Hit and miss.

Miss. Week before last, I missed a Weight Watchers meeting for the first time ever. As a teacher, I'm obligated to work three athletic events during the school year, and I was scheduled for a softball game that night. I did not like missing the meeting, but...

Hit. When I returned last week, I had lost seven pounds. Seven pounds! Crazy. But it was definitely nice to know that I could hang in there without being dependent on the meeting. I'm not tempted to go rogue or anything, but my independent success was comforting.

Hit. The fifty-pound mark! I'm there! Or at least I was there last week. Very excited and somewhat flabbergasted by this milestone. That night at the meeting during the "awards" segment, I racked up two five-pound stars, a fifty-pound charm, and my 16-week Stay and Succeed charm. Woohoo!

Miss. So I started out so well with the whole Couch to 5K thing. That's probably what accelerated my loss. The first week of C25K, during which you're supposed to run a minute and walk a minute and a half, I didn't ever get to the point where I could run the minute every time. I decided to do Week 1 all over again, and as I progressed through the week, my stamina grew. By the end of the workout on Wednesday, I just knew I'd be able to do it Friday. On Friday, I got halfway through the workout and bombed. I couldn't go on, or so I told myself. I dragged my butt into the house and crashed on the living room floor under the ceiling fan, sweating and huffing and puffing. That was over a week ago. I haven't been back out since. Yeah, I know. I'll put that on my list.

Hit. I hate shopping. I've had very few pleasant shopping experiences in my life. Until last weekend. Turns out, Kohl's in my friend. I found teacher pants that fit! A size or two smaller! So now I don't have to look like a clown. I also found some really cute tops. A size smaller! And y'all, I bought dresses. Like, several of them. One of which I wore just the other night to see Avenue Q. I admit, I thought I looked so cute I had to take a gas-station-restroom self portrait.

Miss. Yeah, I'm doing a fantastic job of keeping this blog updated regularly. Maybe someday.

Not again.

This does not bode well for the immediate future of my writing habit. I am notorious (among myself) for the reverse binge-and-purge of good deeds.

But I could not stop myself.

In another requisite end-of-year reflection, I am forced to recognize how quickly this year has passed. The What Significant Things Happened in 2008? Game was played by my mom and me on Christmas Day as I drowsily drove home from my sister's house. It was meant to keep me awake, as the game Cows was not cutting it.

This year passed with such swiftness, I believe, because of how compartmentalized it was. This is how I think of it: Post-Graduation/Pre-Honduras, Honduras, Post-Honduras/Holly's Wedding/Pre-Teaching, and Teaching. For each segment of time, I was oblivious to anything but my immediate physical and mental surroundings and the tasks at hand. Each chapter, if you will, flowed neatly into the next one in such a way that, without my notice, I graduated college one day and finished my first semester as a real teacher the next -- with a whole year gone in the process.

Perhaps the most surprising realization of all (maybe I exaggerate) was the inspiration for this entry. Looking at my links (almost unfamiliar from the lack of seeing them regularly), I saw the one to my Flickr photos. I knew before I clicked it what I would find: My premium account has expired. The year passed and I did not make my payment. What was more than a thousand photographs and several nifty albums dividing them up has been reduced to 200 pictures, being less than half of my Honduras album. I have not yet decided whether or not to upgrade and save the account. Its practicality has, too, expired for me.

It seems strange to me that silly little bits like this mark the passage of time.

petty grievances

So much for that continuance of lovely weather that I'd hoped for. But it's okay. I have a place in my heart for gloomy, misty days like this, too.

Today hasn't been my favorite day in all my life. Philosophy was okay, but I realized that my discussion board post pretty much completely missed Plato's point. In advanced comp, I came to the conclusion that I can't write a thesis. But at least BarbCobb pushed back the due date for the first draft to Friday. Women's lit sometimes gets on my nerves--just because it can. And the Spanish quiz probably won't be the most successful thing I've ever done. Way to go, Super Homework Queen. You done real good this time.

Oh, and let's talk about the forty million people who flooded the Curris Center today. Ten thousand other students have to eat lunch too. And at least one of them has to do it, study, and be back in class in an hour. That means you and your little name-tags need to quit thinking you're cool because you're eating college food and get out of my way.

Sorry, I'm just a little disgruntled today. Don't worry. It'll pass.

Maybe tomorrow will be better. But let's look at it this way: Today's not over with yet. It still has time to redeem itself. And it's possible that I'm the one needing the redeeming, huh?

whatever is all this mess?

I'm sick. So far, let's see what I've got in my system: Four ibuprofen. One can of chicken noodle soup (John Progresso, if you will). One cup of Equate knock-off TheraFlu. A couple swigs of Gatorade. A popsicle. An orange. I'm trying everything. Except Nyquil or Sudafed or that Tylenol Severe Cold and Flu stuff I bought last time I was sick. I never took any of it because it intimidated me. But the last thing I need to be at about 6:00 (or 6:20, depending on the snoozes) in the morning is comatose. So hopefully, I've pain-killed, nourished, steamed, chilled, electrolyted, and citrused myself back to health. I have N'Ice throat drops on stand-by. I'm sure the cashier at WalMart thought I was crazy. As well as everyone else in the store.

After my mom me callled while I was trying a different method--sleeping it off--she called my sister. She, in turn, called me and gave me a strict WalMart shopping list. So I rolled out of bed pretty much out of it and went to purchase my wellness. Needless to say, I was still asleep as I was perusing the aisles of the store. And it took me about four times as long as a normal trip to get in and out. I would just stand in the aisles looking at shelves and shelves of things going, "What is all this stuff? And what am I looking for?" I still feel that way looking at the words as I type them.

I think that means it's bedtime.