Thursday, August 11, 2016

I have a Radio so I'm basically a Secret Service agent now

Today I'm thinking out loud with Amanda from Running with Spoons!

1. Despite being completely difficult, sluggish, and electronically glitchy, Tuesday's run felt amazing! Elizabeth and I ran the bridge and when we got to our usual 2-mile mark my watch clocked a single mile. I know the route well enough that I wasn't concerned about adjusting it afterward, but losing the data and our splits was frustrating.
I mean...what do I even say? The run was actually 4 miles, only 3 recorded, and the paces are clearly totally wrong.
The weather was overcast and the pre-storm humidity that so epitomizes the tropics in summertime was in overdrive. Basically we slogged through a run we couldn't even properly track...and yet it was awesome.

Of course, it rained as soon as we finished and got in the car to go home!

2. Kids are officially back to school! I spent my first day putting together teacher resource binders and helping with drop off and pick up; it felt really weird not to have students of my own. I love fostering personal relationships with students and I think that's the way to get kids to care about education, but I still think I'll be able to make a difference and feel fulfilled in this new position, too.
Check out my awesome secret service earpiece!
3. Last year, Kristin introduced me to these amazing gluten free "thin mint" cookies, but I could never find them anywhere. Then, they appeared at my parents' house and I happily helped myself, only to go through withdrawal once they were gone. I'm so glad my Publix is finally carrying them!
I honestly don't remember what real Thin Mints taste like, but I think these are softer, fudgier, and a little more plush than the originals with just the perfect hint of mint.

4. This year our school is doing a book study on The Happiness Advantage. I don't really care to wax on about the book itself, but it got me thinking: can we all afford to be more positive, or should we just accept who we are instead of forcing ourselves to change our personalities?

I'm naturally a realist. I border on pessimistic sometimes. I think I can afford to be more positive sometimes, but I also don't think there's anything wrong with the way I am!

5. Speaking of books, I pre-ordered Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and it arrived last Friday. I read it all that night! I plan to reread it to pick up on some nuance, but it was a nice way to end my usual rereading of the series. It's been eight years since I read a new HP book!
I will say that this is not a novel. It's a play; it's meant to be a play. I like reading plays and I think the stage directions in this one are just whimsical enough to give it a little extra literary flair. I liked the storyline but also felt, at times, that it seemed Rowling had listened too intently to fan theories when crafting it.
The wisdom of the Harry Potter world lives on in this installment.
I won't spoil anything major here, of course. But I enjoyed the added maturity that was sometimes missing when our protagonist was a teenage boy, and I'm considering this an enjoyable companion piece to what I will always consider the "original" series. I loved catching up with my favorite characters again and seeing what their lives are like now, 19+ years down the road.

Yes, I'm talking about them like they're real. Deal with it.

6. I've been thoroughly enjoying the Olympics! I can never sleep the first week of school, so I haven't minded staying up late to watch the events. As usual, I'm obsessed with our gymnastics team (and watch with the same intensity as Aly Raisman's parents) and I'm completely loving Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky's continued domination in the pool.
I think some of my motivation to get back on track this week is coming from watching the events in Rio!

Have you been watching the Olympics?
Do you plan to read the newest Harry Potter?
What is your favorite Girl Scout cookie?
Are you an optimist, pessimist, or realist?

ABK

20 comments:

  1. I've seen those thin mints on a few different blogs now and I'm dying to try them! I loved your review of the new HP book - I haven't gotten a chance to pick it up yet (my 13 year old self is ashamed) but I need to asap!

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    1. There is SO much I want to say about the book, but I don't want to spoil people! I can't wait for it to be old news so I can talk about it all I want!

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  2. Interesting. I don't think being more positive means changing your personality or being someone you're not - I think it's less about who you are, and more about what you choose to project out into the world. I don't want to be someone I'm not, and I don't want to sugarcoat things or be a peppy Pollyanna type. However, I don't want to put more pointless negativity out into the world. It won't help anything and it won't make me feel any better. When I think of being negative I don't think of someone who is realistic or pessimistic, I think of people who indulge in whining, complaining, putting others down and pointing out the bad in everything but don't feel the need to actually do anything constructive about it. TL;DR version - yes, I do think we could all be a little more positive without changing who we are.

    Anyway, I'm glad you are enjoying your job! GPS glitches are so annoying but I'm glad you had a good run anyway. And it ALWAYS starts to rain right after I finish my run, too!

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    1. I think if your natural inclination is to try to be positive because it makes life better, then that's not changing your personality. Because it's who you are naturally! I think there's definitely a line between trying too hard to be positive all the time, and simply refocusing your energy on the positive rather than the negative.

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  3. I LOVE the Olympics. I have been obsessed with them since opening ceremonies last Friday. I was a diver for many years through high school, so I enjoy watching diving, but I also love swimming, gymnastics, and all the track and field events. I am undecided about the new Harry Potter book...I'll keep waiting to hear feedback from other people who have read it. And I think I'm a realist, but I try to be an optimist. I know that your attitude affects you situation so much that it makes sense to try to be as positive as possible!

