A Change in Plans

The plans that God has for us don’t always match up with those that we had for ourselves. Had you asked me a year ago where I expected to be today, that answer would be quite different from my present reality. This time a year ago I had just gotten into Michigan State University. I had transferred there from Washtenaw Community College with the intent to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism.

I wanted to be a writer. It was a plan that made a lot of sense. After all, MSU has a wonderful J-school. But the more I consider that career choice, the more I feel that it was solely my plan and not necessarily God’s plan. Yes, I was pursuing Journalism with the intention to help people, but how far can words go in helping people?

I have always believed that words carry a lot of power, and I continue to believe that. But I don’t feel that my true passions lie in putting words down on paper like I may have once thought. While I enjoy writing, and I could probably be suitably happy writing for the rest of my life, I don’t think that it would ultimately satisfy my passion for helping people.

I feel that being an EMT allows me to be instrumental in helping those that are in crisis.

I realize that writer and EMT are drastically different career paths, but… it’s where I feel like I need to be. It’s where I feel called to be. I have a broad idea of what my future has in store for me, but I think that’s all we can have. A broad idea.

It’s best to live in the present, be cognizant of the role the past has played and to be open to what the future has in store. At the present this is where I am. I am grateful for the experiences that now reside in my past, and I am remaining open to what each new day has to offer me.

The End (Kind of)

This is my final blog post that is connected with my year-long project aimed at writing more in the time between my twentieth and twenty-first birthday. It's been an interesting year, full of changes and transitions. While I feel like I've grown in many ways, I've also remained much the same.

As I think about this project, it's difficult to pinpoint any specific changes that were particularly monumental over this past year. If I were a smarter person I would have spent some of my free-time over the past week going over posts from this last year and compiling a list of things to discuss in this final post.

Of course, then I wouldn't be me.

At any rate, I don't want to give the impression that I won't be posting on this blog any more. I still plan to utilize this space although I may not be posting as often as I have been over the past year. I definitely won't be posting daily.

It's been an interesting year, and I've certainly written more than I had in the past several years. I feel like I've definitely taken a major step in the right direction, and look forward to using this experience to jump into the future. I'm currently working on looking into the future and looking for ways to get ready for the future that I want to build. These are exciting times!

Twenty-One

I spent today at work, where I proceeded to have a really good day. It was super busy in the fudge shop, which was good. Personally I enjoy working when it is busy the most. Some people find it stressful, but I think that it all depends on your perspective. On some level, in order to decrease your amount of stress you have to accept that you are only one person and only capable of so much.

It's also good to understand that sometime people are going to be upset with you, you can't make everyone happy and while it's nice in theory to try it is imperative to accept that sometimes, in fact most times, it isn't possible. There are those who cannot or will not be appeased.

I am now home, where we lit candles and stuck them in the cake that my mom made in honor of today being my birthday. I sat in front of the fire for a little while while I ate my slice of cake, and am now watching Law and Order:SVU with my parents and younger brother. This is my favorite way to spend any day, let alone a birthday.

All in all it's been a very good day.

New Years Day

The store was fairly busy today, but that's to be expected I guess considering it's New Years Day. I closed the fudge shop, and was scrambling at the end of my shift to get everything I wanted to get done finished. I didn't get as much done as I would have liked, but for the most part the department looked up to par.

It was strange to drive home around six and have it already be dark. I really don't like the time change, I'd rather have it stay light longer. I guess it really doesn't matter what I'd prefer though.

Tomorrow is my birthday. I'll finally turn twenty-one and plan to spend the day at work. Birthday's really aren't that big a deal, for the most part it's just another day the only difference being that you're a year older. The most exciting thing about turning twenty-one is it's kind of like officially becoming an adult.

While technically you're an adult at eighteen, it still holds restrictions, and you still have a license that denotes you as somehow short of adulthood. You are recognized as an adult with the exception that you cannot drink. Twenty-one is really only a milestone in that it means there are no longer any restrictions placed upon your behavior. To an extent anyway.

I'm excited to get a license that's horizontal rather than vertical. That is a pretty cool perk!

New Years Eve

This project ends on Saturday and I've already nearly forgotten that I needed to get a blog post up today. That would have made twice this week!

That being said, it will be strange to no longer have rules in place that ensure that I need to write and post something by a particular deadline. That being said I've learned a lot over the course of the past year. I've made a few blunders, and definitely achieved some amount of success. I've definitely tackled the initial goal of writing more often and consistently.

Maybe over this next year I can get some more of that novel written. That would be cool, especially since it's a project that I started working on nearly seven years ago. It's definitely a work in progress.

I have two more days left at work as far as this week is concerned, and then I have a week before I head back to school. Hopefully I'll be able to pick up some more hours next week. It all depends on how busy the store gets and if they can spare any hours for seasonal's.

