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The heat is starting and I tried running with just my running skirt and sports bra yesterday. This is huge that I felt comfortable enough to do that. In the end, the heat got me (I went out at like 10 am) and had to redo the run at night).
Okay, so its finally time. I can finally say it... After fifteen years of schooling, I, alongside the rest of the class of 2008, can finally say: Goodbye High School.
Yes, its yet another graduation. Following the montessary, elementary, and middle school graduations, it is now High School Graduation time. And it's not quite the same. I think we all recognize this difference, this exciting, anxious, nerve-racking, frightening difference... This graduation isn't like the others before it because all of those graduations were just moving schools, but everything else remained constant-same people, same area, same living conditions; the only thing that would change was the building and teachers. But this is more. Its the end of an era. No longer are we expected to make mistakes and learn from them. Now, if we make a mistake, we better cover it up. No longer can we blame our teachers for being incompetent; all of the teachers we have heretofore have degrees in their areas and many are published.
Yes, things are going to be different, but that post is for another time. Right now, I have something far, far more important to discuss: Friendships. For those people who know me very well, this is going to be redundant and repetitive. For those who don't, pay attention. I define a 'friend' to be a rare thing; a friend is someone you are close to, someone you can talk to about anything. A friend to me is what a lot of people call a best friend. What they call 'friend' I call acquaintance. Someone you know or have a class or two with or sit with at lunch and what not. You might know their birthday, boyfriend/girlfriend troubles, passions, etc., but you still cannot honestly tell yourself your close with them and you can be yourself around them without fearing about insecurities or weaknesses or biases. I truly and honestly believe that on average, most people don't have a single friend. I, as a result, consider myself blessed. I have four friends, and each friendship is so different from the other. The dynamics are insane.
Accordingly, this post is dedicated to the following people:
Jenn Welsh, the one and only Wookiee
Elise Welsh, also known as Lisa
Tasha Gorel, also known as Tonka Truck
Hanan Dhanani, my one and only Jellybean and Queen Wee Drocker
These are the four people, in no particular order except reverse alphabetical by last name, upon whom my character is based. The four of them have all affected me since I have known them (3.5 years, 3 years, 2 years, and 4 years respectively) in ways I cannot even begin to list. Jenn and Elise will be going to Texas Tech for college and I'll see very little of them, and poor Tonka is still in High School. Jellybean I haven't seen since she moved back to Canada 3.5 years ago, but miraculously we have been able to take a six month old acquaintanceship and made it stronger despite a total lack of physical communication, or any communication outside of email, instant messengers, and the very rare telephone call. I expect to see somewhat more of Hanan since I'll be in Boston and she'll be in Kingston, Canada, a brief seven hours apart. (We jokingly have been making plans to meet up in Syracuse once a month since its approximately equidistant after factoring in border control). Tasha, being the bubbly, energetic gal she is, I fear not of losing touch with her, due to the fact (and its somewhat sad, but totally true) that Facebook will be more than enough to maintain. Elise and I have to the conclusion we have no fears of losing touch, because of a simple truth: our relationship is no longer that of friendship but of sibling-hood. I couldn't find a better example of a sister in my life than Elise.
The interesting one, of course, will be Jenn. She fears we will lose touch because she doesn't can't do long-distance relationships. Experience confirms this, but again, this change coming up is a big one, and perhaps, just perhaps, that will help bridge the multi-thousand mile gap. My friendship with Hanan has qualmed my fears, but Jenn's history with the likes of Sam Kelly and Bridget _______ have proved otherwise for her... We have standing plans to go skydiving sometime this summer. I should probably go look into how much that's gonna cost and go find out which Houston-based tandem diver we're gonna be going to. Even if we don't follow through with these plans, I think I want to make more plans with her; make plans for the sake of having plans... at least until we figure out how this long-distance friendship will work... I think be able to say we have plans, at least for me, that sense of 'knowing' we'll still do things together and will still be amazing friends, I still need that comfort.
Have I mentioned at all what that girl means to me? She means everything. Everything. If she ever needed it, I'd be first in line to be her private security. I'll take every bullet, every piece of shrapnel, everything. I live for her smile and I live for her friendship. It is everything to me. Words cannot describe it.
So a couple hours from now, each member of the Clements High School class of 2008 will cross the stage and officially be gone from Clements. But for those few who I have mentioned above, my friends, I say to you, We will always have Clements.
Nikon D40
60mm, f/4.2, 1/100 sec, ISO 1600
Starting Weight: 152 (1/29/08)
Previous Weight: 133
Current Weight: 132
Weight Loss: -1
Total Loss: -20 in 120 days
Current Goal: 130
Lbs to go: 2
Wow, I've lost 20 pounds! I met my mini goal! That is incredible. To think, in early 2007 I was 160 lbs (probably more but that is the highest I have recorded). I was borderline obese. I should check with my doctor and see what the highest weight she has recorded for me is. I bet it was higher than 160.
Accomplishments this week:
- Completed my 3rd 5k
- Ran 30 minutes--C25k Week 9--without walking (3 times)
- Ran 2.31 miles without walking
- Ran 6.5+ miles total (~9 with walking)
- Biked ~9 miles total
- Fit into a size 2 skirt
- Lost 1 pound
- Met mini goal: 20 lbs lost
For FGR and My, what is that you're wearing?
What am I wearing, you ask? Why my brand new size 2 skirt!! Hell yeah! I know, I am one of those people that wears size 2s, but I'm really not that skinny (read more).
Hydrading after my 2.31 mile run!! Frak yeah!! That's the longest I've ever run in a row without walking by .31 miles. Thanks Jason for helping me push myself.
I took this photo to prove to someone that we were all still at the bar. I accidentally sent it to the Flickr, but hey, it's here now.
And I would like to add that at this point, we had all been on the lanai for something like five hours.
El banco central británico en una soleada mañana de un jueves en la City.
Visita mi blog en en BBC Mundo
All hail Douglas Adams! Join in on towel day to show your appreciation for the humor and insight that Douglas Adams brought to all our lives.
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This picture amuses me up to no end. Let me tell you, though, it is way too hot here in sunny Florida to be wearing this crazy getup outside. As luck would have it, my neighbor was just getting into her above ground pool and saw me through the fence as I was setting up the tripod wearing my robe. She probably thinks I am crazy. Oh well. I think this has inspired me to read the rest of the trilogy. I think I've only finished 2 or 3 of the 5 books (yes, there are 5 books in his trilogy because he was fun that way).
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Why a towel to honor this great writer? To quote from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitch hiker can have. Partly it has great practical value - you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindboggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you - daft as a bush, but very, very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.
More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitch hiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have "lost". What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with.