Larry & Olga's

On this beautiful and sunny (!!!) afternoon, Larry came to pay us a visit. Who is Larry you say? I am glad you asked! He is our new little bird friend. 

About a month ago, Matt and I were both wishing we had a more interactive pet. We had just returned from our family visit and there were dogs, cats, children, horses and fish to play with! Chuck Testa the fish is very pretty but he doesn't fetch or snuggle in your lap or anything that cool (although I've heard that you can teach betta fish tricks, that just seemed a little too nerdy for us). So instead of paying our $500 pet deposit to get a typical sort of pet, we spent $20 on a bird feeder and seed. 

And for the first few weeks, we didn't see or hear anything coming from our back porch. We would open the blinds every morning and forlornly stare at our bird feeder. I know sometimes it can take a few week for birds to catch on so I decided to give them some help! I scattered bird seed all over our back porch and sidewalk. And the next day, we had birdie visitors. The birds come to see us whenever the sun is shining (the birds never seem to visit when it is cloudy out and I want their cheerful chirping the most) and we kept receiving visitors until all the seed on the sidewalk was gone. 

Because I was being helpful and throwing seed on the ground, only 1 bird ever found the actual bird feeder. He was smart and chirpy and Matt named him Larry. When Larry is eating at the bird feeder, I've tried to get closer to the window to see his markings or take a picture to show you all. Larry does not like this and promptly flies away. He is a very private and skittish bird, but I am happy to have him anyway! Maybe Larry will help the other birds figure out the bird feeder situation...

From Squidoo

In other news, I have been very busy at work. Olga's was a madhouse around Valentine's day and I've worked way more than I usually do. Good for our bank account, bad for the lonely library books stacked by the couch. Working more has gone pretty well, except for the angry guest I had the other day that made me cry. The man said that he was insulted by the awful service I gave him and that I completely ruined his birthday. 

I can admit that I may have been a tad neglectful of his table (he didn't get more bread without asking and his water glass was mostly empty) but I was running around like a mad woman about 5 feet away trying to take care of my other guests (the birthday celebration of an 8 year old and her entire family and a very needy 5 top with two little kids). But it wasn't like I wasn't available if he had really needed something (he could have stopped me and asked - being a waiter does not make me a mind reader) and it wasn't as if I was messing around on my cell phone and ignoring him (I was legitimately busy as he could see! The whiney jerk).

Usually when guests are rude to me, I can just blow it off and understand that life makes everyone ugly sometimes. But the fact that this man personally insulted me and said that I ruined his birthday was just too much. How absurd! Why is it that if you work in the food service industry, people feel they are allowed to treat you like dog poop AND get a free meal for it?

On the bright side, my manager didn't ream me for the guest complaint like I thought he was going to and my coworkers spent the rest of the shift being really nice and trying to make me smile again. Some days I hate my job, but for now it pays the bills and I am content. Anyway, I am off to enjoy the sunshine while it's here and I have some free time. Have a great day!

Saturday Share on a Sunday

Things have been pretty stable in our corner of the world - I work, Matt works, we get days off and hang out together. That's the gist of it. I did go back to the doctor for my health concerns but he was pretty unimpressed with my lab results and told me to come back and see him when I was sick. So hopefully my body will heal itself and I am going to try and help it along with some fanciful food therapy initiatives. 


Basically, I'm going to modify my diet and journal about it to see if I can find a diet that helps me feel more energized with less daytime fatigue and less susceptibility to general illnesses (flu, common cold, etc). I am starting with increasing my vegetable and fruit intake and cutting out meat, dairy and processed foods. So far, I've been at it for five days without any noticeable results other than (and this may be TMI) better bowel movements. I've often heard it said that digestive health and a good immune system go hand in hand so maybe I'm on the right track. I'll hold off on any judgments until I get more data though.


