Oh. About that Half Marathon

I'm really doing it this time! February 1st, baby! Wooooooo... (see how I have to work myself up for it?). Training is going well. I'm getting to that stage where I feel like I could just run all day which is a nice change from thinking I couldn't make it to the end of the block. I slacked off for a week and a half and my calves are paying for it now, but overall, the running is good.

I've already gone 8 miles this week + the 5 more I have to do today. Looks like those will be in the gym as opposed to the stupid coldy snow/sleet/rain stuff that's falling outside. I promise to post some super-hardbody pics of me whenever that happens, i.e. never.

Winter Activities and Events

Apocalypse Alert: At about 8am this morning, SNOW began to fall in New Orleans. Even though snow is commonly associated with winter, my granny would most likely attribute this to the End Times. Her first reason would probably be that it doesn't usually snow in the deep south; therefore, it's a sign of unseasonable weather=Jesus is coming back soon. Another might be that the snow is contradictory to the global warming phenomenon that most of "them uppity science people" claim is happening. That means the snow is double-unseasonable (going against God and science)=End of Days.

(I should explain here that my granny really doesn't talk like that. She's a very sweet woman, and I love her dearly. However, she consistently brought up the end of the world when I was little and made me terrified that I wouldn't live past 10. I used to pray very earnestly and ask God not to end the world so I could go to college. I've never really forgiven her for that.)

I'm coping with the snow by wearing a fluffy pink robe and snuggling anything within reach. Other than that I'm trying to use up all the peanuts I got last month while in Alabama for the Peanut Festival. They make delicious peanut brittle...

Oxford University and Alabama

Researchers at Oxford University complied this list of the ten most annoying phrases in the English language:

1 - At the end of the day
2 - Fairly unique
3 - I personally
4 - At this moment in time
5 - With all due respect
6 - Absolutely
7 - It's a nightmare
8 - Shouldn't of
9 - 24/7
10 - It's not rocket science

I would like to add:
11 - Now-a-days or Nowadays (for some reason, students believe this word exists)
12 - In today's society (a beautifully non-specific one)
13 - Since the beginning of time ('cause people just starting college are certainly experts on pre-history!)

In an effort to stop by complaining, I'm headed home to Alabama for the weekend. Some friends from work are coming too. We'll be going to the Peanut Festival on Saturday night and frolicking outside as much as possible. There will be much fried food and beef involved. Let's hope Bud Lamar decides to behave this time.

Halloween

Party at Lauren's. Rode to Frenchmen Street with sexy Hermione and a Dementor. Saw a few friends then headed to a party in the French Quarter. A fabulous house party with giant chandeliers, lovely food and drinks, and plenty of friends. A good time was had by all. (See above photo for proof.)

Ziggy

Another poem. This one's for my Troy peoples.

Ziggy
In honor of Zigmund Mazur

I move slowly
And speak slowly
I am a lowly truck driver
Went to Cambridge, Kansas, and Mexico
From Poland
Teach The Dead
But only visiting

PS - Speaking of T-roy, Dr. Day told me in a email that our nemesis, Heir ChairHitler, was detained in China for harassing a flight attendant. The video was on YouTube this summer. Wonders never cease.

Hurrication

So...Hurricane, huh? Dale and I are leaving soon to avoid Gustav. We're headed to my parents place in Alabama that is well out of the storm path. Cross your fingers that New Orleans and the outerlying areas will be ok.

In true New Orleans style, some friends had a decadent dinner of filet mignon, local fishes, and other deliciousness as an excuse to clean out all of our refrigerators. I cannot tell you how good the steak was, but I will say that I thought about it every time I woke up during the night.

Penelope and Jax are very excited to be going on vacation as they have a new, large carrier that they both can ride in comfortably. They refuse to be separated for any period of time, even in different carriers that are right beside each other. Loyola has cancelled on campus operations (we have to have class on Blackboard) through Wednesday, so I'm looking forward to some quiet time with my mom. And by that I mean that we'll be taking advantage of all the Labor Day sales and some of Dothan's finest chain restaurants. Woot-WOOT!

This Time Next Week...

I'll be in Mexico.

