Putting 2014 to Bed

Time for the year in non sequitor!  The following is a hodgepodge made of the first sentence from each month's first blog post:

Ever since I started training for my first race, I have been humbled by the support I continue to receive from friends, family, and even strangers.  Y'all know I have trouble accepting compliments, right?  After Princess was relatively unstressful for my body, I finally came to the conclusion that it was time to change my run-walk intervals. It's been two months since my last check-in (and four since the first).

I just uploaded my research paper -- the final assignment of my undergrad career.

It's been six months since I posted the first of my "during" photos. The official RunDisney training program for the WDW Marathon started at the beginning of this month. Well, it's been two months since my last check-in, and what a crazy two months it's been. I don’t think I can say enough positive things about this race. Happy October!  This past Saturday, Sarah and I went out to Ft. Wilderness to do our 17-mile marathon training run. I have to warn any non-regular readers right now that this isn't going to be a standard race recap.

So, you know, I guess I did some running.  Have you heard?  At the end of 2013, I posted the following about my hopes for 2014:

I wish for less drama and more fun in 2014.  I will graduate from college a mere 14 years behind schedule.  I think I can (at least) double the number of half marathons I ran this year.  I hope to get a new job, though the idea of leaving the one I have now makes my heart ache a little.  I need to handle my personal business (including the D-word and some financial stuff) and not hope that everything will straighten out if I ignore it long enough.  And I'm going to nurture my new and old friendships.  After all, no Jamie is an island.

Well, I did graduate.  I did (more than) double the number of half marathons, from 3 to 10.  I did get a new job, and it did break my heart to leave the old one.  We did file for divorce.  And I think I did nurture my friendships better.  At the very least, I got to see Bill for the first time in a decade (that can't POSSIBLY be right...can it??), and had the most wonderful two weeks with Jackie's family in NJ.  And I have a few new friends!  I love them all.  YOU all. 

Truthfully, the year was overwhelmingly positive, and truly surprising.  A year ago, I didn't know that I'd even be accepted to grad school, let alone have wrapped up my second semester with a 4.0.  I didn't know I'd take myself on a three-week solo road trip as far north as NY and west as State College.  I didn't know anything about the job I have now.  I hadn't seriously considered signing up for a marathon.

I also couldn't have predicted that 2014 would be the year of the cousins.  My northeast road trip helped that -- I spent time in NYC with Jenn and her family plus a bonus day with Alex and Megumi.  I also got to see Dawn.  I saw Suzanne for the first time in forever, and we talked the day away like a pair of old friends.  Joanne came up twice, and I had a blast with her and her crazy friends.

If the medals on my wall are to be believed, I raced 148.3 miles (131 miles of half marathons + 47.3 miles in other shorter distance races) in 2014, and I think I trained almost twice as many miles.  So you know, that was a significant amount of my time, energy, and focus this year.  It kicked ass.  You should feel my quads.  I HAVE QUADS!  I didn't lose much (any?) weight, but that's mostly because I seem to have developed an insatiable lust for Taco Bell, Chick Fil A's breakfast burritos, and other amazing deep-fried drive-through delicacies.  Somewhere along the line, I realized I was running for the love of running, and not for any related goal.  I like it better this way.

And just for the record, I'm actually doing some of my living off the record.  I'm still learning a lot about me, and one thing I've learned is that not every misstep needs to be documented for posterity and/or the judgment of others.  I like being able to sit down with friends and be able to answer "what's new?" with something other than "it's all on Facebook!"  I like having untold stories.  And I like having a little mystery.

So 2015?  Oh my GOD...I can't even imagine what's to come!  In January alone, I'm running a marathon, I'm doing a fun new thing at work (spending a weekend as a company rep during a conference), Scott and I have a court date, and I'm taking a weekend girls' trip to Atlanta for a 15K.  I'm taking spring semester off from school, and using that extra time to take an 8 week "dance & tone" class after work with my boss.  I'm also determined to clean the house and make it presentable.

