Back in the Habit

HEALTH

Well, I'm back at the gym. Finally. Before going to visit California, I got super sick for over a week. Of course, no one likes to work out when they are sick. So being completely out of the habit after being sick, and then going to California and binging on In-N-Out for five days, getting back into this whole "health" thing is a necessity and a challenge.

It has been especially hard since being back from California because of incessant exhaustion. I don't know if there's something wrong or if I'm just an abnormal college youth who needs more sleep than normal people. But I really do find myself getting sleepy beyond reasonable measure. I can manage to get myself up and at work pretty early because, well, I hate wasting the day. But I still find myself coming home from work and napping. I honestly am a little concerned as to how tired I get.

But I realized, as I always do, that I love working out. Getting up is sometimes hard, but it's really a matter of making myself do it. I lifted yesterday and did my whole upper body, pretty much (and I'm paying for it today!). Then I did an hour on the elliptical, got really pumped to a song in the last five minutes, and then I nearly passed out. I had to slow down very, very quickly to get my heart-rate down. Again, I don't know if there is something wrong. My heart has done funny things throughout my teenage years. Mostly I just have to recognize my limits and be careful. All was well in the end though, after my hour and a half at the gym. And I have started to become anxious at the thought of how I will manage exercising at difficult phases in life with children. Oh, boy.

I also changed my routine a little bit. As my "health plan" *cough*diet*cough* recommends, I lift every other day and do two-a-day cardio sessions twice a week. Therefore, I normally don't lift on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I have decided though, that I can simply go a little earlier in the morning on those days and knock out about 10 minutes of ab workouts, and then do my first cardio session. This would put me at two to three times a week of ab exercise. Today I tried something my fitness freak Aunt Amy recommended and laid down on a mat, used a big medicine ball, and transferred it from my hands to my feet, raising and lowering all my limbs. Oh. My. Gosh. My abdominal zone is DYING. Holy moly. Just goes to show that I need this pretty badly. All this pain, and all I had to do was picture myself looking fabulous in a wedding dress. hehe. So on Thursday I will probably do some different ab things (leg lifts and the ab curl machine thing), but I like this new plan and feel better that I am focusing more on my abs than the last workout plan I was on.

I'm sure you all really care about this, huh? But oh well because it's MY journal, and you can skip what you want to.

RANDOM

I had some fat-free organic vanilla yogurt this morning for breakfast. Oh my delicious. It was so good. Organic things just taste better, I've decided.

On another note, it is really dark and cloudy outside today. This eliminates some heat from the sun, but it is still hot as Hades here in Utah. This is the first time in a long time that I've looked outside and wished it were cold or raining. Alert the media: CALIFORNIA GIRL WANTS RAIN. This dry heat takes everything out of me. I seriously feel like my insides are boiling, and my skin will melt off. I was used to California heat because, fortunately for me, in Glendora, there is usually a good, consistent medium between humid and dry heat. No super sticky days, no days where my skin would melt off. Just plain old hot days. But this... This is almost unbearable.

SCHOOL

I don't know if I've talked about school at all. I have registered though! I got almost everything I wanted, but definitely everything I needed.
-I got into my last religion elective--LDS Marriage and Family.
-I am taking Teaching Composition with the fabulous Dr. Debbie Dean.
-I got into my last Spanish minor elective, originally Border Spanish, but I switched to Mexican-American literature because my spring professor, Dr. Quackenbush, was teaching it! He is the coolest! I am also taking it because a large amount of the reading is in English, which makes my life happy.
-I am taking Modern American Usage with Sister Harrison, who seems awesome in her recent e-mail to me. Keep in mind that I'm taking this class because I WANT to--it's a modern grammar class, basically, and I'm a nerd. It will help me as a teacher, I think, so I figured I'd do something outside of the requirements just for myself.
-I also have an American Literature class, but I will be manually adding a different American Literature class (better time, better teacher who I've had before!) come semester's start.
=14 credit hours.

ANXIETY

My current debate, however, is in deciding whether to go to Lake Powell with Tanner and his family which takes place during the first week of school. I have taken the liberty of e-mailing all of my professors for their attendance policies, since I will probably be missing some school for my wedding as well. I looked at a November calendar though, and it seems as though if I went home the Friday before Thanksgiving, I could just miss two days of classes for that! So if all of my teachers are willing to e-mail me their respective syllabus, and if I attend classes consistently throughout the semester (which I always do), I should be able to handle the week long Lake Powell trip.

