since you were dying to know

I realized that I tend to post a lot of plans or stories, but I rarely post any updates, so this is a big ole followup to everything since starting this blog!

Being green. Strangely, when I moved to a new-urban-community-in-the-making, I actually stopped riding my bike. I loved riding it to bars, brunch, and work, and I'm not near any of those things now! Eventually, Mueller (my 'hood) will be set up with all of these things and the Marin will be back in action, but right now, the tires are flat. Sad day. Also on being green: I have to admit, I was really good about using the reusable bags for a while, but now I'm not even sure where they are. I still try to not take bags from the store, though, if I can just carry my stuff out. I did make my office start recycling, and I (for the most part) stopped using plastic water bottles, and we recycle most of our stuff at home. Oh, and my house itself is a 3-star green building (out of 5)...does that count for anything?

Brushing my shoulders off. I've been much better about adapting to life when it doesn't go as planned. Which is 99% of the time. I will give all the credit to my go-with-the-flow fiance, and I have to admit, life is more interesting when you are challenged to make good out of bad. 

My Dad's birthday present. This year I ordered an engraved brick that will be placed in a path on the trail at Town Lake, which was one of his favorite places to ride bikes, walk, and kayak. He actually loved kayaking so much that he even bought one. Since I have been going there with him my whole life, I thought it would be great to make sure a piece of him stays there forever. 

The motorcycle. Although we don't ride it all the time, the old Shadow is still around and is doing great. It has caused a fair amount of tension lately because my mom wanted me to promise to never ride it again, which I didn't do. Although I really do hardly ever 

ride it, little does she know...

...I learned how to drive it!

P90X. We are six weeks in and still going, although right now we're in the middle of a two-week hiatus! We are starting to see some results—although we're still not following the diet portion of the program—and the workouts are definitely still making us sore because the order of the videos keeps changing. It's getting harder and harder to stay on track, though, due to vacations and awkward schedules. It doesn't help that the videos themselves are getting more boring to follow (but easier to do while watching TV at the same time...interesting plus). I definitely have not lost weight but can tell my body is toning up, and overall I am much stronger than I was before starting! Brian is definitely losing some fat and replacing it with muscle, so again no weight loss persay but general strengthening and toning. We are going to get the nutrition guide from a friend and then hopefully go balls to the wall for the last six weeks. 

Girl's Trip 2K8. Was followed by Girl's Trip 2K9 to San Diego last weekend, a.k.a. National Championships 2009, a.k.a. that time we started dance-offs, had matching Bubba kegs, drew finger mustaches, and generally acted like an idiot pack of 12 girls (heretofore referred to as Hurricane Bubba Nation). It was awesome.

Peer evaluations. Oh boy did this go downhill! The woman who mouthed off in the first e-mail then decided to write an e-mail starting "Dear Laura" but with the whole group copied on it, so something was obviously up. Sure enough, she point blank said that the other group members told her they'd given her 100s, so why did I not, and what did I think she did wrong since I was obviously uncomfortable talking to her about it during the semester (yeah right, as if she was after constructive criticism). So then I had to launch back a "cease fire" to the whole group to get them to stop harassing me. Ultimately the e-mail defended myself and the intended confidentiality of the peer evals, explained why I didn't give perfect evals, included some math demonstrating how I knew the others were lying about what they gave out, told them I didn't want to continue the conversation, and said I was sorry the semester ended on a bad note. She wrote back and apologized in that "I'm only fake apologizing" kind of way. However, the man-child in the group was not so smooth, and instead decided to rattle off a hateful e-mail saying all the things I imagined he thought: that I was bossy, full of bullshit, and manipulative. Although Brian and I came up with about 15 really great patronizing responses, I decided the best idea was to contact my teacher. I have to say, I wrote and re-wrote that big e-mail to the group for about two hours, and I cannot express to you how glad I am that I did this because my teacher and the dean and assistant dean ended up reading the entire string of e-mails and I would've been mortified if I'd been bitchy or petty. The whole thing ended with me having to e-mail him back (at the insistence of the dean) and state to never contact me again by phone, e-mail, or in person or I would involve the dean's office. Pretty weird end to a shitty semester with these people. So I bet you can imagine how excited I was to walk into my new class last night and see Little Miss Mouthy sitting there.  

And now onto my final, more positive update!

Watching more movies. This is my biggest feat. After those 5 movies that I watched in the first week of 2009, I have watched 27 more. Like, 27 brand new movies...that's not counting repeats. That's roughly 3 times the total number of movies I'd seen in my whole life. So that you can enjoy (or avoid) them too: 

Most obscure that I liked: Grace of My Heart, My Blue Heaven, King of Kong

Biggest letdowns: Forgetting Sarah Marshall, 27 Dresses

Best action: Lord of War, The Last Boy Scout

Hottest: 3:10 to Yummy Yuma.

Worst: Wedding Daze. 

Best movie I should've seen of but hadn't: Rushmore

Biggest thinker: Bowling for Columbine 

Robert Downey Jr.'s best performances: Two Girls and a Guy, Tropic Thunder

Biggest cries: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Blood Diamond, Diving Bell and the Butterfly

There is so much crap on TV these days (what, am I like 80?) that I've actually taken to preferring to watch a movie instead of flipping through the channels for 2 hours. Netflix has been such a great enabler too. Next up on the cue, a variety pack: Sabrina, Willow, Sicko, and The Hours!