the stomach CAN shrink!

So I've finally found it. I do have the Jordan running gene, and it's finally starting to dominate my life. I put in 5 miles on the pavement tonight, and it felt GOOD. Keeping with tradition, I'm lacing up the New Balances. Maybe someday I'll run here in Boston on Marathon Monday...now that would really be maintaing a tradition! I don't have orange FUBU running pants, on the other hand, but maybe those could be passed down to me this year at Christmas...

I saw my first prosthetic arm today. I looked up while I was on the T into the city this morning, and there was a huge plastic arm hanging in my face. Granted, it's not my first experience with someone with screwed up limbs; I used to go to SoccerPlus with another keeper who had just one hand. True story. And of course...I played basketball for a man with about 8 fingers.

Today I had a convo with the woman who works at Steppingstone who also has the last name Bouchard. She is from Van Buren, went to VBDHS, worked at Tasti-Food...did the normal Cheesetown routine. She graduated from USM, headed to BC, and hasn't looked back since. She said she goes back to the Valley a few times a year, and it was funny what we had in common. She noted how she always feels so much more relaxed when she gets off of '95 in Houlton, and I remarked how I had initially written my college essay about getting of '95 in Sherman. She worked at Tasti-Food; I loooooved eating there. She got married in Boston last summer and Jason Parent emceed her wedding; I spent a summer working at UMFK for the locally-famous JP. It was great to be able to remark about mon oncles, memaes, the St. John Valley Times, and supper, none of which are understood by anyone outside of the Valley region or anyone we encounter on a normal day.

According to Sam Chasse, your stomach can shrink without surgery. Hmm. EDIT: Turns out it happened to him. Soooo who knows if that's actually possible.

I'm on this new skydiving kick. There is a place you can tandem skydive in Millinocket and I REALLY want to go before I go back to Syracuse. You fly over Mt. Katahdin and see the whole shebang, and if ANYONE wants to do it, let me know. But my big plan is to skydive over glaciers and the Swiss Alps when I'm abroad next spring. There are all kinds of opportunities to do this in Europe, but to me, the coolest place to do it would be Switzerland. Hmm.

Have I mentioned that after this semester, I have a total of 13 classes left to take over 3 semesters? And a lot of them will be fun ones, too. This has put me in a position to start considering adding another major, but with the likely responsibility of Relay for Life senior year, I don't know if I can handle it all.

I'm nervous that when I go home I'm going to eat my way through my house. There are so many delicious treats that are in the cabinets there (that actually aren't delicious, but are things I stay away from most of the time). I know there will be Cape Cod potato chips, oh god, and clam dip and cheese and crackers and soda and Edy's ice cream and cool whip and all of my favorite things. That and the combination of having no responsibilities or duties while I am home mightttt not be a good thing. I have been known to unknowingly plow my way through half a bag of chips while watching wedding show after wedding show or episode of 7th Heaven after episode of 7th Heaven, so we will see how this will go.

I'm debating whether I should go on a Habitat trip before I head to London in the spring or not. This would require a lot of logistical configuration, but is possible. I would leave Maine, head to Syracuse, drive down to New Orleans with the group, possibly fly back to 'Cuse, and then hop on a plane to London. No big deal. The dates and times work, but I remember how exhausted I was after my last trip to NOLA and can't decide if it's worth it. The sad thing is, however, is that if I don't go, I'll only have the opportunity to go on one more trip before I graduate: Winter Break 2010/2011. It's a big deal.

I don't know why, but the ONLY food I want to eat lately is pizza. I crave pizza all the time; I could eat it for every single meal every single day and I am NOT exaggerating. (Speaking of not exaggerating, I SWEAR I saw a many today that was at least 8 feet tall. Not exaggerating.) I've had great pizza in Boston this summer; between Nick's here in Medford and multiple locations of The Upper Crust, all of the pies I've encountered have been particularly tasty. I can still taste the fluffiness of the crust of an Al's pizza and will be sure to have at leasttttt a few slices when I'm back in the 207. It's just so weird, but pizza is all I want to eat. I'm not a fan of really heavy pizzas where the tip of the slice dips more than an inch; that's when you know your toppings and cheese are very likely to slide off. I like a light, thin crust that supports everything just perfectly: the quality of an Angelo's pie.

Okay so my friend just posted a picture of his new tattoo and I have NO idea what it is or what it is even supposed to resemble. I think it's either a rattle snake or an orca. Hmm.

Want to see a video of me back in my glory days as a keeper?

You know that's me and you know that happened.

Also, this is why Courtney Rung is never allowed to have children. Actually a link worth checking out, even if you don't usually read my links or watch my videos.

Potential movie options this weekend: Up, Funny People, Orphan, or maybe HP again. We'll see.

Off to bed, gotta catch the green line extra early tomorrow am! Anotherrrrr site visit, then a professional development call in the office, plus extra things to do because my boss is out picking up her wedding dress... jealous!

KK, stay epic.