d'habitude

Weekend update, y'all!

Friday: Headed out for Happy Hour with some coworkers. I know that I live in "suburbia" and should therefore hate my neighborhood, but I love that I can walk to so many things - including beers and nachos. So, there we were, 5 guys ... and me. An hour into it, I had to call a moratorium on talking about work. The boys naturally segued into ... talking about sports! Argh! Despite my repeated "hints" that the convo was completely leaving me out, it continued. Not the ideal way to spend a Friday evening. I begged off early-ish and went home and watched "Queens" (Reinas). I understood a lot of the Spanish, which thrilled me. It also underlined that I want to add to and improve my Spanish. At some point, I want to be able to travel in a Spanish-speaking country and handle my bidness in Spanish.

Saturday: Today, was National Rebuilding Together day. A bunch of coworkers (along with spouses, significant others, stepparents, friends, and kids) met up at a house in East Palo Alto and went to work. We tore down an old shed and built a new one, and did a HELL of a lot of landscaping (including building a driveway turnaround, planting trees, tilling the ground to get up weeds, and mulching.) We miraculously finished by 4 pm and I was able to head home and grab a shower before the BBQ. I made the mistake of sitting down post-shower. So. hard. to. get. back. up. The soreness really kicked in. There is something about manual labour and its effects - something honest, and authentic. The gym makes me sore as well, but there's something about the combination of sore muscles, a thin layer of mulch dust, and exhaustion. Maybe it's the sense of accomplishment - I made a real, tangible contribution.

Sunday: The nearly inevitable aftermath of spending all day Saturday outside - horrendous, horrendous allergies. I was sneezing so loudly and forcefully that I scared Gia. Not coo' yo, not coo'. Although it was gorgeous out, I resolved to spend the day inside. I did a good bit of cleaning, but also, um, some napping (which did wonders for the allergies.) I also started thinking about/setting my goals for May.