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Day 1106: Counting Down
Feb. 16th, 2014 09:06 pmThis past week has been about countdowns. For the most part, I have been counting down to the new job. I am so excited. Also terrified, but I remember when I was going to be a lawyer for the first time, fresh out of law school with a closet full of pressed suits, a shiny leather briefcase, and the idealism of youth in my heart. And I have it again. The suits are a little less pressed, and the briefcase is a bit scuffed, but in a week's time I'm going to get out there and help children.
And that means a lot to me. When I was a kid, my sister and I had a veritable menagerie of stuffed animals, some from my father's business trips (he brought me a koala from Australia; my sister got a 'roo), some from holidays (like gift shops at Disneyland) and others just collected over time. We played two games: school and orphanage. At school, my sister was the teacher, and she used old travel brochures to create bizarre assignments, and I did all of the animals' homework (and people wondered why I was good at math at so young). In orphanage, my sister and I took care of the stuffed animals, and we typed up illegible legal documents on my mother's old typewriter, and we made sure each and every one of our animals was sent to a good home with a happy forever family.
Once I was a TA in high school, and that pretty much killed my dreams of ever wanting to be a teacher (although sometimes I eye postings at the nearby law school and wonder). But the urge to help kids find their forever families has never gone away. All my life I've known I was lucky to have my forever family. Whenever we moved somewhere new, there was great ceremony involved in choosing bedrooms (silence was the better part of valour and my sister always got the biggest room), and my bedroom was not officially mine until my parents hung a picture of the London temple over my bed, because that was the temple where I was sealed to them so we could be a forever family.
So counting down to this job? Has been pretty exciting. I probably have been kinda trunky in my current job, but researching the same thing for two months straight would make anyone crazy. I am pretty pleased that with my new job fifty state matrices will be a thing of the past. However, this old job has been good to me. I've had flexible hours, and they let me keep my job when I moved, which is rare and enabled us to buy this house, so I am grateful. Also, to date it has been the longest job I've ever had - two full years. My coworkers, for the most part, have been nice - I'm still friends with my girl Cory - and it was a fun place to work. But the time has come for me to be gone, as it were.
This week I was also counting down to my birthday. Cards and gifts arrived in the mail well in advance, and I've had them sitting on my desk, waiting to be torn into. On the night before my birthday Cody took me to the bookstore and I bought a couple of really lovely journals. On the night of my birthday I went belly dancing, and then when I got home Cody was finishing up kenpo with Jeremy, and we went out for ice cream.
Friday, of course, was Valentine's Day, and I have been looking forward to it because we planned on going out for all-you-can-eat sushi. We got all dressed up, we drove up to American Fork, and then we sat and played Angry Birds on my phone (we've been stuck on the same level for several dates now) until a table opened up for us. While we ate we laughed and talked and plotted about the novel we somehow started writing together (Cody added a scene one weekend, and then I added scene, and now it's his turn again), and it was a lovely evening. We watched a movie on Netflix, put the puppies the bed, and overall it was a good night.
I have been watching as my girl Sei puts notes on my novella. I need to buckle down and make changes. This next week is going to be busy - going to a concert; symphony, the music of Harry Potter - and I need to not miss my deadlines, and we need to get ready for me to start my new job. I need to start getting up earlier so I can get things done in the morning - scripture study, walking the dogs, any food prep - and so I can get used to my new schedule. Also, my friend Shannon has invited me around to see her new baby boy, and that should be exciting - haven't seen her since the baby shower, sadly.
Also, despite me having braved hammers, dog fights, scratchy chicken wire, and farm staples to secure the fence, Dingo continues to be an escape artist. Right now he is curled up in the corner of his pen, cute as can be, but I need to stake out the garden and figure out how he's getting out of my garden so I can prevent him from doing so. When I start the new job, I don't want to have to lock him in his crate all day, so I need to stop his Houdini behavior. Also, he has learned how to climb the barrier into the den, so it's not much a deterrent (Ivy can jump over it). He and Ivy have also learned how to team-crash the rubbish bin in the kitchen so they can get at its contents. When I took him to the pet store on Saturday to get a name tag and his first round of puppy shots, he tried to pick a fight with a pit bull. While I do know how to teach him commands - he's already passable at sit - I will need some help in curbing his attitude. Also, Ivy has started to exhibit the runaway tendencies I've heard plague huskies. Before she was always glad to be with the humans, but now if she can get out the gate, she bolts, and it takes a lot of cajoling to get her back.
This weekend my sister's husband Wayne was an absolute gem and came to help Cody install a new toilet - the one in the basement was pretty manky. Also, he and Cody did some electrical work while I huddled in the other room and played D20 modern with my old crew from Omaha over Skype. Tomie is rocking a white goatee now, and it looks pretty cool. We also all agree that the picture from the camera on my phone is better than the picture from my laptop. Hopefully I will be able to game with them again.
