My, oh my it is a blustery day.

I'm so grateful for Sundays. Rest, Satie, and coffee. I wake up and don't have to look forward to working out. My emotions are directed elsewhere and it is refreshing. I can sleep till nine and look forward to weekend brunches with the family or a trip to Geraldine's Counter which is the most wonderful cafe in Columbia City.

and Erik Satie is perfect, especially:



I like to derive whatever goodness I can out of being alone and letting the peace of solitude seep in and refresh my soul. I've been thinking a lot about the meaning of true solitude, and New Seeds of Contemplation has helped me understand what exactly I am seeking.

"However, the truest solitude is not something outside you, not an absence of men or of sound around you; it is and abyss opening up in the center of your own soul.

And this abyss of interior solitude is a hunger that will never be satisfied with any created thing.

The only way to find solitude is by hunger and thirst and sorrow and poverty and desire, and the man who has found solitude is empty, as if he had been emptied by death.

He has advance beyond all horizons. There are no directions left in which he can travel. This is a country whose center is everywhere and whose circumferenct is nowhere. You do not find it by traveling but by standing still.

Yet it is in this loneliness that the deepest activities begin. It is here that you discover act without motion, labor that is profound repose, vision in obscurity, and, beyond all desire, a fulfillment whose limits extend to infinity."

Wherever it is, it makes you want to go there.


I'm doing a small research project/essay writing about the History of U.S. party politics. It is challenging, but I really enjoy researching and learning about the past. It is helping me have greater understanding of the way the government and the people act now and helping me slowly create my own opinions based on my beliefs and the successes and failings of the government in the past. It is quite intriguing and very scary the immensity of the world...


Last weekend I competed in my last meet before state, the Rose City Classic, hosted by Metro Gymnastics in Portland OR. It was a huge competition with both boys and girls competing in the same session on different sides of the floor. It was an incredible day. I hit all my routines, though FX was a little wild and lost most of my points there.
Bars: 9.4 1st!
Beam: 8.9 2nd
Floor: 8.35
Vault: 9.1 4th
All Around: 35.75 2nd!
I placed second to my teammate, Emma. We dominated the podium and also won the team competition. I am feeling confident for State in 2 weeks. My gym is hosting it at SPU. Please pray that I stay safe and healthy as I continue to fine tune my events.

Wow, the wind is shaking the window panes, and the budding tree outside my window is dancing.