OK. Here it is.

The blog post you have all been waiting for…wait, it’s not that exciting.

My attempt to catch you up in my life –
Work – football, basketball, and ice hockey are consuming my life as usual

John and I are doing great, approaching the 9 month mark

Bible study has been on a hiatus, but I learned to do the slides at the Gathering. It’s not too hard, but I was still nervous. I guess it’s still nerve wrecking when one isn’t familiar with something, even though I am used to running a videoboard and coordinating a game for an audience of 18,000 people at football, 3,500 at hockey, or 5,000 at basketball.

John and I took a short trip to Toledo for Malachi’s birthday party. I hadn’t seen my close friend’s kid since he was 5 months old. The party was at an indoor water park in Sandusky and was a lot of fun. It was really good to see everyone.

Thanksgiving ended up being good, even though it was surrounded by work. John had Jonathon during the day, so it gave me some time to make pumpkin pie and cranberry salad, do some laundry, and clean a little. Our Thanksgiving feast was ready by 9pm and we had a very nice dinner. The weekend was pretty relaxing with hockey in the evenings and I’ve now watched three episodes of the Band of Brothers.

This Saturday, I’ll be heading to Detroit for the MAC Championship football game at Ford Field as the Dance Team advisor.

I’ve now been on an antidepressant for about six weeks. I’m still waiting to notice a difference. I will try to keep you updated. Peace out.

It's been 6 months

Finally

I’m finally here, back in blogger land. I can’t promise it will be consistent though. Students are back. School has started. Work is busy. Very busy. I’m not ready for it all. I’m way behind on any sort of recap from San Francisco. It was a great trip. At some point, I will have to write about it and give you more details. For now, I’m just letting you know I’m still here. I would love to be in San Francisco right now actually, their climate is wonderful. None of this 100 degree stuff there. I recommend visiting the city if you ever have a chance. See you later!

One more day

I have to make it through one more day before SF. I'm pretty much ready to go. It will probably be another 12 hour day at the office though before I can leave town. Then I can hopefully relax!

Thoughts of Balance

It’s amazing how much wisdom my friends have. Sometimes I wish it would rub off on me. So, mdog had a very interesting post in late June. From my perspective, I want it both ways. I want to work and work is a big part of my life. I like it like that. I enjoy what I do for a living, aside from current at times. During the school year, I don’t mind the long hours and chaotic schedule of events; I actually kind of thrive on that. I do want my job to validate my life, even though it’s been tempting lately to think about getting a monotonous job that doesn’t require thinking from 8am-5pm. As I say that, I know that I would not be content with such a position, though it seems very tempting. I really just want to have a career where I enjoy my work and can also have a life outside the office. It’s always been very important to me to have a strong work ethic; to be passionate, dedicated, and loyal about all aspects of my life.

I wish I could say, as mdog did, that people are my life. I do not make enough time for people. There are friends in Cincinnati that I haven’t talked to in months and other friends that I used to visit a lot more frequently than I have in the recent past. Too often, I let my work life rule my entire life and don’t allow myself to be with other people.

Mdog’s questions are ones to think about:
“Do I have people I can call up at three in the morning? do I have people that will give me hugs if I need them? do I have people I can share my life with? do I have people that support me? encourage me? walk with me?”

I used to be able to answer yes to a lot of these questions, but not so much anymore. I find it hard to maintain relationships outside of my workplace and that is not healthy. There are some great people who are already in my life, distant, but in my life that I need to reconnect with. How do I find the energy to maintain these existing relationships after a long day at the office or an event? Sometimes to find the energy just to call an old friend is hard and the thought is exhausting. That’s when I feel like I need that alone time. This brings me back to my question about balance. How do I establish that work-life-balance? Maybe it will come with more work experience. I have not yet found my success.