Resolutions 2.0

Word of the day: re-dux (adjective) Brought back; resurgent.

Today is March 31.  That means that tomorrow is April 1 (I'm so good at the calendar!) and that it's time for me to revisit all those resolutions I made way back when.  Although a lot has changed in the past two months, I see no reason not to make some kind of attempt at these.

Reading is the easy one.  I'll admit, I did enjoy me some genre fiction in the last little while, in the form of Stardust by Neil Gaiman and Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett (and both were fantastic and everyone should read them) but I did start a more literary book last night.  Elizabeth Kostova wrote The Historian, which is a beautifully-written story about the legend of Dracula (but it's literary, I swear!) and I loved it so I felt her follow-up book, The Swan Thieves, would be a great read too.  So far, it deals less with the supernatural and more with human nature, so I'm calling this a literary win.

Writing, well, if my blogging is any indication, that's a big fail.  But I have until tomorrow to smarten up, so we'll just leave this alone for now.

The running thing is proving a bit more challenging.  I started running and I really enjoyed it...then I got shin splints.  And oh man, did they HURT!  So I took it easy, got fitted for proper running shoes, eased myself back into it and I got three more days of running in (over the course of a week) and...got stupid shin splints again.  So I'm off running again.  I'm stretching and trying not to aggravate them but I do still need to walk, so there has been some ibuprofen in my life lately.  Blargh.  I'm not impressed with my legs right now but as they're the only ones I have, I thought I'd treat them with a little more respect and take care of them.  So running is on hiatus, for now.

Remember the renovating stuff that was really more crafty stuff but I called "renovating" to maintain the alliteration?  Well, now that I'm officially living in sin with the beau I don't really need to make anything over.  That's not to say there won't be crafty moments in my future; they just won't be on the same level as that original resolution.  So it's not a resolution fail as much as it's a resolution negation.  Fair?

And finally, my favourite, relaxing.  Which I suck at.  Seriously.  Case in point: I am halfway through a week off with the beau and by Monday, I didn't know what to do with myself and was actually contemplating heading into work because I was bored.  Seriously.  Thankfully I have a wonderful, rational man in my life who managed to talk some sense into me and I've been having a pretty chill week since then.  I even soaked in the bath yesterday, something I've wanted to do for, oh, about a year or so and just never got around to.  So yeah, this relaxing thing could use some work.  (I just gave myself an excuse to be lazy - huzzah!

March, I bid you adieu and welcome April, armed with resolutions and a new resolve to achieve these damn resolutions!

Some things I just don't understand

Word of the day: non-sense (noun) Conduct, action, etc., that is senseless, foolish, or absurd.

Anne Coulter is giving three speeches in Canada and I'm not sure what is worse: the fact that anyone felt Anne Coulter had anything useful to say to anyone in Canada, or that she's getting $10,000 for each appearance.

Anyways...

I'm not a fan of Anne Coulter by any means but expressing any kind of dislike for the woman only serves to fuel her asinine viewpoints so rather than sound off on her idiocy, I thought it would be more fun to come up with an appropriate analogy about her.  Here's what I've got:

It is appropriate that Anne Coulter is visiting Canada in the spring, because it is during the springtime that construction really gets going.  And with construction comes lots and lots of noise.  Construction noise, like Anne Coulter, is loud, abrasive, irritating, and often incites anger in people.  But once the construction noise is gone, much like when Anne Coulter is gone, there is beauty and calm left behind.

I think it works...?

The belated birthday post

Word of the day: cel-e-bra-tion (noun) The festivities engaged in to celebrate something.

So I went and did it.  I turned 30.  I've got to say, it's not a whole lot different than being 29.  I mean, I still look the same and all.  Sure, other things are changing - like the job and the living arrangements - but otherwise, 30 isn't such a big deal after all.  (Until I fill out some survey or something where I have to give my age and suddenly I find myself checking the 30-35 box, rather than the 24-29 box.  THAT will be a difficult day.)

The one awesome advantage to turning 30 was getting spoiled by those nearest and dearest to me.  My main squeeze gifted me with a fantastic iPod Shuffle, so I can clip my music right to me while at the gym.  I hadn't seen the new version of the Shuffle and thought it was a Blue Tooth ear piece when I first opened it.  But upon realizing what it was, I was absolutely thrilled.  Isn't it cute?

And my most amazing friend created these most amazing Batman brownie pops for my birthday.  Seriously.  All made from scratch, even the brownie recipe (yum Martha Stewart brownies!).  So awesome and SO DELICIOUS.  I ate five of them.  Good thing I now have music to run to.

And of course, I was super spoiled by the rest of my friends, getting Inukshuk jewellery, a Bananagrams game, gift certificates, ice wine, candy and some of the most appropriate birthday cards ever (I got a grammar card!). 

With this kind of start to my third decade, how can I not love it?

Moving forward, moving in

Word of the day: pro-gress (noun) A movement toward a goal or to a further or higher stage.

I have a post in progress about turning 30 but I want to include pictures and I've been really lazy about downloading those pictures.  Also, I don't currently have my camera cable; it's at my apartment and I've been spending most days and nights at the beau's place, which is slowly but surely becoming our place.  So things are a bit out of place right now, as most of my clothes are hear, my electronics are slowly arriving and a random book or movie suddenly appears.

Now that I've passed this whole 30 thing, this cohabitation thing is occupying my life, but in a good way.  In fact, this weekend the beau and I will be furniture shopping for pieces that will help make the place "ours" and will also provide more storage so we can set up the condo a deux.  It's an exciting time. 

I'm also coming up on April 1, when I really need to get into gear with my resolutions.  I've taken a break from running because I got myself some wicked shin splints which weren't all that fun so I'm waiting for the budget to allow the purchase of some good running shoes, then I'll be back on the treadmill.  I've even gone so far as to get some training programs for both 5K and 10K runs.  Who knows - I might even be ready for something like that come the fall.  Maybe.