listen to the bells

Yesterday it rained. Which is a nice way of saying it was a small monsoon outside my apartment. The rain has never made me happy. Coupled with the cold we are basically asking to put me in a bad mood. I begrudgingly got out of bed (might I add, after attending all of my classes and looking presentable in them), and agreed to pick up my friend from the pouring rain to take him to our meeting. In the midst of complaining about the weather, the lack of good drivers on the road, and the fact that we were going to be late, I noticed him attempting to open the window. He looked at me when I asked why he would do such a thing in a monsoon and said, "I want to listen to the bells." I looked up past him and realized that at 4:48 on a Tuesday afternoon, someone was at the top of Century Tower playing a recital on the carillon. And so, I listened.

As for my other resolutions, I have already fallen behind in flossing my teeth and looking presentable every day. However, I made an effort to remember this morning (earning myself a nice smiley face sticker), and showered in between my two blocks of class (by the way, 6 hours of class on Thursday...it better be worth having Monday and Friday off). This change made my last block of class infinitely easier.

In addition, I realized how much I took for granted about my class location last semester. In other words, that having a class right across the street was a blessing. All of my classes now are down what is known as the Shands hill, the largest hill on campus (or in the world...I'm not sure. It's huge). In addition to being up and down hill, my apartment is at least a mile from the location of three of my classes. And on the way back, as you might have figured out, it's uphill. Yesterday as I approached Museum Road and 13th street, I realized in shock that I still had 6 more blocks to walk....uphill. By the time I made it back I had a stitch in my side (emphasizing my need to exercise more). However, today in the post-monsoon sunshine, it occurred to me that walking 2 miles every day (4 on Tuesday and Thursday) was not only regular exercise, but a good amount of it. This realization led to the realization that I am already on my way to exercising more in the new year, even though I have yet to visit a gym (tomorrow for sure). I was ecstatic.

So maybe I haven't established the pattern I want to establish for the next couple of years, but I am on my way to keeping at least some of my resolutions. I have also started writing things down--blogging, keeping a one-sentence journal (a la Gretchen Rubin), and writing things in a notebook I keep in my planner so that I won't forget anything important. As we progress I'll tackle cooking, organizing my life, and getting more regular sleep. Until then, I am quite content just listening to the bells.