Monday, February 4, 2008

Monday Monday

Don't you love when you feel like you've had a very productive day? I always end up feeling so virtuous. The only problem with productive days is that they often involve getting up early. And this morning I was up really early. 7 A.M. early.
See, after last night's Super Bowl party I came home feeling slightly buzzed. The friend who hosted the party had ordered a half keg (pony keg, whatever you want to call it), but the so-called "half keg" was definitely a full-sized keg. And it wasn't a full-sized keg that was half full. It was a full freakin' keg. And there were 12 of us at the party. I don't care how valiantly you try, 12 people cannot drink an entire keg of beer during the course of one football game. Or rather, I suppose in theory 12 people could do it, but the 12 of us that were at this particular party are not capable of that feat under any circumstances.
So anyway, I came home feeling like I was just buzzed enough that trying to do any reading for classes would have been a pointless effort, which is why I ended up going to sleep at 11:00, which I suppose is why my body was awake at 7:00. Since I was up anyway and I'd already had eight hours of sleep, I figured I might as well go to the 9:00 lecture instead of the 10:00 lecture (all of us TAs have to go to one of them on Mondays and Wednesdays). So I did that, then I went to the bookstore to return a book I don't need after all, then I went to my weekly TA meeting, and then I drove out to the country to check out the kennel where I'm thinking of leaving my dog at spring break. By 12:30 I was home again with the whole afternoon stretching out in front of me.
So I did my laundry (did I mention that my schedule allows Monday to be laundry day again? Order has been restored in my world) and went to the apartment complex fitness center and ran 3 miles in 30 minutes. Which is pretty good for me. Given, it was on the treadmill and I'm firmly convinced that treadmill running is easier than outdoor running, but I was still proud of myself. I don't run very much. For one thing, I don't think jogging is actually that great for me. My family is pretty physically fit, but genetically we're predisposed to weak ankles and bad knees. My mom tore both her Achilles tendons after years of running, my dad recently had to have knee surgery. And I manage to twist my ankle two or three times a year just from walking, because I'm that much of a klutz. I just feel like running probably isn't the best choice for me. Also, most days I can't find the time to spend more than 40 minutes working out, and my dog needs to get a workout,too, since he's stuck in an apartment without a yard. So I feel bad using that 40 minutes to work out without the dog, and I can't run with the dog because he has stocky little legs. So normally I spend either the whole 40 minutes walking and occasionally jogging with the dog, or I spend 20 minutes walking him and 20 minutes doing strength training. But today for some reason I felt like running, and it felt really good.
And after I ran for thirty minutes, I came home and actually cooked a real dinner. I made soup! Potato, artichoke, and spinach soup. It's delicious. And, to add to my feelings of virtuousness, one serving is only 350 calories. And full of vegetables! Tasty and healthy is my favorite combination.
Also, I've finished all of my reading for tomorrow AND Wednesday. And I bought all the plane tickets I need for spring break today, and I made an appointment to take the cat to the vet for his shots on Friday, and I responded to all of my e-mail. I will never be this on-top of things again all semester, so I'm enjoying it for the one night it lasts.

And tomorrow is Mardi Gras. What are you doing to celebrate? A bunch of us decided we're going out to dinner. Fat Tuesday is supposed to be about splurging, and while we can't booze too much since we all teach early on Wednesdays, we figured that spending money on a real dinner is a splurge in and of itself when you're a graduate student. It should be fun.

Sorry this was kind of boring, but I'm posting it anyway. Shouldn't we all get to brag on days when we actually have our acts together? I think we should.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I know the feeling! I don't care if anyone really wants to read about my productivity, but you just want to shout it from the mountaintop the few times you feel like you really have your act together.

I swear it feels so rare...