We All Have Our Secrets

So.

I promised Ifer I would blog today.

I don’t really have anything to blog about.

It is my birthday; I am turning 30 at 11:32pm.

Medders gave me a great sappy card as well as something I have been wanting and wanting and wanting. Well, I have been wanting it since I got serious about running.

He got me a watch! Not just any watch, though. This watch can tell me what I ate for dinner. Well, not quite. But it can tell me how many calories I am burning, what my heart rate is and what time it is in India!

Also, he got me some kick ass running shoes, cause my old ones were all unsupportive-y. I am nervous to run in them though. I don’t want to soil them!

My kid, D picked me out two great t-shirts from the famous T-shirt wall at our local walmart establishment.

Now, normally, I do not like Walmart. However, this T-shirt wall is something to behold. I discovered it about this time last year.  My first purchase was a pink Tootsie Pop t-shirt that had the turtle and the words, “Wanna Lick?” I still love that shirt. I now have about 10 more Tootsie Pop shirts. I also have a Double Bubble shirt with “Juicy” emblazoned on it. I even have a Christmas themed one with Frosty and Mrs. Frosty that says “I love Frosty” on it.  They have eight million other kinds of shirts, too. I think the stock changes weekly.

Ok, but D got me two for my birthday. One is a Blow Pop shirt, which says Wild Cherry on it. Cause cherry anything is always my favorite flavor. The other one may be my favorite shirt of the tee variety that I own. It is black with eight greenish-grey hearts and a pink shiny heart in the middle. The pink shiny heart says “The Beatles” Underneath all the hearts, it says, “All You Need is Love.” I do love it.

Heads up, I will most likely be wearing a Tootsie Pop shirt to the luau. Actually, I have had one for a few months that I have been saving specifically for the luau. It’s purple.

I would really like a sour skittle shirt, too.  I don’t think they make those, though. I already have a cherry coke one!

Ok, I bet you are wondering about this luau thing I mentioned earlier. So, I know a bunch of great Leo’s. What better way to celebrate them than with a luau?

This years luau is taking place tomorrow. It should be a great time despite the missing pork and boojie boards.

Puh.

1 Comment | In: Family, Parties, Nonsense | | #

Today when I woke up, I had no idea what I wanted to wear.

I was lazy with laundry this weekend and didn’t have many options. So, I looked in my closet for things I hadn’t worn in a while. I didn’t really see anything that sparked my interest.

THEN! I remembered something that Medders and I had found when cleaned out the garage.

You see, Medders used to be a military man… serving his two years in the Army with pride. He already gave me a great Army hat that says “Medders.” I will be wearing it at the luau, for sure.

He also gave me two standard issue Army shirts, one long sleeve, one short. They are a really unique color of green. If you peek at them, there is no question they are Army shirts.

What makes me laugh most is the big yellow patch, near the bottom of the shirt, with washing instructions. I mean, this thing is huge, with the most washing instructions I have ever seen in my life. It also scolds, DO NOT REMOVE.

So I didn’t.

But I am wearing the short sleeved shirt today, with some khaki pant. I feel like a park ranger or a ride operator at Disney.

I really dig wearing it though. I think I need to do some darts or something to feminize it up.

It feels pretty neat to be wearing something that Medders was wearing about 13 years ago, when he was overseas. AND! It is pretty big on me too!

2 Comments | In: Family | | #

Oh my god.

Last night, I went to what may be my favorite dance class, ever.

You see, when I started taking my dance classes in 2005, I was just planning on taking one ballet class and that was it! I mean, I was truly a beginner.  I had never danced a step in my life.

Unless you count cheering in High School, but that was more robotic, jerk-y arm movements and stomp-y feet. Yes, even while we did our “dances.” So, I don’t really count that.

I had no idea about positions or that you spelled “sashay,” “chassé.” I slowly learned them and danci day soon became my favorite day of the week.

I would get there a bit early to watch the adult tap class before my ballet/lyrical class. Eventually, they talked me into joining.  It was, as much, if not more fun than the ballet class.

Then, in 2006, I started out with a ballet/lyrical, tap and jazz class. So, three classes. I had so much fun, that three weeks into the fall season, I joined two more classes on a Monday night.

The monday night teacher was/is fabulous too. She was/is great at challenging us and making us feel capable, and, as I have mentioned before, we pulled off a jazz routine that I never expected us to pull together.

During all these eight million classes of my own, I watched D have the most fun ever in a hip hop class.

So, summer dance classes are fun time and I decided to give this hip hop stuff a try.  Last week was my first class, and I can safely say that I sucked. But, that was to be expected, as it is an Intermediate/Advanced class. The Hip Hop guy does not believe in beginners hip hop… or something.

Here is the kicker. D is taking the same class with me and she was BETTER than me! GAH!

So, my second hip hop class was yesterday. Dood. Seriously, it was one of the best, most fun dance classes I have ever had. I can’t even really pinpoint why.

