January
The start of a hand-sewn journey
In January, I had recently started my new job at a cafeteria doing stock work so I was getting used to not having so much time on my hands. I also got a blanket from Christmas 2018 with the purpose of showing off patches. My goal was to have all of my Scouting patches hand-sewn on before I turned 24 in April.
February
More Patches
February was more of the same as January as it was still too cold out to really do anything. I made some steady progress.
March
Almost there!
The weather was starting to warm up but I was still busy with my patch blanket as sewing by hand is a long process that requires a lot of patience. Thankfully my plan worked and I was able to finish the blanket on 1 April, but for April I have something better to put down than a fourth month of patch blanket.
April
Maybe training for a 5K will work?
As the weather got nice for April I got serious about training for a 5K run. I've had poor luck until this year in 5K races as I've had to walk in every single one prior to 2019. I was going to change that and the C25K app was helpful in getting me from zero to 5K in eight weeks.
May
Two Medals?!?
I actually ran two 5Ks on back to back days. The one on Fort Meade I ran in about 30 minutes and I ran the entire course, finally! The next day I was in Bel Air running the Dawn's 5K Dash and the course there was a lot more hilly than on Fort Meade. I almost twisted my ankle and had to walk yet I managed to get 2nd place in my age group. I'll take it!
June
1000 Swans or 500 each of Miller and S'Ville?
So I had a box that was full of tiny origami paper with the intention of folding 1000 tiny swans. I started folding a few swans in 2018 but I wanted to finish the 1000 tiny swans in 2019. I completed the swans before the end of June and took a break from origami in July before tackling tiny cranes from August onward.
July
The Francis Scott Key Bridge, Baltimore
Instead of doing nothing on Independence Day like I usually do, I went up to Baltimore to participate in a Fourth of July run with a few dozen runners. We ran from a local running store to Fort McHenry and around the fort and back. I stopped inside the fort to do 76 burpees with fellow Team RWB people. Team RWB is an organization that is open to all people and their mission is, "to enrich the lives of America’s veterans by connecting them to their community through physical and social activity." The 76 burpees was a capstone to the inaugural 1776 challenge that started in mid-June and involved 18 days of exercise with one exercise per day where the goal was to do 100 repetitions of the exercise. The fact that one only had to do 76 burpees on Independence Day was so that the total number of repetitions associated with the challenge was 1776.
Let's Go O's!
The Baltimore Orioles might not have been doing so well on the diamond this year, but I always enjoy going to see a baseball game at Oriole Park. This year I went along with fellow people from Team RWB. I didn't get a crab mac and cheese hot dog but there was good food in the suites box where military related groups can see some of the games and the Orioles thank veterans and active duty alike for their service.
September
Cranes!
Although I started in August, with the weather cooling down I focused on my second origami goal this year, finish folding 1000 tiny cranes. I did manage to fold more than 200 cranes in August and September. So at the end of September I only had less than 600 left to fold.
October
Bright Lights!
In October I got to see Carrie Underwood in concert. Although I was in the nosebleeds it was a good view. I also had some of the best stadium concession food I've ever had as there was a stand that sold burgers from Lucky Buns in Washington, D.C. The burger I had was the "Lucky Bun" with gouda, pickles, arugula, grilled red onion, and their special "lucky sauce".
November
1st place? Alright!
In November I ran another 5K. This 5K was a fundraiser race to raise funds to buy wreaths to place on gravestones at the Maryland Veterans Cemetery as part of the Wreaths Across America initiative. The ultimate goal being that there is a wreath at every gravestone at every veterans cemetery. I may have been beaten by my dad and one of his friends, but I still got 1st place in my age group!
December
Two origami challenges completed
Finally I completed the second set of 1000 origami cranes, this time the tiny cranes and thus both the 1000 tiny swans and 1000 tiny cranes were completed in 2019. I don't know what I'll do for origami in 2020 but I have a few ideas on what I could do. Onward! To a new decade!
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