Oh dear.

Unfortunately, it would seem that I have failed the February challenge….seeing how it’s already March and I have only one post. But there are reasons! Very good reasons.

I have been super super busy coaching, working, working, working, traveling, and working. Actually on this very day I am releasing an event registration system that I built from scratch! It’s quite a proud moment for me, but goodness gracious did I sent a lot of time on that thing.

I had help from a good friend of mine in college. We met by complete chance (got paired for a random task in project management) but worked very well together and have been collaborating ever since. During one of our late night meetings we both decided the only way we could keep working ourselves to death was for the love of the game. And though we both loved the game, there had to be a balance. Too much of anything – even a good thing – isn’t healthy! He put it to me this way:



It was a small part of our conversation but it had a pretty profound impact on my thinking. For a while I had felt that doing this work was the RIGHT thing to do. I’m a person very compelled by morality and the “right” thing, and I felt that it was my duty to use my skills to enhance the sport that I love. But I basically sacrificed all of my personal freedom and social life to get it done. So, like my partner had said….I was satisfied, but I wasn’t happy.

I say “wasn’t” in the past tense because this weekend made me so happy!!
World Jump Rope hosted the first annual Speed and Power Tournament at the Arnold Sports Expo in Columbus, OH this weekend, and I was so lucky (and stressed) to be the tournament technical director! I handled all of the competition data from judging and competitor entries to heat and station assignments. There were so many last-minute changes I thought for sure I had screwed something up, but the whole thing was a huge success. Being a part of the tournament team and introducing our sport to thousands of people at the Expo made me SO PROUD!

We also put on about seven shows throughout the weekend and drew so many crowds….it was a great weekend to feel loved, appreciated, and valued not just by the jump rope community by also the general public.
It’s time to get back to work when I get home, but now I know to be happy and stay happy. Balance, people! Balance.

I have so much more to tell about what’s happened in my life. The Olympics, traveling to Kenya, jumping in Singapore, competing in Hong Kong ….and just….life. Oh, and I have a boyfriend now hehe. Yeah, lots to catch up on, but I don’t want to overload you guys. Like I said before…
…
…
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SOON!!

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HERE I AM.

That is me horribly understating everything that has happened over the past 6-ish months in an attempt to fulfill my promise to Zanzi and post a new entry every week.

It's almost 4am and I must sleep! But all shall be revealed.....SOON.

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We have been practicing for about 6 days in London, and have made 4 different shows. We will be performing 27 different times throughout the Olympics, including the bronze and gold medal games for BOTH men and womens' basketball.

Tomorrow morning, England time, we will be departing for London for our housing near the Olympic village....and Saturday, the shows begin!!!

Like our page "Get Tricky" on Facebook to find out about potential dates for broadcasting our shows, and if anything turns up I might just post them here as well :)

I hope everyone has been doing great and I will catch up on blogs as soon as I can!!! Enjoy the summer, the Games, and any plans you might have!

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OH HAI.

Well Muffy is back...you know what that means? He has free time!

And really that's due to the fact that I now have an undergraduate degree from the University of Washington . Bachelor of Science in Informatics with emphasis on Human-Computer Interaction. Oh goodness here I go feeling all nostalgic again. Do you know what the most heartbreaking feeling is? When you log into your school portal and see no schedule for the next quarter. I'm SO USED to that part of the web site being taken up by a big ass table of classes, teachers, links, etc...and now there's nothing . So bleak.

BUT. I am so, so proud of everyone and what we have made together! I have worked on some amazing projects and created some amazing memories . I cannot tell you how fulfilling it is to stand in front of industry professionals and deliver your first, flawless elevator pitch about the Capstone project you've worked on for almost a whole year. Gah. And to have the loudest cheers out of anyone at Convocation . It is a great thing to feel loved.

Now, here is something that I have realized along the way. I have absolutely NO REGRETS from this past year, but I recognized something that I simply cannot continue missing out on: Diablo 3. Now let me explain.

With all of the stresses I had to deal with, from jump rope to school to stupid people to traffic ( ), I became very business-oriented. Everything I did was methodical. Even fun and hanging out became methodical. I put success and efficiency over relationships and feelings.

Now, when Diablo 3 came out I started watching gameplay trailers, reading Wiki articles, following the story, and reminiscing about the old days. The days when I used to write strategy guides, design characters, and imagine-up entire realms in my spare time. I started feeling super nostalgic about those old days, about Diablo 2....and about ADVENTURE.

Imagination is a powerful thing. It creates, it changes, and, most importantly, produces things like Poke'mon. But one of the most amazing things about human imagination is its ability to let you explore every bit of everything you know and everything you don't all at the same time.

And somewhere along the way, I lost this! So this summer, after all the traveling is over, I vow to sit down and draw something. Maybe a tattoo, maybe my dog Clarence. I am going to buy Diablo 3 and play it on my brand new ASUS A53SD-NS51 . Hollllaaaaaa for graduation money$$$! I'm going to keep exploring and imagining!

Muffy over and out.

