New beginnings in the New Year

Tomorrow is the last day of 2008 which, of course means that we'll be once again starting a new year. I just read a bloggers post in which he stated that he "would rather just wake up tomorrow and find that everything had passed by, that I could resume normal life on a Monday morning and move on from this holiday season"; I couldn't agree with that more (Frozen Underwear; blog post: Holidaze...). This year has had so many things go wrong that I don't know it's possible to name them all. I think that 2009 is going to be a year of new beginnings, not simply putting the past behind us.

I have a feeling that for me, 2009 is going to be a year of big changes. I'm going to have my 21st birthday, which is a "landmark" birthday. I'm going to try and make that big step in life and finally move out and get my own place, leaving a certain amount of dependancy behind me. I'm going to try and live life to the fullest and, if at all possible, try and not turn down any opportunities that may come my way. I think that I'm going to try and focus a little more on some of my photography and see where that takes me; after all, if it doesn't work out, maybe it wasn't meant to at this time. 

I hope that all of us have learned more than enough from the mistakes of 2008 and that we can get past them and make our lives better. We all need to start living for ourselves, we can't live for anyone else. 

I hope that you will all join me in saying goodbye to 2008 and welcome 2009 with open arms! It's going to be a great year! What will it bring for you? Only time will tell...

The lucky one?

Yesterday before I left the house, I was reading another blog post, specifically about a break-up that this person had gone through. Lately I've been thinking that the people who are actually in the relationships are the lucky ones, but now I don't know what I think. In a way, they are, but on the other hand, am I to be considered the lucky one because I don't have to go through the pain of a break-up?

I suppose that people in both situations could be considered lucky. The people who are in the relationships because they've found someone who (at least for the time being) can share and experience things with that they would otherwise be unable to. People in my situation, however, have the relative freedom to do whatever, whenever (within reason, of course) and not have to worry about not being there for their significant other, etc..

On the subject of relationships, I'm kind of scared. Not of being in a relationship, but that I won't be in one. The similarities between one of my Aunt's and I are uncanny and, for the most part, our lives seem to be running on the same track. A few years ago she was in a relationship and then, all of the sudden, she was out of it. A middle of the night phone call to my Grandma was the start of something new for her, something that she was going to start on her own. Trust me, I know that people are in and out of relationships a few times throughout their life, but it just sucks. 

At last, I leave you to ponder this question... Those taken or those who are single, who is luckier?

Winter in the Midwest... Gotta love it...

This morning, I again quesiton why I still live in the Midwest. I knew that it wasn't going to be much fun getting my car driveable (i.e. windows de-iced, etc.) but it was by far worse than I expected; there was easily 2 inches of ice on my windows! AND on top of that I had to pry my door open so that I could run the heat and defroster!

~*~ Dear God, please make it warm soon ~*~

Prop 8 - The Musical

"Prop 8 - The Musical" starring Jack Black, John C. Reilly, and many more... by Jack Black

Is there something in life you wish you would have followed through with?

In life we all say that we’re going to do certain things and then, for whatever reason we don’t. (Before I start my little story here, I have to preface it by saying that I think I’m the kind of person who is always going to fall in love with somewhere new that I visit.) When I visited Tampa last November I didn’t want to leave! I thought it would be nice to just call back home and say that I’ll come home long enough to get my stuff and then head back out, but that obviously didn’t happen. When I was down there, my Great-Aunt and Uncle had said that I could live with them until I got on my feet and was able to get a steady job and a place of my own; I thought this was the best offer ever!