It feels somehow selfish and ungrateful to ask for my 2015 to be better than 2014. This year has truly been an embarrassment of riches.  I feel guilty even asking for more of the same.  I think it's possible that I'll look back on 2014 as the biggest, boldest, craziest, busiest, newest, most eventful year of my life.  I hope that I continue to grow in 2015.  I hope I stay as happy as I am right now.  And more than anything, I hope that my friends and loved ones will be as happy as I am right now. 

Happy New Year!  I wish you nothing but the best in 2015.  May all your dreams come true!

Guess What Day It Is...

It's the day of the traditional Year in Non Sequitur!  If you've been with the blog for any length of time, you'll know that the following is a hodgepodge made of the first sentence from each month's first blog post.

I think this screenshot says a lot about my running progress: 19 miles one week, then only 2 the next.  Take a look at my summer work schedule.  Six Classes...I have six classes to go until I finally have my Bachelor of Arts degree.  Last night I tried out a new recipe that I copied out of a magazine at work.  I don't think I've mentioned the Zimmerman case here before, and I probably won't mention it again, but I was sort of shocked to wake up this morning to a "not guilty" verdict and to find so many of my out-of-state friends on Facebook proclaiming once again how effed up Florida is.  They switched up the process for Candlelight choir this year.  I don't think I've mentioned on the blog (though Facebook knows alllll about it!) that my work building has a... considerable challenge with German cockroaches.  Oh hi, guess what!  I had a really good idea a few months back: heading out to do my longer training runs out at Disney resorts. Thirty-eight hours ago, I was waking up for the Space Coast Half Marathon.

Honestly, of all the years I've been putting these posts together (they really are some of my favorites!), I don't recall a post that less represented the peaks and valleys.  And boy howdy, there have been some peaks and valleys.  Among others:

• School!  Though I had hoped to graduate in December, I think things worked out for the best.  Two semesters on the Dean's List, all A's and A-'s, and just one class this spring before graduation.  Plus, my Master's application is filled out, resume and cover letter uploaded, and references secured.  All that's left is to pay the application fee and order my transcripts.
• Running!  There were some significant roadblocks - physical, emotional, and other - during the first 3/4 of this year, but I ended up completing THREE half-marathons and a bunch of other races.  I dragged friends into running 5k's, encouraged (and sometimes inspired) others to run longer distances, made runner friends, and can't seem to stop signing up for more races!  Running has become my outlet, my therapy, and on multiple occasions the one thing I could point to and say "I'm proud of this."  I wonder when I'll stop gazing at my medal display and getting a little choked up...
• Separation! (note: the exclamation point was just there for style continuity -- this falls into the "valleys" category for sure)  It was hard then, and continues to be hard in so many ways.  I know I handled a lot of things terribly - things that never hit the blog - and that this shit hurts, but I still believe I'm on the path I'm destined to be on.  
• Other assorted drama! (again, a valley)  There are a lot of people in the world who are selfish, mean-spirited, broken in any number of ways, or who bring negativity into your life in ways you can't possibly anticipate and don't understand.  I've had quite a few of those people meander along my path this year.  I'm not playing the victim card, because sometimes you invite the wolf in because if you squint and tilt your head to the left maybe he looks a little like a sheep... But I've definitely learned that when my health, heart, and happiness are on the line I am quite capable of standing up for myself.  (hmm...maybe not completely a valley after all...)
• New Friends! I've made more new friends this year than I can count.  Most of them exist in only one facet of my life - work friends being a prime example - but having people to rant at, laugh with, cry to, and even run with has made this year much more positive than I feel I deserved.
• Old Friends (and of course family)!  Some are in my life now more than they have been in a decade or more.  Seriously, who'd have ever expected me to be planning running vacations with high school friends?  Some have been around for forever.  They are my biggest cheerleaders, my secret keepers, and my ultimate supporters.  Thinking about the outpouring of love and understanding I've gotten when I needed it the most continues to humble me.

I've learned more about myself this year than possibly any single year of my life.  I brag about the things that I love, and continue to examine the things that aren't so great.  I've grown in ways I can barely fathom, and also done some incredibly stupid, careless, and irresponsible things. Like I said, peaks and valleys! 

