resolution bandwagon

happy new year, friends.  somehow the holidays came and flew away and now it's 2012.  holy freight train.

as the new year comes and goes, i can't help but notice that everyone around me is talking the resolution talk.  people want to do all kinds of inspiring things, but frankly, i've never even pretended to make a resolution.  i can't even manage picking up a flossing habit (something i try to lie to my obsessively hot dentist about) so i wasn't particularly optimistic regarding the successful completion of a resolution for an entire year.

in fact, even as i write this post, i feel like resolutions may be our masochistic way of reminding ourselves that we're human.  that we aren't perfect and that we have to try to better ourselves ... which seems to be one heck of a battle.

however, just like i jumped on the tebow bandwagon, i've decided to jump on the resolution bandwagon.  really i just don't want to be left out in conversations for the rest of january, but whatever the reason, i'm making a resolution this year.

so what is it, you might ask?

i resolve to stop freaking out ... or at least give it one heck of a run.  okay, this is a ridiculous resolution to make, isn't it?  if you ask my mother (or any of my truly close friends), it really isn't ridiculous ... at least not for me.  i don't know when i started being higher strung than my obsessively high-strung sister, but somewhere between high school and real life i became restless, skeptical (okay ... i've always been skeptical), and constantly tense.

and trust me, not sleeping at night is just not fun.  it's one thing because macy is being a crazy fool dog running around barking at spiders and invisible people (which i refuse to believe are ghosts), but it's another thing entirely to lose sleep because i'm high-strung.

and don't worry, i'm not foolish enough to think i can just up and erase the high-strung-can't-relax-to-save-my-life persona i've spent 6 years perfecting.  however, if i want to keep hair that's a shade other than gray and i want to keep from having stomach ulcers visit me every few months, i've got to learn to chill.

so that's what i'll do this year.  i'm going to stop freaking out.  in fact, i'm going to learn to chill out ... take things in stride and take a lot of deep breaths.  and of course, make a lot of lists.

and i'm going to love it.  rock on, 2012.

slow down life!

in the words of my father, HOLY COW.  life has all of a sudden started snowballing at warp speed and everything is happening really quickly.  which isn't necessarily a bad thing since typically, when given the time, i figure out how to get out of things i've committed to.  not always (eh...maybe?), but it's not completely atypical for me to panic after thinking about things for a while.  i just scare easily i guess.  

i think i'll blame that character flaw on being a scorpio, but in actuality i have no idea if that's ever even attributed to scorpios.  but whatever ... if you want to take the time to look it up and share, please do.  otherwise, i scare easily because i'm a scorpio.

goodbye notes from elementary school friends.
so precious.

anyways, within the past 10 days i've been offered two jobs that happened to be down the road from one another (only one of which i could accept, obviously), had my lessons observed for certification purposes, set up apartment searches in my new town (ahhh NEW TOWN), finished my thesis research, and officially finished my school library internship.

close up of one of the notes.
too cute.

in the next 10 days i'll have picked an apartment (or a cardboard box), taken (and passed?) my comprehensive exam, and submitted my first draft of my thesis.  or at least that's the plan.  

as an unashamed planner extraordinaire, this all seems so fast.  and maybe that's how big girl jobs happen.  maybe you don't find out 6 months ahead of time with plenty of idle time to relax.  or maybe you do and my snowball just started rolling early.

and obviously i was searching for jobs to get everything started quickly, but i guess i just didn't think i'd be able to find one so really it was just practice looking through sites.  but now that i've started crossing that bridge into adulthood, my life is going into autopilot in order to get everything done that i have to get done in the next month ... because you know, in order to keep the job i was offered i do have to graduate and get certified, and obviously that requires the successful completion of comp exams and thesis research (both of which completely underwhelm me).  

hunky, right?
photo credit:
http://wallpapersunlimited.blogspot.com/2009/11/
aladdin-wallpapers.html

and the packing up my apartment thing also needs to be thrown in the planning scheme ... which is a migraine waiting to happen.

but instead of freaking out, which i'd really really like to do, i'm going to go watch aladdin.  because the disney channel is playing it right now.  and aladdin is my cartoon crush, street rat or not.

organized events aren't all bad

as a general rule, i tend to shy away from organized events.  don't get me wrong, i love organization of all kinds.  but large organized events usually make me so anxious that i'd rather do my homework (gasp!) than attend them.  fairs (although i've only been to one state fair in my life), carnivals, festivals, etc...they all make me nervous.

here are some of the things i worry about:  where do i park?  what if i can't actually get mitchy into the ridiculously small spaces they say a car can fit in?  what if the parking is parallel?  where do i get tickets if they're needed?  what if it rains?  where are the bathrooms?  will there be toilet paper?  will there be soap?   

trust me, the list goes on.

despite these things, i do attend the renaissance faire annually (if you haven't been to one, you should. it's quite the life changing event and i highly recommend the tortuga twins), but i think that doesn't get to me because i started going in 6th grade before i knew all of the things that could go wrong.  and usually i go with my dad so i know nothing bad can happen.

the library's "how to recycle a book" display

anyways, today i helped with earth action day as a representative for the library.  and it was so stinking fun. we crafted paper beaded necklaces (be jealous), bookmarks, and postcards.  all of these things were made from discarded magazines so we were being all earth friendly and stuff.  hooray for mother earth!

typically this kind of event would keep me up the night before, but this wasn't the case today.  maybe it was because i had planned everything out and packed the day before, or maybe it was because a friend was coming with me (shout out to katie!), or maybe it was because it was affiliated with the library and nothing really bad happens there.  whatever the reason, everything went just as it should.

there were people to help us unload the car and they hadn't mysteriously misplaced our vendor ticket and given away our table.  some of the lovely volunteers helped us easily pop up our tent and in no time we were situated (and there was even a parking lot with normal sized spaces for mitchy!).  we were checked on continuously throughout the set-up period just to make sure we were still without questions (which we always were) and everyone just seemed to be in good spirits despite the 50-something degree cloudy weather.  we were able to craft with lots of kids (and some adults too!), chat with lots of community members, and generally just have a blast.

if i didn't list worrying as one of my hobbies, i might decide to stop worrying about everything that could go wrong at organized events and start enjoying them.  maybe next time, but today definitely proved that organized events aren't all bad.