So lately, I've taken on quite a bit more than I'm used to. I'm used to just working my full time job. This past summer I picked up a part time job at my church and also started grad school. Compared to my friends who have three kids and three jobs a piece this is seemingly insignificant, but for me, it's a lot. Time management has never been my strong suit, neither has organization. The combination of those two deficiencies causes a certain amount of headache and more frustration than anything else. My parents are both excellent at time management and organization, not sure where I fell off the wagon. Today, I finally got to sleep in and took full advantage of that and slept in till 10; it was just glorious. That's another thing, I need to find a good way to get me out of bed in the mornings. Being a morning person has never been my strong suit, but it has to get better than what it has been this past week.
My parents have been in Paris this past week, and today I believe they're going to Lucerne, Switzerland for a few days followed by a few days in Berlin before they head back home. It's kind of neat to watch them travel more as they get older; Nathan and I have had the travel bug, ever since college for Nathan and ever since my first trip overseas in 2005 or 2006, I can't even remember now, that's pretty wild. My parents hadn't been overseas until 2008 as a couple at least. My dad did some traveling when he was in the military but hadn't been abroad since he and mom got married. In 2008 they went to New Zealand, where I was spending the summer, or rather their winter, there. I saw them for 3 nights in Auckland, then they did a tour of the rest of New Zealand, then went to Australia before they came home. They said they enjoyed New Zealand much more than Australia and dream of going back there when they're retired and spending a few months over there. Then this week and next they're over in Europe. To this, I say good for them!
I like to think Nathan and I have influenced them or inspired them to go overseas more. We always tell about our various adventures and how much fun we have when we're overseas. I think I did get a lot of it out of my system with this last big trip I took. I spent 8 months traveling around the world and had an incredible experience. When I was fresh out of college I had never heard of a gap year so I was making up for lost time. Now, though, I'm happy to stay in Florida for a while and soak in the sun and soak in the deep friendships that I have with people here. I've also managed to go back home to Illinois twice since I've been back, once for Easter and this last time was for Labor Day weekend. In addition to that, I have in the forefront of my brain the need to put aside an emergency fund and am going to try and cut way back on traveling until I have that in place. When March comes around though, I'm hoping to lead a group to Mexico for a mission trip so I'll get a little cross cultural experience in even though I'm taking a break from the overseas traveling that I've done for the past few years.
It seems like everywhere I've been, I've made some pretty incredible friends. Several of them I still hear from in their email updates about their missionary lives and love to hear what they've been up to. Some of them I've lost contact with for the most part, but know that if we were to meet up we'd pick up right where we left off. Nothing quite compares though to those deep friendships I have back here that have taken years of cultivation to grow into the relationships that they now are. While it seems the popular thing to do, I'm content with just having deep friendships for now instead of heading down the aisle to supposed marital bliss. Maybe I'll head that way some day, but for now I'm really happy where I'm at. Not to mention I turn into a wreck usually every time I'm in a relationship for some reason. Then again, it's been a while so I'm not really sure how I'd handle it now as opposed to in the past.
Lately, life has been really good to me. I've been praising God for all the blessings that He's showered upon me everyday. While I have a lot on my plate, I continue to be stable mentally which helps me more than anything. I've also been trying to get back into working out with this T-tapp DVD I have that's just a short 15 minute workout. I did it twice this past week and am going to try and make time for it more often this coming week. Like I said, life has been really good the past few months to a year, so I'm incredibly grateful for that. Hopefully this will keep up for sometime and I'll learn how to better handle stress for future times when life gets rough again as it inevitably will.
I'm going to sign off now, and stop procrastinating :)
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Meaningless online arguments, teaching kindergarten, and meaningful relationships
So, I fell for it. Someone put something controversial on their facebook page and I took the bait hook line and sinker. Looking back, it reminds me of a comedian who said something was as worthless as fiery comments on a youtube video. Oh well, I've been guilty of arguing with my own kind before, nothing new really. There's nothing wrong with arguing, mind you, but it is a rare instance that it actually leads to anything productive. Instead, it usually just makes each person think they're more right in their own minds rather than reaching a mutual agreement. It's kind of like politics in that regard. Each side just says how the other one is wrong and we get nowhere in the meantime. With this last one though, I simply couldn't resist. Now, given, I put stuff on my own facebook from time to time that is controversial just to see if anyone bites, so I'm no better than the next person. Makes you wonder what social utilities are good for anyhow. A friend of mine was telling me how facebook had been responsible for a lot of his friends' divorces. Then there's the endless bickering some people partake in; which I usually try to avoid but every once in a while I get sucked into. Then of course you have the inevitable drama that some people experience from reading the wrong way into something since you can't include expression into type, smiley faces aside.
In the same breath, facebook was a lifeline for me on my journey around the world. It helped to realize there were people on the other side of the world who still knew me and still cared about me. Sometimes too, it's an easier way to communicate. Then again, you're taking away from face time, and not the type of face time that you can get with the iPhone 4 or the iPad. No, actual face to face time, when you're in one another's presence. There's nothing that beats that in my opinion. It leads to deeper relationships since you're not able to put on a fake front with each other. Honestly, that's part of what concerns me about the whole online dating thing. Of course the other person is going to seem perfect on paper, why wouldn't they? It's not like people are going to include their annoying habits, if they even realize they have them in the first place. What are they like when you meet them in person, though. Sure, at first they still seem perfect and like they can do no wrong, but how long does that last?
