January Highlights

This January, I went to CES, the Consumer Electronics Show. It's a show all about innovations and technology, and one of my favorite moments was meeting a man who works for the US Post Office and agreeing to be pen pals.

I finally wrote him tonight, and I quite enjoy the recap of January that I'm sending to him. So I'm documenting it here as well for me (and my two readers).

Let's see...in the past month, a few highlights from my side:

• Kicked off a youth taiko program. I play in a taiko group (taiko = "drum" in Japanese) and we've been wanting to teach the kids who attend the temple where we practice. It's been a long conversation, but we finally started! We're only 2 classes in, but everyone seems to be having a good time.
• Competed in a masters swim meet. Everyone who is 18+ and not swimming for a college team is considered "masters." I ended up surprising myself (thanks, adrenaline) and my teammates also surprised me. I swam a relay with my 68 and 70 year old teammates. They're so fast!
• Celebrated the birth of my childhood friend's first baby. We've been friends since 3rd grade, and she had her sweet baby girl in January. I visited her in December before she had her baby, and now I've been celebrating remotely and showing her off like she's mine. She's very sweet.
• Restarted fermentation projects. I have a shelf of DIY fermentation projects - kombucha, sauerkraut, and sourdough starter. I like to smell them all before going to bed.
• Established "Cat Sock Day" at the gym. This is probably my greatest accomplishment this January. It's pretty self-explanatory.
• Made a new pen pal. Tada!

And actually, now that I read through these highlights, I realize that was only the last 2 weeks of January. I'm also still convinced it's January right now, evidenced by the fact that I forgot my best-February-birthday friend's birthday this week, and I keep forgetting that mine's coming up too.

I guess I really am getting old now.