lxforever

…has a new book coming out this spring. April 14th (my mom’s bday!) to be exact. This is the final book in the Jessica Darling series and I couldn’t be more excited. I get that it’s YA, but seriously, the last two books made me tear up. Ya I’m a sucker.

You can pre-order it now if you’re a diehard fan like I am.

The author also ran a contest encouraging people to make a ‘trailer’ for the book – here’s one of the entries:

Anyway. NEEDLESS TO SAY I am extremely excited for this book to come out. !!! Just thought I would share that here yo. ALSO I am trying to win a contest – you could do this, too:

THE CONTEST WITHIN A CONTEST.

Yes.

Stop lookin’ at what you ain’t got / and start bein’ thankful for what you do got // You’re gonna be a shining star / with fancy clothes and fancy cars / and then you’ll see, you’re gonna go far / ’cause everyone knows who you are // Never mind what haters say, ignore ’em ’til they fade away / Amazing they ungrateful after all the game I gave away…”

—TI/Rihanna

“ok, i’m going home / i’m really excited for you to visit! / hoepfully i can clean this weekend / i mean, i will clean this weekend / it’s not like it’ sup to fate or something

—Jenny, 2/11/09

“With this update,” he said, “write in the third person.”
“Um, no.” Lexi replied.
“The entire time! You can’t break from character. ‘Lexi is having a good weekend. Lexi is feeling a bit under the weather. Lexi will hopefully soon feel better. Hey – Lexi just rhymed. Lexi’s pretty smart.’ ” He tried to outline how she would accomplish this.

—

OK wow. I’m a dork, but not THAT much of a dork, sorry dearie. Happy Valentine’s day yall! We are: watching hockey, watching gymnastics, eating pizza and eating sushi. Here in the Akervik household, it doesn’t get much better than that. I meant to go to Best of MN meet, but, some sickness and a night in was calling my name (oh who am I kidding, when does a night in NOT call my name).

Speaking of which. I had a nice chat with my mom tonight and I was telling her our plans for the evening. Her response was that it sounded pretty much like their plans, except substitute ‘random movie Dad will fall asleep watching’ for hockey/gymnastics and you’ve got it. A normal person would probably be bothered by this, but I’m not. I think it’s something I’ve pretty much wanted, the whole stay-in-be-a-homebody thing, for awhile. (Even as Erik makes fun of us for staying in on NYE, haha. “You’re not 70 yet, slow it down!”) But I’m just happy to have a ‘home base’, a home of our own and each other. It’s funny that my years of elementary/middle school being with the fam at home on Friday and Saturday nights watching TV, drawing, and just hanging out have become the same type of thing I do now—and I still love it.

Although last weekend I did go out on Friday which was totally awesome and something I want to do more of – Kristin and Susan and I hit up the AMAAAAAAAAAAZING Longfellow Grill, seriously I love love LOVED it, then K-10 and I went out downtown with her grad school friends and Misty. Somehow we ended up at NV which was actually pretty cool. Time and time again things like this remind me that it pays to get out of the house, because once I actually do, it’s a fine, fine evening indeed. So fun.

The Minneapolis ice rinks closed already!!! W T H. I was glad for the sunny warmth last weekend, but not if it meant that! TOTALLY LAME. I was just working on my tricks. We’ll have to go to Richfield Ice Arena then. STILL! Bitches!!!

Anyway. I hope everyone had a nice Valentine’s day, whether you did nothing, went home for a turkey dinner (yes, someone did this), or got a chocolate cake. We don’t really do much for Valentine’s day, but Jeff, bless his heart, did totally surprise me with candy boxes and a bear delivered to work on Thursday. What a sweet pea. Today our ‘celebrating’ consisted of working out together and the activities outlined above, which is pretty much Us and pretty much great.

Next weekend I am off to Chi to see JJ. We are going to American Cup too! Woo hoo. It should be pretty cool, mostly I just want to hang out with Jenny, drink tea and maybe go shopping. And see gymnastics, then! And go to Bin. Yay. YAY JENNY, I am excited.

Um yeah. Not much else to report. It’s now light past 5 which is extremely exciting. I am re-reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn for the zillionth time, I just love that book. So I think I will go do that and soon conk out, Valentine’s bear in hand. 🙂

On Friday I decided to drive down to visit my parents for the weekend. It was a last-minute decision and I’m really glad I went. We had a great weekend just hanging out with no big events going on…fun fun fun. It was a nice quiet time with them and I feel I should document it.

When I got there Friday, a bit later, my dad was still up and my mom had made dinner. (My dad went to bed shortly thereafter – even though we watched a little gymnastics on the Big Ten network prior – you know him.) My mom had made “roast fingerling potatoes” which were amazing!! I am still thinking about them, pretty cool. She also had a roast chicken and broccoli. Pretty fancy and totally delicious. We hung out eating candy and watching TV (kind of, mostly reading the paper). Finally crashed around midnight.

