Writer's Block

I guess I'm sort of at a loss about what to write this week. Part of the problem is that my blog has become, more than anything, an outlet for writing (which I don't do as much as I'd like), and especially an outlet for writing with the knowledge that someone will actually read my words (since almost none of the writing I actually enjoy doing makes it to anyone's eyes but my own). It's not the perfect outlet, since I get stressed if I spend too much time planning and proofreading my blog entries, but it's something and I enjoy doing it. Unfortunately, it means that my posts have become something of a weekly production, and some weeks I just don't have anything interesting or funny or insightful to write about, and then I go blogless for a week and my family is disappointed and people stop checking up on my blog and I feel even more pressure to come up with something the next week...

Okay, don't feel too sorry for me because the pressure is not all that intense in the grand scheme of things, and the fact that I know my family will chastise me if I go too long between entries is one of the things that keeps me going and gets me to set aside time every week. But the upshot of all of this is that this week, due to writer's block, lack of time on Sunday morning, and the fact that as far as my family is concerned my last entry is a hard act to follow, I'm not going to even bother to try to follow it. In fact, I'm going to try something completely different (and it may not work out). What you're going to get this week is a series of shorter (maybe), more frequent, and possibly quite mundane posts about...my life. Imagine that. I don't expect it to be terribly exciting, but you never know.

And so I begin with...
Monday

6:15 a.m. Woke up after a very strange dream that I can no longer remember to darkness and 58-degree temperatures. I was complaining about warm morning temperatures three weeks ago, but now that the temperature is dropping I'm starting to fear the end of summer. I have to keep reminding myself that it is not here yet, otherwise I won't enjoy the last couple weeks before the end of school.

6:30 a.m. Left the house for my morning run. I felt surprisingly good and decided to take the long loop.

7:45 a.m. Arrived back at my apartment nine miles later and contemplated the fact that the distance I'd just run was absolutely unthinkable to me not that long ago.

9:15 a.m. Set off for campus. Then had a moment of panic when I got an automated message on my cell phone from the Wells Fargo Fraud Prevention Center to check on some credit card purchases, and began to panic even more when I realized I had made a minor credit card purchase on iTunes that weekend over a potentially non-secure internet connection. Turns out that it was just a routine check, but I think I will take more care to avoid non-secure purchases.

10:00 a.m. Began work.

12:00 p.m. Realized with relief that it was lunchtime, not because I was astoundingly hungry but because I didn't think I could take working for much longer without a break. Ate my lunch of grape tomatoes, an apple, and a peanut butter and honey sandwich.

12:30 p.m. Decided to cut my lunch break short for the sake of cutting my work day short later on.

1:00 p.m. Attended a planning meeting for the methods class my students will be taking this coming semester.

2:00 p.m. Went back to work.

3:30 p.m. Finished my four hours of research for the day, couldn't take anymore, and left campus, stopping at Borders on my way home (but not buying anything).

4:30 p.m. Arrived home. Considered pulling out some school stuff now that I'd had a bit of a break, but decided it was much more important to do my laundry, change my sheets, and make headway into the book I'm reading for fun (currently In a Sunburned Country, by Bill Bryson) while I can still do so without feeling guilty.

6:15 p.m. Heated up some of the sweet and sour chicken I made yesterday. It's only the second night in a row so it still tasted good. By Thursday I'll be sick of it, I'm sure.

7:00 p.m. Contemplated pulling out school stuff now that I've had an even longer break. Remembered that I hadn't posted a blog entry and decided that was more important to do.

And that's where I stand now. I don't think school stuff will happen, but then, if I'm perfectly honest with myself I kind of knew from the very beginning that it wouldn't. I'll probably go finish my Bill Bryson book since I'm twenty pages from finishing, and then I'll head out to Ypsilanti for ward volleyball night, come home for a few hours of sleep, and do it all over again. Don't worry - I will try not to bore you with more of the same tomorrow, since it's pretty likely that tomorrow will be pretty much more of the same. This may actually be more of an exercise in creativity than I thought...

Wow. I'm not very good at writing short entries, am I?