New Year Here

I can't believe today is the last day of 2009. It seems like just the other day everyone was worried about Y2K and if the world was going to end. I can't think of many ways I would rather end the year than with a few good games of pickleball, being with my family, and later with friends. 2009 as a collective hasn't been too bad, but I am ready for a new year and a fresh start.

Day to Pay

Today I didn't do much at all. I was thinking about going running, but I am still a bit sore from battling the man at pickleball yesterday. If I go tomorrow, it will be the last time I get to play pickleball in quite a while.

Thrice Lost

Today I went to pickleball. Surprisingly, I wasn't even very late. For the first time since I have been there this break, "the man" was there. He challenged me to a game of singles. The first game was fairly close. I was actually in the lead for quite a while. Eventually, I lost. Then I lost again and then again. They were good games, but I am just too rusty to beat such a skilled player. It was fun though, but it would have been even funner to win before going back to college.

Run Done

Today I went running, at least for a while. My feet really starting hurting in several places. I'll blame it on the shoes. I decided it was better to take it easy and walk than to keep running and risk further injuring myself. Hopefully it was just the shoes and not something else or a lack of effort.

Nice Nap

Today I took one of the most glorious Sunday naps I have ever taken. I was curled up next to a fireplace after a fun, but long weekend with not much sleep. It was fun to visit my cousins at the farm, and especially to see how much the youngest one has grown up.

Wind Day

Today I went with some of my family and cousins to a really windy spot called Crown Point, OR. The wind gust were probably around 70 miles per hour. It was the most extreme wind I have ever been in, it was hard to even walk. We also went to a mall and to Yo Cream, one of my favorite ice cream shops.

Full Day

Today my family went to Portland to celebrate Christmas with my father's side of the family. It was fun to see everyone and celebrate Christmas together. I am full, so full.

Christmas Eve

Today is Christmas Eve. It was a nice day spent with the family. We went to a Christmas Eve service and then out for a nice dinner. As is tradition, we opened our presents tonight because we will be traveling to Oregon tomorrow. It was fun watching everyone open gifts and opening some myself. I'm glad the fish I bought my sister didn't die before she got them.

Eve Eve

Today I went running. My right leg has been bothering me a bit, but not enough to keep me from running. I also went Christmas shopping. Whether it was from the pressure of running out of time or from being able to find better stuff, I was finally able to make some Christmas purchases. I still can't believe tomorrow is Christmas Eve.

Ran Route

Today I went running. I run the same route every time. I've thought about running a different route, but I'm pretty happy with the one I've been running. It is also nice because I listen to the same songs so I can tell if I am going faster or slower than my normal pace. Perhaps I'll change it up one of these times.

Gift Giving

Today I went Christmas shopping. Well, it was actually more like looking. I can never find something I am completely happy with to get for someone. When I do, the price is usually prohibitive. I try to find something, but always feel like I end up settling on something I don't really want to buy the person. One positive to this trouble with finding the right gift is it helps to remind me of the real reason behind Christmas, which has nothing to do with being able to find the perfect gift.

Tree Glee

Today we finally got our Christmas tree up, but still need to decorate it. Although, I think it is up earlier this year than most. It is hard to believe it is almost Christmas, well not after you walk inside any store. Which reminds me I need to get some shopping done and sooner rather than later would be good

Redo

If I could redo this morning there are a lot of things I would do differently. I wasn't at my best, and was a lot closer to my worst. However, since a redo is impossible, I need to apologize and learn from my mistakes and try to not make them in the future.

Break and Run

Today I went running. It feels good to be able to be out running again. Well actually, it can be a bit painful, but overall it feels good to be able to. I also went to my father's first grade class for their last day before break party and to their school's Christmas program this evening. It is nice my father and sister will finally be able to join us on break.

Pickleball Playing

Today I went to pickleball. I woke up a bit later than I hoped, so I was late to pickleball. However, I was still able to get in a few games. I even was able to play a few singles games, although they weren't against "the man" just a man.

Art Start

Today I went and helped in my father's first grade class. I helped them with an art project for their Christmas gifts. I won't say much about what it was because of the slight chance it could leak out to the families in his class. It did involve paint, and the students liked getting paint all over me.

"the new kid"

Today I played pickleball for the first time in almost three months. Sadly, I left my pickleball paddle at college. It was the only major thing I left, and remembered leaving it there before I got home but it was too late. I played fairly well considering it had been so long and I was using a paddle completely foreign to me. I had forgotten how much I miss pickleball while at college.

