Can I Even Write Anymore?

I keep telling myself that I should start blogging again and then it never happens. But since the thought occurred to me again this evening and I actually have time right now to act on that thought, I'm writing! It's been so terribly long since I blogged that I've almost forgotten how to. I certainly will have to get used to Blogger's platform again, since they changed everything since the last time I was on here.

Hmm...should I give a brief recap of what I've been up to in the last year and a half, or do I figure that most of my readers are either relatives or Facebook friends and therefore already know? Well, on the off-chance that my readers don't know...here's what I've been up to! Some of this was posted on my other blog at the end of 2011, but I might as well recap it all here.

So, I had been working as a nanny. I realized mid-2011 that the job wasn't right for me anymore, and that I actually had an interest that I could study and make a career of: office administration. I quit my job in the fall and enrolled in the community college Office Administration program to earn my Associate's degree. At that point I felt like I need to start over, so to speak, and take a different sort of path with my life. I was frustrated and stressed about dating and didn't really want to do that again for a while, so I figured I would put my focus completely on college. I wanted to work hard and get done faster than the suggested two years, so I decided (but told only a few people), that I wasn't going to date anyone until I was at least done with my first year of school, maybe not until I was completely done.

My first month of school went well, I was mostly enjoying my classes and still finding time to get together with my friends, even if it meant going to an ultimate frisbee game and sitting on the sidelines working on homework because I was busy (and possibly having some leg problems, if I recall). Turns out, sitting on the sidelines of a game at the end of January turned into spending half the game talking to a friend who drove up for the game, but decided to talk to me instead of playing. During that long conversation, said friend asked me out for coffee the following weekend...and I told him that I would go out for coffee with him.

Long story short, we met for coffee on February 4th, had an awesome first date talking about...everything, and I rescinded my decision not to date. Obviously this was not the stressful, uncertain dating relationship I was wanting to avoid, but rather the "I think you're great, we've always enjoyed each others company, and I really want this to work and think it definitely could!" sort of relationship. David proposed at the end of May and we got married December 22. Clearly it worked. :)

Yes, there were disagreements and worries, and wedding planning wasn't always easy because the two of us and my mom all have very strong opinions, plus I can't always make decisions easily. (Strong opinions plus indecision? Not good...) But nobody killed anybody in the process! And I kept working on school, which was probably even better because I had someone to help me figure out the best way to schedule my classes, and sympathize when I had annoying projects...and in my last semester to help me with my math class!

We spent our honeymoon in the mountains and then in Aruba, both of which were amazing (apart from the colds we both got). We came back and I finally got all of my stuff moved from my parents' house to our apartment (I had so much stuff packed into that room of mine...amazing how things pile up after years and years in one place!). This spring was my last semester of school, which wasn't bad. All the changes all at once stressed me more than school. I hadn't moved since I was 7, never moved out at all, plus I had to get used to living with someone new...and I don't handle change well. It was good change, but even so it was so many new things to get used to that it was overwhelming. David was amazingly patient with my emotional breakdowns over silly little things, and we finally got settled in. And marriage has been awesome! Not always easy, not always fun, but definitely worth it. I'm so happy, and we balance each other well. Or he balances me... And teases me and makes me smile (or laugh hysterically when he's being silly).

So...it's now August and we've been married for a little over seven months already! And I'm working as an office manager for a local retail and wholesale clothing store, which is alternately challenging & fun, and slow & boring. (I don't like retail. I will never, ever choose a job that is solely retail, but working with wholesale customers is very satisfying.)

Eight paragraphs later...I guess I can still write a little bit at least! Now to see if I can keep this up!

The Phantom Tollbooth

The Phantom Tollbooth was one of my most favorite books when I was a kid...still is one of my favorites in fact! :)

Michael Cabon does an excellent job of capturing the wonder of reading the book and draws appopropriate attention to the amazing vocabulary in it!

'The Phantom Tollbooth' and the Wonder of Words:
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2011/apr/21/michael-chabon-phantom-tollbooth-wonder-words/

Roaming Free

Apparently there's a stubborn German cow evading capture after she escaped from the commune she lived on. I can't say as I blame her... :D

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/08/15/139648411/yvonne-a-cow-wrapped-in-a-mystery-inside-a-forest

Encouragement

Habakkuk 1:2-
O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
   and you will not hear?
Or cry to you "Violence!"
   and you will not save?

But the Lord replies in verse 5-
"Look among the nations, and see;
   wonder and be astounded.
For I am doing a work in your days
   that you would not believe if told."

No, we can't always see what the Lord is doing right now, and it may appear that everything is against us, but He is doing wonderful things that we don't even believe possible. :)

(As an interesting note: neither Firefox nor Blogger flagged "Habakkuk" as being misspelled! That's impressive.)

Take a Challenge

I came across this the other day. It's kind of a cool idea, though I wish there were a website like it that wasn't just "world-improving" challenges, but rather a wider variety of things, because it would be kind of fun. Does anyone know of a website like that?

Discover new experiences that improve your world: http://bolder.is/

Quality of Design

Interesting thoughts on quality of design vs. quality of manufacture.

Defining Quality: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2011/07/defining-quality.html

One thought that occurred to me is that on a very basic level you can apply the formula [(result of work effort)/(total costs)] to making something yourself as opposed to buying it. At some point the cost (time/money) outweighs the quality of results you get by making x yourself, at which point, unless you have unlimited amounts of time, you would probably be better off purchasing x product.

New Endeavor

This is my new (newest?) blog. I've pretty much deserted my other blog because I simply don't have time to write long posts about what's going on in my life. (Besides the fact that I'm doing good to keep up with life, let alone write about it!)

But I felt like posting something and having some blog presence again, so I set this up. It will mostly be a place to share links and my thoughts on them (rather than posting all of them on Facebook), and also the occasional post from me if I have something to mention briefly.

It's something along the lines of what most people are using their Tumblr pages for, but I like Blogger's system and I'm used to it, so unless I think of some good reason to change, I will stick with Blogger. You do have the advantage on Tumblr of being able to post music files, but I have a Tumblr account/page somewhere so if I feel the urge to post something that's not on YouTube I can just link to it.