Here's go finishing my work project and having a good week. Here's to hoping all my friends and loved ones are doing all right. Good luck this week, whoever still reads this thing!
And that means a lot to me. When I was a kid, my sister and I had a veritable menagerie of stuffed animals, some from my father's business trips (he brought me a koala from Australia; my sister got a 'roo), some from holidays (like gift shops at Disneyland) and others just collected over time. We played two games: school and orphanage. At school, my sister was the teacher, and she used old travel brochures to create bizarre assignments, and I did all of the animals' homework (and people wondered why I was good at math at so young). In orphanage, my sister and I took care of the stuffed animals, and we typed up illegible legal documents on my mother's old typewriter, and we made sure each and every one of our animals was sent to a good home with a happy forever family.
Once I was a TA in high school, and that pretty much killed my dreams of ever wanting to be a teacher (although sometimes I eye postings at the nearby law school and wonder). But the urge to help kids find their forever families has never gone away. All my life I've known I was lucky to have my forever family. Whenever we moved somewhere new, there was great ceremony involved in choosing bedrooms (silence was the better part of valour and my sister always got the biggest room), and my bedroom was not officially mine until my parents hung a picture of the London temple over my bed, because that was the temple where I was sealed to them so we could be a forever family.
So counting down to this job? Has been pretty exciting. I probably have been kinda trunky in my current job, but researching the same thing for two months straight would make anyone crazy. I am pretty pleased that with my new job fifty state matrices will be a thing of the past. However, this old job has been good to me. I've had flexible hours, and they let me keep my job when I moved, which is rare and enabled us to buy this house, so I am grateful. Also, to date it has been the longest job I've ever had - two full years. My coworkers, for the most part, have been nice - I'm still friends with my girl Cory - and it was a fun place to work. But the time has come for me to be gone, as it were.
This week I was also counting down to my birthday. Cards and gifts arrived in the mail well in advance, and I've had them sitting on my desk, waiting to be torn into. On the night before my birthday Cody took me to the bookstore and I bought a couple of really lovely journals. On the night of my birthday I went belly dancing, and then when I got home Cody was finishing up kenpo with Jeremy, and we went out for ice cream.
Friday, of course, was Valentine's Day, and I have been looking forward to it because we planned on going out for all-you-can-eat sushi. We got all dressed up, we drove up to American Fork, and then we sat and played Angry Birds on my phone (we've been stuck on the same level for several dates now) until a table opened up for us. While we ate we laughed and talked and plotted about the novel we somehow started writing together (Cody added a scene one weekend, and then I added scene, and now it's his turn again), and it was a lovely evening. We watched a movie on Netflix, put the puppies the bed, and overall it was a good night.
I have been watching as my girl Sei puts notes on my novella. I need to buckle down and make changes. This next week is going to be busy - going to a concert; symphony, the music of Harry Potter - and I need to not miss my deadlines, and we need to get ready for me to start my new job. I need to start getting up earlier so I can get things done in the morning - scripture study, walking the dogs, any food prep - and so I can get used to my new schedule. Also, my friend Shannon has invited me around to see her new baby boy, and that should be exciting - haven't seen her since the baby shower, sadly.
Also, despite me having braved hammers, dog fights, scratchy chicken wire, and farm staples to secure the fence, Dingo continues to be an escape artist. Right now he is curled up in the corner of his pen, cute as can be, but I need to stake out the garden and figure out how he's getting out of my garden so I can prevent him from doing so. When I start the new job, I don't want to have to lock him in his crate all day, so I need to stop his Houdini behavior. Also, he has learned how to climb the barrier into the den, so it's not much a deterrent (Ivy can jump over it). He and Ivy have also learned how to team-crash the rubbish bin in the kitchen so they can get at its contents. When I took him to the pet store on Saturday to get a name tag and his first round of puppy shots, he tried to pick a fight with a pit bull. While I do know how to teach him commands - he's already passable at sit - I will need some help in curbing his attitude. Also, Ivy has started to exhibit the runaway tendencies I've heard plague huskies. Before she was always glad to be with the humans, but now if she can get out the gate, she bolts, and it takes a lot of cajoling to get her back.
This weekend my sister's husband Wayne was an absolute gem and came to help Cody install a new toilet - the one in the basement was pretty manky. Also, he and Cody did some electrical work while I huddled in the other room and played D20 modern with my old crew from Omaha over Skype. Tomie is rocking a white goatee now, and it looks pretty cool. We also all agree that the picture from the camera on my phone is better than the picture from my laptop. Hopefully I will be able to game with them again.
Here's go finishing my work project and having a good week. Here's to hoping all my friends and loved ones are doing all right. Good luck this week, whoever still reads this thing!
