Staring Problem

I find myself staring at people as I walk to and from campus because they have peaked my interest for one reason or another. For some reason, I'm under the impression that when I stare at people, they can't see me. Like I don't exist and people can't stare at me like I'm staring at them. Am I the only one with this problem? I submit that I am not. And here's why... as I was walking to school the other day, some goofy kid was staring at me as I walked by. I was staring right back of course but neither one of us acknowledged the other, that is until his lack of attention to where he was walking caused him to trip on the ice and land right on his rump just after he passed me. I turned around to see if he was ok and I think he suddenly realized that when you stare at people, they can see it, because his face turned bright red and he continued on his way. Now this may just have been because he ate it, but I'm guessing it was possibly because he ate it because he was staring at me, and I'm sure it wasn't because I was attractive or anything, but probably just because I was walking by and was someone he could stare at. He just didn't know his staring at me would end this way. I tell you this story of this absent-minded gentleman to share with you some wisdom I gained that day, just in case, like me, you didn't already have it:

People can see you when you stare at them (unless you are doing it with binoculars up in a tree or somewhere else far away, and if I just described you, for shame).

So do yourself a favor and stop staring at people if you currently have a habit of it, because if we're not careful, we'll all end up like my new friend who didn't think people could see him until he fell on his rear end in public.

I One-Upped Eminem

I've been on this running kick lately. I always said that the reason I didn't work out was because I didn't have a car or a gym membership. I know that I could have been working out on campus all these years, and I did my freshman year, but let's face it, I'm the lazy type when it comes to walking to campus. I minimize the number of times I have to walk to campus in a week for good reason... it's no fun.

But, along with buying a car, I bought myself a gym membership to Gold's. Now, I would actually probably prefer 24 Hour to Gold's, but when I went to 24, I had kind of a bad deal and paid waaay too much a month and Gold's also has a sweet theater room that inspires me to run for entire movies at a time, which is much more tolerable than just counting songs or looking out the window for an hour and a half at a time. So, I was a little hesitant to make the switch, but I'm happy with my decision now, so that's good.

Now that I've explained the decision-making process behind choosing a gym to go to, which I'm sure was riveting, I'll tell you how successful I've been at actually going to said gym. Surprisingly successful, actually. I manage to go about 4 to 6 times a week, usually at 6 in the morning before I go to school or work, and it's been, for lack of a better word, delightful. I go to the gym, get my workout on, and then come home, shower, and have about a half hour to eat breakfast (which I didn't used to do either) and read my scriptures and/or a book before I go to school or work or wherever I'm headed that day. My mornings are just great, which is important because good mornings help you have good days and good days help you have a good life, so I'd say things are going pretty well.

I'm especially impressed by myself because I've actually been making goals with the running. I want to run a marathon or a half marathon, or at least be able to, this summer. Also, I just figure if I'm going to be working out, I might as well get good at something while I'm at it. So, I try to do my own made up training techniques so that I get stronger and faster and all of that, and they seem to be working. I know this is not terribly impressive to all of you actual runners out there, but I ran 9 miles on Saturday for the first time in my life! It wasn't too long ago that three was a stretch, so I'm feeling really good about it.

This is just a little personal triumph for me that I thought I'd share. I've always liked to work out, but have made whatever excuse for not doing it, and I'm so grateful that I'm finally in the optimal situation for actually doing it. And I'm proud of myself for actually doing it and not making another lame excuse for not. Anyway, running is fun, I recommend it. It also helps me feel like I'm actually accomplishing something, which is a nice feeling because school and work can often times feel a little mundane.

Here's the update you've all been waiting for: I did buy a new water bottle at Walmart. It's lovely and blue, but I forgot to bring it with me to work today, so I guess I'll just have to try it out tomorrow. I have, however, given up the regular water bottle at work because I don't thing feeling sick is very fun. I'm just sticking to the drinking fountain for today. Also, I went to the mall with Mallory and got two sexy pairs of jeans that I love and I owe Mallory my life for sharing her shopping expertise with me!

