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.

Nature calling

 

Things are just happening so quickly that I have not felt like blogging about work or school lately. However, after practicing in the skills lab this morning I went outside to find that the fog had cleared and it was a nice day.

Walking or anything that resembles exercise has not been a regular part of my routine over the past few months. Therefore, it was nice to get some fresh air and sunshine before heading home. Not sure if I want to stay in the city after graduation, because I like having nature a little closer than a two-hour drive. A patch of grass among the high-rise buildings might work for some, but not me.

This little girl was having some fun, but I could not decide if I was amused or disgusted as I watched her run amongst the pigeons. Not the kind of nature I grew up with.

A truth be told

This was part of the speech given by Steve Jobs at the commencement ceremony at Stanford in 2005, and it was after he was diagnosed with cancer. It kind of motivated me, especially the second paragraph.


No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.


Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary

Overwhelmed

To say this quarter has been tough is an understatement and I don't know if I have ever felt this overwhelmed. Remember that feeling of being a young hormone induced teenager. That peer pressure and feeling of needing to be accepted, of being wanted and liked by that certain person in the front row who maturated a little earlier. Well, that is how out of control, stressed and overwhelmed these six classes have me feeling right now. At times an internal debate is happening as to whether this stress is worth it.

Study Groups

Never been a big fan of study groups because they always seem to turn into gossip sessions instead of productive time to learn. Although a couple of weeks ago, a few us tried to get together and it worked well for the sessions we met. However, now a couple of people decided to make it an open invitation for anyone who wants to join us. FYI, when a study group hits double digits in attendance, it is no longer is a study group. It has now morphed into an accumulation of people wasting time with different ideas of how to accomplish the same thing.  

Where are my flashcards?

Substance Theory

Being around all these students and with the majority of them women, this has its pros and cons. I am reminded of something a co-worker said to me about 10 years ago. While asking me about an acquaintance one morning she said, you won't be happy with her, you need someone with substance. She didn’t go into detail, but I knew what she meant.

Many guys are content with looking at, fantasizing and dating women strictly based on looks.
Don't get me wrong I like to look at beautiful women too. Honestly though, there is something about a woman who can hold an intelligence conversation and has a passion for something in life, besides herself. To me that makes a woman ten times more attractive.  Now that does not mean she needs degrees or a high IQ, she just needs to have some substance, if you know what I mean.



You need a tune-up

Sometimes I am not the brightest bulb in the tree. My car has been sitting for a few days because I take the train into school during the week. Getting home, I decided to run to the grocery store and jumped in my car starting it up. Just then, it starts shaking and I look behind thinking someone is joking around rocking my bumper. Nobody there so I think it is idling rough, but then it stops.

Only at the store when someone comments on the earthquake did it all make sense. It happened over the hill in Berkeley and was only a 3.8, to the 4.0 that happened earlier in the day. I never felt that one either. Only in California would I confuse my rough running car to an earthquake.