Still here!
I really have been doing things! I just haven't been here in over a month. ;) So... how am I doing on my resolutions?
-Paying off debt. The credit card is doing from $10k to $4k. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! So close! I can't wait. No more interest... from that, anyway. The student loan is looming but it's really not that bad compared to other people's loans. I was going to be farther along with this but the car decided one day not to start and once I was at the dealership we uncovered more potential issues (brakes almost done, for example) so I had to devote a chunk of my tax return to that. But at least it didn't put me more into debt, which is good.
I also took on some extra work after school by leading a couple of clubs for students. It's not a lot of extra hours or money but it's something.
-More reading, less social media. This has also been going well. I've cut back on my social media (not as much as I'd like but it's a start) and I've been hitting the books more. I used to be such an avid reader and in the past couple of years I fell out of that habit. I think a bout all the books I want to read and then I think, "I have no time for reading anymore." The reality is that I do have time but I'm wasting it. Not even on TV, which I never really watch (I could actually watch more of it... I keep hearing about these great shows other people like) but on facebook and going down rabbit holes on articles I find online. I've learned a little from that but it's not the way I really want to spend my time!
So since my birthday, I've read the following books:
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. Excellent. It's a novel I flew through. I love books about characters who are a little awkward and working on fitting into the world around them. Hmm, wonder why? (See also: A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman.) Source: askamanager.com
Bull Run by Paul Fleischman. It's a middle school book, really, with some vignettes about the battle of Manassas. I read it because we took a road trip there over Christmas break and I'd never been to that park before. Just wanted a little bit of background. It was well-done, but it's also clearly a kids' book. Source: I found it at work.
Originals by Adam Grant. It's kind of a business-world book, which isn't really my thing. I have to say I wasn't that into it. Source: book club.
Sold by Patricia McCormick. This is a YA book told in verse about a girl in Nepal whose stepfather sells her into slavery. It's raw and hard to read but it's also worth it, and this is a real thing young women go through all over the world. The kids in my book club (5 freshman/sophomore girls) really liked it even though it was emotional. Source: had to read it for work.
The Idiot by Elif Batuman. I heard about this one on Slate's Double X Podcast. Hanna Rosin endorsed it and Noreen Malone chimed in with, "Oh, that book was so good." I have to say that I just didn't get it. I powered through it, and it's another one about a socially awkward protagonist, but the whole book was so dry and just odd to me. I'm sorry... didn't enjoy this one. I was hoping for it, considering the endorsement and how highly it's rated on Goodreads. Plus, it's set on a college campus during the same time I went to college, so I enjoyed remembering the technology and the music of that era, but it just didn't speak to me. However, there is a part where the main character goes to Hungary and gets a small book called Just Enough Hungarian. That was a little exciting to me because I own that one (as well as Just Enough Russian and Just Enough Turkish. Foreign languages are like catnip to me.) Source: Slate Double X Gabfest
An Odyssey by Daniel Mendelsohn. Another one from my book club, about a professor and his father who decides to enroll in his seminary on The Odyssey. I did this as an audio book, and it's read by Bronson Pinchot. Sorry, he doesn't read it as Balki. But it was much better and more interesting than I expected. I recommend this one! Source: book club
So You've been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson. It's about what happens to people when a tweet or a facebook post goes viral and suddenly their lives are never the same. Heartbreaking for sure but also puts our online lives into perspective. Source: found it by accident at the library while browsing
Diet: Oh, this one has been sucking. I'm really not good at it. I don't know what it is. I need to work on it. When I stick to it, weight tends to come off nicely. But I'm really having issues with sticking to it. :( I also really need to give up sugar and white breads, at least for now. When I've done Whole 30 in the past I found that giving those things up was a huge help. So... why am I resistant to giving them up again?
National Parks: I don't know if I mentioned this but one lifetime goal I have is to visit all the National Park properties in the US. So far I'm at 110/417. I've visited most of them that are within convenient driving distance but on our Christmas road trip I knocked off Cedar Creek & Belle Grove and Manassas. I think my next ones will have to be in New Jersey.
Hiking: This is one of my passions. My boyfriend is a genius. He suggested that I research and train for two weeks on the Appalachian Trail this summer. I've always been a good day hiker but I've never backpacked (overnight) before. I have a lot of work to do to get ready but now that it's in my head I can't forget about it! I've bought a few things and joined some facebook groups. More on this in another entry, but so far I've done about a mile in West Virginia (the easy part in Harper's Ferry), 13 miles in Massachusetts (that was a brutal day) and just a smidge in Connecticut. I found a good training hike program online that I can do on a treadmill so I'm planning to start doing that at the gym a few days a week and see how it goes!
That's it for tonight, I think. I have one more work day until the weekend. :)
Current book: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz.