Something in the Water

I'm convinced that reusing water bottles is a bad idea. My reasoning behind this is that I have been doing so for about two years pretty consistently now and I'm pretty sure the nauseous stomach that I've been enjoying recently at work and often times in the past is a result of said action. Maybe this stems simply from the fact that I think it's doing me harm and so somehow my subconscious makes me believe that the sensation of goldfish swimming through my innards is real even though it really isn't. But, I think it's probably just that the water is rancid because I've been reusing my water bottle for too long. I think it's time for me to invest in a couple eco-friendly water bottles (as mentioned on The Biggest Loser) to use instead of reusing these meant-for-one-use-only bottles that are quite a bit cheaper. However, (also as mentioned on The Biggest Loser) in the long run, these meant-to-be-reused-eco-friendly bottles will be a much better investment and will save me a lot of money.

In the meantime, I'm stuck slurping down some Cup Noodles (that's right... it's actually NOT Cup o' Noodles) and drinking some Citrus C Odwalla concoction to get rid of this nasty feeling in my stomach. Hopefully it works.

New Jeans

I have a serious pants deficiency. I own exactly six pairs of jeans. One of which I bought in high school, but it fits and is decent-looking, one of which fits and is falling apart in every way possible, two of which have holes too big to be ignored in places too inappropriate to be ignored, one of which fits me in a way similar to that of your grandmother's stretchy-sort-of-jean material, light-blue-jean-colored pants do (those of you familiar with SNL might call them Mom Jeans), and one of which fits me a lot like a trash bag might (I bought this pair for my fat days, but it turns out my days are never quite fat enough to make them look good). In other words, I have two pairs of jeans that I wear, one of which is quickly becoming another pair with holes too big to be ignored. Most people in the financial position (not great, but good enough to buy pants at least once a year) that I am in, and with the level of intelligence (also not great, but good enough to recognize when new clothes are a luxury and when they are a necessity) that I have would have, by all reasonable paths of logic, come to the conclusion that a pair or two of new blue jeans should be purchased about two and a half years ago.

But, as I'm sure you can imagine by my current problem, I am not most people. So, what am I to do?

My initial reaction is to go to my default reason for not doing anything: I don't have a car. Then... I buy a car. So I move on to the next tried and true excuse for not doing anything: I don't have any money. While this one is still true, it's probably not very valid because I can rationalize spending the little money that I do have on things of much less importance, such as Tucano's and the sheet music for "Open Arms" as made famous by Journey. So, I feel that although my funds are small, they're plentiful enough to splurge on a pair or two of very useful and hopefully stylish jeans. Now that I've gotten past both of these hefty excuses, I make a few trips to the mall. No luck. No pants fit me. THIS, I discover, is the reason for my lack of pants.

Here's where the beautiful and talented Malba (formerly known as Mal Bop, formerly known as Mallory) comes in. She so kindly is going to tutor me in the art of shopping since it's one of my least favorite things to do, and I'm pretty excited about it. This story is to be continued after what I'm sure will be a more successful adventure at the mall than I've previously had. Wish me luck, America. I am finally going to find some jeans to add to my collection after about three and a half years.

Attendance

I have a history of not being good at attendance. Both of my classes this semester take roll and count it as part of our grade. I'm doomed. Either that or I'll just have to suck it up and always go to class. You might be thinking, "What's your problem, Becky? You only have two classes!" But I'm lazy, and that's a hard thing to get over. Also, the temperatures are dropping and that makes walking to school through the ice unpleasant not only because I tend to fall when I walk on ice, but also because it's now absolutely freezing. Other than that, it shouldn't be too bad. Just English classes, so I'm not too worried. No more Italian, thank goodness.

Perhaps I'm also being a tad pessimistic about the upcoming semester because I'm back to work and school after having a two week vacation that was much more fun than anticipated. I went home, which was really nice. It was nice to see my family and friends from back home. I would even venture to say that it was relaxing. Then I spent quite a bit of quality time with Mallory and her lovely family, which was fantastic. This quality time included meeting a sexy Brazilian surfer/snowboarder who made us eat chicken hearts and offered us shots on his break, snowboarding, watching the long but well done Curious Case of Benjamin Button, making an appearance at an incredible institute dance where we saw alot of cha cha-ing and charlie brown-ing, alot of slumber parites, Mallory's 21st birthday, and alot of delicious grub. I couldn't have asked for a better break, but that just makes going back to the boring that much harder.