pieces

I have fun friends. Last night, we went to see the Round Rock Express take on the Tacoma Rainiers (no comments on this, but I’m pretty sure you should check Rebecca’s blog later today, because she was writing down the funny things we said last night). We had a blast, and the baseball game was really good as well. There was some great fielding, five homeruns (including a grand slam), a perfectly executed double steal, one pitcher thrown out (unecessarily, in my opinion), and the losing team scoring 3 runs with two outs in the ninth to almost even the score. In the end, the Express edged out the Rainiers 10-8.

There were 13 of us, and Caroline had gotten us tickets in two rows, so we were all together, in great, shaded seats (thanks, Caroline!). I think even the non-baseball fans enjoyed it. And it turns out that cheap beer night (although not quite half-price, as advertised) was a fun day to bring Jack.

After I got home, I went straight to work on my pond. After the last disaster (you see, just “tossing them in” as the man at the store said didn’t work too well after it had rained and after the water feature sprung a leak, but hey, that’s why I bought cheap fish), I bought a filter and a pump more appropriate to the size of the pond, as well as a UV filter (in case the algae gets too bad, although I’d rather not use it since it kills the good bacteria as well as the algae). I got them all out to set them up on Wednesday night, but it turns out that none of them had the flexible tubing that you need to string them together. I bought some yesterday before the game, so last night I set up the pump and filter, and drained and refilled the pond. It still looks good this morning - the water is fairly clear, and the four plants seem to be happy.

Anyway, I’m off to work. And then to buy fish (yay!). And then to see another fun group of friends, the ones I play games with, who would all get the Settler’s reference in the LolTrek link from my previous post.

Check out this edition of the Dilbert newsletter, specifically the “World’s Most Annoying Man” bit:

Dilbert Newsletter, Issue 65

So most of you have seen this:
I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER?

And probably this:
Meme Cats

So first peruse those sites, then check this one out:
LOLTrek << Live Granades

So, we’ve had two more football games, Jack and I bought a new bed, and I’m finally attempting to do the pond thing right. We’ve hung pictures, and I hosted a girl’s night. Oh, and I had a birthday. Something that’s not usually that big of a deal to me, but that wasn’t the case this year. You see, I am now 29. 29 for the first time, I’ve joked with my friends. But I don’t want that to be the case.

The reason I want to repeat 29 is because I don’t want to feel like I’ve wasted my twenties. And yes, I realize that I am married to a wonderful guy, and that we just bought a house, and that we’ve found a city that we could see ourselves spending the rest of our lives in. Now, I don’t own a coffeeshop yet, and neither of us are really settled into our careers (I actually have more of a job than a career right now), but I discovered this amazing football team, and found a place here that teaches my style of capoeira, and am taking free classes and learning Portuguese.

So what do I mean by wasted? What would make me want to have another year before I turn 30? I’ve been trying to figure that out myself for the last few days, and I’ve come up with a few possibilities, but really, I’m not entirely sure.

I’ve been out of grad school now for almost 3 years, and in that time I haven’t yet really established a routine. I’d like to work out 5-6 times a week. I want to plan our meals for the week on Saturday or Sunday, and then only shop for stuff we’ll really use before it goes bad. I want to sit around in my pajamas on Saturday and read a book. I want to start checking things off of that list of things to see in and near Austin. It took a friend moving down here and me mentioning Tuesday night trivia at Mother Egan’s for me to finally go. I want to write letters and reestablish connections with old friends.

And I also want to lose this weight that’s been hanging around for the past 3-7 years. It was hard in grad school, because I had no money, so I tended to eat the (free) donuts and snacks that appeared around the department. I got most of that off, and then went on medication for my rosacea. It was great for my face, but made me feel awful. I didn’t eat much, but my metabolism was so low that I packed on the pounds anyway. I do plan to go on it one more time, but this time hopefully the exercise will help maintain my metabolism enough to at least not gain any weight. I realize it’s superficial and silly, but I really want to get this weight off before I turn 30. I want to approach a new decade in my life without any baggage from the last one.

So maybe that’s why I haven’t posted - because I have been in the mood to reflect rather than write. And I wanted to gather my thoughts and figure out why I’ve been in a funk.

Now if only I could figure out why I’ve been so tired this week. I’ve been getting ten hours of sleep every night and I’m still extremely tired. Someone said it was probably allergies - man, I hope not.

So I do plan to post on the events I mentioned at the beginning of this post. And maybe drag out some pictures I’ve been hoarding, since, well, our Superbowl party.

“So, have you decided whether you want a square table?”

“No, there’s not enough space on a square table.”

“No?”

“I want to have dinner parties, with lots of forks. You can’t put lots of forks on a square table.”