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Mr. Worldwide

 

I am certainly no Pitbull, but definitely feel that way as I have traveled more in the past few weeks than I have in the previous several years. Starting out in Puerto Rico, then going to Baltimore, and now in Dallas, even though I still have never left the country it has been a lot of change recently. While it has been nice to get out of the house a bit and reconnect with people, as well as getting some new experiences, I think I will appreciate being back home and getting into a routine.

Personal/Life Updates

As I said in the introduction, I was able to travel down to Dallas for the latter half of this week with my parents and spend some time with my brother and his fiance and see their new house and meet some of their friends. I had a really great time and was able to have some really great food. It is definitely a very different atmosphere down here versus New Jersey, and different from Baltimore as well. It has been nice to do some traveling during my year off as it will help me to make a decision next year when I am looking at places to live after graduation. I do not think I would mind moving down south, especially as cities like Dallas, Austin, and Nashville are growing and have more and more young people from all over the country.

I am still struggling with injuries now, but I believe they are getting better. My chest for one has been giving me fewer problems over the past week and a half and I have actually started to do pushups consistently with minimal pain for the first time in a few months. My hip also has been feeling a bit better, I have been working some stretches and have been able to do some light leg work with only slight discomfort. I am hoping that if I continue to rehab and take it slowly over the next week or two that I will be able to get back to normal and begin building up again. Also as the snow melts in NJ I think I will be able to start doing some fieldwork and start running more outside.

Books/Podcasts

I had a slight slowdown in books this week with all of the craziness of traveling and having new experiences, but I was able to get another few books done. I am also very excited as I have found a new way to get some audiobooks through my library system right onto my phone. I have found that audiobooks are the easiest to get through as I can listen to them while driving, at the store, or just doing tasks around the house. I am happy to take advantage of some of the extra free time during this year off and be able to get through a lot of books. I am nearly at 40 and my initial goal for the year was 50 which I think I should hit within a month or so. I know that I will have significantly less time to devote to reading once the school year starts so I am enjoying it while it lasts. I am hoping that by the end of the summer I will have a solid list of books that I want to go back and read more thoroughly and take notes on.

I am still definitely lacking when it comes to podcasts, although having more audiobooks to get through now makes it a little better. I have caught up to the present on the main one I had been listening to but I am letting myself get a bit behind now so that I can listen to them consecutively. I like having a little variety of sources and topics as they usually are an hour or less and I can get through them quickly especially listening at a faster speed. I hope that I can find a couple more good ones that I can add to my list and listen to consistently.

Gratitude

This week's gratitude post will definitely be about family. Last week I was able to go down to Baltimore and spend time with some of my oldest friends, and this weekend I got the chance to spend time with my brother in Dallas. Although throughout this pandemic when we were more or less stuck with each other it seemed like I wanted nothing more than to be back at school and have some space for once, it has been nice getting to have some new experiences with family. Especially as I get older and the family dynamics are changing. Siblings are moving and taking major steps in their lives, and my parents are getting older and now have all of their children in different phases of life. It is nice to see how much we all have grown and changed throughout my lifetime. I am definitely thankful for having such a loving and close family. I know that not everybody is able to have that and I do think that my family has helped shape the person I am today a great deal, and without their influence, I am not sure where or who I would be today.

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