The Plan for Today

Slow and steady, no yelling.

Spend an hour in prayer with some lovely ladies (if they show up) and on my own if they don't.

Sweetness and light, that's me.

Peace.

This is just not my day

I just spent 45 minutes working on my work website only to have it disappear into the blogosphere. I give up. Tomorrow will be better, it could hardly be worse!

However, if you want to get a laugh out of a REALLY bad day, go over to Heide's place!

Peace.

Well, I'm glad that's over (I think)

Just had it out a bit with one of my bosses. Guess we both needed to vent, which is fine. A little yelling between friends is okay, right?

At least I feel like I said my piece.

It's very hard working at a church because the expectations are that when you run out of working hours, you will just continue on. I have never worked anywhere else that thinks employees should or would do that (except maybe Walmart, but even they have to lock the doors to keep them in).

The rules are there for a reason and they are there to protect employees from being intimidated into working for free. That's why they are there.

And I do volunteer there, as well. I just have a line-in-the-sand: I will not volunteer to do my job. Help out in another area, sure. Help with an event that everyone is working together on, okay, when I can. Unfortunately as my enthusiasm for the institution wanes, so does my willingness. Ho-freaking-hum.

So here's to clearing the air and setting boundaries. Long may they reign!

Peace.

One decision made, anyway.

I am going to blog every day. Every single day. Even if it's just a little bit. I read an awful lot and have an awful lot to say about it, of course. I shall say it here.

So there.

Peace.

What do I do now?

So I'm confronted (in a nice way) with a sort of request that I figure out what the hell I want to do next.

And I don't really know.

Over the course of my life so far, I've wanted to be a lot of things, some more practical than others. Sign language interpreter, opera singer, a bunch of things. Lately, since my job is partly a webmaster position, I've thought about being not a website designer but a content provider, a writer for sites, something like that. But it has been brought home to me that I really don't KNOW anything. I'm a decent writer and high-information political junkie with a little experience with CSS and HTML but nothing huge. I do plan to take a course in HTML in the next year, but that doesn't seem like a dream, you know?

I would like to write for maybe a radio station website (I love radio) or a political campaign or political website (Talking Points Memo internship sounds really great right now; unfortunately it would involve getting an internship at my advanced years and moving my family to DC with no visible means of support). There are certainly areas I am excited about and would like to write about. But, again, I don't have a PoliSci degree or anything, I'm just a self-taught occasional political blogger that no one reads.


And yet I feel as though this might be my chance to choose something new to do, something that would keep me interested and passionate until the end of my working life. Which isn't that far away, realistically speaking. Relatively.

So is now the time to go back to school? To look for an internship or training program? To throw everything up in the air (again) and see where it falls? The last time we did that it was for my husband to come out to L.A., which has had its ups and downs, but the kids are incredible and we are at least functional at this point.

In my heart of hearts, I would like to be able to stop struggling so hard and spend a few years becoming a Master Spinner, write a book and teach spinning and spin forever and ever. Yeah. I know. But that is because I have always wanted to stop doing anything tedious and just do interesting fun things. I'm basically lazy, after all.

Perhaps it's time to decide what I DON'T want to do and at least eliminate some options. I do NOT want to be a lawyer. I do NOT want to go back to secretarial work unless it's a dire emergency. I do NOT want to choose what I'm doing just to make money and not to feed my soul. Which argues for staying with what I do now, as although it is not perfect, does offer a path to some fulfillment most of the time. I do NOT want to go into the ministry (ha!).

I think I need to think some more...

We are America!!

Same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional!!

Motion to Stay denied!!

I feel like getting married myself!!

Congratulations, all!! Down with hate!! Up with love!!

Back to School!

And work!

All good!

We have enjoyed our summer and I, for one, am ready for some new challenges and the energy I get from the fall(ish) weather.

We visited family we haven't seen for years and years and added a new state to our list (Vermont). We spent time with our relatives. We learned a lot at swim lessons and recharged our batteries. We got more familiar with new technologies and came to realizations about what we would like to learn about in the future.

I am excited about new volunteer opportunities at Middle School (hopefully with the choir program) and the return of Family Camp at work/church. I have a new appreciation for the great things about my job: schedule, nice co-workers, supportive boss, fun and satisfying work. I am excited about the new choir season, as well, with a lovely director who respects and appreciates his staff.

I am hopeful about my son's class this year. It will be a bit of a struggle, perhaps, helping him to regain his enthusiasm about school, but given just a bit of the right kind of energy, he will manage.

It was a scary summer financially and that continues on for a bit, but the end is in sight. And we will survive once more. Even if we have to go through this again next year, as long as there is enough to be going on with, the pros outweigh the cons. I'm a bit amazed by that, but there it is. The situation has made me so unhappy, off and on, and I need to come to a peaceful resolution in my own heart, but I think I'm there and can go back to the office with a happy heart, ready for the challenges to come.

I hope to be blogging more this year and writing more about politics and current events than I managed to do last year. I should make a schedule...

Now let's enjoy the last lovely days of vacation before the work begins!

May peace prevail upon the earth.