Looking ahead, I wish for less drama and more fun in 2014.  I will graduate from college a mere 14 years behind schedule.  I think I can (at least) double the number of half marathons I ran this year.  I hope to get a new job, though the idea of leaving the one I have now makes my heart ache a little.  I need to handle my personal business (including the D-word and some financial stuff) and not hope that everything will straighten out if I ignore it long enough.  And I'm going to nurture my new and old friendships.  After all, no Jamie is an island.

Happy New Year to you and yours.  May your 2014 be filled with love, happiness, and wonderful memories.  From the bottom of my heart, thank you for coming along on this voyage with me.

Closing the Book on 2012

It's weird to say, but I'm hesitant to leave 2012 behind.  It's been such an amazing year for me. How can next year possibly match it?

You've all been along with me for the ride, and I'm not going to re-hash everything that happened.  You can read the archives if you want.  There were only 45 posts this year...shouldn't take too long.  Anyway, here is my traditional year-end non-sequitor overly-hyphenated wrap-up: (the first word in each sentence links back to the first blog post of each month)

I'm not making resolutions.  First of all, I would like to point out that I'm actually following through on the arbitrary goals I put on myself.  On my 30th birthday, my co-worker Donna bought me a big ol' mylar "30" balloon. I wish I had a picture...I think you'd be impressed. This is officially the highest GPA I've had in my collegiate life (previous part-time summer semesters were both in the 3.6 area), and I freaking earned it!

Just a quick update for posterity: Yesterday, I ran my first mile in 13.58 minutes. 

I called Sirius-XM this afternoon because my most recent promotional rate was about to expire.  I thought I'd preserve for posterity a section of the last paper I had to write for my Industrial/Organizational Psychology class this semester.  This kid started kindergarten today.  The duct tape on my feet held perfectly.  When I get the cooking bug, it's pretty inconvenient with the working and the studying and the exercise... ok, mostly the working and the studying, but I digress.  I had a long training run this morning - 8 miles - and during that time, I found myself doing a little reflection.
Hardly seems to cover everything, but I guess it touches on the highlights.  I can't even imagine what's in store for the next 12 months. 

Bring on 2013!

2011 in Non-Sequitor

How did it get to be December 31st already?  Did I miss Thanksgiving and Christmas?  I really let the past few months fly past and barely looked around.  Maybe that's because I've got so much change coming up next year.  School? At my age? Bwahahaha!  Anyway, before I leap into a new year, pardon me while I indulge myself in my annual look back...

Take the first sentence of the first post of every month this year on your blog and put them all together.


Milo took the opportunity to nap in the laundry room, which is generally off-limits, while I was packing up Christmas. I set out to take a picture of the birds on the light poles that I see every morning. Driving home feeling sleep-deprived after an overnight shift? 
 
We painted the garage yesterday - a beautiful solid coat of white. The oven timer has about 45 minutes left on it, though dinner certainly isn't going to be before 5, since that's when Scott gets home from work.  I just noticed that all of the pictures in the gallery at the top of the blog currently contain Scott. 
 
The following happened between 7:00 and 8:00 this morning: Scott and I have an event to attend in New Jersey this fall. I spent August 24-27 in a whirlwind of family fun. We're in a bit of a money crunch right now.  It's been a rough week for the Penn State faithful, myself included. Can you believe Scott had never made gingerbread (or graham cracker) houses before we decorated these beauties in 2008?

Just Because

Recycling: great for bottles and cans, less great for blogs.  That said, I feel that the previous post contained possibly the greatest run-on sentence ever and deserves another chance at the spotlight:

This project hasn't been easy so far - the carpet is fo' shizzle on the to-do list, since it's got some blue spots that'll probably never come out even with the use of the Kilo Memorial Steam Cleaner; Scott can barely lift his arms (apparently paint-rolling the ceiling uses muscles that he doesn't usually use); and I, as the designated cutter-inner, took so many trips up and down the ladder that my thighs are still burning.

