Born to Run

I've got a new hobby. Running. Can you imagine? I have always hated running for the sake of just running. Running as part of a sport was OK, but running laps?! I hated it so much. During sports practice in high school, I was always one of the last people to finish.

Recently, however, I deceded that I would like to be a runner. Even in my hatred for running, I always envied those people jogging down the street just because. I wondered what would make someone want to just run and where their motivation to keep going came from. Wouldn't it be boring? What about those days when it was either really hot or really cold?

Anyway, I'm not sure what made me decide to do it (especially since it's so hot out now), but about a week and a half ago I ran. I thought I'd run one lap, walk one, etc, but it didn't work out like that. I couldn't make it the whole lap! I found the website for Runner's World Magazine and they had a plan to get me to run 20 minutes straight in 10 weeks. It seemed simple enough, so Thursday, I began the run/walk plan. run a minute, walk a minute for 20 minutes. and who knew? I made it! I gradually increase the run time over the 10 weeks. next week I run 2 minutes and walk 1 and so on. Saturday I bought new sneakers (the ones I had were about 6 years old) and some running shorts and t-shirts. It's funny because I've already noticed a slight improvement in my stamina. I'm really excited about it so I've been reading Runner's World articles all week. Maybe I can even enter a race some day!

bored to tears (almost)

Today is a pretty boring day at work. I'm not sure what to do with myself for the last 45 minutes. All of the brokers I work for are gone for the day.

So, the way my job works is that you have a base salary and then the brokers you work for compensate you out of their commission on top of that. Up until now, my broke, 2 job working self has not been compensated a dime. So allegedly now I'm going to get compensated. The brokers have to fill out forms saying how much we're going to get and I have sit downs with them tomorrow to determine how much. Now, it's not going to be all that much because I work for newbies who don't produce very much. Still, it's a raise and I'm excited about that.

I'm leaving my options open though. I plan to send out my resume since dealing with other people's money is not my cup of tea. But, it's not wise to cut your nose off to spite your face as they say. What if another job doesn't work out then I'm stuck with no compensation?

So, recently I've become a Jenny Craig drop out. The food just isn't very good and it leaves me unsatisfied which makes me want to eat junk. To compensate for this, I've taken up running. Runners World has a plan to get me running for 20 minutes straight. If I could do that, I'd be impressed. Right now I'm in the begining run/walk phase.

Also I've taken up the guitar again. I'm taking lessons at the local guitar store. My instructor's name is Ben and he's got braces. He'll be a junior in high school in the fall. This means he's got to be about 16 years old, which puts his birth year at about 1991. I feel a little sad about that because I remember 1991. 1991 was 5th grade/6th grade. The gulf war and George Bush (the elder). Age is a funny thing. I don't think I look old, and I don't feel old, but then all of a sudden someone 11 years younger than me is teaching me how to play the guitar.

Good bye GTE Visa

I bid farewell to my very first credit card. It is officially paid off. I couldn't wait to cut it up!