1. The other day, a guy thought I was in high school.  I took this as a compliment and not a comment on my outfit at the time.
2. I often get confused for a college student.  I figure it’s good to look young, though it can get annoying to continually be confused for an undergraduate intern.
3. Secretly, I think I look much better than I did in college.  If nothing else, I’m much healthier.  I would have laughed at you if you told me that five years after graduation, I would be running 10 mile races.
4. I’m definitely a better person than I was in college.
5. I think I have a problem with accumulating books and dvds.  I discovered that I have over 150 books in my personal library that I have yet to read.  But my apartment is a great place to be on a rainy day.
6. I’m slightly obsessed with budgeting.  While others might point and laugh, this means that I have money to go on vacation (or buy books and dvds) and feel less stressed about the economy.  But only a little less stressed.
7. Were the economy better, I would probably quit my job in order to focus full time on job hunting.  My current job is slowly driving me crazy.  But I really like paychecks.  And health insurance.
8. I agree with Obama that D.C. has no idea how to deal with inclement weather.  But I do like that if it snows enough (read: 4 inches), my office will be closed.
9. I have four birthmarks, but I bet that my mom is the only other person who knows where all four are.  I only dislike one, and that’s because people continually think it is dirt or makeup and try to rub it off.  Some even tell me I’m wrong when I say “No, that’s a birthmark, it won’t rub off.”  Some people are not smart.
10. I bought a Wii Fit, and the people who say it’s not a workout are lying.  Okay, so you could make it very easy for yourself, but if you do the yoga and strength exercises, it’s not a bad workout.  It will never replace my 40 minute cardio sessions, but it’s a good addition.
11. I have two cats who I adore, but I really wish that the one would not insist on getting up before 8:00 every day.  Weekends are for sleeping in.  The other cat understands this perfectly.
12. I like living in D.C., but I miss Midwestern sensibilities.  I don’t miss getting stuck behind farm equipment on the road though.
13. I used to be a closet sci-fi geek.  I think it’s safe to say I’m out of the closet on that one.
14. I really miss my law school workload.  I know, it’s crazy, but I liked spending hours reading Con Law and Criminal Law and Juvenile Law.  Contracts, I don’t so much miss.
15. I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.  I still think Ninja would be a good job title.  It would look sweet on a business card, that’s for sure.  
16. I get irritated by happily ever after movies, but I get mad when a movie doesn’t have a happy ending either.  I think this is a battle I will never win.
17. I sometimes wonder where I would be in life if I had followed my dreams.  Probably not as successful as I am now, but I’m not sure if that’s consolation or not.  It’s nice to have a steady job though.
18. I would like to quit my job and be a writer.  First, I need to improve my writing skills.  Or just marry a millionaire.
19. I really love to dance, and am completely awful at it, and really regret never taking dance lessons as a kid, but none of this stops me from making a total fool of myself and loving every minute of it.
20. The Giving Tree still makes me cry.
21. In high school, I played the Fairy Godmother in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, and I absolutely loved the looks of awe and wonder on the little kids’ faces when they came to see the show.  I felt like I really was magical.
22. I love The Muppets and am highly disappointed in the new version of Sesame Street.  Did any kid really think that it was a good idea to be like Cookie Monster and only eat cookies?  Kids are smarter than that.  Besides, he had Captain Vegetable to counter him.
23. I took the same oath for my job that Joe Biden took.  I think his job is slightly more important though.
24. I really love to bake, but I never do it because I also love to eat what I bake, and I would prefer to never have to break out the fat clothes again.
25. Making a list of 25 random things about myself was a much harder task than I thought it would be.

For those of you who like random facts, the prompt for today is also the title of the first solo I ever sang for vocal contest. I was awesome, of course.

Once you hit a certain age, it’s just expected that one of the things on your Christmas list is World Peace. It’s kind of a joke at this point. Possibly because no one thinks it will ever happen. How do you define World Peace anyway? Does that just mean no more wars and fighting and religious tension? Does that mean that everyone is best friends and there are never arguments, and neighbors don’t let their dogs bark late at night and kids don’t get into fights on the playground? Does it mean there are never disagreements at all? Are 75% of the lawyers in the world suddenly out of a job? Are all the lawyers out of a job? Do you still need a lawyer to write you a will if no one will argue over your possessions after you die?

Does this include animals? Are there suddenly no fights between housepets? And what about animals that kill other animals for food? Do they ask them very nicely to please lay down and die so that they can eat? Do all creatures go vegetarian? I don’t know how my cats would feel about soy.

Are people all suddenly vegetarian too? Or do we all simply eat meat from animals that have been treated well? How does that work?

World Peace sounds complicated. I would like an end to war and violence and suffering, of course. I think most people would agree.

