It was almost a "snow-go"

When I woke up last Sunday morning on the day of my race, I expected it to be pouring down rain-- what I did not expect was for it to be snowing. Yes, that's right: big, white flakes falling from the sky. As soon as the race began, the snow changed to rain, but it was FREEZING. Once I started running it wasn't so bad, but right before and after the race was pure torture-- I actually almost started crying afterwards when I was dripping wet and realized that my fingers felt like they had frostbite. Apparently it was the worst weather in the 25-year history of the St. Patrick's Day Dash, but what do you expect from a bizarre winter where Seattle has recorded record inches of snow? In many ways, though, the weather was the least of my troubles. This race happens to be the largest St. Patrick's Day race in the nation (apparently Seattle is really into its Irish heritage-- go figure), and there were 15,100 people running it. It was by far the most congested race I've ever run, and I spent most of my time trying to weave in and out of people. Needless to say I didn't break any records or set any PR's (not that I expected to, anyway, given my dearth of running in the past nine months or so), since the ridiculousness of how over-crowded the roads were made this race nearly impossible to run.

But it was still fun, as all races are, and now I'm excited for what I hope is actual spring weather during the next race that I run (maybe the end of April and/or mid-May).

Countdown to St. Patrick's Day Dash

Well, tomorrow is race day, and I have to wake up bright and early at 7am to head downtown to run the St. Patrick's Day Dash. My "cramming" for this race has gone better than expected: I ran the exact race distance (3.75 miles) twice this week, and was able to do it in a (what I thought was) respectable time. So I'm happy about that. Here's what I'm not happy about: tomorrow it's supposed to be windy and rainy with a high of 44 and an 80% chance of rain. In other words, a pretty unideal running environment: cold, wet, and early in the morning-- not my favorite, I must admit. And despite the fact that people might assume that I should be used to racing in the rain, given that I am in Seattle, after all, I have yet to actually run an official race in crappy weather. Believe it or not, of the 12 races I have run over the past nearly four years, not one of them has been rainy. So there, all you Seattle weather pessimists. It isn't always rainy here. But today it has been, and tomorrow it probably will be, too. Maybe I will run faster to get it over with sooner!

Who laid a big one?

I either have an extremely sensitive sense of smell, or I am legitimately unlucky when it comes to foul odors. Here's my latest incident: the other day I stepped into the elevator of my apartment building and was immediately accosted with an overwhelming smell of farts. Had I known beforehand that someone had dropped a bomb in the elevator (or maybe a few, judging by the intensity of the odor), I would have taken the stairs. But no. I was trapped as I descended three floors to the parking garage, locked in a flatulent chamber of toxic gas. Farting in a confined space is just plain cruel.

Am I supposed to know?

Am I supposed to know exactly what I want to do with my life right now? I feel like everyone I know is so self-assured and on a "path," and I feel like I have eight different paths going eight different directions, possibly with eight different dead-ends. Does anyone else feel like this? Sometimes I think I am the only one who feels like this, but I know (at least, I hope) that that's not true. All I know is that I'm 25 years old, and while that sounds like it means "adult" when I say it out loud and looks like the word "adult" when I write it down on paper, it's really just two numbers, joined together out of necessity of the passage of time, that have no connection to the word "adult."

Life was so much easier when I was (technically) a kid.

Bleh

The thought of life right now and everything about it at this very moment makes me want to puke.

WALL-E watches

Yesterday, I was reaching behind the passenger seat of my car to get something, when I stumbled across not one, but two, plastic blue WALL-E watches in their original cellophane packaging.

I have absolutely no idea where they came from, who they belong to, or why they were under the seat in my car. They look like Happy Meal toys or prizes from a cereal box...

If you or anyone you know has any information about the WALL-E watches, please contact me. In the meantime, I am the proud new owner of WALL-E watches, featuring blue plastic wristbands and a digital time display.

Matchmaker, matchmaker make me a match!

It's all about Millionaire Matchmaker on Bravo. If you haven't watched this show yet, you've gotta check it out. The show is a snapshot into the day-to-day operations of the Millionaire's Club, a matchmaking business run by snarky, matriarchal CEO Patty (who looks like a genetic hybrid of former WWF wrestler Chyna and Lucy Lawless's Xena). The Millionaire's Club caters to fulfilling the romantic whims of spoiled, ridiculously rich men who are allegedly searching for their soul mates. Patty's job is to "fix" the men's flaws and increase their "datability" through life coaching (a process individually tailored to meet the needs of each client) while simultaneously assembling a bevy of beautiful women to introduce to her millionaires in hopes of forming the perfect pair. The most fascinating part of the show is not just the hopelessly self-indulgent men that Patty takes on as clients, but her uncanny observations and insights into the subtle chemistry of coupling.

It ain't easy, folks

People can say what they want about teachers, but becoming one is not nearly as easy as some claim it is. Granted, requirements vary from state to state, but the process of updating my placement file, writing cover letters, asking for letters of recommendation, and endlessly tweaking my resume is not only completely exhausting, but really goes to show that there is a lot involved in this process. And all of this doesn't even include the fact that I still have to go through the motions of actually applying for jobs, waiting to hear back, interviewing if I'm lucky, and then waiting to hear back again. But luckily I have been in hyper-focused super-ambitious mode lately, so even though the process is exhausting, I'm willing to work hard.

It's a "turdition"

I was working with one of my students today, helping her revise a long research paper that she is working on. She spelled "tradition" t-u-r-d-i-t-i-o-n. Yes, that's right. Turd-ition. I managed to keep a straight face, but all the while was suppressing my laughter.

