Picture of the Day

Photo Challenge #15

"A picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently"

Last year I spent a lot of money.  And this year I'm forced to deal with it.  I sort of ignored and was naive about my budget last year and instead focused on my triathlon team, training, and races.  Then I took a trip to Germany in the Fall.  2013 has so far been financially stressful.  My mortgage and health insurance payment has gone up this year.  My paycheck is now less than it was last year because of taxes.  Due to my job situation, there hasn't been an opportunity to request a raise in the last 5 years.  Simply put, my bills are higher and I'm making less money.  Not a great situation.  So I'm working on being a better manager of my money.  It means saying no to a lot of things I'd like to do.  It means cutting back on things that I didn't used to have to worry about.  I love being a home-owner, but sometimes it is extremely stressful.  Not having a money cushion is stressful.  I've wanted to go back to school and take some classes, but the certificate I wanted to pursue isn't covered under financial aid and I can't afford it out of pocket.  Kind of knocks the wind out of my sail.

But I'm working on taking care of it.  It is a slow process and will take a long time to complete.  A mind-numbing test of my patience.

But it's the turtle that still wins the race, right?  As always, I'm working toward simply crossing that finish line!

Picture of the Day

Photo Challenge #14

"A picture of your favorite band or artist"

Beck

I have trouble with these "favorite" challenges.  I have lots of bands and artists that I like.  But I suppose I'll choose Beck as my favorite right now since I've consciously enjoyed his music for the past 10 years or so.  I get to finally see him in concert this August, which I am MORE than excited about!!

Observations

Can we all acknowledge what a miracle it is to find a significant other and both be on the same page with whatever relationship it is that you have with each other?  Thank you.

It has recently again come to my realization the following (please allow me the sweeping generalizations of heterosexual single-people):

• All men lament the perceived truth of the statement, "nice guys finish last"
• All men think that they are the unique "nice guy"
• All women think that they are less dramatic than the majority of females
• All men think that women are crazy
• All women blame their bitterness and unhappiness on men

It's a little fascinating to me that dating when you're older is much more difficult than dating when you're younger.  I thought it would have gotten easier as time went on; we have matured and grown up.  We are all adults and should have figured out how to communicate with each other at this point.  

And yet, that is not the case.  I find that dating is much more confusing now than it used to be.  Men have turned in to complete commitment-phobes and run away at the mere thought of choosing only ONE woman to go out with at a time.  Women can't WAIT to have a legitimate trusting relationship with a man, and in turn end up scaring the single pants off of the men, as the men interpret and read women's projections as:  I WANT TO GET MARRIED RIGHT NOW!  It's just not an easy area to navigate.  Inaccurate assumptions are made on both sides, nothing is really truly discussed openly and honestly, and nobody understands each other.

I vow to get my knee back to feeling better (Please, knee, PLEASE!!) and making this my statement for the rest of the year:

I need to get back to being able to train for races.  Especially triathlons.

Picture of the Day

Photo Challenge #13

"A picture of the last movie you saw in theaters"

IMAX 3D.  It was funny.  It was action.  It was solid.  It was good.

Picture of the Day

Photo Challenge #12

"A picture of yourself and a family member."

Blakemore Family Feb 2, 2013

How about a picture of myself with all of my family members?  This is a picture of us at my Grandma Blakemore's funeral.  I love every one of them.  Looking at their faces just fills my heart and makes it ache at the same time.  I miss being with them.  I love my family so much.

Musings

Life is interesting.  Sometimes I feel that life just happens - and I don't have any say over what happens - then other times I feel like I really should make some active decisions to try to shape my life.  On one hand, I know I don't really have control over what happens, so why even try to do anything?  On the other hand, I can't just allow things to happen to me; I need to participate and decide what my life will be.

I vacillate.

I read an article earlier this year that made me stop to think a bit.  It revealed that when asked, people said they didn't think they'd change that much over the next 10 years.  That they are who they are, and now that they're adults they don't change that much.  Then they were asked to think about the last 10 years.  Did they feel they were a different person NOW as opposed to 10 years ago?  The answer was yes. 

I thought about this.  I'm 31.  I have definitely changed a LOT since I was 21.  My core personality is the same, but because of life experiences, I have a much more complex view of things, desires and personal realities have changed, I've matured, and I'm definitely more cynical.  10 years from now I'll be 41.  Holy cow.  Do I get more mature at 41 than I am now?  I almost hope not.  ;)  I guess the hope is that in 10 years from now, I'll have figured some stuff out.  Become more wise in my relationships with myself and other people.  But barring a huge life event like me finding a spouse, having a child, or even getting a dog, I just can't see my life changing that much in the next 10 years.  Which is somewhat depressing to think about.  And makes me want to act on the hand that holds the option of taking an active role in deciding what happens in my life.  Luckily, according to the article, when I'm 41, I'll look back on my 31 year old self and think, "I changed more than I thought I would!"  Hopefully it's for the better.