Right now, I think I would just like some peace in my life. I feel like there are conflicts in all areas of my life right now and it would just be nice to have some peace and quiet. It’s nothing extreme, but there’s just a lot of bitterness around me. Work is a circus, as always, but it seems like the low morale has actually caused those of us who are low on the totem pole to really band together. We’re working better as a team than we have in months. We’re nice to each other – but there’s just a lot of conflict between us and upper management. My friends are all in-fighting, though half of them don’t realize it, and there have been a lot of inconsiderate and hurtful comments thrown about lately, which isn’t exactly enjoyable. I can’t say that I’m upset with anyone, but I’m definitely a sympathizer. My family’s doing okay, though as with every family, there are always lingering disagreements, and having to spend a lot of time together at the holidays, especially when there’s alcohol involved, leads to people getting more and more frustrated with each other. Again, no one ever blows up, but it leads to talking behind each other’s backs and quietly seething at the dinner table.

It seems like something so little to complain about. Yes, everyone’s fighting, but I have a job, I have friends, and I have family. And even with the fighting, I wouldn’t trade them (well, I would trade my job, but not all of my co-workers). So I’m lucky. I would just like a little bit more peace.

2008.  Banner year for the household, let me tell you.

In January, I celebrated a birthday.  Survived another year.  I think that’s something to be proud of.  On a whim, I also decided to audition for the Cathedral Choral Society, not having any idea what I was getting myself into.  Now I sing in some pretty big concerts a few times a year.  It’s a great organization to be a part of, and I sort of stumbled into it.

Fabulous things happened in February.  I’m just not sure what they were.

In March, my job sent me to work for another agency for six months, while still paying me my normal paycheck.  I do not understand how the government works, but I do not care, because this was the beginning of an amazing thing.  I want to work at that agency forever.

April was a crazy month.  I started it by running a 10 mile race.  Running.  TEN WHOLE MILES.  All right, for you marathoners out there, that doesn’t sound like much but trust me, it was a feat of epic proportions.  Then I finished off April by refusing to run again for a few weeks.  Possibly not the best plan, but I’ve been guilted into running the race again this coming year.  Better hit the pavement.  Tomorrow.

May meant a trip to Disney World.  I would like to move there.  Well, maybe not move there.  But clearly, I should go more often. 

In June, I pulled off a hugely successful surprise.  I plotted to fly home to surprise my Dad for Father’s Day and he had no clue.  I am a surprise planning genius.  As you all already know.

Later that month, I got an e-mail from my choir asking if anyone wanted to sing for the Fourth of July.  I had no idea what they were asking, but hey, I didn’t have any big plans, so I decided to sing.  That ended up being for the Capitol Fourth celebration held on the National Mall and aired on PBS every year.  That was crazy.  I never expected to be that close to people like Taylor Hicks and Jimmy Smits (who really needs to ditch the mustache) and Hayley Westenra.  I’m practically famous, now that I’ve been on tv.

Some family came to visit in July.  Hottest weekend of the year.  I managed to show them around D.C. and no one died or got lost.  I consider that a successful trip.

Late in the summer, Pippin and Cadu survived a vet visit.  More than one, in fact.  Pippin, being a manly man, has packed on a few pounds and is now on prissy diet food.  He does not like that.  And Cadu very bravely suffered through having a tooth pulled.  He was so brave he didn’t even need any pain medication afterwards.  He’s awesome like that.  Pain will not stop him.  So watch out.  He will cut you.

I returned to my normal job in September, and clearly, I had been missed.  I got a shiny new desk in a prime location.  And immediately got piled with work.  That’s how truly important I am here.

October meant a road trip to Notre Dame for a football game.  Best weekend of the year.  I ran into a bunch of people (many of you reading this in fact – all… 2 of you) who I never get to see anymore, and things were good.  Of course, everyone was super happy to see me because I am awesome.  As you all already know.  Also, driving a total of 20 hours to be somewhere for 36 hours is pretty intense.  In case you were considering it.

The rest of the year has flown pretty quickly.  Went to another football game in November and got to spend some time with my parents, which was nice.  I like when people come to visit so that I can show them around the city (though don’t think about coming to visit during Inauguration – there will be a gajillion people here).

December has been a whirlwind of Christmas planning and cats climbing trees.  I sang three concerts this past weekend at the National Cathedral.  Still waiting to read the reviews on that, but I’m sure they will be amazing. Because I am that good.

So 2008 has been a great year.  I hope 2009 is even better.

I don’t believe in looking back on my life in regret.  Sure, I made mistakes, and perhaps those were mistakes that hurt me or hurt someone else, and for that I am sorry.  And while I do sometimes wish that I hadn’t done things, I don’t look back and think “If only I had done X…”  What’s the point?  I can’t go back and change things, so instead I have to move forward.  I have to learn from what I’ve done, try to make amends for any problems I have caused, and work to do the right thing.  

For example, my current job has turned out to be significantly different from the job I accepted last year.  I could have accepted another job and my life would be very different.  But would it be a good different?  I have met so many great people and had so many great opportunities.  Of course, if I look back at it, I really did make the best decision based on the information in front of me, so it’s hard to regret that decision.  I did the best thing I could based on the information in front of me.