Another One

One of my favorites...

Dinner with Ben

We sat at the funky Mexican place
Just followed the flashing arrow
To our table in the shade
In a city neither one of us called home

We drank our nerves
In Modelo Negros
While we talked about college
And our little sisters

Almost didn’t recognize you
On the way back to the table
With your scruffy beard
That I immediately love

I haven’t seen you since that night three years ago
When you stayed
But you’re the same in all the right ways

We hug like two hours before
And as you walk to your truck, I want you to call me back
And take me home
While we’re drunk enough not to be shy

*Comments and suggestions welcome.

Ummm...poem?

Never though of myself as a writer, especially not a writer of poems, but I found quite a few while going through some of my files today. Here's one in honor of summer in the South...let me know what you think.

Mosquitoes
6/21/05

Oh god, that’s good
Ankle, ankle, top of foot
And that big one on the back of my right knee
Feels so good

But it won’t later
When clear ooze comes
Where blood later will

They do not stop
And they get my neck
An unexpected elbow

As I rub and scratch and try
Not to scratch
Like everyone told me

He buzzes around my ear
My lips
And crawls up my pants

I give in
With no repellant in sight

Oh, Dale and I are writing a screenplay this summer. Ask me how it's going later.

Famous People I've Seen Lately

Lots of women at the Vagina Monologues: Eve Ensler, Jane Fonda, Ali Larter, Rosario Dawson, Kerry Washington, Jennifer Beals, Didi Conn, Christine Lahti, Liz Mikel, Doris Roberts, and Jennifer Hudson. Wonderful performances by all these women. I cried a bunch.
Famous people who did not show up to perform (but were scheduled to) at the Vagina Monologues: OPRAH, Selma Hayek, Jessica Alba, and Glenn Close. I'm not sure I will ever forgive these people for bailing on us.

Everclear. Always a great band. I especially loved it when Art Alexakis invited women onstage to dance and then asked some of them to leave because they were dancing "like strippers." He graciously informed them that his stage was about "rockin" not about grinding on your girlfriends.

Alison Kraus, Robert Plant, and T-Bone Burnett. At JassFest. Beyond amazing...

Sheryl Crow at JazzFest also. Fun performance and she seemed really happy to be in New Orleans.

Alton Brown! Meet personal hero...check! He had a book signing at the Octavia Book Store and was absolutely wonderful. He took time with each person, made jokes, and most importantly--touched me (shook my hand)! I took Dale just in case I forgot how to talk when I saw him, but I was very casual as if I meet famous people everyday. And for those of you who are wondering, he is even cuter in person.

Misty Water-Colored Memories of the Way We Were (Gonna Run a Marathon)

Remember all that marathon and half-marathon talk? Ahhh, those were the days. Takes me back to those idealistic fall afternoons of jogging in Audobon Park... Wow, we were such kids then!

For those of you who were following along, Elizabeth, Dale, and I were planning to run the Mardi Gras Marathon at the end of February. Then Elizabeth dropped out from a hip injury and I realized that running for more than an hour was boring, so I cut back to a half-marathon. Then I got sick a little and got assigned a Saturday morning class and decided that I didn't want to spend my only day off running for hours or being tired from running for hours. Dale also caught my ambition-itis and called off his run as well. He and I agreed that it didn't work with our schedules right now.

But I'm running a half-marathon next year. I promise.

These days, I work out in my cozy gym--the St. Charles Athletic Club--and am not doing any outdoor running. I became discouraged after several men made rude comments to me as I was running down the street. (One of them was pushing an infant in a stroller with two small children walking beside him. The nerve! I really regret not embarrassing him in front of his kids.) Evidently, there's nothing more attractive than me running in my baseball cap, baggy t-shirt, and sport capris. Who knew?

Other than that, I'm really ready for this semester to be over. The schedule of UNO classes plus my part time job is killing me, and I'm ready for summer. I'm also a vegan now. Well, for one more week. It's something I'm trying as a spring detox, and it's working well. Not a huge difference, but I can tell that my body's working better.

Right now I'm watching The Goonies, grading papers, and writing to you, Internet. So glad we're talking again.