A little sunshine does the body good. Today is April 18.
In a not-so-successful attempt to get back on a regular sleep schedule, I went to bed around 11:30 last night. To my annoyance, however, my body and mind didn’t let me fall asleep until close to 1:30 a.m. I think I’m going to try reading before going to bed from now on to see if I can relax my thoughts and lull myself to sleep at a reasonable hour.
Following the emotional and semi-busy day I had yesterday, I wanted to take some time to recenter myself today. I started off my morning by watching an episode or two of Criminal Minds. I wasn’t in a huge rush to be productive, so I let myself enjoy my morning in a lazy manner. Feeling a little too unproductive, though, I changed out of pajamas and picked up my room. I am proud of how neat I’ve kept it. Since I cleaned it a couple weeks ago, I’ve managed not to make too much of a mess. I hung up a few shirts and jackets and moved my shoes back to their correct location, but other than that the process was painless.
I was in the mood to exercise and get my heart rate up, so I created a mini workout for myself. I brought my speaker out to the hallway in front of our staircase and put my “Running Tunes” playlist on shuffle. The first song that came on was about five minutes long, and I started my workout by jogging up and down the stairs for the duration of the song. I wish I’d picked a shorter song because by the end I was out of breath, and my legs felt a little shaky. For the next stage of my exercise, I did crunches and sit-ups while the next song played. To finish out the workout (which I know was short, but I was going for intensity rather than time), I did side-to-side and front-to-back line jumps to work my calf muscles.
By the end, I felt tired and out of shape but satisfied I’d done some sort of exercise for the day. To cool off, I flipped on our living room fan and stretched out on the couch to drink water and slow my breathing. About half an hour later, our journalism staff met via Zoom to wish our sports editor, Ryan Choe, a happy birthday. My fellow Editor-In-Chief (EIC), Anna Xu, and I had created a Google Slide for him with icons representing activities he likes and photos we had of him.
After an EIC from last year, Katie Whaley, started this presentation tradition, Anna and I wanted to continue it. Although Ryan didn’t look too surprised with the Zoom call and slide, I think he was happy to see the class on his birthday. I hope he had a happy day, and once the call ended I sent him a text telling him so.
The weather was absolutely beautiful, and I didn’t want to waste the day away too much, so I tossed on a jacket and shoes and headed outside. I ended up bringing headphones and a book of poetry, Love Her Wild: Poetry by Atticus, as well. As I was headed out the door, I noticed I’d missed a FaceTime request from a friend of mine who lives in another city. I called her back, and we ended up talking about school, poetry, nature and life for as long as my phone battery would last. Once we hung up, I found a comfortable spot to sit and flipped through the pages of poetry in the afternoon sunlight.
The setting was perfect, and I enjoyed spending time away from a screen. I was happy when my brother suggested we eat outside for dinner and have a fire on our deck. The meal was delicious and filling, but I made sure to save just enough room for dessert: s’mores. We hadn’t made them in what seemed like forever, so my brother and I both cooked up a couple. I’m not the most avid fan of eating marshmallows (or even s’mores if I’m honest), but I do love to make them. From years of camping, I’ve perfected the art of creating the perfect, even, golden-brown, crispy shell around a mushy, white inside. The s’mores were delectable.
Once the temperature began to get a little too chilly for our taste, we let the fire die down and cleaned up our dinner dishes. After putting away the food and loading the dishwasher, my brother suggested we play cards. I’m feeling a little sleepy, so I’m not sure how focused I’ll be, but I hope I can still crush whoever my opponent ends up being. I have my interview with the Columbia Missourian video journalist tomorrow, so I’m nervous and excited for that. I hope I can be articulate and interesting, so I’ll try to get to sleep early to ensure I can be full of energy when she shows up. I’m not exactly sure if there’s a way to prepare, so I guess all I can do is hope everything works out for the best.
“A happy soul is the best shield for a cruel world.” ― Atticus, poet
How did you spend your 32nd day of social distancing? Let us know in the comments below.