I think the point is to live life without regrets, and while that means not looking back with regret, it also means living life so that you are careful to take actions you won’t regret.  Sure, you can make a wrong choice, but if you do things right, you can look back and know that at that moment, you made the right choice.  Based on the information in front of you, the path you chose was right.

Life should be lived forward.

So apparently, I have a blog.  That I haven’t updated in 2 months.  Who knew?

I don’t know that I like what that says about my life.  Not that I have a blog.  The fact that I’ve had nothing that I felt like writing about for two months.  That means that my life is either super boring, so super awesome that I don’t want to write about it and make people jealous, or I’m a spy and can’t actually write about my life.

You can choose which one to believe.  

Life has been pretty crazy over the past few months.  I went back to my normal job, and still struggle to get off on the right metro stop again.  I roadtripped up to ND for a football game and an awesome weekend, even if I had to drive a total of 20 hours to be in South Bend for exactly 36 hours.  It was great to see everyone and I’m ready to go back.  I went to Pennsylvania for a funeral of a family member, got to see lots of family I haven’t seen since the early 80’s, and my car promptly broke down.  Really, though, it was probably easier to get fixed in smallish town, PA than it would be in DC.  Small town people seem to be so much friendlier.  

I’m doing NaNoWriMo again this year.  Because I am a glutton for punishment.  And dream of growing up to be a writer who gets to write all day and not go to work ever.  It’s good to have goals.

Like what, you ask?  Let’s make a list.

• Three sizeable dishes of paperclips and binder clips.
• More notepads than I will ever use, including one that still had notes that I took in an office meeting.  In December.  2003.  Yeah.
• Install cds for software on computers I no longer own.
• Diskettes.
• The napkin that the sketchy guy handed me on the airplane on the way to Rebeccah and Andy’s wedding asking me to hook up with him.  Ahh, good memories.  Specifically the memory of Andy’s grandfather blatantly laughing at the sketchy guy in the airport after I told him the story.  (No I still threw it out.)

So yes.  Labor Day weekend with all its predicted rain will be used to finish the decluttering of that particular room.  I wonder what other treasures I will find.

Needless to say, I did not go running last night.  I did go on Tuesday night, however, and it absolutely amazes me how awful I have gotten at running.  Taking a month (well, probably closer to two months) off does not really help the training.  But it gives me a goal to work towards, and hey, it means my training runs are shorter!  Those two hour runs on the weekend were getting to be a bit much.  Perhaps I will not train up to those again anytime soon, seeing as I probably won’t run another race until the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile next spring. 

I’m seriously debating getting a roommate.  I fear the unknown, however, and so I’m absolutely not doing the random roommate thing.  At one point, I said I’d let a friend of a friend move in, but I’m not even sure about that one.  I do have one friend who’s looking for a place, so it’s entirely possible things will work out for both of us.  I don’t absolutely need a roommate, but given that I’m no longer getting my promised raise in September, a bit of extra money would be nice.   And it would be fun to have a friend around! 

I am not looking forward to cleaning out that room though.  Having lived in various two bedroom places for the past four years means that I’ve accumulated a lot of stuff because I have places to put it.  I am well aware that much of the stuff is stuff that I really don’t need and haven’t needed in years.  Of course, while unpacking after my move, all the stuff I didn’t know what to do with ended up in that room.  Or in the closet of doom, which also probably needs to be cleaned out.

When I moved, I paid the movers to pack.  Given the distance of the move and my fear that my truck would go off a cliff or something (if you had met the driver I was assigned, you would have been worried too).  Having the movers pack meant that I got way better insurance, and it meant I didn’t have to pack while worrying about the bar exam.  But it also meant that I didn’t do the traditional “Pack or toss” routine when I moved.  Everything moved!  And then when moving in, I didn’t want to have to deal with that dilemma – I just wanted everything put away. 

I think that no matter what happens with the roommate situation, by the end of the summer, I want to have that room cleaned out.  I want to be sure that I’m only keeping things I really want or need to keep, and everything else is getting tossed, donated, or sold.  I’m a little bit afraid of what’s all stashed in the closet, to be honest.

Ok, it’s not really the plague.  The plague would be worse. 

But this is not fun.  I have been sick for three straight weeks with head and chest congestion, a super sweet cough, and general fatigue.

(Yes, the men have been flocking to me lately, obviously.)

Before you ask, I’ve been to the doctor not once but twice.  The first time, I was given an armload of drugs and sent on my way.  I have improved muchly since then.  The second doctor told me that I’m on my way to recovery and that my vitals look good, but I can expect the symptoms to last another 8-10 days.

That will make it an entire month of plague.  Ugh.

I’ve watched a lot of movies in this month, since I have no energy to do anything else.  I also discovered the wonder of Comcast’s On Demand.  I haven’t been running whatsoever and am pretty sure I’m going to have to pick up a beginner’s training plan for all the strength and stamina that I’ve lost.  I tried to workout last night and managed about 10 minutes before I thought I might collapse.

Yep.  I’m hot.  Who wants to hang out and get germy?