St. Pat's Day Dash

I'm officially registered! I haven't run a race since the half-marathon, which was way back in May, so I'll probably be a little rusty. This race is 3.75 miles-- a little longer than a traditional 5K, but not nearly as long as the half. One of my New Year's resolutions for '09 is to run a new race, so this will cover that goal. Though I'm really excited for the race, the problem is that I haven't been running much lately. So basically, I'm going to have to cram for this race over the next three weeks. You might not think it's possible to cram for a race, but I read an article about a guy who "crammed" for a marathon (or maybe it was a half-marathon) only a week before the race and ended up doing decent. Granted, I'm pretty sure you can only "cram" for a race when you already have a solid running foundation but just haven't been running a lot lately. Anyway, that is my current plan: cram for the St. Patrick's Day Dash, and see if I can achieve my goal time, which is 37 minutes. I will post my progress on here to hold me more accountable. And then hopefully after the race I will be able to determine how effective cramming really is.

Teaching in the classroom

So I've decided that I do in fact want to be a teacher after all (leave it to me to make this decision in the midst of a seriously crappy economy). Needless to say, I'm in for a challenge. But I'm optimistic. Education is a pretty stable field, so at the very least I should be able to sub next year. Why the change of heart? Well, I guess it's not a complete change of heart, because it's not like I'm moving to another field. Mainly I want to actually use the degree that I paid (am paying) $30,000 for. And there are a few other factors. Like not having benefits, having to pay quarterly taxes, and a growing feeling of restlessness that tutoring just isn't challenging enough. And it's hard working off-hours when all of your friends and boyfriend work regular hours (though I do love being able to sleep in). There are lots of great things about my job now, but basically I want to have my own classroom and work more hours and make more money and have summers off and go on long, extravagant vacations when I'm not teaching and write my book. Is that too much to ask for? I think not.

Ridiculous

This is the degree of cuteness that I am forced
to deal with on a daily basis.

Blog revamping

I've decided my blog needed a new look, so I'm in the process of revamping it. There will be a few new features along the side, so stay tuned.

In the meantime, Marisa's back in the blogosphere, so I will be more consistently posting again.

25!

I officially hit the quarter-century mark today!

Scandalous Suprise

When I got home from work today, I discovered a pair of green floral underpants lying on the floor, a few steps away from my apartment door. I'm pretty sure that they just fell out of someone's laundry hamper, since the laundry room is right next door to me, but it was still pretty awkward. I kind of wanted to kick them further away from my door so people wouldn't think that they belonged to me, but I decided that would be kind of rude.

Hello Greece, here I come!

In less than two weeks, I will be in Greece. It's still so surreal. I can't believe I'm going to walk on the same ground that the ancient Greeks did nearly three thousand years ago. I have been busy researching and planning our trip like crazy, and I think C and I have got a pretty good itinerary going. Highlights include visiting the Acropolis, home of the revered Parthenon, an all-day excursion to Delphi, site of the ancient oracle of Apollo, a tour of Athens by night, and a day trip to the island of Hydra, where there are only donkeys for transportation. Coincidentally enough, some of my students are currently reading the Odyssey, so I've had ancient Greece on the brain for the past month or so. This is one of those trips that I'm so excited for I feel like I might literally burst...but thank goodness work has been busy enough to keep me preoccupied for the time being.

Pinnacle of my career

Well, I have finally reached the pinnacle of my career as a professional tutor: one of my students called me "mommy."

And the funniest part is, I'm technically not even old enough to be his mom (unless I gave birth to him at the age of 11 1/2, which may actually be technically possible, although highly improbable).

It's been awhile...

I know, I know-- I've neglected my blog for over a month now. And I'm actually legitimately bummed because I've had several anecdotes that would have been fun to share...from being made fun of by an Apu lookalike for driving a U-Haul to being serenaded outside on my lunch break with a really awkward rendition of Sean Kingston's "Beautiful Girls."

Unfortunately, in the world of blogging, too much time has elapsed for me to write about these stories and give them the proper credit they deserve.

So what have I been up to this past month? In a nutshell, moving, unpacking, getting settled, spending exorbitant amounts of money at Target on apartment decor, and visiting my familia at their new Houston hideaway.

Sadly, amidst all of the chaos associated with moving, I have barely been running. I can't believe I ran a half-marathon three and a half months ago, and now I've probably run that total distance over the course of a month. Now that school has started up again, I'm transitioning from my "normal" summer work hours back to my "weird" afternoon/evening hours, so hopefully I'll get my butt in gear and start running again. There's a race called the Pumpkin Push that's held in October, and I'm thinking about doing it because, (1) I need a goal, (2) I love pumpkins, and (3) the last time I ran at the park where it was held was at a cross-country meet in high school...which was 10 years ago (scary, I know). All this talk about running means I should probably go run now before it's too late...

A thank you note

Dear Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny,

From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

I DO NOT want it that way!

Last night I drifted off into a peaceful slumber around 12:30am. 45 minutes later, somewhere in between stages two and three of sleep, I was awakened by the sound of music emanating from directly below my bedroom window. The fog slowly dissipated from my head and I was able to make out the song as the melancholy lyrics rattled my windowpanes: "I Want it that Way" by the Backstreet Boys. A man was belting it out at the top of his lungs in a truly heartfelt performance. Now, don't get me wrong, I love a good BSB rendition as much as the next nostalgic 24-year-old, but being awakened at one in the morning on a work night because some dude has an unrequited crush on Nick Carter? Not cool. (But definitely funny).