1,000 and Done

This is officially my 1,000th and final blog post. I have had a very hard time coming up with something to write lately. Therefore, I figured my 1,000th blog post would be a great number to end on. I mean I've written in this blog pretty much every single day for almost 3 years now. I'd say that's pretty impressive. I know I've gotten very repetitive at times. That's another reason I am stopping. I'm having writer's block. It doesn't necessarily mean I'll never write in this blog again. Who knows? Maybe I'll get some inspiration down the road. But for now, this will be my last post for awhile. It's been a good run. I'm not going to say "Good bye" because in the movie John Q, they don't like good bye. They prefer, "See you later." So, I'll see you later.

How do I write my books?

Whenever I tell people I have written books, I almost always hear, "I've always wanted to write a book." How do I write my books? It's rather simple. Well, it's not. I just write them one word at a time. My biggest advice is to write what you know. Of course you can write fiction. 3 of my 4 books are fiction. However, I wrote about what I knew...school. Come up with a title, outline the book, write it, edit it, edit it, edit it, edit it, edit it, have a friend edit it, have a family member edit it, edit it again, then when you think it's perfect, edit it again, have a friend edit it, then edit it again, and edit it 17 more times, then again edit it, and then edit it, then it might be good to publish. It's that simple! haha. I don't know if I have the courage or emotional stability to write a book to prepare first year teachers for what they are about to experience. If I did and found the right publisher, I bet it would sell really well. I don't care how much college you go to, nothing prepares you for teaching until you actually get into it.

That Was Awful

My 5K run today did NOT go well. What did I expect? I didn't run all week to prepare for it. I finished 19th out of I think 77. Last year in the same race I finished 6th out of around 180. I'm not sure why there were so few runners this time. My time last year was 22:47. This year it was 25:17. I walked three times today all on the last stretch of he race. It was humid this morning. I had a horrible week at work leading up to the race. I can make excuses until I'm blue in the face. The fact of the matter is simply that I didn't have it today. Hopefully I'll do better in the color run at the end of May.

Not Prepared

I have a 5K race tomorrow and I am NOT prepared AT ALL. Every day when I get home from work, I plan on running. That never seems to happen because I come up with too many excuses: I was at work later than usual, I'm tired, I have papers to grade, I have to cook dinner. I'm so full of excuses it's pathetic. Of course I have high expectations for myself for my run tomorrow and will be disappointed if I don't get a good time. I shouldn't be disappointed though. I didn't really train for this. I ran the race in 22:47 last year, which is my best 5K time. I finished 6th overall and 1st in my age group. This year, it's the same course as last year. I'm not sure what my goal is for this race. I'll be happy with anything under 24 minutes I guess, which is 8 minutes a mile. We will see what happens!

I need a Bubble

I've decided that after the money I've spent the last 5 days especially, I need my own personal bubble. I need to find a location where I have no computer access, no access to my phone, and no access to purchase anything at all! I need to stop spending money immediately! Obviously that is impossible. I've seen shows where people are able to spend very, very little money in a month by doing this that and the other thing. Some of these people are amazing at saving money. Right now, I don't have that capability. My credit card is crying right now. It's exhausted even though it hasn't been swiped much. It's more like me punching its numbers in online instead of going to the store where they swipe the card. Someone help me find this bubble so I can maybe save a buck or two!

The Rolling Stones!

I will be the first person to admit, I have serious issues. Ever since I moved to North Carolina, I have gone to so many basketball games and concerts. I feel like I'm addicted to them. On Saturday, I booked a cruise. On Sunday, I bought tickets to see The Who next Tuesday. I also bought tickets to see Styx at the Bahamas on the cruise. On Monday, tickets to the Rolling Stones went on sale. I wanted to buy two tickets and fly my mom down here so we can see the Rolling Stones together. She has never seen them and has wanted to forever. Unfortunately, I tried to get them at 10:07 when they went on sale at 10 and the lowest price tickets were gone. The price left was out of my range. I checked yesterday, the price was even higher. I checked today and the price was the second lowest ticket price. I asked my dad if I should get those tickets. He said yes and I bought them. A few minutes later, I went on Skype to video chat with my mom and tell her about her early Mother's Day present. I worded it something like this. "So I was thinking about your Mother's Day present and I figured you don't want chocolate, flowers, or edible arrangements." She said, "That's right." I continued, "I figured I'd get you something better. Something that will leave a memory for the rest of your life. Something like flying you down to Raleigh on July 1st and going to the Rolling Stones concert!" As I said the last part, I held up the tickets to the screen. She said, "Oh my god! Are you serious?" I don't think I've ever seen my mom so excited. I have so many things to look forward to over the next couple of months. I have seen some legendary concerts in my year here. I've seen Billy Joel, Tom Petty, Paul McCartney, Elton John, and I'm about to see The Who, Styx, and The Rolling Stones. It doesn't get much better than that!

Everything Happens for a Reason

I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. Of course I have no idea what that reason is. However, every little thing that happens in life happens for a specific reason. I am where I am for a reason. Just like yesterday's post, I haven't figured out the reason yet. I might spend my entire life searching for that reason. I might just burst out into P!nk and say, "Just give me a reason just a little bit's enough" because I am certifiably crazy and I always just randomly burst out into song. I don't know. I just need answers and I need them quickly!