From One Year to the Next

Going through my 2012 calendar to update birthdays and such in my 2013 planner. While in the process, I found March 28th circled in blue pen with a chicken-scratch note: "See Dad w/Dan." Dan is my brother, and that is the day I started talking to my dad again after a year of silence on my part. 14 days later, he died. I firmly believe that we must do everything we need to do to keep our self respect and sanity. But, when it comes down to it, don't let pride and stubbornness keep you from growing as a human being. I'm glad I did what I did for myself, but I am also glad I did what I did for my dad. He wasn't much of a father, by any means. In fact, he was a total asshole most of the time, but he suffered from PTSD as a result of all of the scouting trips he was head of in Vietnam. Not an excuse, but no one deserves to die as lonely as he did. No one. Sorry. Just had to get that off my chest.

Happy New Year!

Wow! Yet again, I've been gone for a while. I promise you, though, today's post is not a result of the new year's birth. That's just a simple coincidence. No, my reason for posting today is the fact that my life, regardless of the date, is about to change drastically. For, dear readers, at the end of this month, I will embark on a journey similar to one I had ended nearly eleven years ago.
The two will have similarities and differences, like all great stories with like plot-lines. Roughly eleven years ago, on a dreary Summer morning cum humidly sticky day, I graduated sixth in my high school class of ninety-eight. The class had started out together as one-hundred, twenty, but was whittled down from 1997 to 2002 by deaths, drop-outs and under-achievers. I was moderately proud of myself, but big dreams of a college education at that point had fallen by the wayside. I would not be interested in perpetual homework, in the hopes of maybe, someday finding a job that may or may not pay off school loans. Mark my words, friends, there would be loans. I would find no help from my parents, who spent every penny my mother earned (while my father went from job to job, if he felt like pitching in), then sunk themselves into deep, deep debt. No, thanks! So, full steam ahead into the workforce I went.
Now, more than a decade later, I feel that I have actually found my calling. Having left the worlds of retail and food service behind, I have been a barn manager and animal caretaker for five years. My heart beats for the animals. I have always nurtured a quiet fascination with my avian brothers and sisters. Now, I look forward to once again becoming a student on January 29. Having no previous college experience or credit, I will begin at the beginning. My entrance exam scores told the tale of my keen understanding of the English language, as well as my deep misunderstanding of maths. I was given the option to "CLEP" out of English Composition 101, and to retake the math portions. However, as I have not written a paper in such a great length of time, and I feel that my math scores could only be worse, I registered for Eng Comp 101 and Elem Algebra. Yes, I will be taking a non-credit, remedial math course. However, should I do well in class, and pass another exam (should I so choose), I may place into college math next semester. In English, I have no doubt, I will shine brightly. This, I hope will allow me to skip over Eng Comp 102, and get on with the courses I really want and need to take to achieve my Associate in Arts degree.
I spent the last three hours of 2012 pouring over webpages and webpages of the "best schools for Wildlife Biology." Where will I go once my I have my Associate degree in hand? I'm not certain, but I am certain of one thing: This is going to be one hell of a year! By the start of 2020, I will be a learned soul, on the path to making the world a better place for our animal and avian brethren. I am ecstatic and terrified in anticipation.
By the way, any of you have any suggestions for universities? So far, I've thought about Unity, ME; University of Michigan; Framingham State, MA; University of Alaska, Fairbanks; Utah; Kansas and Illinois. I'm not interested in Marine Biology, but Wildlife Care and Conservation with a specialization in Ornithology. Becoming a Wildlife Biologist makes the most sense for those careers. Guide me, Wise Friends!

Why Do I Do This To Myself?

It's getting dark.
I'm watching a show called "Ghost Adventures" on hulu. The guys that do the show are pretty ridiculous, but it's still spooky. I'm not a fan of the cut-scenes they use...or the spooky sounds...or the spooky music...
But I just can help myself!
Anyone else watch paranormal programs alone, in the dark, even though you know you're just making yourself sick with fear?
What fun!
*U_U*

What to do? What to do?

Now that I am back to a fairly regular 5-days-a-week schedule at work, days off have been more lazy. Granted, I vegged out today because I just spent the last week dog/house-sitting for a friend/co-worker. The pup and I had fun, and it was like a mini-holiday away from home (except that I still had to work during the majority of the stay.) Nevertheless, having a live housemate for a week, when I'm so used to being alone when I come home does tend to take a bit out of me. Friday was a dream, though! That was my last day off before today. Slept in an hour later than usual (so...woke up at 6:30am), took a lovely, long walk with the pup, had breakfast with her, then headed off to the Commons for a little "me time." Booked a haircut for the afternoon, grabbed a smoothie for lunch, made an appointment with a new optometrist, perused the shelves of the local bookstore, devoured a fair portion of a book bought from said shop, then had my haircut. Then, it was back to the house for another long walk with the pup, laundry, some more reading (outside on the porch)and dinner.
Later, I invited myself over to a friend's house, and we watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. I'm not one for spectating. Heck! The only time I really remember paying attention was when Sarah Hughes won gold. I was so excited for her that I cried! It was thrilling. But it was actually really nice to watch it with someone who is very physically active (and it shows!) that actually gets into the stories of the players. Story short: we enjoyed ourselves.
I came home late last night, because my friend was returning very early this morning, and I didn't want to leave the little darling dog alone; especially since a fierce thunderstorm had begun the hour I was going to leave. She was shaking so violently that I put on some music, sat back down with her and read for a bit. I sang to her, too, in an attempt to drown out the thunder and soothe her a little. However, I don't think Journey was very soothing to her poor, raw nerves. The storm subsided a bit a couple of hours later, with it went her shakes. So, I loaded up the car, said my fond farewells, making sure to tell her that her "mommy" would be home soon and headed home.
Slept in until 6 this morning, then was up like a shot cleaning the house. It is incredible how quickly spiders will take over once their human has vacated for a few days! Those little (and big! Yikes!) suckers were everywhere! Then, I plugged my composting toilet back in, only to throw a fuse, causing my fridge and all of the kitchen outlets to snap off. What an ordeal! Luckily, it's just the toilet, and I'll just have to run it manually until a solution is found and carried out. No big deal; I've done that before when the mixing arm broke. If you're thinking about investing in a composting toilet, you would be better off investing your time into researching companies and models first. Very thoroughly. Cleaning, last bit of laundry and fuse business done, what did I do with the rest of my day? Well, friends, I checked all of my emails/websites that I haven't seen in a week (no internet at the house I was in), then went back through my favorite karaoke videos on YouTube, sang a few and made a list for a new, themed mix cd I want to make. After that? Watched a couple of videos of opera and reminded myself that I promised myself that I'd take voice lessons when my car was fixed. As far as I know, now, it's fixed. We'll see how much my new glasses/contacts cost next month, then go from there. I still plan on taking English riding lessons (in the Fall) and my first skydive (hopefully on my birthday weekend), so things may be a little pricey. But, you know? I've been yearning for voice lessons since high school, so I'm going to do it. And I'm going to do it right. The plan is the go for private lessons through the Cape Cod Conservatory. I'm looking forward to the lessons, but so much more to the recitals. Singing in front of a crowd is easier than acting, in my opinion. You have music to follow, words that rhyme and it's over relatively quickly. Oh, yeah, and there are the compliments, too. Can't forget that.
Alright, kiddies, I'm off for the next thing for tonight. Who knows what that will be? I haven't run for a week or so. Maybe that'll be it. Then again, I haven't planned for any Sabbats for quite some time, and Lughnasadh is right around the corner! Anyone got anything special planned for the first harvest?