Random Thoughts: August 2020 Edition

When I was in High School my least favorite class was Physical Education.  It was so hard getting an "A" in that class!!!  And one of my least favorite segments was badminton.  Maybe it was the quality of the birdies, but they never flew right.  -_-;;  Pickleball is gaining popularity in Utah.  Don't know how long the sport has been around, but there are community pickleball courts popping up here and there, and people are always playing.  It's hard getting an open court in the afternoon/evening.

So I went onto Amazon and found out there are several sport travel nets that can be purchased that don't need to be staked into the ground.  They're free standing.  You can play a few games with these nets such as pickelball, badminton, and volleyball.  I got one of these nets.  Recently bought a pickelball set and some birdies for a badminton set I got over a decade ago.  Last weekend I set it all up and honestly had a lot of fun!  Didn't play with any rules, and didn't keep track of points.  It was fun hitting the balls and birdies back and forth.  Maybe badminton is the sort of sport one needs to grow into. :P  Pickelball is pretty fun, too.

With that said I actually took a tennis class when I was a kid.  Wasn't too bad!  Wasn't all that great, either!  But it was fun, and I enjoyed going to the lessons.  My favorite memory, though, has nothing to do with tennis.  When my group did well our teacher awarded us with cans of Pepsi.  So now whenever I drink Pepsi I think of tennis.  (I prefer Coke, but like both).  But it's funny how the taste of Pepsi always brings me back to when I was a kid, hot Summer heat, hitting tennis balls, and finishing the afternoon with the ice cold drink.

My car is thirteen years old.  It's been a good, dear little car.  Dependable.  Kept my family safe when a tire blew while traveling 80 miles an hour in the middle of the Utah desert.  It's now starting to show its age.  A few days ago it struggled to start.  This has now happened a few times. Maybe it's the starter.  Maybe it's the battery, which I haven't had to replace once all these years, so it's probably that.  Hopefully.  Cars baffle me.  It's now just a maintenance game.  I'm lucky to have it, so counting my blessings.  It's been a good little car. 

Went on a drive with my Mom, Grandma, and Aunt a couple days ago.  We decided to explore Midway a little more this time.  The city reminds me of a super miniature Solvang, since there's a Scandinavian theme with some of the buildings and art.  We wandered down streets and ended up in this residential neighborhood with the most interesting homes.  Many of these homes had murals and dutch style painted embellishments.  They were honestly really cool, and something I've never seen before.  Some of the murals were really amazing.

I'm missing travel so much I'm honestly romanticizing airports, including layovers.  Layovers are no fun, trying to nap in uncomfortable seats by the gate, but I'm actually missing airports and layovers.  How weird is that?  I don't miss flying in the cramped coach section, because I always end up with the middle seat.  Packed sardines in the sky.  I think I'm missing the wonder of going places.

Have a great weekend!

It's Friday!! :D

Midnight Winter Wonderland, and My Mom Runs Out of Gas, sort of . . .

Have you guys been watching the Olympics?

I've been following Ice Skating.  It's the only sport I legitimately keep up with, on and off Olympic years.  Grand cup series through US Nationals, Four Continents, Worlds, etc.  And just so you know Ice Skating is a real sport, because they dance on knifes, on ice, while throwing themselves in the air and spinning with multiple G forces.  (And ice skating for real scares me.  Ever since I toe picked and flew forward back in 2013, getting hurt really bad--my wrist and arm still hurts at times even now--I haven't skated.  Fell off the horse, never got back on, and I'm okay with that.  I appreciate seasoned Ice Skaters all the more because of my injury.)

Anywho, I was up pretty late Sunday night watching Ice Skating, without realizing how much is was snowing.  I looked out the window just before midnight and was greeted with this most incredible snowy scene.  Sky lit up from light reflecting off snow, bright and wondrous.  This whole season has been pretty dry.

(This year I finally got complete darkening window curtains.  Moved to Utah in 2001, what took me so long??!!  Blackening window curtains are a must on snowy nights.)

Just a couple weeks ago we had above normal temperatures around 60 degrees Fahrenheit.  It was wonderful!  Now it's freezing and I've got a bad case of Spring Fever, which has caused me to Spring clean.

In other news, yesterday my Mom and I had a day mixed with exasperation, frustration, and slight amusement.  I ran into the grocery store while my Mom stayed in the car listening to music.  When I came out the car wouldn't start.  Several attempts, no success.  The gas warning turned on right when we got to the store so we thought we would be fine.

Thankfully the parking lot had a lube doc and a gas station.  We walked over to the car place and asked if we could barrow a gas can, they had one, and then walked to the other end to get the gas.  My Mom was exasperated because she had never ran out of gas.  I laughed the whole time because the whole situation was quite amusing.  We were lucky that there was a gas station and a lube doc within close walking distance.  It was so cold while we were walking.  26 degrees F.

So we get back to the car, put the gas in, tried the ignition again, and nothing.  Didn't work!  A call to AAA, 1 1/2 hours of waiting (in which I got to peruse a Seagull bookstore while my Mom waited in the car), and the tow guy arrived to check the car.  It was the battery!  The funny thing is, after he charged the battery for over 5 minutes, the battery showed 100% with each test.  He said it was weird and didn't understand why the car had problems in the first place since the battery was testing so well.  Ah well.  C'est la vie. 

Lessons I learned: 1, check the tempurature before leaving the house, as I only brought a sweater, and 2, don't forget gloves!  Other than that "ride with the flow," as life likes to throw random bumps at us now and then.

(BTW, I'm listening to Spotify, the Japan Top 50 list.  At #1 is this song called Changed by One OK Rock.  Never heard this song before, but it's really catchy.  Listened to it on loop while writing this post.)

And I just realized that the sport I follow is technically called Figure Skating, not Ice Skating, because that what all the guides say.  I don't care enough to go back and fix it. Heh.

 

A Star Wars Family is a Happy Family

I saw this last week and was lucky enough to take a picture.  Isn't it awesome?!!  Family car stickers Star Wars style.  And I love the pets, too: Imperial At-At Walker and . . . I guess I'm not geek enough to figure out the last one.  Jawa Sandcrawler?  Nope, the shape's all wrong.  Hate feeling my geekness deflate.  Still really cool.