Author: hannah.ananas

Jesus-like

“Will no one stay awake??? Peter? John? James?”

Sung smoothly and almost eerily to a smooth and vivid tune, Jesus asks these words. Yet, how often do we everyday people experience something similar to this? The ones we love and who love us not supporting us in what we are doing, not for lack of effort or care, but for lack of realizing that merely their presence and attention would have made all the difference in the world in our having felt supported.

Post-a-day 2022

Ouch

Yup. Still sore. Though, it has been coming and going throughout the day today. I slept loads better last night (though that still wasn’t very good overall), and my arms were improving significantly yesterday evening and this morning. However, when we had to run errands with and for my grandma, and then drive three+ hours home, being so sedentary in the car made not only my arms more sore, but also my legs(!). And so, my arms and my legs hurt now, and so look ridiculous whenever I need to brush or floss my teeth, scratch my face, push some hair back, and all that jazz. Ugh…

Whatever…

Post-a-day 2022

Ouch

“You oughta see yourself,” she says, chuckling. “You look like…,” and she makes motions with her arms that are very clearly imitating a monkey.

Oh, I know, Grandma… I am incredibly aware… 😛

After the workout yesterday – mile run, 100 pull-ups (modified to difficult ring rows), 200 push-ups (modified to dumbbell push-ups for my wrist), 300 air squats, and another mile run, both runs with a 10lb weight vest on me – my arms are in big time muscle soreness. I hadn’t done push-ups in months because of my wrist, and I suddenly shot out 200 of them. It’s no wonder they hurt today, but boy, do they hurt! I actually woke up in the middle of the night last night, they were hurting so badly. I was rubbing and stretching half the night after that. Then, today, I couldn’t quite get my arms to bend normally, so, every time I itched my face or wiped my mouth or brushed back a lock of hair, my overly rounded arm shape made me look and feel just like a monkey.

Fortunately, all the vitamins and food and water and stretching and low-grade use of those muscles today has helped significantly. They aren’t healed fully, but they are much better than this time last night!

God, thank you for the blessing of this pain, this reminder always to take care of myself and be grateful for my body and its capabilities. Please, help me to heal fully that I might pursue fully and fulfill your will. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2022

Happy Memorial Day!

I write today in gratitude for all the men and women who dedicated their lives to the pursuit of happiness through service in the form of protection – to all military, present active and retired and past, I thank you. To David Goggins, I thank you for bringing a new level of awareness to the aims and efforts of Navy SEALS and members of the many other branches of our military, as well as for giving significant inspiration to the world around us, myself included. You remind us all that we can… whatever it is. And thank you to Michael Murphy for sharing your love and your service, as well as your life in pursuit of honoring what was right by all and by God. And thank you for giving us all a massively difficult workout to do in your honor and memory every year on this day. Murph is super hard, and you used to do it in about half an hour. Today, it took me 54 minutes, and my arms are ridiculously sore right now. Thank you for being part of this new everyday kind of inspiration for people all over the world. I thank you all. May God bless you intensely. In his name, I pray. Amen.

After an hour of hard work, we were ever more grateful to be in the land of the free and home of the brave. Thank you, the brave.

Post-a-day 2022

The irony

When I was teaching full-time high school French, I would give students bonus points on tests according to how many lessons they had in hold on Duolingo – one point or half a point for every golden egg, depending on the test type. You might think it absurd to offer open bonus points like that. However, I wanted the kids to do more Duolingo, and the kids who did 15 bonus points worth of Duolingo would earn a 98-100 on their tests without the bonus points. So, the bonus points were irrelevant after the first couple, anyway (they couldn’t receive over a 100%, you see). The kids who had no Duolingo bonus points were the ones who would have gotten a whole different letter grade if they’d had bonus points to use. But, because they weren’t doing Duolingo, they neither had bonus points nor succeeded fully on the tests in the first place.

I recall this tonight, because Duolingo now has a VIP Streak Club. It is for users who have a streak of over 365 days. I’m on day 718 right now of doing it every night before bed, though the club has only existed about thirty days or so. So, I’m in this club, right? Right. What did they announce to me yesterday? That one of the several little perquisites of being in this club is that we get a complimentary three-day streak freeze, which loads on top of the standard two-day streak freeze… so, I, someone who likely never uses a streak freeze, since I have a clearly-established routine of doing a lesson every single day (for almost two years now), now can ‘forget’ to do a lesson five days in a row… as though I even could forget. 😛 Irony, baby.

Also, I have a fun new icon because of the streak society(!!!).

Post-a-day 2022

(Almost got that year wrong again!! Going back in time!)

Homemaking

Yup, I must really be a homemaker. Why, you wonder? Because, instead of going to bed early slash at a normal hour for me tonight, I stayed up late sorting and tidying and cleaning at his house… and I not only stayed up late, but really late. And I had to force myself to stop and walk away, to go home and go to bed. Even though I’ll be back at it after breakfast with my dad in the morning and I have to be up early for the gym and that, it was a major struggle to stop for the night.

God, help me, please, to make this house a true, loving, inspiring, and god-filled home, and help him and me to work together as we do that with and through you. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2022