Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Dust Settling

It's 3 days into the new year and the dust is still settling. Work is ramping up again and I still really don't care. The only thing the holiday break did for me was to make me want a longer vacation and SOON. It's amazing that my shoulders and back immediately started aching the first day back at work.

My brother is headed back for his final 6 months of business school tomorrow morning. The next time I see him, he'll be graduating with an MBA. An MBA that my dad had also hoped for me long long ago.

They all drove up tonight for dinner at Curry House and dessert at Beard Papas, and of course they had to comment on how small and cluttered my place was, how fat I was getting, etc. However, after telling me to "stop eating so much," Dad promptly asked "where's my cream puffs?" There's nothing sweeter than laughing at your parents with a sibling.

Yesterday, the boy in town with foreign girlfriend, had mentioned having a group of us meet for drinks Thursday night. I'm still on the fence about that. On one hand, would it look rude and blowing-them-off kinda thing or would it not matter since there's a group of people who were his usual friends that will be there? I haven't "met up for drinks" at a local bar since he moved away. It was never my thing, and never my friends though they were always friendly to me. Back then, I went along with him because I didn't mind being there nor being someone else for awhile. Now, it would feel out of place and odd to go revisit the past in a sense.

Finally, on another note, every December I look back on the year and go "oh my God, what have I done this year?!" Usually in the tone of "another year down the drain and what have I to show for it?" My pragmatic friend, the polar opposite, laughed when I told him that and said "Funny, but I ask myself the same thing every year end too! But more like Wow! What have I done this year?" In the tone of "look at all my accomplishments this year!" Inflection can be so powerful.

In the spirit of both our attitudes, I'm doing one more list. The list of goods and bads for 2006.

The Bad:
1) Continued boy angst, such as Mr. Dating Debacle
2) Burnt out from work
3) Straining an old dear friendship
4) Didn't get to travel out of the country
5) Random bouts of depression and weeping
6) Getting used to being 30 and knowing that I'm nowhere near being a together person
7) Spending a lot of money

The Good:
1) Surviving all the boy angst and possibly getting tougher (only time will tell)
2) Traveling nearly every month within the US
3) Starting this blog and writing a lot more
4) Getting a nice raise and not getting fired from work, despite my complaints
5) The friendships that did stick and the friends who were there for me
6) The realization that I'm actually learning from my experiences and a tad wiser
7) Spending a lot of money (or being able to spend a lot of money on nice things)

3 comments:

Unknown said...

no you absolutely do not have to go! (some long distance advice from palm springs)

Anonymous said...

Yeah, it seems like you would rather decline, and there's nothing rude about doing so.

By the way, #7 on both of your lists is identical. I'm sure it was intentional, but ... now I'm thinking you need a third list for things that were BOTH good and bad.

Anonymous said...

I'd like to add as part of the good, you ran a 1/2 marathon and became a morning person for about a month. Terrific. And you met some new hippos.