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The month isn’t even over yet, but it’s already quite apparent that March has been the month of doing things I thought I could never do. First it was the 5K run in 36 minutes and 49 seconds. Next it was the dance competition (and bringing home my first ever trophies!) I told everyone I couldn’t “wouldn’t” do. And today? Today I ran twenty minutes. Straight. WITHOUT STOPPING OR WANTING TO DIE.

You probably won’t understand the significance of this, and that’s okay. But I do. I remember the girl who couldn’t make it halfway around the track without dying - but tonight I was the girl who ran a total of 68 minutes, running 10, 15, 20, and 10 minutes straight with 1 minute breaks in between. I did it.

If I keep this up, I could actually achieve world domination before I turn twenty-five.

Now, if only I could take my driver’s test…

I think the title says it all, but in case it doesn’t, the following photo should:

We ranked 5th in Advanced Latin, 3rd in Jive and 3rd in Paso Doble, bringing home two trophies and two gift certificates each to JC Dance Co’s Rising Star Squad (Standard Technique). More photos here.

I won’t lie and tell you that it wasn’t “OH MY GOD I’M GOING TO DIE” terrifying, but I will tell you this: It was totally worth it in the end. Sure, I might have made mistakes in every dance and danced the Samba at twice the speed of the music in front of my friends, family, and TEACHERS, but I survived it.

In fact, forget all the dance experience of training, preforming, and not dying, and forget about the two shiny trophies I kiss every night before I go to bed… The very fact that I voluntarily decided to be judged on my dancing—in public no less—and survived to want to do it again next year has set the bar a notch higher for the next bigger and scarier thing that will no doubt come my way in the near future. Like public speaking. Or fish.

This “coming out of your comfort zone” thing? Hard, but awesome.

Abstract thought of the hour: Facebook is incredibly creepy and stalker-like when it comes to publishing information about your friends’ every online (and in some cases, offline) move.

And while we’re on that topic: Has anyone ever noticed that Facebook’s feeds are a new breed of passive gossip? I’m reminded of one of the first things anyone ever told me about Facebook mere hours after I joined:

When a couple breaks up, Facebook knows about it before they do.

What is the strangest thing you’ve ever learned (intentionally or not) about any of your friends through a social networking site like Facebook?

1. Trashy celebrity magazines and blogs. I never buy them, but flipping through celebrity news at the checkout is another reason why grocery shopping is, hands down, my favorite type of shopping.
2. Food. I love to shop for it, make it, bake it, and eat it. Basically, this vice sounds like a recipe for obesity. Thankfully, the four factors that stand in the way of me and obesity are: 1) I’m vegetarian, 2) and a fairly healthy eater, 3) very active, and 3) not American. (Kidding about the last one, of course.)
3. My ability to take something small and make it huge. My upcoming dance competition is an excellent example of this. I freaked out, thought up the most lucrative worst case scenarios and made a small competition into a huge OH EM GEE IM GOING TO DIEEEEE event, but after a couple practices, I was actually looking forward to it. Overeact much?
4. Pride. I have a certain pride in my independence. I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing, but definitely something that can run a little too far at times. I like to do things by myself. I have a particular inability to ask for help, especially when it’s something I’m adamant about figuring out for myself. I refuse to date, partially because of my pride in being my own person and above all that typical non-committal, toxic nonsense.
5. Being too analytic. I examine things. I have this particular fondness for picking apart my life, both my current situation and my planned future. While I know that it has definitely contributed to me being more aware about my behavior and every last aspect of my life, it also has the tendency to drive people crazy when I do it out loud, my family especially.
6. My ability to do nothing and still feel as if I’ve done so much. I don’t even think this one needs explaining, but I can tell you one thing: I’ve had days where all I do is sit in bed and read or sit in bed and work on something useless for HOURS, and after all that I can still have the sheer audacity to feel as if I’ve ran a marathon.

Things that might be happening in my life over the next two weeks, a list:

• Work.
• School.
• Dance practice.
• Work.
• School.
• Running!
• School.
• Work.
• Dance competition?!

I’ll leave you to guess which one out of that list is most terrifying to me. (Hint: It’s not work.)

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