It has urban slang, a reference to cat pee, and burning thighs.  I should've been an English major - this could be Beowulf for the 2010's, people! Now leave me a damn comment before I start posting YouTube videos of my childhood.

Too late!

2010 in Non-Sequitor

It's my favorite post of the year!

Take the first sentence of the first post of every month this year on your blog and put them all together.

If you love the Muppets as much as I do, I bet you'll enjoy spending time on the website for Disney's new volunteer-and-we'll-give-you-a-park-ticket campaign.  I'm pretty bad at peer pressure. I was going for a clever play on 'Pride and Prejudice' but I think I failed.

Once again, I find myself the victim(?) of peer pressure in the form of NaBloPoMo.  I made sticky buns for breakfast.  Rationally, I understand that boycotting BP doesn't hurt BP as much as it hurts local station owners and workers and that's it's a pretty ineffective emotional response. 

After dinner Thursday, Scott and I stopped in to Bath & Body Works because I needed some pretty-smelling hand sanitizer for my work desk. The problem with blog posts that write themselves is that they don't publish themselves. I woke up this morning an hour early to bake a loaf of banana bread to take to work. 

I read today on Twitter that October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month, Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to present you with my new computer desktop image.  Scott pulled out the Christmas tree this afternoon and put it up. 

Happy New Year everyone.  Best wishes for health and wisdom in 2011!

Do You Love It?

Blogger finally made it simple to change your template and not lose all of your links/widgets like before. So I changed. The background might not be the best for me, but we'll see what happens. I might change it to a theme park picture to go with the title, or a differently-edited version of the sailboat/sunset photo.

Anyway, this version is making me very happy

...for now.

Gone Fishin'?

Is it because it's summer?

Has everyone I "know" from their blogs burned out at once?

I know my excuse - I'm learning a new job and my brain is so full of new things I stopped having thoughts of my own past "eat, sleep, drive, TV" a week ago.

Where did everyone go?

(by the way, aside from the flat spot I've developed on my forehead from banging my head into the desk, I'm really enjoying my new job. I'll tell more when I figure out how to tell what is it that I do all day!)

(and also, getting home in daylight is nice, but I had forgotten what it's like to get into a 120 degree car in long pants. ick!)

2009: The Year of the Parkhopper

Here we are on December 31. It must be time for my traditional year-end mash-up post...

Take the first sentence of the first post of every month this year on your blog and put them all together.

It's a good thing I didn't make a New Year's Resolution to do a blog post every day, huh? Wii have been playiing wiith our new viideo game system a lot.

There's a link on the AOL main page today that I certainly won't be clicking:

Our purchase of a Wii was conditional. I've been peer-pressured into doing the May NaBloPoMo (theme: "sweet"), so Happy May! What to do with a mostly-full bag of mini marshmallows?

It sucks to have your 15 minutes of fame entangled with a tragedy.

I've once again been peer pressured into participating in NaBloPoMo. We're going to be hiring another full-time person into my office.

We're out of salt here at Apartamente de ParkHopper (as opposed to Casa ParkHopper, which is not where we currently live). I'm meeting up today with Laura and Richard for lunch. Scott and I pulled out of the garage on Sunday afternoon only to discover that someone had let their dog crap - twice - on our driveway and made no attempt to clean it up.

Happy New Year!! Stay off the roads tonight if you can. See you next year/decade!

What Was I Thinking?

I signed up for November NaBloPoMo this morning. Why? Well, certainly not because I have a great deal to say. But I've done it the past two years, and November is the real NaBloPoMo, so I'd hate to miss it. Plus, there's prizes (that I've never won).

Right now, I'm toying with the idea of forcing myself to sit down every day and write a full paragraph of only positive things. It's like therapy. I'm so miserable at work that I have to force myself out the door every morning. And I cry almost every night. I'm not blaming work for all of that. I'm tired. My sleep cycle is messed up - every other morning my body wants to be awake before 7, and then I sleep 12 hours the next night. I've still got moving related stress (primarily the knowledge that we're not going to be able to put off forever the lugging of old cat pee-stained furniture down 3 flights of stairs for much longer).

