I Should Probably Start Wearing a Toga

Beware the Ides of March! Beware friends brandishing knives in the forum.

It was not my intent to go from one Roman day-of-note to the next one between posts but somethings that's what happens when you're busy being awesome. Yeah, let's go with awesome. I celebrated the Ides by waking up way too early after a night of drinking to clean gutters at my dad's house. Kind of hard to stab someone in the name of the Roman Republic when you're six feet up a ladder, dripping pine needles down your shirt, longing for some Tylenol.

Anyway, it's time for a random post because I have a lot of random thoughts in my head at the moment.

1. Running is on hold. My running partner, Katie, has been in physio due to a car accident a few months back. On her physio's orders on Thursday, she has to stop running. I'm not going to lie, without a running partner I'm not sure I'll have the get-up-and-go to continue lunch-time runs, especially with projects meaning lots of meetings with people I probably shouldn't be stinky around and evenings at the gym not leaving any other time to run.

I will still walk the TC10K because I promised someone I would moonwalk across the finish line. Silly promises like that obviously have to be kept!

2. To make myself feel better, I've listened to this cover of Frozen's "Let It Go" about three dozen times. I'm in love with it:

3. Warning: Rugby talk ahead. Ireland won Six Nations this year with a win over France this morning. There was a lot of smack talk between myself and some certain French macaron proprietors prior to the game. Sadly, the next time I'll get my macarons with a side of sports sass won't be until the World Cup. It's going to be a long three months.

4. Today's rugby game was also the last game for Brian O'Driscoll in an Ireland jersey. This is a bitter-sweet moment for Ireland fans. BOD, as his is affectionately known, has done great things for Irish rugby. He is also a fantastic humanitarian. I recommend having a hanky nearby while you watch this video.

5. I am obsessed with BBC's The Musketeers. I'm actually more excited about watching it on Sunday nights than I am about The Walking Dead and that's saying a lot. I think part of that might be simply because I've been watching a lot of fairly heavy drama TV shows and while this is definitely drama, it's a lot lighter in tone. 

Witty dialogue and a cute cast also helps.

6. Alumni Band season is starting up again. In other news, I'm a gigantic nerd. 

7.  St. Patrick's Day is on Monday. You know, just in case you somehow weren't aware of the biggest drinking day in the world.

Making Plans

Welcome to the future! Isn't it glorious?!?

I'm a little sad that the future doesn't actually look like this,

I had a rousing evening of staying home and watching movies. It seemed that all my options for the night involved large crowds and loud noises, and I just wasn't feeling it. So after a viewing of Dinner for One (it's tradition), I snuggled in with my kitties and a couple of movies: The Social Network and Michael Collins. I'd never seen The Social Network which seemed odd given the amount of time I spend on Facebook. I saw Michael Collins on a date 17 years ago - yes, I'm that old - but a recent discussion about it prompted the repeat viewing. While it's a decent enough movie (historically accurate bio-pics are hard to get right), a better option to learn and understand that time in Irish history is The Wind That Shakes the Barley. Great film. Check it out.

At any rate, I'm just going to assume everyone had a more exciting evening than I did. On to the 2014 resolutions!

1. Go to kickboxing/bootcamp at least 11 times a month.

In an ideal world, I'd be making a commitment of going to every class, every week (that's four classes a week) but this is not an ideal world. Attending class is a huge time commitment as I go straight from work and don't get home until 7:30 or 8:00pm. Some weeks, doing that four nights in a row is just not going to be feasible. So while I want to aim for attending every class, my minimum is going to be 11. And maybe, for added incentive, I should say something silly like "if I don't make the 11 classes, I will do [insert number] burpees".

 Because if there is one thing that will make sure I get my ass to class at least 11 times a month, it's the threat of more burpees than I'd get in class.

2. Run two 10Ks

I will be running the TC10K in April because that's what you do when you live in Victoria and like to pretend you're a runner... or you're high on running endorphins and you agree with some Twitter friends that it sounds like a great idea to form a team. Same thing, really. But I want to aim to run another one in the Fall, something to keep me going once the TC is finished. If I get really hardcore, I'll do the Gunnar Shaw but I don't know if I'm ready for that level of trail race in the cold.

And just to be very clear, when I say 'run a 10K' I mean 'jog a 10K with plenty of walking breaks'. Let's not fool anyone here with thoughts of speedy races.

This totally counts as running, right?

3. Start the process of becoming certified in Instructional Design.

I'm a technical writer. To move forward in my field, Instructional Design is where it is at. Don't worry, I don't expect you to understand any of that. The plan is to enroll in a few classes, probably starting in September because they're through schools that start in September. Someone should probably remind me of this in June.

4. Improve my German.

A few years ago, I gave myself an ultimatum: either that was going to be the year that I worked on my German or I would drop it and just accept that das Schiff had sailed. I did nothing that year and so I let my half-hearted attempts to improve my German stop. 

Then I went back to Germany and Switzerland this past year and had to use my rusty German. Surprisingly, my German was much better than I anticipated and I gained a lot of confidence in my ability to use it. Not surprisingly, it reignited the desire to improve my German. I've been working on it casually for the past few months and I'm going to continue doing so in 2014. I'm still trying to determine how I plan to 'measure' my improvement. Hmm, a Christmas trip to Germany/Switzerland where I speak only German for the entire two weeks? Anyone want to fund that?

And that, my friends, concludes my resolutions for 2014. Nothing crazy, but building on what I've already started.

Wish me luck!

Question: How about you? Any resolutions? Or are you not a resolution person?

If She Mentions "Ironman" I'm Out!

Those of you who know me IRL or follow me on any sort of social media (and even on this blog) are probably aware that I have a very good friend named Katie.

I recently joked on Twitter (because she's not on there) that I have to stop drinking with Katie because every time we have a girl's night, I end up agreeing to another ridiculous idea.

"You should totally come with me next time I go to Ireland!"

"Kickboxing sounds like a fantastic idea. I will totally start going with you!"

"Help you train for the TC10K with lunch time runs? Run it with you? Why not!?! Let's do it!"

Out of the blue after kickboxing this week, Katie said "I need to get you drunk so you agree to train for a marathon with me."

Shit! She's on to me!