We got up Saturday and all went to the gym together (our new favorite Mason Madison pasttime!). I got to meet my mom’s personal trainer lady, Ashley, and of course their other gym buddies were there. They have the best Anytime. On the way back to the house for the appliance delivery (they were arriving between 11 and 3 but my parents thought we should be back by 10:30 in case the people called), my mom mentioned that they were supposed to take down the old microwave before the delivery guys came. OH MAN. Huge ordeal followed. First was breakfast – my dad offered to cook it up. He makes the best eggs! Eggs, bacon, toast ensued, a very nice meal and their last time using those appliances.

Then came the microwave dismantlement. It was hell but it was also amusing. I had to relay it to Jeff, Jenny, and then my grandparents on Sunday, who all laughed. My poor dad. It was impossible to get the microwave off the wall. After much yelling, pushing, cranking and blood (yes blood), he finally managed to get it down. I felt so bad for him. We rested it on the stove and soon the guys arrived. Unfortunately one of the first things they said was “Oh you didn’t have to take down the microwave.” I thought my dad was gonna explode, luckily he did not. Sooooooooo. They pull out the old appliances and discover that the dishwasher is one inch too long. At this point I’m preparing to leave, because my dad’s next words were “well this is unacceptable.” OH NO! I took this as my cue to go get my passport photos redone. AAAAH. I was so afraid I would come back to a house with empty holes for appliances and fuming parents (Dad).

Fortunately (even after relaying this to Jenny and Jeff and Jenny asking me to warn her if this wasn’t resolved, because she didn’t want to come visit an angry household on Sunday), I returned home to beautiful appliances with a dishwasher that fit (they pulled out a board to make it fit – my mom said my dad was SOOOOOO HAPPY OMG hahahahahaha). Everything looked fantastic. After showers, a little snacking, discussion about potential movies and restaurants, and some tea with my mom, we decided to head out to an early-folks dinner. My dad had suggested Eno Vino, a tapas-style non-Spanish eatery that he had visited with work, and off we went. Amazing! It was really cool inside, with cobalt water goblets and dark wood everywhere. We tried so many things – a flatbread pizza (my dad’s favorite), a sampling of steak with yummy toasts, a great spinach salad that had beets and fried (! weird but good) chives with chive oil on the side, and a mushroom ravioli that had a tiny bit of foie gras (YAY) on top. YUM. We also shared a bottle of wine. It was so nice to spend time with them alone and hang out. And eat great, great food!

From there we hit up Point Cinema which was COMPLETELY CROWDED, we waited in a line of about 100 people (seriously, maybe a little less) just to get tickets. Crazy!!! It was totally freezing too. We finally got in and saw Gran Torino. I loved it. I hadn’t seen a movie in a long time, so that was part of it, but it was a fine story and a slice of something I don’t normally encounter. Great. It was so fun to see a movie! Then we went home and my mom made the BEST hot cocoa EVER (“hot toto”), it was soooooo good. We watched some TV, tried to watch Suze and fell asleep, then went to bed finally.

In the morning I got going early, and my dad made breakfast again! Score! There was a bacon incident, since their new microwave is 2x as powerful as the old one, but all was well after a second try, and the appliances performed beautifully. The dishwasher is amazingly quiet – unreal – even I remember how crazy that old one sounded. Hit the road and stopped by Grandma and Grandpa’s in Baraboo. I totally surprised them but they were very sweet and didn’t seem to mind. They were doing their bills (they’d gone to church the night before since Grandpa had ushered) and cooking up a crock pot dinner. Grandma gave me a nice snack of Pringles and root beer as I relayed the story of the appliance installation fiasco to them. They got a great laugh out of that, especially Grandpa. “That’s just Steve!” Cute. We chatted for about an hour….so nice to see them, in a peaceful home! Ha. Then back on the road.

Upon return to the MN, I encountered a recuperating Jeff, who had hurt his back a bit, and a stalking Erik/Kim combo, whom we eventually let in for a bit. Then a lovely dinner of Best Meal Ever/FNL (which is Best Show Ever). YAAAAAAAY.

What a wonderful weekend! Hooray. Thanks guys.

Conclusions from hanging out with Michael and Kaitlin:

1. Mike is an amazing cook.
2. Kaitlin is an amazing teacher.
3. That was a seriously gourmet meal.
4. To-Do lists are for suckas.
5. My family is full of stressheads.
6. I need to get out of the house more.

Yes.

“we went out to play for the evening / and wanted to hold on to the feeling / and the stretch in the sun / and the breathlessness as we run
to the beach endlessly / as the sun creeps up on the sea…”

—Lisa Hannigan

“I woke up depressed. I felt really pressured and panicked by ‘all these things I have to do.’ I’m really concerned that if I don’t have a to-do list and if I don’t make a schedule, that I’ll just piss every day a way and never get anything done, but if I do have a to-do list and schedule I just obsess about it and feel overwhelmed. A little more gets done, but mostly I just worry myself silly and then crash and burn and wind up really pissing the time away in an attempt to escape responsibility.”

