Who sleeps in these days?

Memorial Day: an excuse to sleep in without feeling guilty (and remember all those who have died in the service of the country, of course).

So what did I do?

Yes, the clock reads 6:20 AM...and this clock is 9 minutes fast.

Let me just preface this with the statement that the human body is an amazing thing. And now I'll just ask...why? All I have to say is that I did not choose to wake up at 5:40, then 6:00, then 6:10. I did my best to lull myself back to sleep and remain motionless until noon. Evidently my body did not agree with my Memorial Day plans.

So what did I do instead? Well, let's just say I have my most creative moments in the wee hours of the morning after getting some power-sleep. I'm sure my roommate will appreciate this burst of creativity. Mainly just the free verse poem and the chant that I wrote to welcome her back to the apartment after she was gone this weekend. (Note: I use "creative" in a very liberal sense.)

Now on to a more important tangent... Beetles are gross. Bugs are creepy. Anything living thing with legs that will move after they are dismembered is utterly and completely disgusting. Spiders are the worst. In fact, the hierarchy of creepy crawly evilness is as follows: Spiders > Cockroaches > Bees > Monster Mosquitoes > Gigantuous Flies > Beetles, etc, etc. If I see one of these super-creepy bugs, I will scream and there is no preventing that.

Despite these fears, I am not a killer. If I must kill, I kill out of necessity and fear for my life. There is a fine line that these little creatures must cross before I will kill them. First, I will kill any spiders that I see. Why? Because they're spiders! I shouldn't even have to answer that question. Second, I will never kill a bee because bees can retaliate and hurt me if I don't kill them in the first attempt. Third, if it is a relatively harmless insect who happened to wander into my presence through pure accident, I most likely will release it back into the wild from whence it came. Fourth, I will always kill flies because they spread disease. Fifth and finally, if I find a bug anywhere in my room...especially in my bed!...it is sooo dead.

This is what happened last night. I found a little beetle trespassing on my bed and I killed that little bugger. I didn't scream. I felt no guilt. Dead and done. Now compare that to the beetle I found crawling on my kitchen floor later that night. I could almost detect innocence as I looked into its 800 eyes, so I set it free. I'm so kind. The end.

Me, a sports fan? Pshaw.

I have never been huge into sports, BUT I did happen to catch the end of the Cleveland-Orlando game tonight. And boy was it a close one! Here's how it went down:

Orlando Magic's Hedo Turkoglu tied up the game with a three-pointer. 48.7 seconds left on the clock. The score...93-93. Then, just when it was apparent that the game was going to go into overtime, Turkoglu pushed his way up to the basket and made the shot for a two point lead for Orlando.
Time on the clock...1 second left!
Time out, Cleveland Cavaliers.
Back in the game with 1 second remaining, the Cavaliers start with the ball, setting up a play for LeBron James.
LeBron gets the ball, takes the shot and swoosh! A three-pointer! From 23 feet from the hoop! His only three-pointer of the game! What a star player.

I was rooting for the Cavaliers.

A little of this, a dash of that

So, what does one do, exactly, after graduating. Well, let me tell you...it's pretty boring. There's a little bit of this and a little bit of that with just a dash of something that might carry a hint of excitement. Oh, and maybe there's some work, too. For now, however, as an unemployed citizen my contribution to society in the form of work is minimal.

Lately, I have been catering to my other interests that I have neglected these last four years.

First, there is building houses. I know what you're thinking...that's an expensive hobby. But really it's not because I only use cards. Unfortunately, I fail at making anything other than one-story houses, since the first cards that I place for the second story send the first level crashing to the floor.

Evidently this was an exception, as there are two distinct levels here. I was not responsible for the second level, though. That's called tag-team. I only built the first level.

Second, there is puzzle-putting-togetherness. I'm actually pretty good at this. And when I say that, I truly am being humble because I'm actually really good. Here is what I have accomplished so far:

1000-piece puzzle #1

1000-piece puzzle #2

Amazingly enough, this second puzzle only took me maybe 12-16 hours to finish. Actually, when I put it that way, it sounds like a long time. So, in other words I finished it over the course of 4 days. Not bad, eh?

Next, I started my own garden. After helping my sister place flowers and plants around her yard, I decided it was about time for me to grow something of my own. Now, owing to the fact that I have no yard you may think this would be an impossibility. Impossible, shmimpossible. No such thing. I proceeded to get pots, dirt, and seeds and...vwallah!...I now have a garden!

I planted scallions in the rectangular pot and marigolds and alyssum in the round pot.

As you can see, my little flowers are already starting to sprout! Pretty soon I'll have a whole forest of flowers outside my apartment!

Finally, I decided that now is the perfect time to start training for a marathon. I think I got a little over-excited to start training, though, because I ran about 34 miles last week:

• Monday - 4 miles
• Tuesday - 4 miles
• Wednesday - 8.5 miles
• Thursday - 4 miles
• Friday - 8.5 miles
• Saturday - 5 miles
  

Well, these are about all the hobbies I have for now. Other than this, it's just job hunting and facing rejection after rejection. Pretty exciting, I know.