 

When I came back home I started looking for places to stay in Florida that weren’t too far from Tampa/Orlando and I actually found a couple of really nice places! I came up with this plan to start saving x-amount of dollars per payday and then I’d be able to move by my birthday this past June. Well, as this always happens, it was one thing after another that prevented me from going; for a while there I was actually doing pretty well! After things started looking up with my finances, I always seemed to have something standing in my way of setting money aside again. As I sit here now, it’s below the freezing mark and the wind chill makes it even colder than people could imagine! My Aunt from Florida recently got a Facebook when her sister was down there. While Teri was setting up her profile, Jan (her sister) put up some pictures of Teri with the beach in the background; that made me miss Florida that much more! I constantly think about “what might have been” had I actually moved down there and sometimes I’m glad I didn’t. Had I moved down there, I would have missed the birth of my sister and small little things that I’m glad I’ve been home for. There are still those times, like today for example, that I really miss not being there. Of course, I always have an open invitation to come back down whenever I’d like, but that’s easier said than done, especially in today’s economy.

 

Everyone has at least one thing, I’m sure that they’re still kicking themselves for not following through with, what’s yours?

Thank you!

As we (rapidly) approach Christmas and the New Year, I tend to find my thoughts, especially when I’m reading the New York Times, to the soldiers fighting for our freedom in Afghanistan and Iraq. These men and women volunteered for what could be the fight of their life. Selfishly putting aside their family and their lives back home, these brave warriors have gone in to the unknown to face the unknown. I can’t even imagine walking down the streets of Kabul or Baghdad on patrol and having to be on constant alert even if you’re surrounded by children the same age as your own. We live in a time where we are suspicious of everyone we come across, especially if they look different than we do; we shouldn’t be living in that world.

 

Since 9/11, America and the rest of the countries around the world are on constant alert. Terrorists have basically found a way to control the world and that is completely uncalled for. I’ll be one of the first to sound off and say that I vehemently oppose the war in Iraq, but at the same time I’m glad that Saddam isn’t in power any more. With Barack Obama having been elected as the next President of the United States and having so many countries support him as America’s newest leader, it gives me great hope. I think that we will be able to get a great deal of good things accomplished that were either put on the back burner with Bush II or that were never allowed to even be considered by the current administration.

 

Supporting the troops that are fighting for freedom against terrorism is one of the greatest things that anyone can do. These brave men and women deserve our respect and support and should never have to ask for it. With the level of troops spread thin enough already, I think it’s time that this country rethink the battles it gets itself involved in. I hope that the agreement between the Iraqi government and ours keeps true and we’ll see a troop reduction in Iraq soon. Hopefully when that happens, the military will start rotating troops out of Iraq in to Afghanistan where our focus should have been this entire time. Osama bin Laden was the one that attacked us on our own soil, not Saddam. It’s entirely possible that because of the war in Iraq, bin Laden was able to cross the mountains in to Pakistan and could now be hiding out there. Why our attention was diverted somewhere else in the first place still blows my mind. Shouldn’t we have “kept our eye on the ball” instead of getting distracted? We, as a country need to figure out a way to regain our status as a country with a revered military. Under President Clinton we went eight years without being involved in a war and now we find ourselves involved in two, one of which (like I said before) we shouldn’t have been involved in in the first place.

 

As many people struggle to find a way to give back this holiday season, I think that supporting our troops tends to get overlooked. Supporting our troops can be as simple as thanking a soldier for what they do, sending care packages or sending letters to the troops fighting overseas. Let us not forget, however, about the rest of the troops that we have stationed around the globe who are keeping the peace that we have already restored.

 

I hope you will join me in taking a stand and supporting the troops this holiday season. Thank you to all the men and women in and out of uniform for all that you have done; we truly appreciate it!!!

What are you looking forward to?

As we get ready to close out what has been one heck of a year it's time to get out that pen and paper and write down your New Year's resolutions again. Most of us, after giving it a valiant try, don't stick with it for one reason or another or we just never get around to trying one of the things on the list at all. 

Not that this should be surprising or anything, but one of my goals for this new year is to actually stick to my diet. I started one last week that I seem to be doing fairly well on. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the reason why people don't stick to what they plan to do is because they feel that they can't start it until the new year and that builds up too much anticipation and worrying. Why not start early? I have something pushing me to keep going with my diet this year and I can't afford not to stick with it. 

Finally I ask, what are you looking forward to getting accomplished in 2009? Is there something that's going to push you to keep at it? What are you looking forward to?