—Michael

“But now work is over and I’m done with my food and I’m not quite sure what to do. I guess I’m doing this. It dawned on me the other day that I don’t really know what I want. For whatever the reason I’m not satisfied with my day to day life, but I don’t really know what else I think I’d like. I don’t really want a “better” or different job. I don’t really care about all that shit on my to-do list. I love my wife. I don’t want any more money or things. It’d be nice to make some more art that I’m happy with, but I can’t see what I want to do and it’s not dreadfully important.

So maybe I should just make more of an effort to see my friends. Call more often. Get out of the fucking house more. It’s harder to hang out with people these days, but I could still do more than I’m doing now I suppose. That being said I don’t plan on leaving the house tonight though. It’s 11:33 PM and I’m too cold and tired.”

It’s been awhile since I’ve quoted Michael, and never so much of it I don’t think. While I do think I more or less know what I want, I’m not really sure what the tangibles are. And I should get out of the house more. And stop worrying about the far-off future. And stop with the to-dos (but I can’t). I could stop obsessing over the past, but I kind of have (kind of). And stop. STOP. Stop.

So instead I bury myself in gymnastics novels and meets and updates and use what was once a stressor as an escape. And make obsessive to-do lists. And get frustrated when things (WHAT things???) don’t get accomplished. And freak out if I have to disrupt my routine. And hole up in my house. And wake up depressed. And obsess….obsess. You’d think I had a touch of autism (possible, I suppose).

Don’t get me wrong—things are good. The freaking and depressing and escaping and obsessing makes no sense, considering how great I have it. I suppose that’s life, and that’s why I have things like Michael’s writing to make me feel less crazy. Or something.

In good news, I DID get out of the house, even if I was crabby about it, and hit up our work holiday party (like I wouldn’t!) tonight, and it turned out to be fantastic. Just as I suspected, forcing myself to not be a hermit might just be a good thing. Even if all I want to do is Hang Out! Anyway, as always, it was a terrific party with some super duper people. I’m a lucky gal. THANKS.

Yeah so. Time to settle down this house. Everyone needs to write more. FYI.

On the lookout for adorable, handmade, fancy Valentines? You should check out Waning Moon’s etsy shop. Super cute!!!

You know what else 2009 is going to be about? Phone calls. I was previously anti-phone-calling, however I now see it as a potential positive. Phone calls. So, call me! I’ll try to actually chat! Or I might call you – be prepared!

With that, I’m off to call Katy.

“Life must be lived as play.”

—Plato

“ENTJs have difficulty following others unless those individuals demonstrate more competence than they themselves have. ENTJs are likely to commit to a career goal early, often in their teen years. They determine their overall goals and objectives and what it will take to accomplish them.”

HOLY SMOKES IT’S 2009. How did that happen? I had a very lovely New Year’s Eve consisting of sushi, Prosecco, cheese, wine, chess, weird shows, and my notsecret lover, my dear husband Jeff. (In case you can’t tell, I’m kind of way into calling him my husband, ha.) And so far my ass-kicking is pretty all-inclusive, so I’m proud of that. Tough workouts, getting shit done at work…of course, it’s only day two. But still.

So.

EVERYTHING IS GYMNASTICS. How can it not be??? At least once a day what I do in some way brings that to light, whether I realize it or not. This time years ago I would be so stressed and angry and angsty and crying, spending my weekends in Milwaukee in tears and sweat and blood and chalk, salty salty coppery dust. Maybe not that dramatic, but that’s how it felt to a 15-, 16-, 17-, 18-year-old me. HIGH DRAMA. But for all the drama, that was my high and the best place to be. I’m no longer not over it, if that makes sense; but I’ll still miss it always.

Now I’m just moving along in my ordinary way, but still these things pop up. I’m at it again: doing that which I like rather than that at which I could excel. Gymnastics?! I could have been much better at other things. I could have excelled at something, instead of muddling along as a gymnast; I could have spent my time elsewhere. But that would have been a lie. None of the other stuff mattered; all I wanted was gymnastics.

Here I am, muddling along as a designer. I could have been better at many other things; I could have spent my time elsewhere. “But why would you waste it all to be an artist?!” ENTJ silly silly. (And. It’s not fair to compare design to gymnastics like that, though; sure, I like what I do, but it’s just not the same kind of bug, and never will be. Let’s just be clear about that!) But here I am and here I’ll stay. For the times that feel stupid and wasted and failed, there’s always a time that isn’t, and that’s what you try to remember.

(Along with writingrelaxingasskickingmindfulnesspeacingout, I’m trying to be more confident in 2009, too. Right.)

How did I ever get to where I did in gymnastics? It was just by sticking around. Long after dozens of girls more talented than me had left for sweeter or saner pursuits, long after they’d found their prowess bloom elsewhere, I was still around, smart or no, silly or not. Last One Standing, more or less, Last Ones—Jenny and me. Whatever that means, but there we were.

I have at least 40 years of working ahead of me, and no one sticks around like my Dad did any longer, but I suspect some of this may hold true yet for me. It won’t be because I’m the best, or most talented, or putting in the time or weight or work; it’ll be because I’ve stuck around, and have yet to find anything better. We’ll see.

(As for writing more in 09….am I right or am I right? Thanks Mike for the inSPYration.)