I shuffled like I never shuffled before!

Well, I did it. I'm alive. And still in one piece. I ran my first Shamrock Shuffle 8K this past Sunday. My goal was to run it in an hour. I was hoping (really hoping) it wouldn't take longer than that. But to be honest, I was really worried. Buuuuut I ran it in 54 minutes and 30 seconds! I am very happy with my time and now when someone says, "Oh, you run?" I can proudly say, "Why yes, I do!" and not be lying this time. Ha.

To end this short short post, I will share some funny moments from babysitting:

"Who's that?" (pointing to the T.V.)

"That's Justin Beiber."

"Oh. He's a beaver?"

"Big Maura, what are you gonna be when you grow up?"

"Well...I'm kind of already grown up..."

"Oh. So you're gonna be a garbage man?"

Ooh the things 4 year olds say.

Hmph.

Listening to the radio this morning, I almost called in because I was so mad. The topic of conversation was unemployment, receiving unemployment and people taking advantage of unemployment they're receiving and not job searching.

For the man who called in, and anyone else who thinks the same as he does, for starters "there are plenty of jobs out there, people just aren't looking" is NOT true in all cases. Yes, there are some jobs out there, but so many people are applying that it is very difficult to actually get an interview.

"People are living off their unemployment and using it as an excuse not to job search." Well buddy, college graduates do not receive unemployment just for graduating. College grads who are job searching do not have any income at all. So no, that is also not true.

And lastly, "anyone can get a job if they look" is just not true in this economy. Please don't assume I am lazy, receiving unemployment, and planning on relying on tax payer dollars while I sit back, relax and coast through life.

I am an unemployed college graduate and cannot wait for my job searching to pay off so I can finally begin my career!

Okay, rant over.

What's your name?

So I've started babysitting. Some of the things kids say are just hilarious. One girl I'm babysitting has a baby sister named Maura. This confused the heck out of her until she made up a new name for me: Big Maura.

"Big Maura! What's your favorite color?!" and so on. As if one new name wasn't enough, out of the blue she told me that I'm Mickey Mouse and she's Minnie Mouse.

"Mickey Mouse! What school do you go to?"

I was helping out at her friend's ice skating party, so I'm sure people were intrigued by this Big Maura/Mickey Mouse person.

And to top off this hilarious experience, one of the other parents thought I was the mom of two kids. Aaaah.

Cars BEWARE

It seems that I am bad luck for cars. Or the cars I drive are bad luck for me. I haven't quite figured out the logistics of it all, but the bottom line is that cars and me don't mix well.

-a car died on me completely an hour away from home

-a car decided to start leaking antifreeze everywhere an hour from home and then again while at home.

-i was pulling out of the garage and knocked off the side-view mirror the day we were supposed to give away the car to my cousin.

-nearly got stuck on the highway with a steering wheel that wouldn't turn and a screen inside blinking "Check battery."

I'm worried for whatever car I eventually buy on my own. I'm worried for its well-being, and if it will sense that I have not had good luck with cars in the past. Oh well at least I haven't had a severe car crash (knock on wood.)

And no, none of the cars I've driven has been a Toyota.

FAIL. FAIL. Fail?

For lack of a better term, I've been training for the Shamrock Shuffle in March. You can either walk 3 miles or run 5. I usually walk with my mom but this year I decided to run with my dad. For those of you who know me, I am a dancer, not a runner. Dancers are built differently. So running has been hard for me to get into. I still don't like it. But I do it. I even have new running shoes so now I feel official.

As I was running on the treadmill today, about 10 minutes into my run the treadmill stopped and started flashing FAIL at me in bright red letters. I was so shocked I didn't know what to do. What? I'm failing at this run? My own treadmill is yelling at me? I shook off the shock of it all and restarted my run. About 10 minutes later my treadmill shouted FAIL at me again! This time I just had to laugh.

I finished the rest of my run without any more signs of failing, but as far as I know, no one else in my family has ever been judged by our treadmill.

Two more

Here are two more videos that have made my list: the cutest whistling dog ever & something that no one can help smiling at.

The song in the second video is called Praan by Garry Schyman. The words are actually taken from a poem by Rabindranath Tagore called "Stream of Life."

The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day
runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.

It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth
in numberless blades of grass
and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.

It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth
and of death, in ebb and in flow.

I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life.
And my pride is from the life-throb of ages dancing in my blood this moment.

Enjoy.

Dance dance dance

My friend just posted a YouTube video of old clips set to the Passion Pit song "Sleepyhead," which got me thinking about some of my favorite videos from the Internet. Here is the Passion Pit video:

This next video immediately came to mind. It's old footage of men doing the Charleston set to a

Daft Punk song. Pretty sweet. Click here to see it. I never knew the Charleston could look so cool.