But you know what? My job really is sucking the life out of me. From the same manager, I get "you need to scale back to your normal job responsibilities and stop taking on extra projects," AND "you need to find and schedule competent people to work overtime in here." Hey dude...I'm not the draft board. And right now I can't in good conscience ask anyone to come into this rabbit hole and work in the world where you keep changing the rules every 10 minutes.

I'm stuck. There's still no comparable jobs opening within the company, and my job on the outside world would probably result in a $4/hour pay cut. We can't afford that with the mortgage over our heads.

So like I was saying, maybe forcing myself to spend 10 minutes a day thinking about something good isn't such a bad idea. Plus, we've got 2 plays to see and an open house to host coming up... at least I'll have something to talk about!

A Whole New Blog

So... I'm strangely attached to my new template already. I got my blog lists on the sidebar back up and running, and took out the links to my tags (didn't have them on the old blog anyway). Of course, the only way I could make the title of the blog work was to change the way it was written. That's my only big disappointment.

Thanks to the recently-redid-her-own-blog wickedmess for the link to the site where I got the template. If I had known it was going to be so easy, I would have done this two years ago!

(and if you hadn't noticed, every time you refresh the page, the flickr pictures at the top change. it's my favorite part of the new design)

Hot Mess

So...as you can see, I'm in the process of updating the blog. Right now it looks like a freaking disaster area, and I'm about to leave for work. Sorry for the hideousness. I promise to try and fix everything tonight!

Still Here...And There...

Hello ParkHopping world!

This is just a place-holder, really. I wanted to tell you I'm still here, doing real life stuff, and not spending a whole lot of time on the computer.

If you miss me that much, you can always check out my Twitter feed on the right. I tend to shoot out a message or seven every day about random things I see and do. And of course, you can come see me in person at revolution! It's right around the corner, July 23-25.

Hopefully after Encore wraps up, I can go back to my less-full days and posting of cat photos. I know... you can't wait... neither can I!

1,000

Perhaps you've seen the new Disney commercials, with their "What will you celebrate?" tag line. Well today I'm having my own celebration.

This is my 1,000th post!

Of course, that's just one thousand on this blog. There's still a year's worth of entries on my old blog, and a handful on Xanga. Some day I'll get around to transferring those over, in which case this will no longer be the 1,000th entry.

But that's what I'm celebrating today.

Food, Glorious Food!

Scott and I have started a new blogging adventure together:

Boiling Over: Cooking with Two Armchair Chefs

I'm already having fun with it, and I hope he does too. At the very least, blogging gives me an excuse to get in the kitchen and try scary things like cooking meat. And cooking gives Scott something to blog about!

There's three posts already, and I suggest you go to the bottom and start from the beginning. It might make things a little clearer.

We'll see you there!

Note From the Editor:

I would like to thank "all" of my commenters for coming out today and catching up on the past few entries.

And yes Janette, it is developing into a nice purple. Here's an updated view:

Sadly, bathroom mirror self portraits aren't my strong suit. If I remember tomorrow, I'll go out in the sunlight and have Scott take some that won't need the flash.

Fin

Those of you who know Dora the Explorer will understand why, upon realizing that today is the last day of November, and therefore the last day of NaBloPoMo, I have this stupid song stuck in my head.



And for those of you who have never seen Dora... oh well, your loss! ;-)

It's the song they sing at the end of every episode, changing the verses to fit the plot of the show, and leaving the "We Did It" in place.

If I were doing my own Dora song about this month, I don't really know which of the following exciting bits I would include:

* I got my back adjusted today...

* My high school reunion was cancelled again...

* I cooked dinner twice...

* I bought stamps online...

* The Christmas Cards are ready to mail

We did it!!

Is it any wonder that I was able to keep the blog up for the entire month, when I had such a wealth of fascinating life stories to share?

It's Baaaack!

I've been thinking about my blog history in the past 2 months. It's been crappy. And I've been thinking about ways to get myself motivated to blog more often. And then it hit me: November is NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month)! Not only have they updated the site this year, they've actually made it into a social networking site, like Facebook for bloggers (here's my profile page). I signed up for NaBloPoMo and joined two groups - cranky bloggers and Florida bloggers.