But I will try, with a patented, JackiOh, five reasons only list:

1. The coreography is awesome, better than some stuff you would see in the music videos on the MTV that the kids watch these days.

2. I was somehow able to pick it up easier this week. Maybe I felt less out of my element? Ha! Like I even HAVE a dance element.

3. I got to slide around on the floor! I skinned my knees even! They are battle scars! For real though, this was the move that did it for me last night. I got to sliiiiiide, wham my head and hands down, then, get this, BEAT my hand on the floor twice! This next part deserves it’s own number.

4.  After the skint knees and the beating hands, we got to do this one handed pushup while pointing thing. I laughed when he first showed it to us, cause I was like, No way can I do this. But I did it; it may not have looked as fancy as when he did it, but I made only three point contact while pointing. The other move that I couldn’t believe he wanted us to do, I still can’t do, but I wanna practice it now, cause I wanna be as bad ass as he is.

5. This class is almost a mother/daughter class. By almost I mean me and D and my friend and her daughter. There are, like, five other people in the class, but they can pretend to be mother/daughter teams, right?

But while I am having so much fun, I only have one more week of hip hop at this studio, then four more at the other one. Luckily, I get to keep the same teacher guy.  However, he won’t be coming back next year. This sucks, cause I think it would be fun as hell to do one of his recital dances. AND! Who is gonna coreograph me and D’s dance next year?!

2 Comments | In: Dance, Family | | #

After my injured toe last week, I started back with my running again yesterday. Oddly, I ran more then than I was able to previously. Weird, I know. I was happy with it and even happier with my running this morning.

I think part of what is motivating me to run so much is the great music I have been listening to.

See? I am maybe the hugest Jack White fan ever. His band, The White Stripes, have a new album coming out next Tuesday!

They are foreplaying me, though. Here is what Jack is doing to me. He released one single, “Icky Thump,” about a month ago. Then last week sometime, he released another one, “Rag and Bone.” They are both just great and remind me why I worship at the fingers of Jack White. He is just amazing on the guitar.

So then, yesterday, I get a bulletin from Mr. White on my myspace, cause, you know, we are tight buds and whatnot. In his bulletin, he is telling me that I can go to this secret place on MTV.com and hear the new album in it’s entirety.

I am doing it now and I can barely contain myself.

With music like this, I will have no trouble at all running 5 whole k’s.

1 Comment | In: 5k, Music | | #

So.

It is love bug season. I hate them with a passion. They stick to our cars and fly on me when I am trying to run/walk in the evenings.

Actually, I was ok with all that stuff.

But this week, THIS WEEK, I have reached my love bug limit.

I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

I hate them.

And, oh, I have a hurty toe.

5 Comments | In: Things that Piss Me Off | | #

So.

There is no doubt about it, I have gone crazy. I may have mentioned before that I am hatching this ridiculous plan to run a 5k.

I began training this weekend. This confirmed my insanity.

Sunday, I grabbed my MP3 player, put on epidode 6 of Syndown and started walking. Yes, I said “walking.”

See? I had a plan of action. I would walk for one song, then run for as much of the next song that I could. To begin with, I only ran for about at a minute at a time, but I have since learned that I need to pace myself and not run full force all the time.

Dood. I found places in my neighborhood that I didn’t even know existed. It was pretty damn cool.

I utilized a pedometer to gauge my progress and stopped right at three miles. Not bad for my first day doing any kind of running since High School.

Medders was impressed when I showed him said pedometer and them promptly announced that maybe he would go with me the next day.

I was kinda excited and kinda not. I mean, I knew my pace and what I could do and I was afraid that he would push me and I would burn out to quickly or something.  Not that he runs on a regular basis; he just seems to be in better shape than me.

Monday, we got on our running gear. I am not so much a fan of sports bras. My knee was sore like I slept on it funny, too. I also had an injured toe from god knows what, but it was bleeding! I toughed it out anyways.

So, I handed Medders his pedometer, which he promptly fiddled with.

“What’s this 30 inches thing?”

I had no idea what he was talking about.

We figured out it was stride legnth and he thought 30 was too big so we switched both of ours to 18 inches.

I was kinda sad that I didn’t really go 3 miles on Sunday.

I told him  my walk one song, run however much of the next song training plan and he went along with it the first time.

Dood. I smoked him.

Medders: “There is no way I can keep up with you in the 5k, if this is how you run.”

I was secretly pleased.

So, the next few running times, he picked my form apart.

“Your feet are too loud”

“You don’t have enough bounce”

So, I tried to work on my form and I also started pacing myself, so I could run longer amounts of time.  I am also a very good bouncer now.

We made it all the way to my favorite model home, after we got royally lost. When we made it back home, my pedometer said 3.457482316 miles. Or something. 3.4something.

I was so excited. It made it seem more real, like I could really do this thing, the wicked blister on the back of my left heel nonewithstanding.