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    1. I admire swimmers so much, especially divers because I was always scared to go off the diving board. Swimming takes so much all-around fitness!

      I think the feedback on Cursed Child needs to be taken with a grain of salt because it's very different than the original series and it's not just Rowling's work - it's the work of a partnership. I can't help but think that people who really dislike it may be missing some of the point, but I also see where the criticism comes in!

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  4. I definitely try to be an optimist but it depends on the situation as I'm a pretty level headed thinker when it comes to making decisions!

    We finally got that rain up here and boy did it make things SO humid now. I can definitely relate to your weather! Good luck this week back!

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    1. I always hope rain will make it cooler, but it just seems to bring on the humidity!!

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  5. Calling Special Agent Ali! I hope you have an awesome year at school!

    and on HP = "Yes, I'm talking about them like they're real. Deal with it." sign me up for this too! I enjoyed the book, but some things felt unrealistic to the characters, and it felt some timelines were not aligning to what I remember.

    For the benefit of keeping true to myself, I do not categorize myself as either optimist, pessimist, or realist... because it changes from day to day. Some days it's all "yes, I totally rock at life!" and others is "Why am I even alive?"

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    1. I'd love to talk your ear off about Cursed Child because you've read it!! I'm trying not to spoil people. But I agree - there were parts that I thought felt forced or unrealistic, but overall I really enjoyed it. The plot was gripping, I loved adult!Hermione, and I thought the concepts explored were really interesting.

      I definitely go to both ends of the spectrum when it comes to outlook on life, too!

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    2. I did a really long post about Cursed Child... but I'm reluctant on posting it, because it is very long! and it has lots of spoilers. Maybe i'll email you later.

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  6. Being sick I've had a lot of time to watch the Olympic, so I guess that's good. But I watch them the day afterwards, because even when I'm healthy I'm not staying up to midnight!

    I don't eat GS cookies. At all. Haven't for years. But I know enough to know that those GF thin mints would be trouble for me. Cookies can be a problem for me, which is why I pretty much bake stuff that (usually) won't be such a problem.

    I'm a realistic optimist.

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    1. I usually watch the Olympics a day late, too, which is so ironic because I usually make fun of people who record sports events and watch them later. But with the Olympics, even watching late is exciting!

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  7. I love that you guys wear name tags! Very official. We have badges but I just keep mine on my desk and hold it if I leave my room. I don't like it dangling. Very annoying.

    I am DEFINITELY a realist. To the core.

    I have not watched a single second of the Olympics. I hate watching sports!

    Has it really been 8 yrs since there was a new HP book!?

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    1. I feel naked without my name tag! On the few days I forget it at home, I feel like no one knows who I am!

      Do the Olympics really count as sports? I feel like even non-sports fans can enjoy them!

      I was still in college when the last book came out, I think! It makes me feel old to think about, but it also makes sense when I consider that many of my students have never read them. It's an old series now!

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  8. Lots to talk about...firstly I think I'd consider myself an optimist. But I don't think there's anything wrong with being a realist. In fact, being an optimist can be irritating sometimes because there are some situations when the realist side of my brain knows it's time to move on and let go but the optimist part of me is like, "no this will totally work out!" So there are good and bad parts to everything I think.

    Harry Potter...of course I've read it and without spoiling it for your readers I will say there were some parts I totally LOVED (of course having to do with dark side things) and other parts I wasn't too crazy about. Keeping in mind that it is a play I tried to be more open minded but I was a bit disappointed with how fast moving it seems. I'm really glad to get more detail on Albus though- I liked him a lot. And I love your Voldy GIF.

    I haven't watched the Olympics because I've been on the cruise and haven't watched much tv this past week but I'm trying to catch up! I'm totally in awe of how much girl power we have here!! Go USA!

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    1. Interesting take on optimism! I guess a balance is good!

      Plays have to move faster than novels. If it were a novel, I'm sure it would have been 500 pages or more! But a play is just the length of a movie, so it's like how they cut everything out of the books for the films, you know? It sucks that I could read it so quickly, but I'm excited to reread it soon.

      I really liked Albus and the entire plot point of his strained relationship with Harry. It felt very realistic. And I seriously adored Scorpius, and the entire look at relationships of the original characters as time passed. It just feel really good.

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  9. Yay for your being back at school! We start 9/7 so I have been in preparing the set up of my classroom! HARRY POTTER!!!!!! I read the "8th" book in two days. I have mixed reviews but I agree that it was great to catch up and see how they had grown. It makes me want to reread HP all over! I haven't read a HP book in 5 years (the last time I reread the series was in 2011!)! I use to hate watching the Olympics but this year I am hooked, it has been so amazing to witness history being made! Have a great work week!

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    1. Sometimes I get really "over" the Olympics, but this year has been seriously awesome!

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  10. I did wonder if the clouds had something to do with my watch glitching! It's never happened before. It was also the first run after being a treadmill, so I thought maybe that had something to do with it , too?

    I'm definitely a realist, but for awhile I found myself being REALLY negative, so then I started working harder to at least try to see the positive side of things!

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