I turn twenty-one on Saturday and plan to spend the day at work, which in all honestly I prefer since it may be my last opportunity to work over break. At any rate, I'm excited for the coming year. It's full of potential.

Next Week?

Today wasn't all that eventful. I went to work, where it was initially busy customer-wise, and then near the end of the shift the number of customers dwindled while I still had plenty of things to keep me busy.

Really, it was the best kind of day to have because when I go to work I prefer to be busy. The way I see, I am there to work, and so I want to get paid for doing my job and not for standing around. While it is true that I'm getting paid for being there, it is also true that I am wasting my time if I'm not keeping busy.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with myself all of next week. I'm not scheduled to work, although they know that I'll be available, so hopefully I'll get a call. It'd be awesome if I could get some more hours in before I have to go back to school. Besides it's nice to be back to work, it feels so normal and I'm not sure that I'm ready to give up that feeling of normalcy.

Crazy Dayz

Yesterday did not seem like a Monday, which is the major reason that I forgot to blog until I laid down around midnight, looked at my alarm clock and immediately thought, "It was Monday, and I didn't blog. Crap!"

It probably didn't help much that yesterday was a fairly busy day. I opened at work, which means that I was there from eight to five. It was a good day, as most days at work have been recently. It was actually really busy too. The store was unusually packed for a Monday, which is both good and strange. Today was a similarly good/strange day at work. It's going to be hard to leave it all behind yet again.

Once I managed to get home last night, I met up with Sarah and Nichole and we went and grabbed something to eat. It was nice to get to sit down and catch up. We went to one of the small diners here in town, where the food is equal parts good and cheap. Both of these features are greatly appreciated when you consider that we are all college students.

All in all it's been a hectic few days, and I'm looking forward to working a closing shift tomorrow rather than an open. It's nice to get out of work early, but lately I haven't been sleeping well. It's difficult to get up early consecutively when you aren't getting enough sleep. Now I'm off to read, watch the Golden Girls and maybe think about getting some real sleep.

Christmas Day

Today was a good day. I went to bed early this morning after watching 'Runaway Bride' for the third time. That movie is amazing, it never gets old.

It was around one when we finally gathered around the table to eat. We had just gotten done praying and were beginning to pass food around when my older brother started to inspect his fork rather closely. After a few moments of inspection, he looks down the table and asks, "What is this white stuff on my fork?"

Dad answered that it was probably paint and that it'd been there for a long time, and my brother kind of chuckled and answered, "Oh, so lead paint then." We finished passing food and had just began to eat when he breaks and says, "I'm going to need another fork" and tossed his over the the portion of the table near the kitchen.

The dinning room was more than full today so there wasn't really room to get up and roam around.

So mom went to get another fork, and dad began to inspect the discarded one when he then says, "I'm not sure what this is, but I don't think it's paint."

It was an entertaining meal! After we ate we opened presents, and I think each of my nieces really liked the blankets that I made them. I was pretty sure that they would, but even still it's a lot of fun to watch someone open up a gift that you've gotten them and noticeably like it.

We just got done babysitting my little cousins, and are preceding to spend the evening watching t.v. and eating potato chips. Ultimately it's been a day filled with family, and really aren't those the best kinds of days? It's so nice to be home!

Christmas Eve

It has been an enjoyable Christmas Eve thus far.

I spent the morning at work, where it wasn't incredibly busy but I enjoyed dealing with the customers that did come in and it was nice to get to talk with those that I worked with today. That's four days back, and I'm still loving every minute.

After work I came home and had dinner with the family and have basically been watching crime shows with Dad while sitting in front of the fire that we have going in the living room. It's a relaxing way to spend an evening.

We just got back from my cousins house, where we sat around the kitchen table and talked over tacos and nacho's. Again, not a terribly exciting evening, but an enjoyable one nonetheless. Tomorrow my brother, sister, brother-in-law, nieces, and two of my uncles will come over for lunch. That will probably devolve into watching movies as it has the last few years.

It's nice to get to spend time with family. Honestly it feels like break is going by incredibly fast, and I'm not sure how to feel about that.

Crafty

I am presently putting the finishing touches on a couple of Christmas presents, and am then perhaps going to get roped into assisting my younger niece in a craft project of her own. It is going to be a long night. I work in the morning, which is still as exciting now as it was a couple of days ago. I am really enjoying being back at work. I don't think even I realized exactly how much I missed it.

There wasn't a lot of variety in my shift today, but the store was plenty busy. I'm actually kind of surprised that the customers aren't as cranky this year as they have been the previous two. I wonder if it's a difference in their attitudes or mine...

It seems like break is going by faster than I anticipated that it would, and my feelings are kind of mixed about it. On the one hand there are things that I miss from being back on campus, and at the same time I'm really enjoying my time here at home. It's hard to reconcile the two, because there are things about both atmospheres that I really love and I miss when I'm in one place over the other.