Confession time....

Is it pathetic that Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You" makes me feel a little lonely?

Also, I can't get Justin Bieber's song "Mistletoe" out of my head.



 




Coming soon! A picture of my new hair! And a brief summary of my first trip out of the country.

Quarter-Life Crisis!!!

The other day I posted on Facebook that I was having a crisis in which I couldn't decide what to do with my life. Since I never update my status with anything serious, I thought people would recognize that I was exaggerating a bit. But then my friend Christa told me that it actually sounded pretty serious. So if any of the three people that read my blog also saw that post, know that I am fine. I'm not on the verge of shaving my head or joining the Peace Corps or anything. Actually the Peace Corps may not be a bad idea...

Despite being "fine," I do turn 25 next month. Don't tell me it's not that old. It kind of feels like a big deal to me. And although my reflections on what to do with my life were not inspired by my impending birthday, they are getting exasperated by it. So let's backtrack about 8 months. I was working as a diet clerk, with no expectation that a dietitian job was going to be coming my way anytime soon. I started researching international volunteer opportunities (something I have done about 5 times before in my life) and found a great program in Tanzania. So I think about it, have a few arguments with my dad, and decide to go for it. I submit an application and deposit, and start planning to go this fall. Almost immediately my current job becomes available, and I know I can't let that pass me by. But Tanzania can be deferred. So I take my current job and defer my program. I can defer for up to a year with my current deposit. Which means I have until September 2012 to go. So it's been something I've been mulling over in the back of my mind whilst loving my new job.

When I go to Tanzania, I will hike this mountain.

Fast-forward back to present time. I really like my new job. And I love my friends here in Vancouver. But I am living with my parents (not so bad, but, you know, there's a stigma, need to take care of myself, spread my wings, teased by my siblings, etc) and I feel a little stagnant. I miss having a big goal to be working towards. College degree! Internship! Job! Now what? (Don't say marriage. You'll be dis-invited from my blog). I have always been fascinated by global health, especially the hunger problem throughout the world. I have no experience in this area, but a big part of me feels my dream job would be to work with a program that promotes sustainable solutions to the problem of hunger and malnutrition in impoverished areas of the world. But I really have no idea what I'm talking about because I've always lived in middle-class suburbia and I've never even left the country (Wait. I've just decided how I'm going to celebrate my 25th birthday. Watch out, Canada. I'll be coming soon!). So that is the great thing about this volunteer program: I give  2-3 months of my time and hopefully know if it is something I want to continue to pursue before I decide on grad school.

So that is the nature of my current crisis. Do I go to Tanzania? When do I go? Can I earn enough money by then (got to have enough to make car payments while I'm gone)? Fortunately, my job as it is currently won't be an issue. Since I am relief and receive no benefits, I just have to ask them not to schedule me for a few months. At least that makes it easy.


Oh, and I will be dying my hair as my official "quarter-life crisis." Stay-tuned. I might post pictures. But I make no promises.

(ps. I realize I make frequent use of parenthesizes. I have decided to make the text within smaller for your reading convenience.)

That's a little embarrassing...

....that's it's been a year since my last blog update. Oops. I'd make some grand comment about how I've been out living my life, and don't have time for trivial things like blogging or Facebook, but I seem to make time for things like "The Daily Show" so that argument doesn't really hold. So, dear friends and family, accept my sincere apology, and prepare yourselves for the thrill you've been waiting one year for...an update on my life. It is going to be riveting.

My place of employment

Let's start with the job. Have I mentioned that I got a job as a dietitian? No. That's right. Last time I wrote I was unemployed. Okay. I am living the dream. Kind of. I got a job as a relief dietitian, which means I work as needed. Which means I don't qualify for benefits. Oh well. Dad came to the rescue on that one. So far I have been getting a good amount of experience and have been LOVING my job. Really. It has been so great. What a relief to find, after 5 years of working towards it, that you really DO love what you studied. Whew. The other dietitian are great, too. We have potlucks, share recipes, and eat delicious cake when birthdays come around. So to summarize, work is awesome.





On to the next topic. What will that be...not dating. Nothing to report there. I know you are all dying to know, because what could be more entertaining than a single girl spilling her guts about the barrel of laughs that is LDS dating. But to quote The Princess Bride, "get used to disappointment." Really, the reason comes from both the fact that I am not that forth-coming about my dating life and that I rarely have anything interesting to report. Also, anybody can link over to this blog from my Facebook page, and I don't want the guys I've gone out with to know what I really think. I've got to maintain some mystery.

So, not dating. How about my social life in general? That revolves 99% around my wonderful YSA ward. I do really like my ward. I've made some really great friends since I've moved here. In fact, sometimes I wish I had more time to sit around and do nothing like I used to do (yes, I'm a loser at heart). Between FHE, institute, weekend activities, midweek fro-yo trips, and whatever else comes up, my parents and Dexter rarely see me.

In other news, I recently accompanied my ward choir as the pianist, and it was terrifying. But I live to tell the tale, which I actually won't bore you with here. It happened, though. Also, I detest my laptop. I can't tell you how many times I've been tempted in the past 4 months to pick the d*** thing up and throw it against the wall. Yes. My laptop makes me so angry, that I use minor curse words and then censor them out, so that I don't offend. The cursed little thing is currently sitting at Best Buy, awaiting my pickup, finally fixed (dare I dream?). Here is the progression of my laptop trouble: virus, Best Buy, wait for Dell to send operating system disks, give up and pick laptop up from Best Buy, find operating system disks, de-bugging by brother-in-law, freezing, backup all data by transferring bits at a time to mom's laptop, reinstall operating system by brother, transfer all files back to computer, work for a while, freezing again, progressively worse freezing, Best Buy, blue screen. So cross your fingers for me. This laptop could drive me to insanity.

I hope this update was everything you dreamed it would be after 13 months of waiting. See you all in another year! (I'll try to be better about updating, but let's be realistic....)