Good books and great coffee

So I worked the early shift today. I love opening the store. It may be way earlier than I care to be awake, but for some reason I find myself in a better mood and functioning better somewhere in that misty space between sleep and reality. The drive at 5am is much calmer, and it's great to be done with a day of work somewhere around lunch time. Besides, what better place to spend those early morning hours than a coffee shop, especially for someone as addicted to the beverage as I am. It works for me!

Tomorrow is my day with my kids. Have I mentioned that I love all of my random jobs?

I just finished reading a book called Inside Afghanistan by John Weaver. It's about an American (the author) living in Afghanistan doing relief work with refugees in the year 2001. It speaks of the atmosphere of the country leading up to the events of 9/11, of the hardship that the people of Afghanistan endured at the hands of the taliban. It gives a unique perspective on U.S. retaliation after 9/11. Definately an eye-opener. I was also a moving reminder that there is world beyond America, and in many places it is a very desparate world. Americans tend to forget that.

Jase is coming home this weekend! Yeah!!!! I can't wait to see ya bud, but do you have to go home in the middle of the Superbowl? Honestly!

MySpace?

So MySpace seems to be the new trend, the place where everyone is, yet I continue to do all of my babbling on Blogger. Should I get a MySpace? The only use that I see for it would be to post some of my photos. I have issues getting photos to load on this site (Jase, help), but I would like to put some of my photo's on the web. I have some cool ones of far-away places. Advice?

Movies

Two dvd's that I recently rented and think are worth checking out: Cinderella Man and The Constant Gardener. Both worth your time (I think). Tom if you disagree about the latter, sorry for making you watch it with me, but you're a good friend for enduring it.

The Beauty of Technology

Oh the wonders of the internet. I love voice chat. In the past couple of days I have had conversations with friends on three different continents. It is so nice being able to just put on a headset and talk to someone for as long as you want completely free. It's definately a plus with my lifestyle. The beauty of technology.

Egypt this Summer

I am getting an apartment in Egypt this summer with some of my friends again. I am sooo excited. My cousin is probably coming with me for the first month, and I think that my best friend is coming for about ten days. We are going to work in the same orphanage that we worked in the last time we were there. I can't wait. Maybe I'll get teaching job while I am there. Who knows. We shall see. I will eventually settle into some form of consistant life. I feel like that's what everyone's waiting for me to do, but something in me won't let me live the typical American dream. It's just not my dream. Until I leave I'm just going to do my random jobs and save money for the summer. I'm so excited about it!

I took J's test

Does this sound like me? It seemed a little off, but maybe I just don't see things about myself that others see. What do you think?


Extraversion |||||||||||||||| 70%
Stability |||||||||| 40%
Orderliness |||| 20%
Accommodation |||||||||||||| 56%
Interdependence |||||||||||||||| 63%
Intellectual |||||||||||||| 56%
Mystical |||||||||||||||| 63%
Artistic |||||||||||||||| 63%
Religious |||||||||||||||||||| 90%
Hedonism |||||||||||| 50%
Materialism |||||| 30%
Narcissism |||||||||| 36%
Adventurousness |||||||||||||||| 63%
Work ethic |||||| 30%
Self absorbed |||||||||||| 43%
Conflict seeking |||| 16%
Need to dominate |||||||||| 36%
Romantic |||||||||| 36%
Avoidant |||||||||||| 50%
Anti-authority |||||||||||| 50%
Wealth |||||||||| 36%
Dependency |||||||||||||||||| 76%
Change averse |||||||||||||| 56%
Cautiousness |||||||||| 36%
Individuality |||||||||||||||| 70%
Sexuality |||||||||||| 50%
Peter pan complex |||||||||||||||| 63%
Physical security |||||||||||||||| 63%
Physical fitness |||||||||||| 44%
Histrionic |||||||||| 36%
Paranoia |||||||||||||||| 70%
Vanity |||||| 30%
Hypersensitivity |||||||||||||||||| 76%
Female cliche |||||||||||| 43%


Stability results were moderately low which suggests you are worrying, insecure, emotional, and anxious.

Orderliness results were low which suggests you are overly flexible, improvised, and fun seeking at the expense too often of reliability, work ethic, and long term accomplishment.

Extraversion results were high which suggests you are overly talkative, outgoing, sociable and interacting at the expense too often of developing your own individual interests and internally based identity.


trait snapshot:

craves attention, messy, open, rash, irritable, likes large parties, low self control, weird, fragile, does not like to be alone, emotionally sensitive, worrying, depressed, heart over mind, does not respect authority, dependent, not rule conscious, not good at saving money, more interested in relationships than intellectual pursuits, likes to fit in, very social, frequently second guesses self, phobic, suspicious, not careful, outgoing, vain, compassionate, aggressive, likes to make fun, hates to lose

Back to the drawing board

I went to talk to some people today about further education. I really don't know how practical this is at the moment. I don't know if itis going to happen right now. I think I may be reverting to former plans and holding off on the master's. Who knows things still may work out sooner than expected, but it doesn't seem so. That is fine though. I have always planned on getting my master's. That isn't changing, I just have other ideas about how it is going to happen. Back to the drawing board.

*Brrrr!*

Christmas is over and New Years is over, so now basically I have months of frigid weather to look forward to and no holiday to give that weather the illusion of being festive. And the snow continues....

The headaches are back. I think that most of last month was headache free, but they have returned. I have had this one for two days now. It makes me want to puke. Gotta love those. I don't know what the issue is, but I wish I could get rid of these. Yes, I have had my head examined. They can't find anything wrong. I'm not saying that there isn't anything wrong, they just can't seem to diagnose anything medically. It's just one of those lifelong annoyances that I'll probably never get rid of. Blah.

I really am not feeling as negative as I sound in this happy blog. I am looking for another job. Now that the Christmas rush is over I need some supplementary income. That's always fun. I probably will just get something to generate some cash for the next couple of months until I head to Egypt.

I'm also looking into possibilities in further education. We shall see how that goes. I know I want to get my master's, but I didn't think I would get into it this soon. The way things seem to be working out in my life lately it just might be best for me to pursue my master's sooner rather than later. That's all up in the air of course. We shall see what happens.

This weekend I am spending with the youth group at church. This is their winter retreat weekend. It's a lot of fun. These kids are a trip. I really enjoy participating in these things. I wish I could do more with them. Right now a bunch of them are playing football out in this frigid weather. Crazy kids. Well, I supposed I should return to my shivering.