Black Sheep

I look back at my friends and co-workers who had numerous sibling in the family, and it seems that one becomes estranged or decides they do not want to be a part of the family anymore. They become unavailable for family functions and/or stopped being sociable. At times, a spouse or fiancé influence their new thoughts about family members. Other times it was only their selfishness or perceived feeling of not being treated equally. They operate on blame and excuses, but ultimately it was their decision to alienate themselves.
 For the longest time I thought my family was immune to this situation. However, over the past few years I have watched it develop with one of my sisters and her husband.

Truthfully, if these individuals were not family they would never be friends. They would simply be people passing through our lives.

 This year the holiday is a good reminder and it reinforces my belief. I will leave the door open for their return, although I am done wasting time and energy on those who have anointed themselves the victims.     

Gratitude

It gets to a point where you do not want to study anymore so of course you check email and read blogs. I ran across this quote and decided it was time to study some more.

Develop an attitude for gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you. Knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation.
-Brian Tracy

Kimmirut

One paper and five finals over the next 7 days and they are calling me to work. No thank you that is why I switched to per Diem, because I knew these days would be coming. In fact, two years ago when I decided to finish my bachelors and go on to graduate school, I knew it would not be an easy journey. I evaluated the options of whether to give up steady pay, benefits and insurance in order to put it all on the line with a goal in mind. This is the first round of finals in graduate school and although the hurdles are higher and I may stumble, I will keep going.

 What is Kimmirut? There is a little town of approx. 400 people located above the Arctic Circle on Baffin Island. The thing is they have regular weather updates and a webcam set up looking out over a few houses and a bay. I have never seen a person and I think the ice and snow was gone for 2-3 months this summer. I am a little geeky with meteorology, but why am I fascinated looking at this little Inuit town on the edge of an island in the Arctic, and their 24 hr a day webcam? Somebody walk by the camera already.

Live Kimmirut webcam

Good Luck?

Here is what my instructor emails me last night after hearing my story. “Please remember that a small bad luck prevents a big bad luck and turns into a good luck in the future.” She may be Asian and it may sound like confucious or a fortune cookie, but coming from her it meant a lot.   

It was not referring to my grades, but we will see if it applies after finals next week. She was trying to cheer me up after a long day. I had not slept much the night before and then spent 10 hours out at school and I was tired. Forgetting something, I emailed her a course question. Then seeing that it was 7:30 pm, I decided it was a good time to do a couple quick errands. My favorite little produce store was near Costco so I could grab a bag of persimmons and fill up my tank and no problem back in 30 minutes.

So produce in the back seat and tank filled up I get in to start my car at the Costco gas bar, turn the key and nothing happens. Long story short AAA; drop my car at the mechanics and a 30-minute trip turned into almost 3 hours.

Good thing I use the train to commute to school and I will be waiting for that good luck in the future.