Almost like twitter - but of course, an uber post

I just wanted to do a quick update. Not sure why. I've been wanting to blog a lot more but I'm busy between unpacking the boxes, tidying up my new apartment, work, trying to meet more people, squeezing in a workout, etc...

Let's see... to recap, this past week, I did go run on Bayshore which apparently is America's longest uninterrupted sidewalk... you're running along the water which is gorgeous. Anyways, from the area called Hyde Park Village to Channelside (another fairly known but boring/touristy area) is about 3 miles so I did a quick loop to there and back for a quick 6 miler... the first time I ran since my half marathon. I ended up running with this other guy I just met and we came in at 46min... we were literally hauling ass. Apparently, he was running with a bunch of other people that he met up with so I ended up meeting a few people through him. I was invited to go out but I turned it down since it was a Tuesday night and I already started working.

Wed night, a neighbor of mine and I went out to an Irish bar which had a huge outdoor deck... since 65 degrees is "cold" in Tampa, they had those outdoor heater stands... kinda funny... they also served beer in a 35oz cup so I had two of them and felt a bit groggy the next morning but obviously, I still went to work... it was only half day though since it was the 24th so no big deal.

The rest of my time, I've been spending just unpacking and stuff. My apartment is definitely liveable even though it still has some cleaning up to do... but really, if I didn't do anything else, it would just be a messy apartment... doesn't look like I just moved in anymore, which is nice.

As I'm going through bunch of my stuff, putting a lot of things on craigslist, I always find it funny that I find stuff I forgot about. I am generally not one to throw things away. Old photographs, greeting cards, letters, junk, etc... whatever it is, I tend to keep. I guess it's because they are all part of me. Of course, when I went through my box of cards, I did throw away a lot of Christmas cards that I've kept (I mean I had some from people I can't even recall who they were, I had one from our mailbox lady, my dentist, etc... I told you, I keep everything). So, the ones from people that don't mean anything to me, I threw away.

But as I was going through them, I also found a bunch of letters... I hate dating myself like this but I'm not gonna lie... I miss the days where you had to write letters to keep in touch. I believe that was maybe my first two years in college (94-95). We just got email but not everyone had it and especially in Japan where phone lines are charged per minute of use, the internet boom didn't hit Japan as quickly as here... and since most of my friends that I would want to keep in touch with over email were in Japan at the time, I still wrote a lot of letters... and in return, I got a lot of letters from them. And I kept them. Every single one of them. It's always very interesting to read them. It just takes you back to those days, and you reminisce the feelings that you were going through, etc etc. I remember when my grandpa passed away, my mom asked if I had any of his letters that he sent me (my grandparents never had a computer/email) and of course, I kept every single one so I was able to share all of them with her. Those are the times I'm glad I never get rid of anything.

The letters from 15 years ago are still in great shape. There were letters from some people I no longer keep in touch with, unfortunately, but it was still nice to see them. Of course, I couldn't throw them away so I put them all back in the box.

With emails, facebook, twitter, etc, the only time we send out greeting cards are during the holidays. And even then, you don't really write stuff anymore. You let the cards do the talking. It's so easy to keep in touch now and that's great... but I sure do miss writing letters... even if it was a pain in the butt sometimes... because at least with letters, you always have something tangible to hold on to.

Man, do I sound old or what?

Well, I hope everyone is having a nice holiday season. For me, Christmas was just another day of unpacking (of course, I did sleep in till like almost 1pm) but unpacking in a 75 degree weather on Christmas day was actually pretty fun... and it seems like bunch of bars and clubs around my apartment are all open tonight so it looks like I'll be going out. Guess it's time to start cooking dinner so I can head out in time to catch the football game (I have no cable and internet in my apartment - I will have internet starting the 28th but I won't get cable since I don't watch enough TV... and I was gonna steal someone else's wireless but they turned on the security so the only one I can access is a very weak signal and super slow - which is why I'm typing this from our apartment's business center).

Seriously, I meant for this post to be a quick, twitter like update. ha ha ha ha... I guess not.