exercise reward

I've started working out again. I found a highly rated workout DVD that lets me exercise at home. That's my kind of exercise: convenient.

So because I worked out today, I treated myself to a Snickers Easter egg.

Obviously.

{On an unrelated note: I've been going back and forth about whether I should take down yesterday's post. See, I've always found Tyrone Wells's "Hate Song" a piece of musical comedy, so I thought I'd imitate. But then after posting my own hate song and reading it through a couple times, it sounded way more complain-y than I intended. Yesterday's Apple Store excursion was more exasperating than upsetting. I didn't communicate that the way I wanted. So, yeah. No more hate songs. They make me sound more whiny than I-am-slash-want-to-come-off. Thanks for reading, even when I complain.}

4 for Thursday

I've been feeling like I slipped out of a blogging groove, and now that I want to get back into the groove, my mind is blank.

1. I started running again. After over a year of nothing exercise worthy, I started again. I even bought new running shoes. I know.
2. I got my diploma in the mail. It's official, legitimate, for real: I am a college graduate. The diploma says so. And I'm pretty dang excited about it. Everytime I think about midterms and group projects and 100+ pages worth of reading assignments, a giant wave of relief washes over me. Phew.
3. Almost all of my TV shows are over for the season: "Chuck," "Parenthood," "The Office," "30 Rock," "Bones," and "24." And yes, I did feel slightly pathetic listing all the shows I follow.
4. I'm off the clock and am getting ready to head down to catch my bus to the airport. I'm flying home and Josh is meeting me there. In fact, our flights get in at almost the same time, and given that we're both flying the same airline, one of us will meet the other at the gate. It will be like a movie. I hope there's a soundtrack.

Oh, and as of tomorrow, the wedding is 12 weeks away. Just sayin'.

Operation Santa Fe--Days 4, 5, and 6

The last half of Operation Santa Fe went pretty well, considering:

• Church on Sunday. This was Emily's first day back.
• I made Parmesan chicken, white rice, and carrots for dinner. Emily made the biscuits. Jacquelyn came over for dinner.
• Sunday night we watched "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade."
• Monday morning, Jacquelyn and I went up to Crown Hill to go running, and Sarah rode her bike alongside.
• Sarah went to Marilyn Fowler's house in the evening and spent the night--score
• Monday was cleaning day. Sarah had a fit because I wouldn't let her eat ice cream for breakfast . . . figure that one out.
• Monday, we discovered who the peeing culprit was. All throughout OSF, one of the dogs (we also were watching Grandma and Grandpa's dog, Tyrone) kept peeing everywhere. Because we never were able to catch them in the act, I didn't know which dog to scold, so I didn't scold any dog. We had our suspicions, but no confirmations. Monday night, I was watching TV and I heard a whizzing sound behind me. I turned around to see my suspicions confirmed: Tyrone. He was the whizzer. I was so mad. And he did it again on Tuesday. I was not sad to see Tyrone go . . . .
  
• My friend Cheyne came over on Monday night, and he, Emily, and I went out to ice cream, and then came back to our house and watched "Stranger Than Fiction," (which I loved by the way--I'd never seen it before).
  
• Tuesday I basically just hung out. Sarah was still at Marilyn's all day, I vacuumed, I scrapbooked, I waited anxiously for Mom and Dad to get home.

They've been back for a couple days now, and I've decided I'm perfectly okay not being the mom. Mom can have that job back. :)

jumbled miscellany

I meant to post that last post Sunday night, but didn't. I meant to post more this week, but didn't. I mean to write more on almost all of the following bullet points, but won't.

• 4 tests this week=intellectual breakdown
• Monday: Physical Science, 87 percent, wanted to get it out of the way
• Tuesday: Living Prophets, 91 percent, easy peezy lemon squeezy
• Wednesday: Civ, don't know what I got, was worried, but actually feel pretty good about it
• Thursday: Grammar, don't know what I got, feel pretty good about it, diagrammed my heart out in the testing center
• New favorite artists: Josh Kelley, Jon McLaughlin, Kate Nash
• Wonderful spring-ish weather this week
• worked out twice so far this week, wanted to work out more--need to step up my work out game
• bought Drano today to unclog disgustingly clogged sink; will hardcore clean the bathroom tomorrow
• signed fall housing contract today
• To Jessie: My original housing plans for fall fell through, leaving me with no one to live with. My so awesome and cool friends Erica and Katie wanted me to live with them, so I said yes, but they'd already picked a place to live, which is really fine with me; I'm not too picky. I'll be living with Erica and Katie in . . . The Colony. Because I love you, I will endure your mocking.
• not-so-great violin lesson because of lack of practicing in the past 2 weeks--need to step up my game on that too
• 1 week from this very moment, I'll be back home in Denver for the weekend to see Emily's musical. Can't wait.
• Good mail from Kristi: way cute ribbon and a thank you note--a great way to end my week last week
• Good mail from Jill: cute thank you note for a CD I sent
• weekend plans: 24 marathon with Brooke tomorrow night, practice violin, group project for grammar, working out, being cool

And finally:

• This was in the Daily Universe a few days ago. We have a copy of it on our fridge.
• Chill out
  
  My name is Nathan. You have probably seen me standing outside wearing my cloak. Until recently it was my habit to stand around and sing in between classes to amuse myself. It struck me as a fairly harmless activity that, while a bit unusual, was nevertheless rather mundane. Furthermore, I had gotten only pleasant comments from the passers by.
  
  Imagine my surprise, then, when I was stopped by a policeman who had gotten a call from someone about me. He told me it was well within my rights as a BYU student to stand outside in the cold and sing in between classes. I found the incident amusing and, though I thought the whole matter a little strange, continued my singing. What I found less amusing was the police officer stopping by approximately a week later to tell me that I had to stop, that I was disturbing the peace, and that I would be issued a citation if I continued. Needless to say, I no longer sing outside at BYU.
  
  Why am I going to the trouble of writing this? Because I find the whole incident greatly troubling. First, it seems wrong for a student at BYU to be stopped from doing something D&C 25:12 calls a prayer. More than that, however, I am disturbed by the way in which my singing was handled. I am bothered by the fact that whoever had something against my singing called the police instead of heeding the advice in D&C 42:88 to talk to me by myself.
  
  I am also bothered by the fact that BYU police seem to value the appeasement of a small but vocal minority over any actual laws or rules (which, I remind the reader, I was specifically told I was not breaking). And I'm also somewhat bothered by the fact that this whole incident has worked to support the valuing of conformity over tolerance. In short, I think that some BYU students need to chill and I think that the BYU police need to grow a spine.
  
  Nathan Langford
  River Falls, Wisc.