Satisfaction

I just read a blurb in U.S. News and World Report that there is recent research suggesting that people's happiness "set points" can shift as they age. That's what I hope is happening to me. I think that I have generally been happier the last five or so months than I've been in the last couple years beforehand...

I'm not sure why entirely. Maybe I don't feel so much pressure to always work because I'm not in school anymore... Maybe I feel freer to pursue my own interests rather than fulfill school obligations... Maybe it's because I have much more leisure time... Maybe it's just having Jake around... Anyway, I'm hoping that the mood shift is a permanent change for the better.

It will soon be Xmas break. Three more days of work and then I get to go home! Things are going to be crazy because Jake and I will have a lot of traveling back and forth to do. We'll be at his parents' house first, then my parents' house, then we're flying out to Colorado, staying at a hotel, and spending time with some of Jake's aunts and uncles who live out there.

I don't like saying that I make New Year's Resolutions. Resolution sounds so weak to me. I'd rather have a New Year's "Plan of Action" or something. "Resolution" implies a vague thought that something will get done, while I'd rather have step-by-step plans in place. I'm hoping that break will give me some time to sit down and reassess some of my life goals to figure out what the heck I'm doing with myself. We'll see if it happens considering my hectic travel schedule. I did write out some goals in a notebook during the summer and I've stayed surprisingly on track for a lot of them. I think I may need to make some new goals and/or revise some of the old ones, though. Maybe if I don't get it done while I'm off work, I can do it when I'm at the apartment by myself for a few days (I come back to VA a few days before Jake does). If I come up with some new goals, I'll have to work on blogging about them.

One of the goals I wrote up in June was to take an art class within the next year. I recently enrolled in a pottery class, which I'm pretty excited about. I'm going to spend two and a half hours every Monday learning pottery with the Art League in Old Town. My class starts January 8th and goes for nine weeks. What should I make while I'm in the class? I think I want to try to make some salad bowls. I can probably do that when I learn how to use the wheel...I think we'll probably do some sessions of hand-building, though. What else should I make?

I'm trying to be a better person.

I watched An Inconvenient Truth recently. I feel like I need to make a difference to stop global warming.

Jake and I have been using cloth bags to grocery shop lately. I guess that's one way to make a difference.

We really should install a low-flow showerhead in our apartment. Our shower pumps out a lot of hot water.

I heard that it's better to buy coffee that's shade grown. The stuff that's grown in the sun is often grown in areas of depleted rainforest. I don't know how to determine if my coffee has been grown in the shade, though.

I want to quit my job. I'm thinking my new career should be professional activist.

How do professional activists survive?

Sometimes I think my job is meaningless. Sometimes I think that the kids I work with just take up space. I think to myself about how if I knew I was going to give birth to a child like the ones I work with, I'd probably have an abortion. Does that make me a bad person?

My Seduction Style

Sushi, Sake, & Smashed Silliness

Jake and I attended an engagement party last night. It was at a sushi bar. The cocktails were half price, so I had a bit more to drink than I'd planned. I also ate a bunch of sushi. We kept pulling more and more sushi off this conveyor belt and eating it.

This is my friend Tejal and me drinking this drink called the Flaming Volcano this weekend. Tejal usually orders a drink, takes a few sips, says she's drunk, and then gives up drinking afterwards. So, I'm sure I'm the one that probably polished off most of this drink. Oh, and see the fruity drink next to our flaming drink with the pineapple garnish? That drink is mine, too. I also had another cocktail prior to that one...

After the sushi place, a bunch of us went over to our friend Kevin's house. I drank some more there as well. I remember having this drink called "Prom Night on the Beach" and drinking a shot of sake. The bride-to-be whose engagement we were celebrating pretended that Kevin's standing lamp was a stripper pole and gave everyone a show. It was a lot of fun.

Whenever Tejal and I get together, we talk about what we could invent or what business we could start to make a lot of money. Her new ideas this week involved making a cheaper grocery store and designing a sash women could wear with a cell phone pocket in it. I really wasn't too crazy about either idea. Anyway, Tejal once told me that she talked to a very successful businessman who told her that the key to success is to be willing to take some risks while young. So, maybe one's twenties is the time to pursue crazy ideas. I'm not sure what to do with myself. I'm pretty sure that I don't want to be in special education for the rest of my life. Maybe I just need to pick something else and run with it.

Dropping Like Flies

It has been a scary week at work. Two people got fired and one quit. I've started to get the feeling that the managers are really watching out for slip-ups. Luckily, I had an evaluation on Friday afternoon and was told that I'm doing a good job. They didn't even really mention anything too negative about my performance so far. In fact, they asked if I'd be more interested in actually writing up the behavior plans or in doing some teaching. I'm hopeful that I'll get some sort of promotion sometime soon.