'm thankful for music. I'm thankful for easy access to great books. I'm thankful that I don't always get what I want and for the ability to see that it's usually a good thing. I'm thankful for hope. I'm thankful that (so far) I've always had the opportunity to try harder tomorrow.

Friday Night (not-all-that) Fun

I can't believe I've almost made it through this week. I had my doubts, believe you me. Now I'm fighting with myself over whether I'm actually allowed to go to bed early on Friday night. I feel like I'm giving in to getting old. I could use the sleep though.
I ran 14 miles today. Fourteen, baby! We ran 14 last weekend, too, but this time was MUCH better. I actually really enjoyed the first 10, and wasn't too miserable until the last mile or so. Last week, I was seriously doubting our ability to run a marathon. I admitted this doubt to Angela today and she said she had the same feeling last week. Neither of us wanted to admit it to each other. We try to hide our doubts from each other, and I have to say, it's a pretty good policy. I'm really thankful to have a running partner. We frequently have to spur each other on to love and good works.
I'm heading to Shreveport tomorrow for my next Team Thailand meeting. I was supposed to make a list of things I'm interested in seeing while I'm there. I like doing yoga when I get the time, so I thought I'd put that down. Then I googled it - not sure I want to put that on the list anymore.
The Christmas CD is officially in the works - almost done actually. I'll try to get them out soon so all you kids can get your Christmas cheer on.
Okay, that's enough. I'm going to bed now.

In Which I Am a Little Teapot

From Misc

This entry serves several purposes:
1. To show off the cute apron Micah brought me from LA
2. To see how the "Blog This" feature of Picasa works
3. To show you that I still remember how to be a little teapot (short, stout, handle, spout - the works)

Potty Talk

Okay, this is probably entirely unladylike of me to write about this, but here goes:

One of the things I've often heard complaints about from international travellers is the bathroom situation. I've heard tales of toilet paper that was more like Saran wrap that paper; complete lack of paper; the bidet; etc. (I've noted to myself to pack some tissue during any international excursion.) I'd even heard tales of the European squat toilet, but I wrote it off as a funny story that had no import to my life.

Then, one of my fellow Thailand sojourners e-mails me this. I'm almost speechless (because, you know, if you can't say anything nice...). So I will limit my comment to this: have these people not seen the wonder that is the American toilet?!?

At least I know now instead of later.

What I Should Have Done

This weekend was full of thing that I should have done, but didn't. I'm going to blame it on the running. You see, we had a lovely little 14-miler scheduled for Saturday, which we started at least an hour later than planned, and let's just say: it takes a long stinkin' time to run that far. Not only that, I didn't enjoy one single minute of it. I'm feeling pretty discouraged about running, but I feel like we've come too far to quit. Maybe this week's runs will be better.
But anyway: after the run, I was exhausted and pretty much didn't want to do any of the things that I had planned on doing, which means I need to get to work this week. As is typical, I'm more drawn to the things I want to do than the things I need to do. Why am I like that??

Here's what I need to do this week:
(1) research things for my team's presentation in Thailand (must have at least part of this done before Saturday)
(2) work on learning Thai
(4) get out fall/winter clothes; put away spring/summer clothes
(5) compile a Christmas list of the things I want to get people as well as a list of things that I would like (why do I not want to do this?)

Here's what I want to do instead:
(1) read War & Peace (seriously - I can barely put it down)
(2) shop for inexpensive navy blue shoes (I found some I liked last week - they were on sale, but I talked myself out of buying them, then when I decided that I could buy them, they were back to full price and now I can't decide if I should get them or not - because, really: how often do I need navy shoes?)
(3) make more useless lists on my blog
(4) anything other than what I should be doing.

Every Entry Needs a Title, but "Weekend Update" is Overused and I've Called too Many Entries "Miss Cellany" and Everyone Probably Rolls Their Eyes at That, but Here's What's Up With Me These Days:

I had a very nice weekend. Though my roommate doesn't believe there are trees in Texas, I spent the weekend in the Angelina National Forest at Pineywoods Conservation Center for a church retreat. I waffled about whether I was going to actually go or not, but I'm really glad I did. I got to catch up with some people I haven't been able to visit with much lately, get to know some people I didn't know very well and meet some new people. I got home last night a little later than I prefer, which made me wish for an extra day of the weekend, but of course, that didn't happen.
As I was driving to Texas, I tried to learn to speak Thai. Chuckle. Ha ha. Ha ha, ha ha. Ha! That's all I'm going to say about that right now.
On my way back home, I suddenly decided I was ready for Christmas music (a little later than usual this year). I'm glad I had the realization that it's okay to pull out the Christmas music now because I've reached a point where I have very little patience with the music that I'm typically surrounded by (which is a somewhat broad variety), but not having music at all doesn't work for me either. Now I have an alternative.
This week looks like it will be pretty dull, yet packed with things that need to be done. I'm going to try to enjoy the monotony because there's always something a little too exciting around the corner that makes me long for the peace and quiet again.

Been There, Done That

Sorry. All I can do these days are make lists and copy memes. In the immortal words of Curly from The Three Stooges: "I'm trying to think, but nothing happens."

Things I've done (in bold):

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain (actually, it was a butte and not much of one, at that).
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris (I don't suppose Paris, Texas counts)
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game (and survived the crush afterwards)
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk.
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe.
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream (it was a fleeting thought)
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident (hey, the road was really icy!)
150. Saved someone’s life

HT: Jeanette