Squirrel! (Jenna)

I seem to have many random thoughts running through my head at all times. Some are quite trivial and others can give me a headache if I muddle in them too long. I think with all of the details and stress in my life I just am having trouble keeping it together. Within one minute I’m focused on how I’m going to properly teach the carbon cycle to 13 year olds, to what color I should paint my house, to then the pros and cons of organized religion. I guess this is why I teach middle school, as I too have a short attention span!

Lately, I’ve been a bit obsessed with my new fitness & eating routine. Four weeks down and 12 more to go. I spend so much time planning out, cooking and eating all these meals as well as writing up and executing fitness routines, that I nearly have run out of other topics to discuss with others. I feel like I’m a new mother with pooping updates (although the poop might be more entertaining). Plus, now in social situations I’m “special”. I have things I’m not eating and I’m still on the wagon. I hate going to a party when one friend offers me something like brie on French bread and then another friend says, “Remember? She’s not eating/drinking that.” Now I’m THAT person. I’m the annoying, “no thank you, with a smile” person. In fact, I went to my favorite pub and asked the bartender for water. Then he came around with a cheese platter and I turned him down. Looking completely perplexed he said, “What IS wrong with you? Are you OK?” Clearly my actions are quite radical to my past. The good news is that I have lost nearly 10 pounds, I’ve signed up for the half-marathon in May, feel better in my clothes and am feeling stronger and lifting more during my weight workouts.

I love documentaries. I talk about documentaries as others talk about good fiction books. In fact, I feel I have no time for reading fiction when there are so many great documentaries to watch. I watched one this weekend (The Rape of Europa) on all of the artwork that Hitler stole from various people, where he hid it and how his anti-Semitic behaviors all started when he wasn’t accepted into art school. I watched another about religious cults in the US (Join Us). Whoa. I’m telling you, it’s a slippery slope out there, kids.

And how about those Jayhawks? Finally I get a tournament game in the afternoon on my TV and they lose. Yeah, my “madness” is over. I can’t tell you one team that’s made it into the Final Four and I don’t care to find out.

I like to use a lot of quotation marks in my writing…along with three periods.

I miss my ex-boyfriend Till. I know it’s been over a year now since we broke up but it still sucks. Even though it didn’t work out, I believe in love in first sight because of him. He’s a good egg.

I am perplexed as to why certain people want to be my friend on Facebook? Do you know what I'm talking about? I know I'm not alone here. This person didn’t care about me in 1990 when I might have seen them in person, we haven’t spoken since and now we have nothing in common. I don’t get it.

There are so many daffodils growing around here that it's ridiculous. I'm going to miss those next year.

Why does it seem that when I’m getting ready to sell some of my stuff it all starts breaking? This week alone my watch, DVD player and car have all stopped working for no apparent reason.

Hang in there, COFFEE drinkers. It seems it's been a stressful time for us all.

Moving Body, Mind and Sole (Jenna)

I’ve never written a blog before.  To be honest, it’s a bit more intimidating than I had expected.  I figured since I blab my mouth all day and have a bazillion thoughts running through my head, jotting a few of them out would be a cake walk (I love those, by the way).  Just when I think I’ve got plenty of projects going in my life, it seems just being an active COFFEE participant might just be another one.  So, here we go ladies and gentlemen.  Grab your mug and I’ll get typing.

I am moving to Hong Kong in July.  I don’t know about you, but I’ve never been to Hong Kong before.  In fact, I’ve never been to Asia, period.  The idea of it sounds amazing to me.  It’s an endless list of new things to see and explore…dim sum, fireworks, junk boats, horse races, hiking trails, flashing lights, Buddhism, heat  & humidity, high-rises, metros, shopping, people, people and more people!!!  It was the first and only place that I looked for a job this fall and I’m thrilled to have landed it.

Now I’m no stranger to change and in fact, I welcome it (some ex-boyfriends even might say I like it a bit too much).  I’ve been moving around ever since I left the house at 18.  I’ve lived in four different Kansas towns, taught at six different schools, lived in five different countries on three different continents.  I love the challenge of a new environment…until now, out of nowhere I’m freaking out.  Asia scares me.  Not just a little, but Great Wall-size scares me.

I find myself thinking, “What the (enter expletive) am I doing?”  I love Holland.  My friends are here.  I own a house.  I’ll look like a giant there.  It’s a 15-hour flight from HK to Chicago. They eat things like insects and animal penis.  There will be pollution. And Chinese.  Have you listened to this?  Are you kidding me?

Thinking about the latter list makes me want to do these things:  curl up in a ball and sleep for hours, eat copious amounts of carbohydrates (simple, not those healthy complex ones) and drink red wine.  In fact, until about two weeks ago, I have been doing just that besides forcing myself to go to work and back.  I’ve been so unmotivated and so grumpy that I no longer can even stand myself. 

And then last week I snapped.  I’ve decided that the only way I can survive this transition is to throw myself into a strict routine of health.  Running, weights, meal plans, journaling & even a personal trainer.  It’s been nearly a week now since I’ve started and I’ll have to say, I’m doing better than I expected, but the weekend looms.  That’s when all the delicious wine and cheese comes out to tempt me.  I feel like a few sisters know what I'm talking about.

But I SWEAR that through this mess of stress of reorganizing my life one more time, that I’ll come through it a better (and smaller) person.  One week down and 16 more to go.  We’ll see how this story unfolds but for now it’s time for me to put on my running shoes and get moving towards that goal.