Call Me Magenta

Can I just say that I am so excited for John Mayer's new album. I'm thinking about getting concert tickets for his upcoming tour...we'll see. The album comes out November 17--that's Tuesday!

Wow. His hair is out of control. I'm pretty sure that John Mayer has turned into a big fat jerk over the years, but I sure do love his music.

And he sometimes speaks in literary devices. I can't help it. I just can't resist a good simile/extended metaphor.

Running a Marathon...Someday...Maybe

I really want to run a marathon. In the last couple weeks, I've heard or read about several people running one. The idea has been in the back of my brain ever since I ran in a 10 mile race a year and a half ago.

On Halloween a friend and I ran in a 5K and it reminded me how much fun it is to run in races. It's awesome to be surrounded by so many other runners, all excited to be there.

The thing is, I don't think I can train for a marathon alone. When I ran the 10-miler, I was training with a running club on Saturday mornings. Every week the people would be different, but it really helped just having other runners to train with. This year, there is just no way I can do that. It's about a 45 minute drive to where the running club meets, and with the extra amount of driving I'm already doing to get to my grad class every week and the extra responsibilities at work, it's not realistic to think that I can (or even that I should) drive all the way out to the Saturday morning runs.

I know there are runners in this small town I live in. I see them occasionally at the park or downtown. There is even supposed to be running club here, but when I checked the website, it hadn't been updated since 2004. I'm guessing the club has disbanded.

None of my friends here are runners. For that matter, none of my friends anywhere are real runners (with the exception of AllStar, who ran the race with me on Halloween, but somehow I don't think a marathon would interest her).

I don't think I have time to try and put together a running club here. I really just want a few people (or even one person) to keep me motivated and hold me accountable. It's very difficult to stay disciplined all by yourself.

So until I decide what I'm going to do about this whole running a marathon thing, here's a cool video I found here that I think is pretty inspiring.

2009 NYC Marathon Timelapse from mdkmc on Vimeo.

Enter at Your Own Risk

I have the flu--H1N1 to be exact. And it sucks. I actually am feeling a little more like me today except that I haven't showered in 24 hours and my throat hurts so bad when I swallow, I'd rather wear a bib and just drool all over myself all day.

I've been laying on the couch watching a nice combo of regular TV and hulu while drinking hot tea and attempting to eat mushy food like overcooked rice and ramen. I heart hulu. I'm planning on watching an episode or two of Fringe later, since I can't watch it when it's on regular TV. Grey's is in the same time slot. There's just no contest there. (Sorry Pacey. I still love you. Is it bad that I still think of Joshua Jackson as Pacey from Dawson's Creek?)

Anyway, I'm starting to go a little stir-crazy. That's how I know I'm also starting to feel a little better. However, I am currently cut off from all of humanity. It didn't help that when I went to the doctor's office yesterday morning to confirm what I pretty much already figured out, I had to wear a mask over my mouth and nose. The nurse also had a mask and washed her hands about 5 times (after touching me or anything that I may have touched or potentially breathed on). She put a sign on the door of the little room I was in. I have no idea what it said, but it was probably something like--ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK! AND BE SURE TO MAKE PATIENT FEEL LIKE SHE HAS LEPROSY. But I get it. Swine flu sucks.

Of course I have to get seriously ill right before we take our 8th graders on a field trip--the field trip that I was in charge of putting together and worked very hard to organize--the field trip that I could not go on because I got run over by the swine flu. I've had a sub in my room for 2 days, and I just found out that one of my second block students got suspended for "disrespect and profanity in the classroom". Oh boy. Can't wait to find out the backstory on that one.

So as you can see, things sure are great around here. Why did I never fully understand what a blessing it was to swallow without pain? Although I will admit, a legitimate excuse to eat lots and lots of ice cream is pretty awesome.

But, I typically don't require an excuse to do that anyway.

Projectile Disfunction

So today, I was in the middle of reviewing our word parts for the week with my 3rd block--rupt which means "to break" and ject which means "to throw." And then this happened.

Student 1: What's projectile disfunction?

Me: ...

Student 2: What? That doesn't make sense?

Me: (trying very hard to keep from laughing) Well...I suppose projectile disfunction would be the condition of throwing things badly or not being able to throw things at all.

Student 3: (puzzled) Yeah...but I don't think that's what it means...I've heard that somewhere before too...

Me: Nope. That's what it means. Ok. Let's talk about rupt words.

Here's to hoping that there are no Cialis commercials on tonight.

Random Monday

*It's about 60 degrees in my apartment, but I will not turn on the heat. It's supposed to be 74 and sunny on Wednesday!

*I was at school today until 7:00 pm. I think I might be losing my mind.

*My cat is having an affair with my Nine West ankle boots. I'm not sure what the attraction is, but he is currently pawing them and has been for about 5 minutes.

*I made homemade lemon bars last night, and they're good, but they're a little too sweet and the texture isn't what I wanted. I LOVE the lemon bars at the coffee shop down the street, but I can't find a recipe that's much different from the one I used. If you have a good recipe, let me know!

*"How I Met Your Mother" is my new favorite sitcom. I haven't watched a sitcom since "Friends".

*I have been eating like crap lately. And I didn't run last week. I suck.

*I am in the process of making a list of things that I want to do before I'm 30. That's a little more than 2 years from now. I got the idea from the book, "The Next Thing on My List". If you like chic lit and haven't read it, or even if you don't like chic lit and haven't read it, you should.

*This is my inspiring message to myself today (well, more for tomorrow seeing as today is nearly over):

{via}

Once Upon a Time

Can I just say that I ADORE books. I've recently rediscovered my love affair with the public library. In an effort to save some cash, I've resolved not to purchase anymore books (other than possibly books for my classroom) at the store. I made a list of books I want to read (P.S. If you haven't yet discovered goodreads, you're missing out), went to the library, and checked out/reserved a combination of adult and young adult novels.

I don't have quite as much time to read as I have in the past because the required reading for my grad class sometimes gets in the way, but I'm still managing to fit in some recreational reading time.

Finding the time to blog on the other hand...that's another story entirely.

Anyway, my monthly book club meeting was Friday. The club is mostly English teachers, but recently a spattering of others have started to attend. Friday's meeting was a little different because we had a "book shower" for one of my coworkers who is due in November.

Everyone brought a couple of their favorite children's books to give as gifts, and it got me thinking back to the time of bedtime stories and learning to love books. As I browsed for children's books on Amazon, I came across several books that I'd completely forgotten about, but used to be completely in love with once upon a time.

Like all of these...

What were some of your favorites?

Sometimes I Miss College

I would not want to play beer pong against these guys unless I was in the mood for some alcohol poisoning.

Apparently instead of studying, I should have been practicing my beer pong shots. I was always better at flip-cup anyway.