Back to the online arguments idea...I just saw a post by the same person that sucked me into an argument before and there were 23 long comments after her post. Apparently I'm not the only one that's been sucked into it with her. Why is compromise so difficult in regards to political things? Our politicians can't compromise, that's for sure. Meanwhile our country is headed in the wrong direction as we stand idly by and do nothing about it. Several of the tea part candidates were elected precisely because they were known as people who didn't compromise. Well, guess what happens when you don't compromise in politics or in life? You get absolutely nowhere, and it takes a lot longer to get there.
In other news, I'm absolutely loving kindergarten. I have a fantastic class, the kind of class that makes you think to yourself, "Yeah, this is why I became a teacher." I was as nervous as a cat when I started out in it, but it has turned out to be one of the best starts to a school year that I've ever had. Even now, when the honeymoon phase is over, they're still great kids. It's been like a breath of fresh air in my teaching career.
I think my year off and traveling around the world was one of the best decisions I've ever made. It helped lift me out of depression and just gave me a new perspective on life and somehow made me more grateful for what I have in life. It's so easy to take everything I have in this life for granted until it's stripped away and I realize how much I depend on my family and friends. As far as stuff goes, I didn't really miss any of my 'stuff' but rather was reminded of just how important my relationships with others are. My world revolves around relationships, my relationship with God first and foremost, followed closely by my relationships with my family and close friends. I have been extremely blessed to have very deep friendships that have weathered the test of time and distance.
A friend of mine recently told me I just needed to, "get over it, get a wife, and have a kid." This struck me as fairly odd, since she's known me for a while and I've been single for the majority of that time. It was in reference to when I visited a mutual couple friends of our's who had their firstborn son recently. This young couple called me a 'baby hog' jokingly because of how entranced I was with this newborn's little life. I couldn't get enough of the baby that first day in the hospital. While this may be true, I don't believe that means I need to "get over it and get a wife and have a kid of my own." Marriage is a huge commitment, one I'm simply not willing to make at this point in my life. Seems like I have a hard enough time keeping my own stuff straight much less throw another person into the mix. Also, for some reason whenever I try and date someone it turns out to be a disaster and way harder than it should be. This is somewhat strange I think since I make friendships so easily. Who knows? Maybe I'm just not meant for that type of relationship. Contrary to popular belief, you can lead a full and satisfying life without getting married and having kids.
In the same breath, facebook was a lifeline for me on my journey around the world. It helped to realize there were people on the other side of the world who still knew me and still cared about me. Sometimes too, it's an easier way to communicate. Then again, you're taking away from face time, and not the type of face time that you can get with the iPhone 4 or the iPad. No, actual face to face time, when you're in one another's presence. There's nothing that beats that in my opinion. It leads to deeper relationships since you're not able to put on a fake front with each other. Honestly, that's part of what concerns me about the whole online dating thing. Of course the other person is going to seem perfect on paper, why wouldn't they? It's not like people are going to include their annoying habits, if they even realize they have them in the first place. What are they like when you meet them in person, though. Sure, at first they still seem perfect and like they can do no wrong, but how long does that last?
Back to the online arguments idea...I just saw a post by the same person that sucked me into an argument before and there were 23 long comments after her post. Apparently I'm not the only one that's been sucked into it with her. Why is compromise so difficult in regards to political things? Our politicians can't compromise, that's for sure. Meanwhile our country is headed in the wrong direction as we stand idly by and do nothing about it. Several of the tea part candidates were elected precisely because they were known as people who didn't compromise. Well, guess what happens when you don't compromise in politics or in life? You get absolutely nowhere, and it takes a lot longer to get there.
In other news, I'm absolutely loving kindergarten. I have a fantastic class, the kind of class that makes you think to yourself, "Yeah, this is why I became a teacher." I was as nervous as a cat when I started out in it, but it has turned out to be one of the best starts to a school year that I've ever had. Even now, when the honeymoon phase is over, they're still great kids. It's been like a breath of fresh air in my teaching career.
I think my year off and traveling around the world was one of the best decisions I've ever made. It helped lift me out of depression and just gave me a new perspective on life and somehow made me more grateful for what I have in life. It's so easy to take everything I have in this life for granted until it's stripped away and I realize how much I depend on my family and friends. As far as stuff goes, I didn't really miss any of my 'stuff' but rather was reminded of just how important my relationships with others are. My world revolves around relationships, my relationship with God first and foremost, followed closely by my relationships with my family and close friends. I have been extremely blessed to have very deep friendships that have weathered the test of time and distance.
A friend of mine recently told me I just needed to, "get over it, get a wife, and have a kid." This struck me as fairly odd, since she's known me for a while and I've been single for the majority of that time. It was in reference to when I visited a mutual couple friends of our's who had their firstborn son recently. This young couple called me a 'baby hog' jokingly because of how entranced I was with this newborn's little life. I couldn't get enough of the baby that first day in the hospital. While this may be true, I don't believe that means I need to "get over it and get a wife and have a kid of my own." Marriage is a huge commitment, one I'm simply not willing to make at this point in my life. Seems like I have a hard enough time keeping my own stuff straight much less throw another person into the mix. Also, for some reason whenever I try and date someone it turns out to be a disaster and way harder than it should be. This is somewhat strange I think since I make friendships so easily. Who knows? Maybe I'm just not meant for that type of relationship. Contrary to popular belief, you can lead a full and satisfying life without getting married and having kids.
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