Thursday, January 27, 2011

Something Sexy About the Rain

"Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather."
- John Ruskin


Funny how life works.  A child loves rain, to play in it, to get in trouble for staying in it too long because he/she might catch cold.  Some of the best fun came with rain, you know.  Mud pies, jumping in the puddles, being yelled at for getting mud and water all over the house.  It's surprising how this changes over time.  Maybe it's due to the responsibilities of growing up, maybe we really do lose our childhood and the joy we once found in this beautiful form of nature.

Walking around the Union on campus today I got to see a little bit of every reaction to the rain (as it's been off and on all day).  One guy, while walking down the stairs looked out and was very creative with his language choice when sharing his feelings about the weather, while others were a bit more upbeat.

It's WATER PEOPLE!  It's not going to harm you in any way.  Yes you'll get wet, but the good news is you won't burn to death, you won't be killed instantly, you won't melt.

I will gladly say that I'm happy when I got to the bus stop for my next class I stood in the rain and didn't complain, mind you the shelter was full of people so I couldn't get in, but still.  This is where I realized someone needs to make an umbrella handbook on etiquette.  I know I'm short, but most people hold umbrellas just right so that they're in my face so I'm constantly getting splashed when they spin it, or lower it to let water off.  Also people getting of the bus made things difficult by opening their umbrellas in peoples faces or where there wasn't any room for one.  Suck it up and wait 5 seconds in the rain to get past the people before opening your umbrella, it's all I'm asking.

Sorry for the slight rant there, but people were just being rude.

As long as there is no thunder and lightning I think we should all embrace rain.  It's fun and refreshing.  Yes naps, books, movies, are fun, but sometimes sitting on your porch with a nice cup of tea is good too.

Lastly, I should remember to keep my rain boots in my car (luckily I wore sneakers today) and should hunt down my umbrella (which is somewhere in my house).

Side Note: This post was started on a day it actually rained...sorry for the delay in posting.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

The Bucket List

"Have you found joy in your life?
Has your life brought joy to others?"
- Carter Chambers (the two questions asked of the dead by the gods at the entrance to heaven),
The Bucket List

I've recently realized that I want to do more in life, be more spontaneous in the things I do.  I will, on occasion, find something that I've highly interested in and research it, but never follow through on the project, trip, adventure.  Everyone has a bucket list, or at least should, and while I hope to live a long life, I know that God has his own plans. Below is my compiled bucket list that I've been working on for about a year:

  1. Go to Times Square for New Years Eve
  2. Go to Santorini, Greece
  3. Go to Bruges, Belgium
  4. Go to a National Championship game (football and/or baseball)
  5. Go to Easter Island
  6. Go to Mardi Gras
  7. Go on a cruise
  8. Go to the World Cup
  9. Go on an annual camping trip (other than the trip to Mexico)
  10. Visit all 7 continents
  11. Visit all 50 states (17 left)
  12. Visit the White House
  13. Visit the Louvre
  14. Visit Pike Place Market
  15. Meet Robin Williams
  16. Meet John Mayer
  17. Meet Gerard Butler
  18. Meet Aaron Sorkin
  19. Fund a home in Mexico
  20. Completely organize my iTunes
  21. Run a marathon
  22. Read a book in less than a week
  23. Read the Bible in its entirety
  24. Read all of Nicholas Sparks books
  25. Learn photography
  26. Learn Greek
  27. Learn how to play the guitar
  28. Learn to knit or crochet
  29. Learn to surf
  30. Learn kick boxing
  31. Learn to say "No" without feeling guilty
  32. Cook a meal with Tom Colicchio, Bobby Flay, or Mario Batali
  33. Jump off a cliff into deep water
  34. Solve a Rubik's Cube
  35. Get a cake from Charm City Cakes
  36. Build a Habitat for Humanity home
  37. Design my own home
  38. Own my dream car (BMW 328i Hardtop Convertible)
  39. Start my own business
  40. Bowl a perfect game (...or at least get turkey)
  41. Work for ESPN
  42. Create a new family tradition
  43. Have a brick at Westcott Fountain
  44. Experience Paint-A-Pot at FSU

Monday, January 10, 2011

2011: The New Beginning?

"The ancestor of every action is a thought."- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Alright, my first blog of the year (better late than never, and so far it's better than my goal for last year).    Where to begin!?  The Seminoles brought in the New Year with a victory over the South Carolina Gamecocks in the Chick~Fil~A Bowl.  Florida is bringing in Charlie Weis to be their Offensive Coordinator and Quarterbacks coach.  And if Nevada wins tonight and Auburn wins tomorrow I will most likely win my groups Bowl Game Challenge on ESPN.


Keeping with the sports theme:
   College Baseball starts in one month, one week, one day with FSU playing VMI (Virginia Military Institute) in a 3 game series.
       --> I will attempt to attend 90% of the games this season (meaning I need people to attend games with me, they're boring when you go alone).
   FSU men's basketball plays Duke on Wednesday.  It will be my second basketball game this season and probably my last (still considering UNC since we might actually stand a chance against them this season).  I feel like since the Nole Zone ended, games aren't the same.
       -->  I think I have the beginnings of a weird phobia where I'm afraid of basketball players because they're unusually tall (at least from my angle because I'm so short).
   Lastly, one of my best friends, Mallory, who lives in D.C., has recently taking a serious interest in Hockey.  Thanks to our many conversations reaching back to November this has sparked a slight interest in the sport for me.  This means I'm going to try and get an education in this with the help of some friends and wikipedia (hopefully I'll be able to watch a game too).
        --> All I know about hockey is what I saw in The Mighty Ducks trilogy and the 2010 winter olympics.


Since my last blog was a set up for this year, let me fill you in on how my resolutions and goals have been going.  This is my first blog of the year.  Considering I wanted to do it weekly, I'm 3 days behind.  I promise I WILL work on this.  I need to continue to write because it's helping me reinforce what I learned in high school (thanks to Mrs. Marshall!) and keep my writing skills strong, even though I'm best at writing research type papers.  I have yet to go to the gym, or the track for that matter, since the year started.  HOWEVER I think I'm going to modify this into doing the couch25K, which seams to be trending amongst my friends right now (http://www.c25k.com/).  This will probably start up this week, just need to get an iPod playlist ready (here's to Gerard for advising me there).  I haven't really had a issue with saying no yet, but it's still early in the year.  Lastly...reading my Bible daily, this one is the difficult one since I hate reading.  I am 10 days behind and need to establish a reading schedule.  I plan on catching up, especially with a long weekend ahead (and a retreat this weekend with Ambassadors For Christ) so by next week I should be good to go.