Charged

I found my iPod charger.

I swear, I never charge my iPod. It's a shuffle and I plug it in once in a while to switch songs around or to put some podcasts on in yet another failed attempt to be educated and seem well-read. That's the only time it gets power, but I guess that's enough. I only use it when I run, which is about once a week these days (because I only run on weekends because I don't like to run in the dark and I live in Denmark which means it's dark by the time I get home from work during the week), and when I'm on an airplane, which in my life is frequently but it's been a good 3 weeks at least since I've ridden one.

Last weekend I attempted to go running but I wasn't really feeling it and my iPod died after about 15 mins so I called it a day and went home and probably ate cookies or something. I couldn't find my charger and tore apart my room (i.e. my top dresser drawer and my backpack because the's the only two places I would have put it), still didn't find it, and forgot about it until today. In at attempt to be rational I thought back to when the last time I *saw* my charger was, and I decided it was when I went to Norway for a glorified ski trip masquerading as a research center symposium retreat (good times were had by all). I packed it in case I wanted to change the songs or add some podcasts for the airplane ride (I didn't, and didn't). Sure enough, it was in the side pocket of my backpack (not my "go to school" backpack which is where I looked the first time, but my "I'm going to go backpack Europe" backpack which is what I generally bring when I travel because it holds a lot and is comfortable, despite the fact that it makes me look like a "backpacker" which is a group of people I generally despise, despite being one on occasion).

I don't see why you would possibly care about this. *I* don't even care about this (well apparently I care enough to write 2 paragraphs, but now that they are done I don't even care enough to proofread them*). I can't even remember why I started writing this except maybe to tell everyone that I asked if they had a charger for an iPod shuffle that I could borrow that I am no longer in need of their services. I would contact the individuals except I can't remember who and how many people I actually asked. It was probably like 3 because honestly I didn't put that much effort into it. Although I did draw this gem** for one of my friends when we were trying to figure out over email whether or not he had the same kind of iPod as I did:

Coming soon: The exciting story of how this technological wonder of a music player came to be in my possession (hint: I didn't buy it).


*Just as I finished that sentence I noticed that I wrote "possible" instead of "possibly" and I fixed it.
**Yes, I realize it took more time to draw that than it would have taken to Google "iPod shuffle" and send him the first link that came up in the image results...

Wake me up when February ends

February was (is always) a rough month. First of all, it's hard to spell. I usually take the easy way out and write "Feb." because after that I'm never sure where the u's and r's go. I have been known to reschedule things in order to get out of spelling that word. "How about the 27th of Feburary... Febyouwary... Februray... uh, March 1st it is!"

Also, Feb is cold. Cold and Dark. Especially if you live in one of the Northern countries, as I have the misfortune pleasure of experiencing this year. I'm pretty sure that during the month of Feb we saw the sun for a total of approximately 7 minutes. This is because even when it is technically "day" time in a Danish winter, it is almost always overcast. Almanacs will tell you that there are around 10* "rainy" (snowy) days in Feb in an average year in Denmark. Don't let that fool you. "Rainy" means that a certain number of centimeters (aww look at me being all European and not saying inches anymore!) of precipitation fell to the earth. They don't count those days where the entire day is shrouded in a heavy misty evil fog that, while it doesn't actually "fall" per se, will soak you as you walk through it and the suspended droplets stick to your clothing, trying to suck out your soul and leave you as a hollow shell of your former self.

While I love biking, ahem, I mean cycling**, biking during the month of Feb is not fun. It's like a little jar of misery wrapped in pain and suffering, and tied with a bow of hopelessness, that has been soaked through with the rains of apathy, and drug through the slush of despair.

The redeeming quality of Feb is that it hosts both Groundhog Day and Valentine's Day, which means flowers and endless Bill Murray quotes. These things I can get behind. However, they don't make up for the rest of this sad, miserable month. During Feb I get depressed and I just want to sleep all the time. I can go to bed at 9 pm and still have a hard time getting out of bed at 8 am. I'm not sure why this is but it might correlate to the lack of sunlight in my life. My snooze button gets more use in the month of Feb than the other 11 months of the year combined. On a given Feb morning I probably hit it an average of 7 times. I think, were it not for the fact that I'm an adult now and I have a job and responsibilities and bills to pay, I could easily sleep through the entire month of Feb. During Feb I consider the day a success if I make it to work before noon. I consider the weekends a great achievement if I actually leave my apartment at all. Showering becomes optional.

But, Feb is over. We can put all that behind us now. Water under the bridge. March has arrived bringing*** with it a light at the end of the tunnel. Also, a commonly-used and easy to spell beautiful verb of a month. March is exciting and energy-inducing. March makes me want to get up and go. March 4th is nothing less than a call to action. Nay, a demand.

As I usually do when a new month arrives, I wrote some "New Month's Resolutions" today. (Please ignore the fact that I wrote them during an Old Testament class instead of paying attention to the lesson because seriously, don't take this the wrong way, but it was pretty much the worst lesson ever and it was either that or lose my mind.) My resolutions for this month went something like:

1. Stop being a jerk

2-13: other boring stuff about going to bed on time and getting up on time and getting to work on time and working out more, etc etc etc

14: Seriously, stop being a jerk.

I hope I can do it!

Here's to an awesome March. Good luck getting over your Feb hangover.

*I pretty much just made this up...

**I got this link from my awesome snarky Greek friend. I give credit where credit is due.

***I always write "brining" when I try to type this word. My life would be a lot easier if brining were not in fact a real word because then it would be underlined or autocorrected. Also I would never feel pressured to marinate something in salt water to prove my worth as a chef.