Idiots Guide to Understanding Introverts. ... This is so me. I'm an Introvert.

Source: iwastesomuchtime.com via Krysta on Pinterest

Roger's Second Round

Roger Federer's second round match was won with ease. He defeated Nikolay Davydenko 6-3 6-4 6-4 in 119 minutes. I love his daytime outfit. Roger has accents of hot pink. Which is awesome.

Roger playing his second round match.

Roger's day match shoes are awesome. I like them.

Tennis Time

Last night I was to tired to stay up and watch Roger Federer's second round match. So I am waiting for 2pm when ESPN does their tennis coverage. They should (*crosses fingers*) re-show the match. Until then I am avoiding the AO website, Twitter, and Facebook. All of which will give my spoilers to the match outcome. lol. It's a good morning to read my book and not be on the laptop at all. lol.

It's tough when the tournaments are half way around the world. The time difference is killer for me. The night matches for the Australian Open start at 1am my time. And when the players are good the matches last for hours. And 1am is only if the game starts at 7pm Aussie-time. If my players are in the second night match I have to wait even longer. lol. It's silly but I still get up to watch the finals and semifinals anyway.

The other tournaments are not too bad of a time difference. If the night matches start at 7pm... London's night matches start at 12pm my time. Paris' night matches start at 11am my time. New York's night matches start at 5pm my time.

Australian Open 2013

The 2013 Australian Open started this week. The draw this year for men's singles tennis is really good. Here is the PDF version.

As always I am cheering for Roger Federer to win. I love that guy. He plays with grace and ease. It breaks my heart when he loses and has to leave tournaments. Seriously, I cry when he loses. Roger has gotten through his first round with no problems defeating Benoit Paire 6-2 6-4 6-1 in just one hour and 23 minutes.

Roger playing his first round match.

I will follow Novak Djokovic's progress throughout the tournament. He is another player I like. He, too, went through the first round fine. He defeated Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-2 6-4 7-5 in one hour and 42 minutes. Novak has already played his second round. He plowed over my USA's Ryan Harrison to get to the second round. (That kid will go places in his career though. I like watching Ryan play. He is young and just starting out his tennis career. He has a long way to go before he can beat the top four players though.) Novak defeated Ryan 6-1 6-2 6-3 win in 91 minutes.

Novak playing his second round match.

Rafael Nadal is not in the Australian Open this year. He has been having problems with his knee so he hasn't been playing tennis for the past few tournaments while he recovers. It's sad because I like watching him play tennis. I miss seeing him play.

Sabriel

Sabriel by Garth Nix.

It is a very interesting story. It has adventure and a hint of romance. The characters walk among Death and live in Life.

The story follows a young women named Sabriel on her adventure to rescue her father. But she is not just a normal girl. She is a Necromancer who uses bells to control the Dead. Sabriel is part of a long line of Abhorsens. She banishes the evil Spirits to their Final Death. She is able to walk in Death.

Sabriel: A drawing by numendil via deviantART.

Sabriel travels with two companions. The first is a trapped Spirit who serves the Abhorsens. For Sabriel he is in the form of a talking cat and calls himself Mogget. He is bound by the red collar that he wears around his neck. When the collar comes off, Mogget turns to his Dead form of fire and malice. But with a ring that Sabriel wears she is able to bind him again.

Mogget: A drawing by Liz Stifel.

Sabriel's second companion is a man called Touchstone. He was trapped in Death for two hundred years but was rescued by Sabriel. He serves her and helps her fights the Dead that come to prey on the living.

Touchstone: A drawing by Bryce Homick.

While on their dangerous adventure to rescue Sabriel's father they find out that one of The Greater Dead, possibly the Great, has finally crawled up from the Ninth Gate of Death to reach Life. Kerrigor wants to destroy all of the Great Charter Stones so that the Dead can walk in Life forever. He has been trying to do so for two hundred years. And many Abhorsens have tried to banish him to Final Death. With the help of her friends, Sabriel must do what many others were unable to do. Even her own father could not banish this Evil. Killing his body makes Kerrigor weak enough that she can banish him to his Final Death. But they have to find her father and Kerrigor's body before any banishing can be done.

Kerrigor: A drawing by Bryce Homick.

I enjoyed this book a lot. It was so different then anything I would have read otherwise. I thought Garth Nix does a good job at balancing Life and Death. The way he imagines them interacting is brilliant.

I'm looking forward to reading book two and three of this trilogy.

Snow Surprise

The snow itself wasn't a surprise. I knew this snow storm was coming.

After work I rode the train home like I always do. After 40 mins of being on the train and seeing all the snow I wasn't really looking forward to sweeping the snow off my car. I was tired and cold and I just didn't want to do it.

So I was surprised when walking to my car that they was less snow on my car then everyone else's. I was thinking some nice stranger had swept of another stranger's car. That's a nice random act of kindness. But then I walked around my car to the driver's side and saw Mark the Sheep in the snow.

I laughed. My brother had swept the snow off for me and left his little sheep cartoon. Actually it was big. You can see that drop at the bottom of the photo. That's the curb. lol.

All I  did was do a quick brush off one more time and I was good to go.

It was a nice random act of kindness that I really appreciated  It was a long and busy day at work. I was tired coming home so I was grateful that I didn't have to be out in the snow and the cold longer the necessary.

Resolutions?

I think I make resolutions every year but I never really do any of them. This year I'm setting some goals that I really want to achieve this year. They are good ones.

1. First and foremost, I want to get out of debt completely. I have debt on my credit card that I'm still paying off. And I owe my parents some money still too. This year I want to be debt-free.
2. I've been really bad at paying my tithing. This year I'd like to be a full tithe payer. Maybe I'll notice the blessings of giving back to the Lord. I seem to never take note of the good things, only the bad.
3. My room is a mess. There is no room to store all the things I have. This year I want to get rid of some of those items. Like old papers, clothes I never wear, things I don't ever use. I feel like I'm keeping stuff that I'll never need. Mostly paper. For some reason I'm a hoarder of paper. Things like receipts, ticket stubs, holiday and birthday cards, magazines, etc. There are a few papers that I should keep for tax purposes but the rest I really don't need.
4. As far as a more personal, fun thing this year I'd like to chat on FOJG (Friends of Josh Groban) more often. I know I said that last year but this year I mean it. I miss my sisters and I feel like I missing out on their lives and them on mine. (Which isn't too exciting at the moment but it could be. lol.) Also with a new CD and tour (hopefully soon) then the boards are going to be really fun this year. There are always newbies that are fun to talk to.
5. Also something fun and totally frivolous, I'd like to join in Chantelle Ellem's (aka: FatMumSlim) photo-a-day. I tried it a couple of months ago and I dropped out half way through the month. But I'm starting again. New month. New prompts. 

And that's pretty much it this year. Five items. 365 days to improve them.