It's true that I haven't had much to say, so I'll probably be talking more about current events or games or just putting up pictures of my critters, but you never know - I just might come up with a gem.

Here's an example of things to come:

If today were in November, I'd probably do a blog entry about my terrible broken nail, accompanied by fuzzy dark pictures taken before and after I trimmed it down closer to the actual break. Ouch! Stupid box of kitty litter!

I bet you just can't wait for November 1!

Behind the Scenes

My poor blog has become quite the victim of neglect in the past month or so. And it's a shame, because there are lots of things in my life that I find fascinating and exciting (or at least worth writing down and remembering) but those things take a lot of time and energy - my blogging time and energy.

Encore, of course, is a huge piece of that. Rehearsals take up 11 1/2 hours a week, not including travel time. It's mentally draining - I'm starting to freak out about all of the music needing to be memorized. We only have 3 choir rehearsals left, then 2 choir/orchestra combo rehearsals (1 of which I probably won't be able to wiggle out of work), then 2 dress rehearsals. And we still have one song we haven't learned yet! Physically, it's also draining. For popcorn movie music, it is some of the most difficult I have ever learned. It's definitely the highest I've ever had to sing.

Work is actually slower in the summer (something about 90-degree weather makes people not want to eat for 3 hours straight... go figure!), but my special project workload has gone up. The Boss has given us the green light to have engineering pull some countertops out of our office built into the wall from when our office was the cash control office and do a little rearranging at the same time. Little Boss and I are really excited about it, even though it's going to require coming in on a day off in jeans and doing lots of manual labor. The goal: a neat and streamlined space that looks more like an office than a supply closet. Dare to dream!

In ScottLand, he's almost able to see the light at the end of the tunnel of those super-late shifts he's been working. It'll be fun to see which newbie gets stuck with those late-night closing shifts. This is good for me as well, because if he's not home, I rarely fall asleep before 2.

In cringe-inducing news: I almost ripped the nail off of my left pinkie toe today. I was sitting cross-legged on the bed, and when I went to straighten out my legs, the nail somehow snagged on the seam of my jeans. It didn't come off. It did, however, bleed. I am going to refrain from posting a picture. You're welcome.

Tomorrow Scott and I are going out to The Hotel for a fabulous portrait session (a new service they're rolling out, free this week for employee guinea pigs) and then to lunch (not free). Perhaps I'll have some pics to show off tomorrow.

Fireworks and Other Randomness

So I learned some things last night about my workplace:

1) The second floor gift shop (home of the "cheap" $5 batteries) is an excellent place to watch fireworks from. Of course, I was only in said shop at fireworks time because I was leaving work early to beat the firework crowd out of the area so I didn't stop to watch.

2) The lot where I park my car: also an excellent place to watch the show. Plus out there you get the bonus symphony of 18 car alarms going off at once every time a large shell explodes. Nothing says "God Bless America" like an 18-car salute!

3) A lot of people park in very stupid places (along a 6-lane highway? sure... why not?) to watch fireworks. Why not just park in 30 minute parking and go down to the lagoon? Duh!

So I really only caught a couple disjointed seconds of the big fireworks last night. That wasn't such a big deal to me - they're the same every year. Of course, then I pulled into my apartment complex and it was exactly as Scott had warned me ahead of time - like a war zone. There were 4 or 5 different people around the complex shooting fireworks up into the sky (I was under the impression that anything that launches is illegal... but what do I know? I grew up in a state were sparklers were illegal). Our actual street was filled with delightful sulfur-tinged smoke. And Scott kept watching the drunken morons across the street waiting for them to blow up their own truck. It never happened.

Since I worked yesterday, I have a bonus day off today... until 6 when I have to leave for choir. I started today with a little blog-cleaning. I added and removed some of the blogs on my side bar and did some other minor tweaking. Also on my agenda: trip to Wal Mart to buy cat litter. Stat!

What a thrilling life I lead!