Well, I keep hoping to get Ms. S off her mental couch and back online ranting, but I think that may be easier said than done. Her job is a hell of a lot more mentally taxing than my current data entry level position. Sad.
For the record, I've listened to almost nothing but Sting's Brand New Day and Elton John's Greatest Hits double album this week. I don't know if that colors my thoughts, but it can't help but influence them. As many folks could tell you, I couldn't stand Elton John throughout my college years. Some of that had to do with a roommate who would get depressed and play a song with lyrics about being a bullet in the gun of Robert Bjorn (or something like that). Prior to college, I'd had little to say either way about the man. You can't help but at least respect someone who's had that long of a career, with writing and instrument mastery being a part of it, but I just didn't like to listen to him. Go figure. Then I moved to a town with little in the way of good radio station choices, begin listening to a "classics" type station which seems to play Elton at least once an hour, and now I'm hooked! One case where intimacy did not breed contempt, I guess. But I was gifted with the CD collection, and can't stop saying good bye to the Yellow Brick Road. Go figure. I guess it's proof that we grow and change constantly. Thank the gods that may be.
Hmm. Well, maybe that's all for now. I have other rants, but I think maybe they'll wait. I don't feel like entertaining negative thoughts right now.
12 January 2003
11 January 2003
Let's all pretend that this is a new blog. Since there have been no new posts for many moons, this should be almost as easy said as done. I mean, there are things to think about, things to discuss, things to rant about, and just things to say. And why not do it where other people can see, contemplate, and, if so moved, respond? That IS the point of the blog, is it not?
So it is 2003. Other than that little number, little has changed in the world at large. If I look at the so-called big picture as it is presented to me by the world, we're fast approaching hell and our handbasket is not fireproof. But if I look at the people I know, I see decency, caring, love, and a general desire to do something to make the world a better place. We see that in different ways, for sure, and disagree about how it could happen. One friend wants to teach. One wants to build. Another (your other Girl Friday on this site, unheard of for so long) has become an "Officer of the Peace" whether she herself has found that peace or not. I want to preserve, to educate, to create a sense of place through history. Of course we're all a little idealistic -- we're young. If the young cannot be idealistic, what hope is there?
But it isn't just the young. To give some background on the situation, I have a strange relationship with my mother. She and I were always somewhat close, but since my dad died four years ago, I have been a major (if not the major) confidant in her life. I don't think she thought things would turn out this way -- learning at 59 to live your life alone again. The situation would be sad if my mother were not the woman she is, strong, positive, and generally cheerful (annoyingly so, sometimes). Regardless, after my father died, she had to learn to manage finances. She'd always done the household stuff, but not the investments and such. Since I was just getting out of college, we learned together. Now, at the end of my gradutate school career, when I am making decisions (or trying to) about the course of my life, major decisions carrying major consequences, so is she. She can retire in another year. So, strangely enough, my mother and I can choose what we want to do in the next phases of our lives at around the same time, and discuss it. I will admit that she isn't the primary person that I discuss things with, but her opinion is important to me. Most of all, I am lucky in the fact that she supports and respects my decisions, whether she understands them or not. But my point in this ramble was that she has hope and ideals and visions. And she's 63. I guess I like the idea that no matter what I choose to do now, I can always change my mind later. I am not going to be trapped for the rest of eternity if I don't make the "right" choice right now. I live with that example, with that permission to change my mind, every day, and it makes this phase of my life so much easier and free-er.
As far as an update from the last posting, I am employed at slightly above minimum wage doing entry level work as an intern in my field. I have learned so much in the past 6 weeks or so, not just about the field of preservation, but about how an office works, how the programs work, and how the field I want to enter may work. It is grunt work, but it is a nice big step on my way to my career. I have also had a job interview in the cold, icy north, for a fabulous position in an okay place. Fingers crossed, as I should learn the outcome of that next week.
So my New Year's resolution, insomuch as I would make one, is to use this blog to explore the things I am thinking about. And to convince my erstwhile absent friend to return to doing the same. Mental health over physical, as my degree record should show as a lifestyle choice. WICKED MOXIE LIVES!!!
So it is 2003. Other than that little number, little has changed in the world at large. If I look at the so-called big picture as it is presented to me by the world, we're fast approaching hell and our handbasket is not fireproof. But if I look at the people I know, I see decency, caring, love, and a general desire to do something to make the world a better place. We see that in different ways, for sure, and disagree about how it could happen. One friend wants to teach. One wants to build. Another (your other Girl Friday on this site, unheard of for so long) has become an "Officer of the Peace" whether she herself has found that peace or not. I want to preserve, to educate, to create a sense of place through history. Of course we're all a little idealistic -- we're young. If the young cannot be idealistic, what hope is there?
But it isn't just the young. To give some background on the situation, I have a strange relationship with my mother. She and I were always somewhat close, but since my dad died four years ago, I have been a major (if not the major) confidant in her life. I don't think she thought things would turn out this way -- learning at 59 to live your life alone again. The situation would be sad if my mother were not the woman she is, strong, positive, and generally cheerful (annoyingly so, sometimes). Regardless, after my father died, she had to learn to manage finances. She'd always done the household stuff, but not the investments and such. Since I was just getting out of college, we learned together. Now, at the end of my gradutate school career, when I am making decisions (or trying to) about the course of my life, major decisions carrying major consequences, so is she. She can retire in another year. So, strangely enough, my mother and I can choose what we want to do in the next phases of our lives at around the same time, and discuss it. I will admit that she isn't the primary person that I discuss things with, but her opinion is important to me. Most of all, I am lucky in the fact that she supports and respects my decisions, whether she understands them or not. But my point in this ramble was that she has hope and ideals and visions. And she's 63. I guess I like the idea that no matter what I choose to do now, I can always change my mind later. I am not going to be trapped for the rest of eternity if I don't make the "right" choice right now. I live with that example, with that permission to change my mind, every day, and it makes this phase of my life so much easier and free-er.
As far as an update from the last posting, I am employed at slightly above minimum wage doing entry level work as an intern in my field. I have learned so much in the past 6 weeks or so, not just about the field of preservation, but about how an office works, how the programs work, and how the field I want to enter may work. It is grunt work, but it is a nice big step on my way to my career. I have also had a job interview in the cold, icy north, for a fabulous position in an okay place. Fingers crossed, as I should learn the outcome of that next week.
So my New Year's resolution, insomuch as I would make one, is to use this blog to explore the things I am thinking about. And to convince my erstwhile absent friend to return to doing the same. Mental health over physical, as my degree record should show as a lifestyle choice. WICKED MOXIE LIVES!!!