Julio's Musings

Random Story

A week ago, I was walking down Michigan Avenue on my way to Millennium Station. For the past few weeks, I’ve noticed a woman sitting outside of the Chicago Cultural Center holding up a sign. If you go down Michigan Avenue at anytime, you’ll typically see a lot of different poeple sitting and holding up signs. These signs usually describe how the person is hungry and in need of money. These people also typically look homeless. This woman, however, is usually dressed pretty decently. Her sign is also typed out in regular white paper which is attached to what looks like colored construction paper and is connected to what I believe is a popsicle stick so she can hold it up. This person, for obvious reasons, doesn’t give me the homeless vibe. Usually, I pass by and only see the top part of her sign which says something about how she lost her wallet and checkbook. I never have enough time in my walking to read the rest of the sign.

So I see her again and I decide this time I will try reading the rest of the sign. As soon as I look at her sign, she makes eye contact with me. I immediately turn away and continue walking. At this point in the day I’m pretty tired and I’m yawning. As I walk by her, in mid-yawn, I hear her yell at me: “Don’t go shaking your head at me! You don’t know a damn thing!” It takes a second to realize she’s talking to me, but when I do realize this, my immediate reaction is laughter. So now I’m yawning and laughing as I go by her, which doesn’t go over well because she started yelling some sort of profanity that I can’t completely make out. I did hear enough to know there were a few f-bombs in there. The most annoying part of all of this to me is not her swear-filled tirade, but the fact that I still don’t know what the heck the rest of her sign says! And now that we’ve made eye contact, she’ll probably remember me next time I try reading her sign. I just want to know why she’s still, weeks later, out looking for her lost checkbook and wallet…*sigh*

“Running, running…

…as fast as we can. Do you think we’ll make it?”

So for the past few weeks I’ve taken up running. Yup, that’s right, running. I’m amazingly bad at it, but I do it anyway. The fastest I’ve managed to run a mile thus far is 11 minutes even. Oh, how I miss my high school days of doing it in 9 mins, and even that still isn’t fast at all. Luckily I have the Nike+ GPS app (iTunes) to help me keep track of my runs. It’s $1.99 (though I actually got it a while ago when it was free). It lets me see any progress (or lack thereof) I’ve made over time.

I whited out the street names, though I’m sure people can figure out the ‘hood if they really wanted to. 

Sometimes, well, ok, most of the time, I tend to feel lazy and don’t really want to run. I force myself to do it, though, and I usually feel pretty good afterwards. My bad feet don’t always approve, but oh well. Gotta do what I gotta do I guess.

Clean Clean Clean

I’ve come to the realization that I keep a lot of crap. I seriously have stuff I have not thrown away in a decade or more that seriously needs to just be thrown away. I cleaned out my closet for the first time in ages and there was just so much junk in there that just had to go. Old clothes, old books, old boxes…I had so much stuff that I needed to get rid of badly. It’s been a much bigger undertaking than I thought it would be when I started. I wonder when I became such a pack rat? Hopefully I can change that trend.

The Music Stuck in my Head

That songs I have stuck in my head and listen to the most at this moment:

1) Paramore – Monster (iTunes, Amazon). I always liked Paramore’s music, and this song is no different. This also gives me a reason to put up more pictures of the hotness that is Hayley Williams 😉 These pics are from Self Magazine (link).

2) Blake Shelton – Honey Bee (iTunes, Amazon). You know, I’ve been starting to come around to country music of late and I don’t know why. I never used to like it all that much. Now, every once in a while, I’ll tune in to the country station and just listen and actually enjoy it. Plus, this is just a good song.

3) Maroon 5 and Christina Aguilera – Moves Like Jagger (iTunes Only). When I heard they’d be doing a duet, I wasn’t sure how it would turn out. It’s actually a pretty catchy song and I’ve been listening to it over and over the past couple of days. And, since Adam is Sara’s favorite man in the whole world, it gives me a reason to post pics of him for her. That’s what friends are for! 😛

4) LMFAO – Party Rock Anthem (iTunes, Amazon). I love this song. It just makes you want to get up and move. Plus, it’s an excellent song to run to.

5) Andy Grammer – Miss Me (iTunes, Amazon). This was the free song of the week on iTunes a week ago. I guess it wouldn’t be me without having at least one slightly depressing song in the mix. It’s a good song, though.

And Finally

A lot of changes seem to be happening around me this year. I’m thrilled to see the growth in the most important people in my life. I’m also thrilled to see the growth and changes that are happening to me. I’ve learned so much about myself over the course of a year that it astounds me. It’s interesting to feel the changes inside of you and to see them in your actions.

I’m an emotional person. This is just who I am. The past few years, this has been my greatest weakness. I allowed my emotions to take over my life and it very nearly destroyed me. Yes, that sounds all sorts of dramatic, but hey, sometimes life has drama. Finally, though, being an emotional person has become my greatest strength. When I can control them, I can do pretty much anything. That’s what I’m doing now.

A year can make all the difference in the world.