P.S. I'm going to the Olympics in London to perform at all the men's basketball games during halftime....INCLUDING THE FINALS. Holllaaaaaa for jump roooooope!

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Hi guys.

I know that I've been dead to all of you, but I have been very much alive elsewhere. I'm leaving in a few hours to Japan for another double dutch fusion competition (like the one in Paris, where I met Zanzi!). Hope everything has been well with everyone :)

See ya on the flip side

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Once it passes the Senate, the bill will pass in the House, and Governor Gregoire has already publicly stated that she'll sign the bill. Remember when I posted an entry about this a little while back? Yeah. I'm so happy right now you guys, and so proud to be a Washingtonian.

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WELL. I've learned that I cannot type an entry while listening to good music. I get too caught up in the beats, silently singing along and dancing (while sitting) on my bed. It's virtually impossible to blog under those conditions, unless you don't care that your entries will probably be a gigantic mess.

BUT. Fortunately for you folks, I don't want to create an incoherent POS for you to read...so, take a gander at this video while I finish my jams. Do you think you can leave your finger on the screen for the whole length of the film? I dare you.



LOL. If you are friends with me on Facebook, or are aware of the Internet, you have probably already seen / done this. Good times, good times.....

ANYWAY. On with the good stuff. What's new? My first reaction to that question is....gosh, I don't know. Which is dumb, because I have so much new stuff, but I never remember enough of it to write down! That brings me to the first new thing, I suppose, which is my recent streak of forgetfulness and general distance from things happening around me. Spacehead Muffy? Something like that. I don't know what it is. It's started to worry me a little bit, at times...but, nothing too much to freak out about. And certainly not a big enough deal to bring me out of a good mood!

I went to a gay bar for the first time. It was...interesting. I had a lot of fun! But meeting someone on the dance floor is certainly no the best environment to make a good friend or spark a relationship that will last longer than the next song. And lots of people grabbing my butt...weirdos.

Hmm...What's next? Christmas?? NO! I forgot something (typical)! My research group won best paper for the quarter out of 21 groups, and we all received automatic 4.0s :) Yay!

Ok, back to Christmas. Santa left this really weird note this year. I've begun to suspect that Santa may have really been Chinese all along. My family had a very low key Christmas this year, which is fine. I do miss the days when it was a big deal though, and the parents would pull out the video camera to record my sister and I tearing open gobs of presents :-\ *sigh* I don't cling to the past, but I think it's okay to be a little nostalgic every now and then.

Santa came through, though! I got socks and $450, nine of those dollars I have spent on a new shirt. Beyond that...I don't know what to waste my money on! Haha....such a first world problem. Maybe a plane ticket somewhere. Experiences and people are more valuable to me than things.

That evening we made gingerbread houses. Below are the contenders!



If you're friends with me on Facebook, you have probably seen this already. If not, read the description below:

The gingerbread contenders.... Starting in the back we have the "Occupy" Gingerbread House complete with teddy graham protestors and police. In the front right we have the winter spa house (you should've seen the engineering from the inside...). And in the front left we have the shrine of Kim Jong Il, complete with life-like portrait and North Korean national anthem.

That evening was a lot of fun too...and did I mention, that we watched THE MATRIX RELOADED while making the houses? Toooo perfect. I also watched one of my favorite movies of all time, Spirited Away, with my mother and sister while nibbling (or gouging, if you're like me) on popcorn and sipping (guzzling) cup(s) of hot chocolate. I have been wanting to do that for a while, and it made made me very happy :)

Oh my, this has turned out to be longer than I expected, and not significantly more coherent than if I had kept my grooving music playing. BUT....before I go, I wanted to share something I learned from the sagacious Nuttz.

She and I have been messaging a bit back and forth about relationships and whatnot, and she had this to say to me:

"If on your saddest days and happiest days, you want him to be there to share it with you, I think he's the one Muffy."

This captures everything that I have been trying to say, and trying to feel, and trying to explain, all in one beautiful little sentence. And I could have told myself this over and over again...but to hear it come from someone else, someone completely detached from my situation, makes me love it all the more. I don't know for certain who "he" is right now, but I'm going to keep these words in my pocket as I go about life, and see where my heart takes me :)

Muffy over and out.

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...a new layout! This theme had its beginnings in my tinkering with vector graphics using a nifty open source tool, Inkscape. I drew a muffin. And from there...chaos erupted.

I'm not pleased with how chaotic it looks, but at this point I don't give a damn. This was mostly a project to dabble in the realm of SVG (scalable vector graphics) and I learned a lot! Here are some nifty things about this template:

Works in Firefox and Chrome. Internet Explorer, GTFO
• Everything on this page designed 100% by Muffy! (except the font...and the little buttons in the corner)
• The member nav in the top-right corner is actually created by Javascript. I wanted to give you guys the "Your site" link, and I did it by accessing a cookie in your browser and forming it into a working hyperlink. Nifty, eh?? Let me know if it works

I do have more to post about, but first...ingest this new theme and tell me what you think :) Suggestions for a name??

Muffy over and out!

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