Filling in my memories

Quick update - I am in Hawaii. I arived last Monday and was able to spend an entire week with a friend I'd not really seen in about 3 years, as well as spend the entire trip with another friend with whom I get only occasional and short visits.

One of the fun elements of the trip has been reminiscing about old memories. However, I find that several of these stories are not logged in my memory bank anywhere. It is a nice opportunity to have these friends refresh my memory while also making new ones!

We've gone snorkeling, kayaking (and swimming unintentionally with whales), drove the road to Hana, been on black sand beach, red sand beach, saw the Ioa Needle, been to a luau....still with a few days left!

People living 'Plan B'

Today was my last day of work with my contract in Wyoming.

As I was driving home from work I heard a story on "This American Life" talking about people switching from their 'Plan A's to 'Plan B's....or C...., D...., F.

The first story I heard was about a man, a Princeton graduate with a dream to be an actor, who ended up working as "Cuervo Man" as a "party catalyst." It was funny, lots of tidbits about how the interviewer, also a Princeton grad, in some ways envied "Cuervo Man"....but really got me thinking about my 'Plan A'....'Plan B.'

Even as my situations in life changed as I got older, I had some consistency in my views of what life would be. I knew I would go to college, figured I would complete the OT program. And I figured I'd find someone to share life with and be married shortly after college. But as I approach 30 and have no clear vision of marriage in sight I wonder what my 'Plan B/C/D...?' will really be.

Moving my side-project

I have decided to move my photo-of-the-day project to another location, so feel free to peek in every now and then to see what little things are going on in my world!

My blog

Just back from dinner on Saturday night - Rob and I went to a little Mexican restaurant with his friend Lonnie, Rob knows a waitress there - she used to bring her boys to the barber shop.




On Sunday we watched the Super Bowl with friends Mark, Mindy, and Lonnie. Even though there were only five of us, we prepared enough food for twice that many! Rob ordered the best ribs from a shop in Tennessee, made wings, I made two pizzas from scratch (I know!), and a cheese-beef dip. Don't even get me started on the desserts! Rob was really happy the Steelers won!




Now for some reason, on Sunday night I hardly slept. I must have dozed, but it was the kind of sleep where you never feel rested, and I saw every hour of the night. Monday was a long day, so when I finally got home, walked the dog, had something for dinner, that was about all I could muster. So here is where I ended up. I had a glorious nine straight hours of sleep!


And here is tonight - one of the things I really like about Rob is that when he says he'll call me, that's exactly what he does. Dating from different cities is not much fun, but we've made it work pretty well. We talk a couple of times each day, generally after work and before bed.

1.30.09 - Yay Friday!

I don't know if I have always been this way, but I think I am turning into a "rut" type of person. Between my various internship experiences and now my contract job, I see a certain set of patterns that emerge within my week. I grocery shop on Monday, I fill my gas tank on Thursdays, take the dog for a good walk on Saturdays.

On Fridays we usually get a late new patient at work. By the time I finish doing the new evaluation on that patient, they are tired, I am tired, and it is late. I go home from work, I pack my car, run the dog around a bit, and head for Colorado. So on Friday I generally have no motivation to make dinner. There is a great little sandwich shop just a block from my house where I will sometimes get a turkey and swiss sandwich with a delicious cookie. This Friday however, I was the lucky recipient of the leftover bowl of salad from a lunch ordered in for a work meeting. For a change I actually ate something that didn't require any effort but was actually somewhat good for me!

New Project - 806pm

I will first be honest and say I am borrowing this idea from a story I heard on NPR. I cannot find a link to the story, but the idea behind it was to snap a photo each day at the same time. In this way, a person could capture the day-to-day memories throughout the year. A main point in the story was that most photos are staged, capturing special events like a birthday, a sporting event, a holiday party... But with these daily pictures one could see the more mundane, but not necessarily less significant moments that make up a year.

I know I will not be diligent about posting my pictures each day...and I am not sure if I am going to post a week's pictures at a time, or just a few with short explanations. But at the very least I figured this might be a fun thing to try.

My appointed time will be 806 pm. Tonight at that time I was laying on my couch, watching a dvd, and petting my dog, Mattie.

Patterns

I am buried deep within the quest to organize my life...

Despite having lived in Cheyenne for two months now, I am not unpacked. I promised myself I would unpack with purpose - with a critical eye to examine what I have, why, and what I can pass on. Slow slow slow this process has been!

Among my slow unpacking, I came across an old journal. While reading through some of the passages (from only a year-ish ago) I saw two startling things:

1. I am not a very regular journal writer (or blogger as you can see!).
2. Much has changed in just a year or so

Inconsistent though I may be - I will not give up!

As far as change, I find it both encouraging and discouraging all at once. While, of course, there are many things that should and must change, it is difficult to see those things that have, but I never wished to. There are countless examples of prayers answered: marriages, families growing, jobs secured...but at the same time, a year ago there were friendships in my life that I could never imagine being any different. In such a short time I feel I hardly know how these friends are doing anymore.

Fortunately, a lot can change in a year....