Grownup Decisions

For the past 3 years I've been evaluating and trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. At times, I was caught up in my current job and paying bills, and at other times I was/am caught up in making it happen. I'm hoping making it happen is the stronger case. I've been wanting to pursue some form of counseling for many years now...I just wasn't sure what direction to go. I've researched and interviewed several people on their experiences. I've decided I'd like to pursue a career as a high school guidance counselor. In order to do this I'll have to go back to school for a master's degree. I've found one school I really like, nearby and small. The school offers a MA in Counseling Psychology with a concentration in Secondary School Counseling. I have finally made a decision and now I have several hoops to jump through in order to fulfill the prereqs! I'm trying to focus on the ultimate goal...but it's crazy that I spent thousands on a social sciences degree and now I need to take more classes to get into grad school...all well worth it...I'm sure.

Friday Night w/ the Neighbors…nothing crazy

Our neighbor strolled by on Thursday night to mention Jim’s lights were on. This is the neighbor whose house we’re attached to since we live in a twin house. This is also the neighbor who is a year younger than I am and also went to Dickinson…she was also known as my bizarro by some people. We don’t really look alike at all – we just had the same short hair cut back at D’son. Like my usual stories…I digress…We also had the same Jeep Cherokee for a while (same year, same color, while living next door to one another) and we both previously lived in DC and the same town before buying our homes in Bryn Mawr. Either way, it’s weird! Back to my story…So my neighbor stopped by and mentioned we should do happy hour on Friday nights up the street – it was one of those casual invites where you don’t really know if you should show or not.

Friday night rolls along and we decide to hit up the bar for HH. We turn up at the bar and the neighbors are there w/ her sister and fiancé. We go through this 30 minute awkward back and forth conversation because other people are coming to meet the group and we took the last 2 chairs. The server caught on and squeezed a bunch of tables together for our group. Plus, everything on tap was ½ price so that killed any awkward moments moving fwd.

Next thing you know, we’re next door playing quarters w/ our neighbors. Their dog is insane. It’s blind in one eye and has these hot spots all over it. Very sweet dog, but sadly a bit of a mess. I suck at quarters. Another beer game I haven’t mastered and don’t have any desire to master. I left marks all over the table...that they just bought. But who plays quarters on a brand new table these days? All in all, it was a fun evening. I drank too much. I’m a two beer queer at this point…we went to a beer tasting the next day which wasn’t so bad considering my poor form. I wasn’t in rare form…just poor so I made it work. I have the feeling we won’t have many sober nights w/ these particular neighbors.

Desk Jobs

I have had a "desk job" of some form for about 10 years or more. It wasn't always a 9 - 5 desk job, but I was definitely at a desk, on my butt, at a computer for at least one ongoing hour at a time. While many of us hate to say "I have a desk job," it's still our job, we may even enjoy some of it, and it does pay our bills. I sit on my butt most of the day in an office chair in a gray cubicle without much decor or flare. Many of us would like to live off of our creative spirit, or some of us already do, and sometimes that talent is actually embedded in what we do in that "horrible" desk job on an every day basis. Either way, my point is that I just don't understand the hatred toward all desk jobs. Many of those people without desk jobs are actually supported by those "lame" desk jobs. Maybe you're a field researcher. You may collect data, record notes, and then persist this data to some sort of technology/chart/comparison model. You may conduct your own data entry or even better, you may have a student or colleague to enter the research data...while sitting on their butt, at a desk, and in front of a computer. Say someone works for an environmental agency. Someone may sit on their butt and review credentials for his/her future colleagues, someone may sit on their butt and compile all of the research results, and someone else may sit on their butt for fundraising and development of the foundation/agency where someone works. Point is, there are some extremely grueling desk jobs out there, but maybe we should let those people sitting on their butts all day at those desk jobs be the desk jobs haters.

Recipe Blog

I decided to start blogging random recipes. I've always wanted to write my recipes down, but just never seem to follow through with the task...share some random recipes with me too!

Recipe Blog: http://myrandomrecipes.blogspot.com/

Sewer Sandwiches

M used to make me mashed tofu sandwiches when I was growing up. Mashed tofu consisted of the following: mashed tofu (w/ a fork), mustard, some mayo, soy sauce, some nutritional yeast flakes (aka cheesy yeast if you were raised in this household). The mashed tofu was then placed on a whole grain, oat bran or nutty type of bread...sometimes red leaf lettuce was included. M made the sandwiches with love, but the truth of the matter was that who wants to be the kid on the block who eats tofu sandwiches? Everyone already knew our snacks were apples..which is why I was known for binging on other family's rocky road ice cream or really any sugar at hand. I secretly liked the sandwich, but at 10, I cared more about being the 10 year old tofu lovin' kid. So my rocky road friend came over for lunch that summer. M had left us lunch...turns out lunch was mashed tofu sandwiches. Rocky road had no interest so I came up with the most brilliant idea ever! I quickly wrapped both sandwiches in a napkin & we both took off. We ran down the street to the nearest sewer off the street...and there they went. M's homemade lunch and my willingness to eat mashed tofu sandwiches down the sewer drain. Truth be told, I didn't come up with the courage to mention that I was in love with the sandwich till maybe age 16...my excuse was that the sandwich is mushy by lunch time when I would take it to school. M didn't find out about the sewer until I was 27.