Library card workout

I may have a little bit of an obsessive personality.  That is to say, when I decide I love something, I really love it.  Examples:

• I have a favorite restaurant in every city, and one thing I order at each one.  There is no reason to go anywhere else, or try anything new.  
• I started dancing in April or May of my freshman year of high school.  A year later I was dancing 3 or 4 hours a day after school, auditioning for summer dance intensives, and planning my life as a dancer. 
• I knew Travis was my husband the day after our first date.  
• How many times have I blogged about Sasquatch?

I like to think that I'm pretty good at choosing my favorite things.  You might accuse me of being boring, but not unhealthy.  I currently go to Jazzercise five days a week, which might cause me to start singing Shakira in the grocery store, but is probably not on anyone's list of harmful activities.  On that note, my big kick since moving back to Spokane is going to the library.  The public library a few blocks from my work has a very respectable Books on CD section, which initially drew me in.  During travel season, I went through about 2 books a week.  But now I've discovered book books.  I say "discovered," because, though I have always loved to read, I haven't been much of a reader the past few years.  

• I fell victim to the "required reading" curse in college, and had trouble finding the will to read for pleasure again afterword. 
• When I did read for fun during or after college, I often tried to read the books friends recommended, so as to learn and grow.  I worked really hard at pushing my way through books like The Count of Monte Cristo and Blue Like Jazz.  These might be your favorite books, and I feel terrible for saying this, but I did not enjoy reading them, even if I was learning and growing.
• Then there was the headache fog, in which reading became painful, if not impossible.   

But after listening to all those books on CD this fall, I was hooked.  I borrowed a few more from the library after travel season ended before I realized that my car doesn't have a CD player, and it was weird to sit around my house in the evenings listening to books (via headphones) on my computer.  So I went back and swapped the CDs for books.  Turns out, reading is no longer compulsory, and as long as I don't have one of the very worst headaches, a book can be a good distraction.

And it's fun!  I am resolving not to feel guilty for:

• quitting a book 50 pages in if it has no likeable characters, or 
• skipping a section if it's boring, or 
• reading books from the section marked TEEN.  

I am also only reading books recommended to me that actually sound interesting to me (and still sound interesting after I've read the plot synopsis on wikipedia). 

I have read a lot of delightful books this year, most of which are not close to being revered as classics or "modern classics" or "the classics of the future."  Every time I break my resolve and read a book because I feel like I should, or stick with one that "everyone loves," it saps a little bit of reading pleasure (How oh how is it that E.M. Forster thought the joyless Howard's End was his best novel, and not the way-less-annoying A Room With a View?).  That is why it is important to remain firm.  (And by remain firm, I mean read whatever you want).

And that is why I have to make so many darn trips to the library, since I only end up reading about one in five of the many books I bring home.  Good thing there two large library systems at my disposal (city and county), that I am a member of both, and that one has a branch near my work and one has a branch near our home.  Good thing I have a puppy that likes to nuzzle my knees while I sit on our big red couch for hours on end.  And good thing it is Travis, and not me, who has to spend all his free time reading biology textbooks!

Bullet Points!

 Things I did for the first time this week:

• Travel to a work conference
• Sing karaoke (Love is a Battlefield, in case you were wondering)
• Almost faint during a Jazzercise class

Things I learned from these experiences (respectively):

• LOTS of things about:
• helping undocumented students attend college
• iPhone apps that can help me with my work travel
• ethical practices in higher education admissions
• awesome things happening at other colleges in the Northwest, and
• mummies
• Knowing the words and/or melody to a song are not prerequisites for singing it in front of 50 strangers.  Awesome dance moves, however, are crucial.  Check, check, and check.
• I am in terrible shape/have low blood pressure/have a subconscious aversion to "On the Floor" by JLo (which my conscious self enjoys quite a bit)/need to go to the doctor

Things I did this week, but not for the first time (along with an approximate number of times I have done each of these things before)

• Had dinner at Red Robin with my sister Lisa (10-20)
• Drove across the state of Washington, round trip (40-50)
• Stopped at three different gas stations in Ellensburg so as to acquire the perfect assortment of travel snacks (at least 5)
• Spent a meal surrounded by awesome niece and nephews (not enough)
• Spent a meal with my parents (way more frequently in the past 9 months than in the preceding 2 years!)
• Made s'mores in the drizzling rain (I grew up in the Northwest, so pretty much every time I have ever made s'mores)
• Pulled several totally disgusting items out of my dog's mouth (feels infinite)

In other news:

• I am really enjoying our new church here, and hoping to attend a membership class next month
• Travis and I can't quite agree on how much to feed our puppy, now that she is really not a puppy anymore and definitely not growing up anymore (though she will most certainly continue to grow out, according to Travis, if we keep feeding her at the current rate)
• I have had several realizations lately, one of which is that my mom was my age when my parents adopted my oldest brother.  He was 14.  They also had two toddlers.  
• Today at church a woman asked me where I got my hair, and I said "my mom."  She then instructed me to tell my mom "thank you," for giving me such lovely hair.  So this is me telling you "thank you," mom!
• My headaches have been very mild the last month (maybe 2 bad ones a week), so I am, once again, cautiously optimistic.  At the very least, I am grateful for the peace and rest these little headache reprieves provide.  I was planning on signing up for a workshop on living with chronic conditions this summer, but it's hard to know right now if I'll need it.  Here's hoping I won't!  
• That said, we all know that I tend to blog less when I am headaching more, and blog more when I am headaching less, so here's hoping for some consistency in the coming months!