Dr. Dean will work with me, Sister Harrison will more than work with me, Professor Quackenbush is super laid back and doesn't always take attendance, and Professor Christianson (American Lit) would work with me as well. This doesn't mean they would not penalize me for not being in class (especially that last professor), but they would e-mail me the syllabus and hold me accountable for my assignments and the notes. It'd be a hassle to try and find someone to send me the notes, and I get anxious thinking about what I will miss in lectures (especially Dr. Dean's class), but I think I should be OK in the long run. I still haven't heard back from my LDS Marriage and Family Professor (Matheson), but I'm hoping I'll be OK in there too.

Let's tally these absences up. Assuming I go home on November 21st to prepare, and we hypothetically say we'll be married on Tuesday, November 25th, this is the situation: I'd miss Monday, November 23rd and Tuesday the 24th (which is Friday instruction). And I'd miss September 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9.

Modern American Usage (MWF class) = 5 classes
LDS Marriage & Family (MW class) = 3 classes
Mexican-American Literature (MW class) = 3 classes
American Literature (TTh class) = 3 classes
Teaching Composition (TTh class) = 3 classes

Dude. Thank heaven for teachers who will e-mail you a syllabus and work with you on assignments and absences. I hate missing class. But it looks like I'll be OK! And in the event that we won't be married in November, I'd miss even fewer classes than that. I think I'd like for us to take our honeymoon at the end of December after Christmas because I don't want to have to put a damper on my fun by feeling anxious about school or upcoming assignments. Anyway... Such decisions shall be made later.

(One more thing... My mom found this fabulous bed and breakfast place for our wedding night... Just something to consider.)

FUN STUFF

I am on The Order of the Phoenix (book five of Harry Potter) and I am LOVING it. I just want you all to know. I've heard not-so-good things about the fifth book, but probably because I hated the fifth movie, I love this book. I truly am enjoying myself, and I'm trying to hurry this blog up so I can read!

I loved The Incredible Hulk with Edward Norton. I thought it was really fun.

I got my lovely friends to watch Lars and the Real Girl, which went over swimmingly. I love that movie more than I can explain. I find that when I am telling customers how much I love it, I make the ASL "love" sign over my heart because words just aren't sufficient.

Lost in Translation was not my favorite, I'll be honest.

Nor was Savages (with Philip Seymour Hoffman).

Loved The Dark Knight.

Loved Wall-E.

Loved Hancock.

Hated Wanted. Grrrr.

OTHER THOUGHTS

I've been thinking recently about how quickly life changes. I remember being 16 and thinking about how grown-up and cool my 21-year old aunt was. Now I am 21, and I cannot even believe it. I certainly don't feel like an adult. I am getting married. And in a matter of years I will probably have children. My life will be so incredibly different in only five years from how it is now... Where my focus is on school, grades, learning, and working. It's interesting how before you're ready for it, certain things are just staring you in the face. And strangely enough, I am excited and scared for all of it.

I'm in my last year of college (plus a semester of student teaching). And then I will be a teacher. What? It feels like I just graduated high school and don't know a whole lot more now than I did then. But I do.

Short-term though, I need to start making those silly decisions like what wedding dress I'm going to wear, what my colors and flowers will be, my center pieces, my "thank you" gifts, my daddy-daughter song, and all of those things. Schwing.

Cutest Rachel got me a book - The Holy Temple by Boyd K. Packer - so I can prepare for these big steps ahead of me. I'm right on top of these Harry Potter books, but this one needs to be a priority for sure. I am very excited to read it and am so grateful she got it for me.

I should maybe blog more often so I don't babble on as much.

Coming soon: A total of all of the books slash pages I have read this summer!

GOOD STUFF

1. Delicious, healthy food (and a shrinking stomach, hopefully)
2. Lips. Tanner's, specifically. They are nice.
3. Caring, flexible, amazing people for teachers.

Comments

Rachel said…
I think Debbie's Usage class should be a general ed requirement. We should call up Cecil and demand that people be made to learn something useful like, I don't know, using the English language efficiently.
Unknown said…
I am proud of you for working out and doing your diet. it can be such a drag sometimes. it was so good to see you guys last weekend. I think you need to put twilight on your list for your next book to read.
Rachel said…
More blogs, Janny! Now!

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