Random Memories from First Grade

Can you remember things from as far back as grade school? I have a few very fuzzy memories of kindergarten but my brain really wanted to hold onto some random memories from first grade. Maybe it was because it was Catholic school and the nuns want to continue to punish me.

There’s this meme that gets passed around Facebook often in the vein of “you were a child of the 70s and 80s if you remember this.” And it’s a picture of Rainbow Parachute Day. EVERYBODY loved parachute day as a kid…

Unless you were me and it triggered the memory of being locked inside a racquetball room in the gym of your Catholic school before cell phones were invented.

Time is a funny thing. With the passing of many, many years the details get murkier about how long we spent in that locked room. It could have been two minutes, it could have been 20. It could have been 2 hours. What I do remember is someone (maybe the gym teacher?) attempting to MacGyver the door lock with a shoelace.

If you can believe it, there is something even MORE triggering about Catholic school and gym days. Brown shorts and yellow shirts. So fug. We had no access to the bathrooms and were required to change in the room in front of everyone – gender separated thank Jesus – with the boys (of course) peeking into the classroom window frequently enough that they were reprimanded against doing so. Which then made us very aware that this was A Thing.

You know what else was A Thing? Me getting sent to the principal’s (head nun’s?) office because I dared to wear unapproved colored socks with my hideously-colored plaid school uniform.

Then, as in now, you can’t get me to follow your silly fashion rules.

But a rule that I will continue to follow based on my first grade experience is to never look directly at the sun during a solar eclipse. The end.

Extra Reading:
This is where your childhood memories went {via Nautilus}

Weekly Therapy: take a picture, it’ll last longer

the week:
My main goal this week was to get a massage. Of course, my usual therapist is on vacation, so I scheduled a late-Tuesday appointment with another lady in the office. I’ve been stretching and rolling and walking and generally still feel pretty crappy. Considering I don’t normally feel soreness after my runs, this is giving me major anxiety about the half marathon in a couple weeks.

More Cherry Blossom pictures!
More Cherry Blossom pictures!

weekend:
Boyfriend and I have ballet tickets for La Bayadere tonight; otherwise, Holy moly, I don’t have anywhere to go or be, and I’m going to keep it that way. (Naturally, there will be homework.)

52 books in 52 weeks:
#13: Finding Ultra by Rich Roll — if only for this passage, but for so much, much more:

“Surrender is a beautiful movement in which you gracefully, willfully, languidly fall, only to find midway that you have been gathered in some unimaginable embrace. Surrender is letting go, whether or not you believe the embrace will occur. It’s trust to the hundredth power — not sticking to your idea of the outcome, but letting go in the faith that even the absence of an outcome will be the perfect solution.”

The first Rich Roll podcast I listened to, I was immediately drawn to him (and his voice provokes some sort of meditative trance). Of course I had to read his book. I don’t think I’ve ever been more affected so soulfully by someone’s story to find my own meaning and what I am capable of — this book has transformed so much of my thinking. Some chapters I found myself unable to breathe; some weird empathetic response? No clue. But something in me has changed.

seven things, seven days:
1. THIS APP >>>>> Disposable Camera.
2. Decision Fatigue: The struggle is real, 30-somethings.
3. Thinking about (planning!) a 30-day challenge for after the half AND a 100 Day Project.
4. Made a MAJOR splurge for one of those special edition PopSugar MustHave boxes. Aaaaand I’m now on a spending freeze.
5. Last week of Social Sciences research! I really wish I had the time and opportunity in this class to do a content analysis. Another day, another course possibly.
6. A fascinating series The Ten Today, referencing the Ten Commandments of modern society, the “Thou Shalt Not Covet” article about money and its connection to happiness is mostly old news — but goes deeper about what DOES buy happiness. {via Deseret News National}
7. In the essence of savoring the moment, Stop Multitasking. {via Entrepreneur}