I Am Boring

I was just reading some blogs, when I suddenly had the overwhelming urge to Post On My Own Blog! 

And then I was all, What am I going to write about?  

The only update I can think to give right now is that I feel pulled in a lot of different directions.  Which sounds like a complaint, but truthfully pulled in different directions is like crack to me.  It's addictive.  And also problematic.  And exhausting.  You know, like crack.  I imagine.  I haven't actually tried crack. 

Let me just bullet point some of the stuff that I've been up to lately: 

• I signed up for an outdoor triathlon!  I KNOW, RIGHT?!  It's a half-mile swim, a 14.2-mile bike ride, and then a 5K run.  Not only am I a bit (okay, a lot) daunted by the actual athletic challenges involved in this endeavor, I also have all kinds of side worries, such as What if I get knocked off my bike? and What if I get kicked in the head during the swim?  Plus I'm worried about a bunch of other stupid stuff like buying the right gear, how I'm going to get my bike to Naperville, and having to wake up at 4:00 in the morning.  But I needed something to motivate me to exercise, so after much waffling I finally pulled the trigger and signed up.  Then I did what all modern "athletes" do: I Googled triathlon training workouts.  And you know what I found?  They are very confusing, and most of them are not free.  So I went to where the information is free (well, not so much free as covered in the $8,000 a year I pay in property taxes), the library.  And now I have 5 library books about triathlon training, and choosing which one to use is daunting in and of itself.  And I haven't even really had time to look at the books because ...
• I have had WORK.  So that's good.  Not much interesting to say about that, but I'm enjoying it.  
• The community theater play of Jack and the Beanstalk is April 20 and 21.  I'm proud to be playing the only character who isn't revealed to have any redeeming qualities at the end.  It's so much more fun playing the villain.  Helps you channel your anger, you know?  And the rehearsals are getting more fun now that I've memorized my lines.  But, the kids in this show are LOUD.  And they are taxing at the end of a long day.  They remind me of those commercials for the Bing search engine, where one person says something, and then another person has to say something that is vaguely tangential, and then another person, and another person, and so on.  They're not bad, they're just ... children.  But on a slightly more positive note, I'm looking forward to seeing what my costume looks like, because I've decided to color a streak of my hair and paint my nails to match.  I also kind of want to have some kind of wacky eye makeup, along the lines of The Hunger Games, but I don't know how to do that.  So I'm looking for volunteers. 
• Also, last week I ended a 12-year relationship ... with Weight Watchers.  I think WW is a great diet, but after all this time I'm burned out on it.  Burned out = cheating, so I wasn't losing any weight.  Trainer Jill recommended the Lose It! site/app, which is essentially exactly like the Weight Watchers eTools, in that it's a place to record your daily exercise/food intake.  The only difference is that Lose It! counts calories, whereas WW counts points.  (The other major difference is that Lose It! is free, whereas WW costs like $45/month.)  So far I really like rekindling the relationship with some of my old friends in the "simple carbs" family, such as Cheez-It Reduced Fat crackers, and mini Oreos, which weren't really all that easy to work into the new WW Points Plus system.  I mean, I am eating these things within reason, of course, and keeping with my daily calorie limits.  Anyway, in the first week I lost 2.4 pounds, which was ... okay.  I set it to help me lose 2 pounds/week, so I guess that worked out as planned, but I was kind of hoping for a big loss that first week, as is usually the case.  I'm wondering if maybe this week I should focus more on fiber.  Dammit.
• Nathan started t-ball.  Our first t-ball responsibility was the family clean-up day at the ballpark.  It's supposed to fill the kids with the spirit of community and responsibility and working together, so naturally my kid just sat there and whined that it was all too haaaaaaaaaaarddd and he couldn't do it.  I was seriously horrified.  I wanted to yank him out of t-ball right then and there, except I think the enrollment fee is non-refundable.  So instead I put him in the car and gave him a stern lecture, a time-out, and a "screen time" ban for the rest of the day.  I think he got the message.  And our attitude toward t-ball improved the next day when we went to Target to buy the necessary t-ball gear, and then he went out in the yard with Bill to practice (aww, touching father-son moment).  Then on Monday he had his first team practice, and he described it as "not long enough," which I think is a good thing.  So I guess he's happy in any organized activity, so long as it doesn't involve cleaning.  Aaand ... I come away feeling like I can log another parenting FAIL.  
• Just so the entire portion of Nathan-related content in this post isn't negative, which is somehow something all mom bloggers are uncomfortable with, I will say that preschool is going so much better.  He gets good reports almost every day, which I think makes the rest of the day more positive, because somehow the post-preschool mood carries over into the rest of the day.  
• And, kindergarten registration is next week.  OMG OMG OMG.  Paperwork.  And medical, dental, and eye exams!  Plus this year the school district has decided to bring back the kindergarten screening, which is like some kind of testing Nathan has to go to in August.  So there's something else to worry about.  
• I also have a few blog-related irons in the fire, nothing earth-shattering, but I've decided that any attempt at "professional" blogging leads to a whole separate set of mini-directions in which one feels pulled.  
• Somewhat related to my professional endeavors, I have decided to think of all earnings in units of gas tanks.  It costs about $50 to fill up my dinky little Toyota Corolla.  (Which, as a side note, means I have seen gas prices triple in the time since I personally started purchasing gas.)  So, anyway, if I get a gig that pays $50, that means it pays one gas tank.  It's actually kind of a rewarding way to look at your smaller-paying projects, because although it should not cost $50/week to buy gas, at least you can think of your efforts as paying off in some tangible way.  I mean, gasoline is very useful because it gets you to all your other important endeavors, so you feel like you've contributed something important when you earn enough money to buy a tank of gas.  Also I think it helps me feel less worked up about high gas prices when I can put random side earnings toward gas.  Not getting worked up about gas prices is a good thing, because, really, there's nothing I can do about it.  We still have to go places.  Though I have declared that we aren't going anywhere outside a ten-mile radius unless absolutely necessary.  

Well, that's all I got for now.  Hey, remember Stretch Armstrong?  He could be pulled in a lot of different directions, too!