So, this morning, I got up and decided to only do a mile. I had a mile already measured out from when I walked every morning after putting D on the school bus.

I ran longer every time than I did on Monday. I was so happy. There were only two problems.

1. My personal soundtrack ran out of batteries.

2. At the end of my walk/run, my pedometer said .7! .7!!!!!

WTF?

So, I showered and got ready for work and drove my car on the route I took.  At the end of my route, my car told me that I went 1.1 miles.

I guess I have to fiddle with my stride thing-y more.

6 Comments | In: Family, Nonsense, 5k | | #

So.

I recently purchased an MP3 player for myself. I also got one for D for her birthday; I got an incredible deal on both of them.

At first I thought it would just be good for me to listen to Syndown when I run. You see, I have convinced myself that I will be able to participate in  a 5k by the fall. I am nuts, I know.
But here is what I didn’t expect. I am wearing and listening to this damn thing every chance I get.

It is like I am in a movie and it is my personal soundtrack.

Medders used to joke all the time about how when D and I got our MP3 players, our lives would be better than ever.

I can’t disagree with that now.

So c’mon! Give me some suggestions to add to the soundtrack of the Oh!

3 Comments | In: Nonsense | | #

So.

Yesterday was my second ever recital. Dood. It went sooo much better than my first ever recital last year. I attribute this to many things.

1. I am a better dancer this year.

2. I know my danci people better.

3. Oddly, I was not nervous at all whatsoever.

4. D was in the recital too, so it was way cool to spend some time with her backstage.

Even cooler was seeing her rock her hip hop on stage. She was easily the best in her class.

I can’t say the same for myself, as I am in classes with people who have been dancing all their lives. I can, however, say that I was not the worst in any of my classes.

I seriously think we had, like, the second best multiple person routine of the day. We were showstoppers with our many colored, high energy, discolite routine to “You Should Be Dancin’.” There was only one collision in the first show and I am happy to report that I was not involved! Yay, me!

There were some amazing solos, most notably was a senior in high school that did a pointe routine to the Paso Doble. I had seen it in rehearsals, but onstage in full costume, she was just amazing.

In the second show, during our tap number an old chick dancing next to me fell down. I kept on dancing, mostly because she immediately jumped back up and started dancing. If she woulda stayed down, I guess maybe I woulda stopped to make sure she didn’t break a hip or anything.

I am partly sad that danci time is over for this season and I will never dance these dances again. We worked really really hard on our jazz dance and I will always be amazed that we pulled it off. Even though we were in a beginner class, it was so NOT a beginner dance.

Summer classes start June 11. I plan on taking more classes next year than I did this year. I think I am an addict… but I don’t need a support group or anything.

1 Comment | In: Dance | | #

So.

I am not muchof a coffee drinker.

That being said, I drank coffee four times this week.

I find it makes me post more on muchedumbre. 

I don’t know why really.

I think the only reason I am blogging is because I ran out of things to post about.

1 Comment | In: Nonsense | | #

So.

Often I go to the grocery store on my lunch breaks. Partly because I can get healthier lunches there, but mostly to shop for dinner that night, cause I absolutely HATE stopping anywhere on my way home.

This is what I did today. I picked up the rest of what I needed to make baked ziti and somehow a stray package of sour skittles made it into my cart. No idea how that happened.

But anyway. I went to check out. As usual, I gravitated towards aisle five. That is part of my own brand of OCD. If Aisle 5 is open, I am checking out there. If not, I will go to the closest. If aisles 4 & 6 are both open, I will pick aisle 6. Don’t ask why.

Ok, so I am waiting for the person in front of me to check out, so I am seeing what magazines are available that I have not already purchased. I see Cosmo, Glamour and Marie Claire with the little “modesty vests” placed strategically in front of them. To protect the young kids eyes from reading the words “sex” and “bed” and “hot” and whatnot.

Well, then I notice that “Self” also has a modesty vest on it. This is odd, as it normally they do not have headlines about sex and sluttiness, just about healthy eating and exercising. Granted, those things could be considered vulgar to some.

So, I peek over at the other aisles and see that it is the same on everyone. Self has been censored.

I remove it’s modesty vest. “2 Minute Abs!” it screams at me. “Be Happier Than EVER” it proclaims. Nothing that is inappropriate for younger eyes. Why in the world did they cover up this magazine?

There is some chick in a bikini top, shorts and a pink button up cover up. She is not posted suggestively, nor are her nipples showing. Or her ass, for that matter.

Are our children so fragile that they cannot look at a specimen of health on a magazine cover? I see nothing wrong with having my 11 year old kid look at this cover. I see nothing wrong with a child of any age looking at this cover. The modesty vest on this magazine insinuates that a healthy CLOTHED human body is a shameful thing and should be covered up.

This makes me so sad.

So, I will buy the magazine in some kinda crazy support for Self and what they stand for.

But I’m gonna buy it from somewhere that doesn’t cover it up.

2 Comments | In: Things that Piss Me Off | | #