Sunday morning, I rode with two friends of mine through the gate of Hershey Park, a theme park devoted to chocolate and thrill rides!  One of the friends brought the other two of us for mutual December birthdays.  It's my first visit to a theme park in years.  They had spinning tea cups, tilt-a-whirls, carousels, a ski lift, and an indoor roller ( Read more... )

Every trip I have ever made to Pasadena has involved a trip to the local ice rink.  It is a tradition that I have yet to break.  The very first time I went, I got there with only about half an hour to spare.  So, I got my skates on, skated around about 5 times, and then it was time to go before I was even warmed up!  Determined to get my money's ( Read more... )

Today is an 8.  You've just about had it with doing things you'd rather put off until later.  Turn that around.  Party now and let the unfinished chores wait.

That's what the local campus paper gave me as a horoscope yesterday.  Let's see where that got me...

I started out my morning dressing up in a button-down shirt and slacks for an Irish concert ( Read more... )

Sometimes in life, we look back on things we're proud we accomplished.  Other times, we surprise ourselves when we push ourselves forward, and do things we didn't know we could.  But, it is a rare day we get to do both.

Today was that type of day for me.  It might not be life-altering, but it makes me smile just the same.

Today I went over to the ( Read more... )

 For the first six years that I played the viola, I didn't have any private lessons.  So, I learned how to play my instrument in a way that worked for me.  Later, when I did start taking lessons, my instructors would try to "fix my bad habits."  What this meant was:
1) I could no longer do things the way I was used to, and
2) I couldn't yet do things ( Read more... )

Let's say you had a 95 degree Sunday afternoon in August, and you wanted to do something with it.  What would you do with it?
A) Go to the pool?
B) Stay indoors and sleep?
C) Go to the movies?
D) Something else I didn't list...(write-in candidate here)

How many of you thought of "Go buy ice skates in a town 90 miles away."  That's what I chose to do ( Read more... )

This past winter, I spent more than my share of time at the campus ice arena skating around and watching hockey games.  About 8 weeks ago, they closed the rink for the summer, and I've been suffering some ice withdrawl ever since.

Anyway, today I was headed towards an ATM, which took me past the ice arena.  To my surprise, all of the doors into the ( Read more... )

Tonight, the ice rink was jam-packed with people for the very last night of ice skating.  I weaved in and out of people, stopped short of crashing into a few, and managed to do a few tricks in the middle of the fray.

I enjoyed all of it, because I know I couldn't have done this well a year ago.  Last year at this time, all I could manage was a slow ( Read more... )