One thing that hasn't changed over time is my desire to really connect with people.  I don't have a strong desire to connect with a LOT of people; just those who are my close friends and family.  I've never been one to have a lot of "surface" friends.  I have a smaller handful of close friends that I desire to know on a deeper level.  I want to REALLY get to know them.  What are their beliefs, their outlooks, their opinions?  What have they gone through that has shaped them to be the way they are?  I'm truly interested.  I want to hear about them.  I want to understand.  I want to learn from them.  I want to have that "wow" moment to hear them say something that I've never even thought of or considered before.  Everybody has their unique qualities.  I feel lucky when others don't assume I'm being nosy and they actually share themselves with me.  It is fulfilling for me to have these conversations and connections with my friends and family.

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I typed up the above paragraphs yesterday.  It was one of those days where my mind goes on an ADD rampage and doesn't stop going from one thing to the next.  I needed an outlet.  Enter this here blog.  There are a LOT of past posts still in draft status that are results of my days of ADD Brain -squirrel!- that I will never hit "publish" on.

I kept reading all these news articles yesterday about how terrible people are.  New information on the Boston bombing suspects, some guy who raped an INFANT and killed her, details on cannibalism in early Jamestown based on a mangled skull found of "Jane", and more.  I was just overwhelmingly sickened by people in general.  I thought, "man, people really suck".  A feeling of depression came over me, and then I thought about the recent events that happened to me personally that have hurt my feelings.  I wondered why 'they' treated me that way.  It really hurt my feelings!  Was it some sort of karma?  Did I deserve it?  Maybe I did!  What if I'm not being a good friend?  What if nobody knows that I appreciate them or love them?  I need to be a better person!!!  Geez, I really truly love my friends!  I need to let them know (I tell my family members all the time)!  My friends are such great people.  There is a lot of good in this world.  I am happy to have relationships with these awesome people.  We have lots of fun together.  They make my life better on a whole.  All these thoughts probably happened in the span of 10 seconds.  And that little snapshot tells you about the complex and exhausting strain I went through nearly all day yesterday.  That snapshot times 5000.

Circles

Welcome to the inside of my brain.  I'm always glad when those days come to an end and I can go to sleep.

Here are some great friend quotes that I saw on this blog that I think is a great way to end this post:

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Photograph by Dawn Ellner

“The only way to have a friend is to be one”

David Tyson Gentry

Photograph by Mohammad Ali F.

“True friendship comes when the silence between two people is comfortable”

Muhammad Ali

“Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It’s not something you learn in school. But if you haven’t learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven’t learned anything”

Jim Henson

“There’s not a word yet for old friends who’ve just met”

Bob Marley

“The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for”

Oscar Wilde

Photograph by Olga Caprotti

“Ultimately the bond of all companionship, whether in marriage or in friendship, is conversation”

Plutarch

Photograph by Dimitris Papazimouris

“I don’t need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Photograph by JD Hancock

“It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them”

C.S. Lewis

“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: “What!” You Too? I thought I was the only one.”

Mark Twain

“Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life”

Friedrich Nietzsche

“It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages”

Henry David Thoreau

Photograph by Ross Pollack

“Be true to your work, your word, and your friends”

Marlene Dietrich

Photograph by Bùi Linh Ngân

“It’s the friends that you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter”

Virginia Woolf

“Some people go to priests; others to poetry; I to my friends”

Linda Grayson

“There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate”

Picture of the Day

Photo Challenge #11

"A picture of your day"

Here are some pictures of the most random and awesome Tuesday I've had in a long time.  All were taken on Tuesday, April 23rd 2013.

Me and my cousin David with the Liberty Bell; Philadelphia, PA

Me, Liberty Bell, Independence Hall

My feet are just slightly smaller

David being Rocky

We ran up these steps twice - just to make sure we got the full experience

Here I am sucking on this woman's big toe

Love was in the air

Next stop: NYC to see the "Naked Cowboy"!

His face was not as attractive as his body

Grand Central Station

The Bull that goes on in the NYSE

This is the "Survivor Tree".  It was planted  at the world trade center complex  in the 1970s.  In Oct 2001, during the clean up of the resulting wreckage of the Sept 11 terrorist attack, it was discovered in the rubble, extracted, nursed back to health, then replanted on site in Dec of 2010.

Richard, David, me at one of the WTC Memorial Pools

Lady Liberty as viewed from Battery Park

Times Square fun

Progress

If we're measuring injury improvement by 5k finish times, then my knee has come a long way in just the last 4 weeks!  The last 5k of April was this past Friday and I'm happy to say that I didn't have to stop to walk and my knee mostly did not give me any trouble!  This gives me hope that I can actually sign up for another race (hopefully a couple of triathlons) this year and not be forced to walk across any more finish lines!  Seriously.  That's the worst.

Here are my 5k times for each Friday in April:

Had to walk after 2 miles

Here I am taking a stroll, wearing a race bib

Had to stop and stretch at mile 1.5, then continued my slow jog

Only ran ~2.5 miles of this one before being diverted to finish line due to lightning.  I wish I had that pace!

2.5 min/mile faster than the first 5k!!  Really happy with this time, as I didn't have to stop and walk at all, and my knee wasn't painful - just ached a bit.

2000 runners at the start force you to start off at an easy pace.

No need to rush - my knee doesn't want it

Happy to run across the finish!