Category — The History of Me

If you’re only in this for the review of Young@Heart, skip down to the next bold sentence, ’cause I’m about to intro it with some long, rambling history. It’s my blog. I can do it if I want to.

I think it was my junior year of high school when my friend Susie came to me with an idea.

“You know that retirement home? The one they just built on Tamarack? You think you and I could go over there once a week and volunteer?”

At least I think that’s how it went. I really don’t remember. It could’ve been my idea. It could’ve been her youth minister’s. All I know for sure is we were young and fired up about changing the world. We’d talked about it on a regular basis with our regular group of friends:

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Yesterday, Lex wrote about putting the self back into self care. That’s something I’ve kinda been thinking about lately. I wouldn’t say that I’ve been thinking about the word “self care,” and maybe what I’ve been thinking about isn’t even the same as what Lex has been thinking about.

But either way, it’s got me thinking.

In a related post, Lex mentioned the notion of “productive selfishness.” In yesterday’s, he mentioned making sure that what he does for self care actually lines up with what he values, needs, and enjoys, not necessarily what he has heard other people say is the best way to take care of yourself. As I already said on his blog, I like that idea a lot.

If you knew me in my school years, you know I don’t have trouble procrastinating. I mean, I had high standards. I wanted to make A’s, and most of the time, I did, but I was pretty bent on getting those grades my own way: studying during the class before the class with the test; writing 30-page papers the night before; taking the best, messy notes you’ve ever seen; testing my limits (not as in pushing myself); figuring out creative ways to get by with the right grade, etc. I didn’t have any trouble procrastinating with other stuff — like dishes and laundry — either. And, obviously, I’ve spent plenty of time listening to music and watching television.

All that might make you think that I’m great at relaxing, at doing stuff just for me just because I want to. But I’m not. I’m not even very good at doing stuff just for me just because I need to. I process most things through my value system and I have a hard time putting enjoyment and relaxation at the top of my value list.

And I’m really not good at saying, “My needs are just as important as your needs; to do the best job of helping you with yours, I have to make sure I’m taking care of mine too,” and meaning it.

I’ve had a few (hard) occasions to get better at it, and I think I have, but when you add a kid to the mix, everything (or so it seems) gets renegotiated.

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I’ve always resisted the temptation to “use the amazing face recognition software and find your celebrity lookalike right now!”

Until today.

Caelyn’s taking a “light” nap, after crying through lunch over Chris having to go back to work, so I’ve had one hand fairly occupied with patting during this afternoon’s blogging/sleeping session. Of course, the best way I could think of to pass the time was to find out if I have a famous face.

It’s not like this line of pondering was completely unprovoked. A couple weeks ago, my friend Cristin was looking through some of my old photos and said I looked like Jennifer Aniston in one. I don’t really see it, but maybe when my face is turned a certain way and the light is just right, I look like her just a bit, because I have had 3 or 4 other people — outright strangers, actually — tell me that I do too. To put the Jen claims to the test, I decided to consult the professionals. (Okay, it’s totally not professional. But it’s kinda fun.)

The results from various different online “face recognition software”?

Not Rachel Green, but Michelle Tanner!

More specifically, the Mary-Kate Olsen half of Michelle Tanner.

These face recognition thingys failed to mention if I look like “young” MK or “now” MK, so I compiled a little MK Photo Timeline.

I’m just gonna skip the Full House era, ’cause you and I both know you know what Michelle Tanner looks like, whether you care to admit it or not. Plus, I’m not a toddler.

Circa Two of a Kind

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That’s where I must’ve been.

Or maybe I missed the party because I couldn’t find my car in the parking garage at the mall and got caught peeing in the corner.

I mean, really, can you think of another reason I’d miss our anniversary?

I was just sitting here thinking about how it seems like I’ve been blogging now for a while. So I checked, and wouldn’t you know it, it’s been over a year already. I wrote that first post, Don’t Add Me to Your Blogroll Yet, way back on April 3, 2007.

I had to check the calendar to find out that I did indeed miss it; today is the 21st. But, hey, it’s still April. And c’mon. Like you really care about my blogging anniversary. (I’d call it my blog’s birthday, but I switched venues, in case you didn’t notice.) I’m not even sure why I’m posting about it.

Probably just because on your blogging anniversary you ought to get a free post in which you just get to say “Hey! It’s been a year!” and nothing else, and I missed it.

I guess that means I have to give you a little something more than “Hey! It’s been a year!” huh? Okay, how ’bout a brief compare and contrast? On April 3, 2007, I contended that some things in my life hadn’t changed since my first attempt at blogging. Let’s see if they still hold true:

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Well, I walked/jogged 6 miles yesterday. I didn’t really intend to, but Caelyn fell asleep about two minutes before I got back to our apartment, so I kept going.

This gave me plenty chance to try out different types of workout music. I started with a mix of bright, poppy tracks from artists like Belle & Sebastian, Stereolab, Olivia Tremor Control, Beulah, Animal Collective, Apples in Stereo, Caribou, Of Montreal, Vampire Weekend, etc. (Okay, I cheated once and listened to the Beastie Boys. Tell me you like the Beasties, Allie.)

Then I gave a few minutes to, wait for it, Christian hip-hop. I figured this was a decent way to test the effectiveness of hip-hop’s beat and answer some complaints about hip-hop’s “negative” content. After all, “Words come easy but don’t mean much, when the words they’re sayin’ we can’t put trust in.”

Finally, I decided to give Tom Cruise’s wife some credit and put “Stronger” on repeat.

Say what you will about Dawson’s Creek and her crazy husband. The facts remain: Katie’s in my age bracket with a kid close to the age of mine and she’s not lookin’ too shabby.

Now, this test isn’t exactly fair, because I didn’t give equal time to each kind of music. I was only walking at an “exercise” pace for about an hour, fifteen. (I strolled around for a while after the 6 mile mark because Caelyn wasn’t awake yet.) I should also mention that the wind was pretty serious yesterday and I had to stop a few times for C.

But, outside factors aside, here’s what I gathered:

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