A-to-Z with D

Warning : The following post contains life views that some readers may find unrelatable or disagreeable.  Viewer discretion is advised. Before starting, a quick thanks to those who reached out after reading G.  My anxiety post-posting was sky-high.  After all, why would anyone care about what's going on in my life or my opinions on topics I deem important?  Hearing that others could relate or that they liked having a glimpse into my life was incredibly comforting.  Your encouragement meant more than this paragraph conveys.  Thank you. Okay.  Sap over.  Post H: Unpopular Opinions! My Midwest upbringing was wonderful.  I had parents that were involved and together, four living grandparents married to college sweethearts for sixty+ years, plenty of family friends serving as role models for what a parent/spouse should be, and friends from near-identical backgrounds with few exceptions.  It was comfortable.  It was supportive....

It's been a hot minute since I blogged.  Approximately 2,270,880 of them in fact.   A lot has happened in 4+ years and nearly all of it for the better, BUT this post has nothing to do with any of that.   Instead, I present to you with a random conglomerate of disjointed thoughts I've had over the past few months, mostly DC-related.  A thorough write-up of my first six months in the District is halfway drafted and will go up at a later time though, so for now enjoy the smattering. But first, an explanation of why I decided to pick back up on this blog.  "But I don't care!" you say.  No worries!  It's conveniently indented for you to easily ignore, so scroll away! My mind swirls with fractured ideas, opinions, revelations and questions on a second-by-second basis.  This may be common for everyone.  It could be unique to me alone.  I doubt either extreme is true, all I know is how hard it is to keep up with ...

I made a sad realization today. To preface, I have a wonderful life.  Great friends, awesome family, loving fiancé, good job, shelter, food, clean water, etc. etc. There is no ‘but’ coming.  Only an addendum. A certain movie quote keeps playing over and over in my head – Grandma Molly’s comment from This Is 40:  “One day you’re going to blink, and you’re going to be ninety … I’m telling you, I’m warning you.  Don’t blink.  Don’t blink!” Fun Fact:  This is Judd Apatow's real-life grandmother. On 8/21/13, I blinked.  And woke up a year later wondering what in the world happened during the 365 days my eyes were closed.  That was my sad realization. Next Wednesday I’ll be celebrating twenty four years of life.  These past 52 weeks whizzed by way faster than I wanted.  What did I do this last year?!  My poor memory can’t be solely to blame for the lack of a substantial answer.  Here is what I do remember...

If you hate KU or college basketball in general, no need to continue on from here.  Thanks for stopping by. This post was supposed to happen a week ago, but life happened.  (Actually, that's a blatant lie.  I've had two snow days since then--as a working adult--and plenty of down time.  I'm just terrible at blogging.)  But this is important, dammit!  It shall not go ignored! Last Wednesday I took a last-minute road trip with  +AJ Sidhu  and  +Aaron Gillespie  to Stillwater, OK.  Why you ask?  To watch KU beat Oklahoma State in double overtime, duh.  I could go on and on about the details, like what we ate on the ride there and talked about on the drive back; about the snow storm we ran away from at 3 o'clock in the morning; about the feelings running through me before, during and after my first-ever KU away game; about how my freshman year Linear Algebra professor went out of his way to say hey to AJ and me after...

This past month brought its fair share of happenings--some good and some not so peachy.  In honor of the finals week I don't have to take part in anymore, here's how I would grade the recent events of my life: Started BodyPump classes:   A     - I'M SO EXCITED!  I couldn't get enough of this class over the summer, but then moved and screwed everything up.  BUT, I found a place that offers the class twice a week for an extremely reasonable price within a decent distance.  Watch out -- I'm about to get jacked.  A for sure. Directed the Hillcrest Chrsitmas play:   A     - Definitely a highlight of my year.  i had so much fun with the kids, and loved seeing how much the congregation adored watching them perform.  Can't wait to do it all again next year.  Solid A. Ran a 5K:   B     - Getting a time of 32:08 on my first go would get an easy A.  Not being about to walk like a normal pers...

I'm crossing off two topics today: one by request (thanks for playing along Erin !) and one just because I want to. But first, I have a confession.  I ate an entire box of mac ('n? n'? 'n'?) cheese for dinner.  The deal I made myself before pulling out the pot was that I'd save at least half for tomorrow, but that only lasted about five minutes.  I'm already regretting it. Oh, and yesterday I did BodyPump for the first time since mid-July.  I should've just invited someone over to beat me up instead, at least I wouldn't have had to leave my apartment. #ouch #7:  As I'm sure many members of my generation would agree, I quite enjoy having nothing to do.  I love sleeping, I love vegging out in front of the TV, I love chatting up far-away friends on the phone, I love staring off into space, and I love wasting brain cells on the internet......when it's my own choice.   However.   When I'm at work and have nothing productive to do, it...

Running is not my thing.  Never has been.  I joined the track team in 9th grade for about a week before quitting--I blamed it on twisting my ankle twice, but that may have been a cop-out--and becoming team manager.  (Those who can't do, teach manage.) My excuses for not running usually include the following: I have a bad back; my ankles are weak; having knock-knees makes running difficult; I'm out of shape; I have a hard time breathing in cold weather; I don't have time.  While the body related ones do have some validity to them, the rest are complete BS and I know it. While using Google to see if it was "knocked" or "knock",  I found out there's a scientific term for my knees --'Genu Valgum'.  Now you know. But I digress. The reason I bring this up is that I was signed up to do my first-ever 5K.  (If you aren't familiar with running lingo/the metric system, that's 3.1 miles.)  I should also point out that this is happening o...