NaBloPoMo is once again nigh. Given that it’s been given over to BlogHer, and I didn’t really care for the transition, I’m not sure if I’ll “officially” participate, but I’m thinking I’ll do it in spirit. It’s a nice tradition to have.

1. What was the cause of your last working up a sweat?
   Getting my morning workout in the morning. I strength train three days a week.
2. What routine part of your life seems to take more mental effort for you than for most others?
   Getting up the gumption to actually get a task started. It’s always the first hurdle that’s the highest.
3. What’s something many others consider laborious but you consider rather easy?
   A lot of people have commented that they don’t understand how I stay so organized. But I think that I appreciate the fruits of my organizational labor so much, it never seems like work. Labor of love, I guess.
4. What’s something you’re going to have to do really soon but have been putting off just because it’s going to be a lot of work?
   Most recently, and prescient, is getting the summer/winter clothes thing worked on. I was just thinking today how bad I am at getting my clothes switched in an out. I am dreading getting it done.
5. Where’s the steepest hill in your neighborhood?
   I always joke that I live on Mt. Chestertucky, because you have to go down pretty steep hills to get away from my house. The nearest one is on Caves northbound where it goes down into Kirtland. That’s pretty bad, and I don’t really like to drive down it in the wintertime.

Source: f.riday5.org

Went on a team-building/let’s-escape-from-the-office/have-an-excuse-to-drink-during-the-day outing with the office to Corner Alley last night. I do believe that’s the first time I’ve been bowling this year (maybe? I think?).

Let’s just say that

• I’m consistently inconsistent, per usual,
• I’m surprised at how much my wrist hurts
• My theory on the Drunken Sports Parabola is still damn solid

• I am not a consistent shit-talker, but the one zinger I laid down was pretty solid,
• I miss bowling, big time.

No, I’m going to go rest these old bones, and you’re going to keep reading today’s Friday 5.

1. What is your history with cigarettes?
   As is commonly known on this blog, I was a smoker for a long time. I started smoking when I was 16, bumming my first cigarette from a friend who’d swiped them from her grandmother. I’m fuzzy on how often I smoked from 16-18, being that I was in school, and not of legal age to buy them, but I definitely smoked every day on the way to and from school at least.
   My worst smoking was when I worked at the frame shop and could smoke while surfing the internet and became a pack-a-shift smoker.
   I finally quit in 2009. I did it cold turkey, and I haven’t looked back. I never thought I’d go a day without smoking, much less 3 years.
2. What is your history with alcoholic drink?
   Varied. I didn’t drink at all in high school, once underage in college, and very little when I was of legal age. My worst bouts of drinking were at the lowest points in my life when I was really unhappy with who I was, the way I had perceived my life had turned out, and engaged in generally self-destructive behavior. They didn’t last any longer than two months each, but I was pretty much getting blasted every time I drank. At the time, I figured it was “all in good fun,” and I was having a great time, but I was totally medicating how miserable I was. Go figure, what with having a family with a history of substance abuse.
3. What was the worst trouble you got into at school?
   I was a pretty good kid, I knew how to be affable to teachers, and I’m generally a people-pleaser, so I didn’t do anything out of the norm. The worst I think I did was in eighth grade, after getting antagonized by a classmate to the point that I yelled after her, out the locker room door, “Bitch!” …And there were a bunch of first graders in the hall.
4. What’s something you got away with in school but shouldn’t have?
   I absolutely feel like yes, there is something that I got away with, but damned if I can remember what it is now.
5. Who’s your partner in crime?
   Depends on who’s around. I definitely like it when K and I do some ancillary drinking at the movie theater.

Source: f.riday5.org

Even with a day off in the middle of this week, I still feel like I put in 6 days. Looking forward to getting away for a long weekend, spending part of it enjoying Fort Ligonier Days.

With that brief introduction, onwards! To the Friday 5.

1.  What do you remember about high-school dances?

   I only went to one without a date, I went with my friend Alex, who’d brought a couple of guys that she knew (we went to an all-girls high school). Being the late 90’s, I was, of course, in a periwinkle-colored velour dress with glittery sparkles on it – so hot! – and fake nails painted the same color periwinkle that were in the neighborhood of 3 inches long; I’m pretty sure they were tips for acrylic nails that I painted over, too.
   Other than that, I have decent memories of high school dances, having a built-in date. I definitely wish I’d had some other dates: my classmates’ sister went to a dance with a guy I’d much rather have been with…. But that’s another story for another day.

2. At whose house would you and your friends usually gather after school-related activities?
   During the week, I was not allowed to go out. I did sneak a few times to my boyfriend’s house to hang out and get home before 5:30. In the summer, the crew was just as likely to hang out at our house as my boyfriend’s as one of the other friends. It depended: we did end up at some houses we shouldn’t have been, though.
3. Who in your school had a memorable nickname?
   I knew someone in high school whose nickname was Skeets. There were about 4 different stories as to where it came from. She and I had a tenuous relationship at the best of time, so I never found out the real story behind it.
4. What was your high-school cafeteria like?
   It was a large atrium-like area: one side was windows and the front parking lot; the opposite side was a glass wall to the hallway, and the other side of the hallway was the courtyard; at one end was the lunch line and the kitchen behind that; opposite the lunch line and kitchen was the wall with the vending machines and microwaves. We had mostly round tables and long tables with stacking chairs, rather than the fold-down tables of elementary school. I usually sat in the corner of the cafeteria where the wall with the vending machines and the windows to the parking lot were.
5. Your parents aren’t reading this, so what were some of the crazy (or just memorable) things you or your friends did while driving?
   I can remember drag racing up the street, lot of speeding, playing our music too loud, I did a lot of “parking” with my high school boyfriend behind his school, too. Mostly generally stupid-teenage stuff. I should not have been allowed to drive with my friends in the car.

Source: f.riday5.org

So, I had every intention of getting up this morning and doing cardio to balance the strength training I’d done 2x this week, but yesterday ate me alive, and I was up very late all this week cramming reading in, so I opted to wuss out and just get up at “regular time.”

I regret nothing.

This weekend, Charlie and I are headed out of town, so I’m hoping that I’ll be escaping from cloudy Cleveland weather and can enjoy the leaves changing with some sunshine.

I think we’ll be taking Charlie’s ride, and since we’ve established that I don’t drive stick, I’m off the hook for driving and can get caught up on all of the items I’ve Pocket’ed through the week (including a boatload of fanfic) and read through them.

I may even try to get ahead in my textbook for class. Maybe.

Anyway, onward! To the Friday5!

1. Where is your favorite tree?
   I have a tree in my memory that is/was on my family’s farm. It was a weeping willow near the pond. I think of that tree a lot when I see a weeping willow. I think that weeping willows, next to Japanese maples, are my favorite tree.
2. Where is your favorite chair?
   My favorite chair currently is the down-stuffed sofa that belonged to my grandmother and got passed on to my mom. It’s a more formal sofa, but because the cushion is stuffed with down, it’s a great place to take naps.
3. Who has your favorite hair?
   I love Wisely-Chosen’s hair. Love, love, love it. Every iteration.
4. What’s your favorite mug (or other drinking vessel) like?
   It’s the bright orange, 32oz plastic stein I got this summer at ComFest. I use it as my drinking glass at the office. And that’s how I get 4L of water in a day.

5. Where’s your favorite parking spot (not at home)?
   Probably my clandestinely-gained one in the parking lot at my office. Keeps me out of the elements!

Source: f.riday5.org