Daily thoughts, 2/9.

Daily thought: this is too, too accurate.

I ran four miles tonight. What now.

A challenge.

I have decided, on a whim, that I will attempt to complete a challenge for the week inspired by a post I just read: use the word "kickarooni" fourteen times this week. Wish me luck, and I challenge you to do the same.

Update 1/22: 2 of 14 completed.
Update 1/23: 3 of 14 completed (total, not just today).
Update 1/27: So I didn't exactly make it, but it's not because I didn't have opportunities. I'm pretty sure I could have worked "kickarooni" into conversations even more than fourteen times. The problem is that that word is not in my natural vocabulary, so I didn't really think about it during the day. So that's a bummer. Also, happy birthday to Mozart. He's a good guy.

On making the world a better place.

Sometimes I think the world would be a better place if we handled conversations as if they were journalism. This would mean leading with the main idea, the most important fact, and then filling in with all your colorful details. Of course I know this isn't really always the best idea. I, for one, am quite partial to telling stories with dramatic pauses, imitative facial expressions, and a good deal of build-up. In revealing disheartening news, I know that leading with the biggest punch maybe is not ideal. But when it's just an "oh-I-was-talking-to-so-and-so-the-other-day-and-you'll-never-guess-what-happened" sort of story, it can get frustrating to have all this dancing around the subject and interjections of "it was just so funny" before you even know what it is that is such a big deal.

NaBloPoMo, Day 30! The last one!

Howdy.

• Tonight, my piano studio counted 87 cookies we'd baked after we'd all had well beyond our fill. We used cookie cutters for most, but we also cut our own. I made a partridge in a pear tree. We also did a quite accurate depiction of our piano teacher. So that was fun. Exhausting. But very fun.

• You know, when you show up to a rehearsal not knowing what you'll be playing exactly, and it happens to be a number you haven't yet looked at, and you're sight reading at full speed, and your choir director who will also be running the pit also happens to be sitting in for the first time that day, and she asks after a bit if you're sight reading, it's kind of exhilarating, but it's also muy stressful. Because whoa, those notes go fast. And yes, I'm doing OK for sight reading but yikes bikes. It was rough, guys. What a Friday afternoon.
• It's an even more exciting Friday afternoon when a visiting pianist plays one of the pieces you're playing for your jury in a few weeks, and he plays it at about 175% of my speed. And while I don't really agree with that tempo musically, I also know very certainly that my fingers will never be able to do that. And ick. You just don't want to practice after watching that.
• And I didn't practice today. True confessions, yo.
• In other news, November's over! So NaBloPoMo is too. You've all been lovely -- a great audience.
• In other news, November's over. And it hasn't snowed. How am I supposed to finish my 3 South bingo if I can't roll around in the snow or sled on a saga tray?!
• I got paid today for Secret Garden! And while I totally would have done it happily without pay, it's nice to get mail in CPO. And then when the mail is money, it's even better!

I can't promise I'll be posting quite so frequently in the coming weeks (or months, but hopefully it won't come to that). But I'll try a little.

NaBloPoMo, Day 29

Hidey-ho, y'all.

• Tonight, I went to a little restaurant called Austin BBQ. Now, it's no Goode Company, but it's some very decent brisket and tastytastic cornbread. Also, they have Blue Bell ice ceam. So there's that.
• I have had so many adventures in the Fischer kitchen this year because of the microwave inconsistencies -- namely, that the microwave hasn't worked for about a month now. Last time, at 1 a.m. snickerdoodle time, I ended up softening two sticks of butter on a cookie sheet in the preheating oven. (It worked marvelously.) Today, I needed to melt some margarine (yes, margarine), so I did so in a somewhat suspicious but altogether passable skillet on the stovetop. I'm not entirely sure if the brown bits and other lovelies on the bottom of the skillet stayed on the skillet when I poured the melted butter impostor into the batter.
• I'm learning to play a little drum set in my percussion techniques class. I'm not usually a braggart, but today, my facial expressions had nearly everyone in the class, including the professor, laughing to the point of tears. I considered it a highly successful class.

Again, maybe I'll make it in bed before midnight. But the last time I said that, it didn't exactly happen.

NaBloPoMo, Day 28

Welcome, welcome.

• Today, I tried "snapea" crisps. They are weird, sort of like shrimp fries or shrimp chips or whatever they are, but without the fishy flavor. Kind of addictive, but also the sort of food where things just get stuck in your teeth and too much is too much. So whoa. 
• Somehow, I'm getting the impression that there is a whole heck of a lot to practice in the coming weeks. More than will fit in an hour a day. My schedule doesn't usually allow for more than an hour a day. You see the predicament here. I will be on the hunt for a solution.
• Tonight, I participated in an attack tea party. 3 South: we bring the tea to you. And then we find a way to get in your room and sit there drinking tea and knitting until you come back and try to remember why you became an RA in the first place if all these sillies were going to be crashing your Wednesday night.
• Everybody's busy, all semester long. Especially at Wheaton. So when you open a devotional or prayer time with "things are really starting to pile up" or "as our lives really ramp up and start to get super-busy," it's somehow not all that satisfying. Yes, we know we're busy. But if we're "really starting to get busy" right as the first month of school is ending and as fall break is approaching and as B Quad starts and as we head into Thanksgiving break and as we come back from Thanksgiving break and as we head towards finals, and as we go through finals, we're not really reminded of the times we're not dying of stress. A better option might be to try to find a day you're not running around from the early morning until well past dinner and enjoy the fact that you've got a little extra time. Because we're all busy, and it doesn't seem to be letting up any time soon.*

*Disclaimer: I'm fine, not dying of stress, not over-committed. Just so we're clear.