one week of freedom
i'm on spring break right now and it has been fabulous. i've been partaking in all the lovely things austin and the surrounding area have to offer. i think that giving up tv for lent really helped in getting me active. the ladies and i kicked off saturday by sneaking our way into one of those sxsw parties where you pay nothing to listen to bands and drink beer. hipsters abounded, however, and i did make a relatively early exit from that one. sunday i went to my church and then to "hippie church" at maria's. it was entertaining to say the least. there's something about that older generation of hippies that just doesn't quite translate down through the decades. tess had a good little theory that maybe if we'd never seen videos on mtv then we'd dance like them too. if that's the case, i'm thankful for mtv for the first time in over a decade.
tuesday morning, tess and i loaded up my car and headed for pedernales falls state park (pronounced perdinalis by everyone in a 200 mile radius of here.) the other ladies had bailed on us because of "soccer games" and "jobs" so we were ready to brave the wilderness on our own. both of us were a bit concerned about keeping ourselves entertained considering the fact that we'd been together almost non-stop since saturday. thankfully, as usual, we found random crap to laugh at. for example, tess trying to build a fire. she thought you just had to make a pile of logs and light a match, like in our fireplace. we were good though, because i have the kind of father that was kind enough to challenge my sister and me to timed fire-building competitions in our pre-adolescence. turns out it was a useful skill to learn. anyway, the park was beautiful and the falls were impressive, even running low. one of these days i've got to figure out how to work my camera properly so my pictures don't come out looking overexposed. however, all i have to offer for your viewing pleasure is this for now:
last night i went to a communal reconciliation service and it was extremely cathartic. in it i found the impetus to change some of the nasty little habits i've been developing. namely, the fact that belief without action is meaningless. it's nice to feel that immigrants are mistreated, that the poor are neglected and that the homeless are overlooked, but unless i start to try and do my part to change that, well my words and thoughts don't do anyone much good. i hope to create a drastic shift in that area of my life from this point on.
this morning i was completely alone at the greenbelt for my run. that's never happened before. it was fabulous, but a bit unnerving a the same time. due to a brilliant suggestion by a wise, lovely man, i have decided to make sure my visits to the greenbelt become much more regular. he told me, "martha, you live in the best part of austin and you should take advantage of it. you should take so much advantage that you feel guilty and want to give something back." fits perfectly into my new plans (see above paragraph).
finally, i decided to actually take some steps toward my goal of learning spanish. until this point all i've done is listen to spanish music, watch foreign films and monitor my students' conversations for cuss words. hence, i have not learned anything of real value. so this morning, i purchased "spanish for educators" at half price books and started making flash cards. yes, it might be ridiculous that a 25 year old has color-coded vocabulary words on rings, but it's part of how i learn. tess and i are also planning to sign up for a conversational spanish class this summer.
all of the things i've done this week are things that bring my true joy, but for some reason i tend to have trouble getting them done. suddenly though, i feel like i've had this shift in my spirit and it looks like i'm finally getting down to really living this life. it makes me smile.
tuesday morning, tess and i loaded up my car and headed for pedernales falls state park (pronounced perdinalis by everyone in a 200 mile radius of here.) the other ladies had bailed on us because of "soccer games" and "jobs" so we were ready to brave the wilderness on our own. both of us were a bit concerned about keeping ourselves entertained considering the fact that we'd been together almost non-stop since saturday. thankfully, as usual, we found random crap to laugh at. for example, tess trying to build a fire. she thought you just had to make a pile of logs and light a match, like in our fireplace. we were good though, because i have the kind of father that was kind enough to challenge my sister and me to timed fire-building competitions in our pre-adolescence. turns out it was a useful skill to learn. anyway, the park was beautiful and the falls were impressive, even running low. one of these days i've got to figure out how to work my camera properly so my pictures don't come out looking overexposed. however, all i have to offer for your viewing pleasure is this for now:
last night i went to a communal reconciliation service and it was extremely cathartic. in it i found the impetus to change some of the nasty little habits i've been developing. namely, the fact that belief without action is meaningless. it's nice to feel that immigrants are mistreated, that the poor are neglected and that the homeless are overlooked, but unless i start to try and do my part to change that, well my words and thoughts don't do anyone much good. i hope to create a drastic shift in that area of my life from this point on.
this morning i was completely alone at the greenbelt for my run. that's never happened before. it was fabulous, but a bit unnerving a the same time. due to a brilliant suggestion by a wise, lovely man, i have decided to make sure my visits to the greenbelt become much more regular. he told me, "martha, you live in the best part of austin and you should take advantage of it. you should take so much advantage that you feel guilty and want to give something back." fits perfectly into my new plans (see above paragraph).
finally, i decided to actually take some steps toward my goal of learning spanish. until this point all i've done is listen to spanish music, watch foreign films and monitor my students' conversations for cuss words. hence, i have not learned anything of real value. so this morning, i purchased "spanish for educators" at half price books and started making flash cards. yes, it might be ridiculous that a 25 year old has color-coded vocabulary words on rings, but it's part of how i learn. tess and i are also planning to sign up for a conversational spanish class this summer.
all of the things i've done this week are things that bring my true joy, but for some reason i tend to have trouble getting them done. suddenly though, i feel like i've had this shift in my spirit and it looks like i'm finally getting down to really living this life. it makes me smile.
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