Rain Run

Today it didn't snow like it was supposed to. I woke up not feeling very well, probably not related to the lack of snow, and so I took it easy and relaxed this morning. After starting to feel better, I went for a short run in the rain. I hope to make it to pickleball tomorrow for the first time in quite a while.

Snow More

Today it snowed a little bit. It is supposed to snow more tonight and tomorrow. In fact, my father and sister may have school cancelled tomorrow. Hopefully it does and then I can play in the snow.

Over Run

Today I went jogging first the first time in a while. At college the past week, I was really busy with finals and didn't have a chance to. This morning when I went jogging, it was cold. So cold, I put on quite a few layers and then overheated while jogging.

Gone Back

Today I got a ride home from college. It was a bit of a rushed morning packing and trying to clean the room up before I left. It will take a while to get used to being home again, but it is nice to have all of the family together again.

Super Sleep

Today I slept in the latest I have slept in while at university. I actually slept past breakfast and lunch. But for the first time this quarter, I really had nothing better to be doing. No quarter is complete without getting robbed by textbook buyback, which I did today. I also spent some time cleaning the room in preparation for leaving tomorrow.

Finally Final

Today I completely finished everything for this quarter. I went to the school I help at for the last time and turned in the last of my assignments. It is such a relief to be done. However, it hasn't fully sunk in yet. It is weird to not have something I need to do, it feels like I should be working on something. Even with this freedom, I don't even know what to do, I'm so used to living in the computer lab working on my essays. I'll just try to relax I suppose and make a trip to the hot tub soon.

Essay Day

Today I had my badminton final, if you could even call it that. We only had to show up and we played a tournament for an hour. However, it was at 8:00am in the morning, which was quite a bit earlier than I would have liked. The rest of the day I spent in the computer lab working on my last major essay to finish for the quarter. Tomorrow, I will go to the elementary school for the last time for my mentoring class. After that, I can hopefully finish my essay and other little assignments and be done with everything for the quarter.

Thought for Nought

Today I finally finished my first essay. It could be a maximum of 10 pages, but I was well over 12 pages before I was done with my first draft. After condensing it down, I still was quite a bit over. It hurt, but I had to wholesale erase an entire section of my paper out. All that work and thought for nought, but it would have taken even more work to pick bits and pieces out of the entire essay. After finishing my first essay, I started my next one. I have currently been in the computer lab all of my waking hours today except while I was eating and when I went back to my room for a couple minutes to get stuff for working on my next essay.

Mad Match

Today I continued to work on my essay. Currently, I am starting my ninth page of a ten page essay. It will need to be revised, but it is nearing completion. Then I need to start on my other essay. I think the other essay will be easier to write and not nearly as time consuming, but hopefully that isn't just wishful thinking. I did find time to play some ping pong today. I don't know if it was all the stress being let out or not, but I was playing really well and won every game I played fairly dominantly.

Bad to not Dream

Today was a rather long day. Last night, I had a great idea, or at least I thought it was a great idea at the time. I wasn't going to go to bed because then I would need to wake up and study. It was really actually a pretty terrible idea, but I stayed up late doing basically nothing to avoid going to sleep anyway. Today I logged quite a few hours in the computer lab working on my essay for my European Union class. Based upon pages written and the maximum number of pages allowed, I am supposedly 62% done with my essay. Honestly and rather unfortunately, it is probably closer to 40%. Then when I finish that essay, I have another one to start.

Due Work

Today I didn't get much work done on my essay, nor will I tonight.

Cold Weekend

Today was my last day of classes which should have been a joyous occasion. It was also the day I got my final assignment for one of my classes. Turns out, the final is going to be more difficult than I first thought and spoiled some of the joy of the last day of classes.

I now have two time consuming essays to complete before the quarter is over. Our professor let us out of class quite a bit early after giving us the final. It was almost as if he was admitting we needed all the time we could get to finish the essay. And as he said, "it is going to be cold this weekend anyways." Yes it is going to be cold, very cold.

Left Out

Today I went to the elementary school that I help at. While playing basketball at recess, I fairly majorly rolled my left ankle. I was basically monitoring the game, not really playing, but landed on an uneven surface and my ankle gave out. Historically, it is my right ankle that has bothered me. I guess maybe now they both will.

Quarter Closing

Today was a long day of classes. However, I only have one more long day of classes before the quarter is over. In fact, I only have an essay left for each of my classes, excluding badminton. That being said, quite a bit of time will be taken up by writing these three essays. At least I know what I have to do, even if it is quite a bit.