What we're into this week:

• I am perusing several books right now, mostly about vegan diets and urban homesteading. I started another book today sent to me by the wonderful Mrs. E called The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. It's a book by the author who spent a year dedicated to increasing her happiness while still living a real life (no trips to foreign countries or leaving her day job behind) and the things she learned from her adventure. So far, I love it (and maybe I will embark on my own happiness project!). 
• I finished a fascinating memoir a few days ago called The White Masai by Corinne Hofmann who falls in love with a Masai warrior and moves to Africa to be with him. This book feels like reading her diary and she tells us so many intimate details - the good, the bad, and the ugly. Incredible.
• Matt has all but forgotten about video games and immerses himself in learning how to program in python and build web pages. It is amazing how intensely he can focus on a subject to the exclusion of everyday life (like eating and vacuuming and laundry).
• We occasionally watch the sitcom "How I Met Your Mother" and enjoy every episode, even the painfully awkward ones. I highly recommend it for the laughs it gives us as we follow the social and romantic lives of the outstanding cast of characters.

Does this count as a New Year's resolution?

"I'm a strong proponent of having adventures, but only in the name of achieving balance. Stand still for too long and you're restless, run for too long and you're exhausted. The other side of the coin is the static serenity of home. 

If you're prepared to exercise a healthy dose of both daring and caution, the only caveat is this: An adventure without a mission feels a lot like wandering, and wandering - for too long - feels a lot like being lost. The conclusion? You don't necessarily have to look before you leap... just know why you're leaping."  –  Kathleen S., 2011

When I originally imagined moving to a new, faraway, and foreign place, I thought it would be such a life altering adventure. I truly thought that after Matt and I got to WA things would fall into place just the way I envisioned it because obviously, if I was living someplace else than I would stop procrastinating and start doing all of the things I wanted to accomplish with my life.

As you can see, I had a ridiculously unrealistic and romanticized idea of what my life would be like if I were living somewhere else. It was silly for me to assume that my location would change my life so grandly when the biggest piece of the puzzle was still the same – me.

After five months of feeling unsettled, I think I have finally realized what has been missing – a rallying point, a sense of direction for my everyday choices (and a nearby support network to see me through, but I can't have everything, can I?).

When I was in school (as I have been for the past 16 years), most of my choices revolved around my education – what books I would read, what my daily schedule looked like and how much free time I had for extracurriculars and friends. This is the first period of my life not determined by my first day of class, the school holiday schedule, and exam times. I feel lost without the guiding force of the school year.

The days seem to blur together as I aimlessly wander through them towards no particular objective. To remedy my drifting, I am going to embark on a journey, albeit a slow and ambling course, of self-improvement to see me through my days. As a beginning point, I am going to use the product of an exercise that I did with Matt two years ago. What we did was, individually and without conferring, create a list of short & long-term goals we wanted to accomplish (this was to help us evaluate our future plans and make sure there weren’t any huge discrepancies between the visions we had for our shared future).

What I would like is to utilize this blog as a tool to evaluate my progress while keeping in mind the broader goals I want to achieve. Of course, I will be ecstatic to cross off minor goals I achieve along the way but what I really want is for this to be an ongoing project of self-development. To start, I will list the goals as I originally wrote them (last edited 3/2013):

• Make dean’s list
• Don't get pregnant before graduating from college
• Earn a job I love
• Volunteer for a cause I love
• Live up North for one year or more
• Live abroad for one year or more
• Buy local products (meat, seafood, produce)
• Read more nonfiction books
• Become an amateur astronomer
• Become more interested in current events and news
• Become politically engaged
• Stay physically fit
• Plant a flower, herb, fruit and vegetable garden
• Build a house
• Evaluate and develop the spiritual facet of myself
• Develop and maintain relationships better
• Be a supportive lover, friend and coworker
• Don’t get caught up in the insignificant details
• Be a looking glass for others
• Grow up to be a Centenarian (added 8/2012)

A few of these things I have already accomplished, a few are currently in progress, some I haven't even thought of yet and some I will not even begin to tackle for another decade. Regardless, it is nice to see all my life-goal ducklings written in a row – it gives me a sense of purpose. I want to live in a better world, therefore I must begin with being a better person.

"The place to improve the world is first in one’s own heart and head and hands." - Robert Persig

"Action is character, our English teacher always says. I think it means if we never did anything, we wouldn't be anybody." - Jenny Mellor in the movie "An Education"