New Year's @ MindSay

Tonight's pretty crappy.  I'm still sick, I STILL can't eat real food after getting my wisdom teeth out, and I'm exhausted because I got up at 4 this morning to shovel a foot and a half of snow the plow spit into our driveway so my mom couldn't get to work, and then I worked for 3.5 hours with Carly who I love but is very draining.  We decided not to go Nance's house for New Year's.  Mom's already in bed, and Dad JUST caught the sickness last night, so he's going to bed in about half an hour, which means I am spending my New Year's Eve 100% alone.  I got nothing to do, nowhere to go, and will soon have no one to talk to.

 

Tonight, I am pathetic as fuck.

 

But since I can't get RENT songs out of my head right now,

 

 

IT'S GONNA BE A HAPPY NEW YEAR.

 

Bank on it.

Well, first off...a bit about me. I'm homeschooled (not nearly as isolating as one might think--ever heard of a laptop and a cafe?), and I live with my (very British, very eccentric) mother in an apartment in London proper (postcode E46EL, for the Mindsay team, if they ever decide to let us poor foreigners enter our location on the map). I'm not a British native. I'm actually from the Seattle area. I lived in and around Seattle for my first 15 and a half years, so I'm actually very American with some British undertones, as Mum put it (yes, I call her Mum). I'll be 17 on the 17th, and I'm in the middle of what would be the equivalent of my Junior year in American schools (they don't call it that here, and the schooling itself is rather different). It's 7-ish in the evening here, whereas in Seattle it's 10-ish in the morning. Good morning, Seattle.

This blog is the written dialogue of my New Year's 2007 Resolution #3: to improve my admittedly limited physical fitness. (Did you know that that's the #1 resolution back in the States? Sadly, despite this, obesity rates continue to skyrocket. Salute, fast food and coronary artery disease). Resolutions #1 and #2 are to write more (creative writing--this doesn't count), and to save enough money for a trip back to the States this summer (I miss it dearly, even though London is quite possibly my favorite city in the world).

Anyway, that's not what this blog is. It's a progress-tracker for Res #3. Physical fitness isn't exactly my forte. Back in the States (I swear, eventually I'll run out of things to talk about from "back in the States"), I barely passed Freshman P.E. I had reconstructive knee surgery just before we left, and most activities more strenuous than walking around the block were agonizing until about 6 months ago. In short, I'm chronicling the whipping of my fat, lazy ass back into some semblance of shape. I'm British. I'm supposed to be enviously skinny and pale. I'm already more than pale without trying. The skinny part, I suppose, is up to me.

Tuesday was Day 1- a running day. I ran 7 minutes and walked 18--a grand total of 25 minutes. Well, Rome wasn't built in a day, and, clearly, neither will my body be reshaped in that time frame. I felt horrible right after the running bit; I was faint and nauseated, but I think that was because I took too much Vicodin (I had all four so-called Wisdom Teeth removed not long ago--still on pain-killers). Anyway, I got back to the house, took a 10-minute power-nap, and made some soup. Mum scolded me for running so soon after surgery. But...whatever. It was oral surgery, not cardiovascular. She's an incessant worrywart. Ever since we moved here, she's transmorgified into Mother Hen On Crack.

Anyway, Wednesday (Day 2) was a non-running day. I consequently spent the day lazing about, watching movies and studying. I hurt something terrible. Took a bath to loosen my aching muscles, but it didn't help much. Oh- also, on Wednesday, Liam brought me Christmas (he was in Switzerland for Christmas, lucky man) in the form of a case for my IPod, so I can run with tunes now.

Thursday (yesterday-Day 3) was a non-running day. I did walk around a bit, shopping with Liam and his sister, but I doubt you could really call that physical activity; I've never been too lazy or laid-up to do some walking. I've always walked quite a bit, actually.

Today (Day 4) was a running day, as is tomorrow. Running the whole 7 minutes was a bit more of a challenge today, but I expected that. The stiffness in my legs wasn't quite worn out yet, but by the time I got back to the house, I was completely spry. It felt good. There's actually a point in one's running where your body produces endorphines while running, so that you actually feel happy from running. I'm not there yet, but I vow to be there soon.

 

Adieu,

Converse Runner Renee

 

Oh, by the way--I do run in a trashy pair of old black Converse Chuck Taylor All-Stars. Why ruin a good pair of new shoes when the Converse are more comfortable anyway?

The end is over.  Worst year of my life.  It had its good moments, though.

New Year's Resolution: Change my: life, self, weight, clothes, personality, job, status, heart, world.

Think I can do that in a year? 

You should try to impress me now.  It's always good to have a famous friend.

Avoid breaking things and crying on the first day of the year, or else the pattern will continue for the entire year.

Babies born on 1st January are said to be the lucky for the rest of their lives.

Do not let money, jewelry, precious items or other invaluable things leave your home on New Year Day. Do not pay loans and bills or lend things to anybody.

Evil One and his servants hate loud noise. So, scare them away by being as loud in New Year celebrations as possible. Church bells are rung at midnight for the purpose too.

Wallets or purses full of money bring prosperity in New Year.

Never leave the home before someone comes in first.

First person in your house should be ushered in with a warm welcome and should not have flat feet, cross-eyes or eyebrows stretching out to meet in the middle.

People do not wash hair on New Year and wear festive red clothing for happiness all the year round.

Token amount of work on first day of the year means advancements in career but starting out a serious work project is unlucky on New Year Day.

Washing dishes and doing laundry on this day is said to lead to a death in the family during the year.

Hey all...

 

I am just taking a little break in the action known as "vacation" and wanted to say that I hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas and also that you have a safe and happy New Year's.