Current audiobook: The Year of the Hare by Arto Paasilinna
-Paying off debt. The credit card is doing from $10k to $4k. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! So close! I can't wait. No more interest... from that, anyway. The student loan is looming but it's really not that bad compared to other people's loans. I was going to be farther along with this but the car decided one day not to start and once I was at the dealership we uncovered more potential issues (brakes almost done, for example) so I had to devote a chunk of my tax return to that. But at least it didn't put me more into debt, which is good.
I also took on some extra work after school by leading a couple of clubs for students. It's not a lot of extra hours or money but it's something.
-More reading, less social media. This has also been going well. I've cut back on my social media (not as much as I'd like but it's a start) and I've been hitting the books more. I used to be such an avid reader and in the past couple of years I fell out of that habit. I think a bout all the books I want to read and then I think, "I have no time for reading anymore." The reality is that I do have time but I'm wasting it. Not even on TV, which I never really watch (I could actually watch more of it... I keep hearing about these great shows other people like) but on facebook and going down rabbit holes on articles I find online. I've learned a little from that but it's not the way I really want to spend my time!
So since my birthday, I've read the following books:
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. Excellent. It's a novel I flew through. I love books about characters who are a little awkward and working on fitting into the world around them. Hmm, wonder why? (See also: A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman.) Source: askamanager.com
Bull Run by Paul Fleischman. It's a middle school book, really, with some vignettes about the battle of Manassas. I read it because we took a road trip there over Christmas break and I'd never been to that park before. Just wanted a little bit of background. It was well-done, but it's also clearly a kids' book. Source: I found it at work.
Originals by Adam Grant. It's kind of a business-world book, which isn't really my thing. I have to say I wasn't that into it. Source: book club.
Sold by Patricia McCormick. This is a YA book told in verse about a girl in Nepal whose stepfather sells her into slavery. It's raw and hard to read but it's also worth it, and this is a real thing young women go through all over the world. The kids in my book club (5 freshman/sophomore girls) really liked it even though it was emotional. Source: had to read it for work.
The Idiot by Elif Batuman. I heard about this one on Slate's Double X Podcast. Hanna Rosin endorsed it and Noreen Malone chimed in with, "Oh, that book was so good." I have to say that I just didn't get it. I powered through it, and it's another one about a socially awkward protagonist, but the whole book was so dry and just odd to me. I'm sorry... didn't enjoy this one. I was hoping for it, considering the endorsement and how highly it's rated on Goodreads. Plus, it's set on a college campus during the same time I went to college, so I enjoyed remembering the technology and the music of that era, but it just didn't speak to me. However, there is a part where the main character goes to Hungary and gets a small book called Just Enough Hungarian. That was a little exciting to me because I own that one (as well as Just Enough Russian and Just Enough Turkish. Foreign languages are like catnip to me.) Source: Slate Double X Gabfest
An Odyssey by Daniel Mendelsohn. Another one from my book club, about a professor and his father who decides to enroll in his seminary on The Odyssey. I did this as an audio book, and it's read by Bronson Pinchot. Sorry, he doesn't read it as Balki. But it was much better and more interesting than I expected. I recommend this one! Source: book club
So You've been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson. It's about what happens to people when a tweet or a facebook post goes viral and suddenly their lives are never the same. Heartbreaking for sure but also puts our online lives into perspective. Source: found it by accident at the library while browsing
Diet: Oh, this one has been sucking. I'm really not good at it. I don't know what it is. I need to work on it. When I stick to it, weight tends to come off nicely. But I'm really having issues with sticking to it. :( I also really need to give up sugar and white breads, at least for now. When I've done Whole 30 in the past I found that giving those things up was a huge help. So... why am I resistant to giving them up again?
National Parks: I don't know if I mentioned this but one lifetime goal I have is to visit all the National Park properties in the US. So far I'm at 110/417. I've visited most of them that are within convenient driving distance but on our Christmas road trip I knocked off Cedar Creek & Belle Grove and Manassas. I think my next ones will have to be in New Jersey.
Hiking: This is one of my passions. My boyfriend is a genius. He suggested that I research and train for two weeks on the Appalachian Trail this summer. I've always been a good day hiker but I've never backpacked (overnight) before. I have a lot of work to do to get ready but now that it's in my head I can't forget about it! I've bought a few things and joined some facebook groups. More on this in another entry, but so far I've done about a mile in West Virginia (the easy part in Harper's Ferry), 13 miles in Massachusetts (that was a brutal day) and just a smidge in Connecticut. I found a good training hike program online that I can do on a treadmill so I'm planning to start doing that at the gym a few days a week and see how it goes!
That's it for tonight, I think. I have one more work day until the weekend. :)
Current book: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz.
Current audiobook: The Year of the Hare by Arto Paasilinna
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