08.15.08
Thought for Friday
Yeah so, today is Friday. Which means it’s so close to the weekend, I can smell it. Mind you, I usually don’t work on Fridays, but today they asked if I could, and I never turn down the chance to earn a little extra money, so I am going in. You all know how miserable my job is, I have explained it before. So I won’t go into it again. However, this past week at work, I have noticed something. And here is my little nugget of wisdom: everything is a little bit better if you smile.
Seriously, everything. At least at work. I am not the only miserable person in my office. A lot of people are. So yesterday, at like 2:30 (which is the most miserable time of the day, when it is halfway between lunch and time to go home), we were all sitting around looking like somebody had just run us all over with a steamroller of misery. It was terrible. I noticed this and decided, since I didn’t actually have any work to do, that I would try something. I smiled. I smiled at everybody in the office. I am pretty sure they were all uncomfortable for a minute, wondering whether I had finally snapped. But after a minute or two, they got it. And somebody else started smiling. And then another. And so on. Pretty soon, the mood of the entire office was a little less Schindler’s List and a little more George of the Jungle. (Not that this story had anything to do with Jews or apes)
This principle works in other places, too. Like if you are in traffic and about to go absolutely crazy, just smile. Or if you are in the grocery store and somebody with a huge cart rushes to get ahead of you in line when you only have 11 things, just smile. It’s ok, nobody will die (hopefully) if you are at the grocery store for five extra minutes. I am serious, this just limits my amount of stress so much sometimes!
Let me take a second to explain to you that I am not a naturally nice person. Which sounds terrible. But I seriously have to fight urges to hit people with my cart in the store (ask Kyle about that story sometime) and scream at people in traffic. Sometimes, I am just in a foul mood and want to be terrible and miserable a mean (very much like a five year old throwing a temper tantrum). However, my foul mood doesn’t not help anybody, certainly myself. And if I hit some old woman moving way to slow with my cart, I will probably have a lawsuit on my hands, and possibly get in some trouble with Jesus, and chances are, it will not make me feel any better. So why not just let it go and smile? Even if it doesn’t catch on like wildfire, as it did in my office, you will look prettier, and Jesus sees. He notices when you really want to scream at the top of your lungs, but instead you control yourself and just put on a happy face. And it’s a good thing. Just remember, you will never be arrested for smiling.
And that’s my thought for the day.
08.12.08
Day from…?
Have any of you ever had a job that is so unbelievably, mind numbingly terrible that it makes you want to smash your head against something? I have one of those jobs right now. Let me interrupt myself for a minute to say that I am incredibly grateful to have a job right now, when many people I know are struggling to find one so that they can feed their family. I am thankful that God has provided me with a job, even if it is a terrible waste of time and not beneficial to a single person.
So today was just one of those days at work where nothing goes right from the start. I was so bored and frustrated and seriously ready to punch the next person who walked into my musty copy room that has a table in it/office. I was just about to give up and throw all of these papers in the air and just cry….when something amazing happened. The power went out. Like, complete black out in the whole building. We all congregated downstairs, and sat around, and called TECO. The power wouldn’t be turned back on for at least two hours. They wouldn’t let us go home, so we got to sit around for two hours and do nothing and talk. AND they ordered us some pizzas, since it was around lunch time. I got to talk of my co-workers, hear about their cats, and eat some pizza.
The whole time the power was out, I could just picture God up there chuckling, saying, “I got your back Emily”. It’s nice to be reminded of that sometimes, you know?
08.11.08
So long…
…summer time. In my house today, summer is officially over. My fantastic husband is back at work today, getting ready for his first full school year teaching. I am more proud of him than I could ever express in a blog post that nobody will read.
Let me tell you something about Kyle. He never wanted to be a teacher. He has a 4 year degree in advertising, and he is incredibly talented. After graduation, he looked for a job for months in his field, with no luck. He could have found one if he had been willing to move across the country or take pretty much no money for his work. But he was a newly married man with a wife to think about. So instead of chasing a career in advertising, he found a job in Lakeland, teaching math to middle schoolers. It isn’t his dream job, but he loves it and he loves his kids and he goes to work everyday and tries to make a difference to them. Why? Why would he try that hard at something he never thought would be a career for him?
He does it because he is an excellent husband. I know, beyond the shadow of a doubt that my husband loves me, because he took a job he wasn’t sure he could even do, so that I would have insurance to pay for my insulin. He does it because he is an excellent man, who really believes that he can help the kids he teaches. Finally, he does it because, in my opinion, he is an excellent Christian who believes that he can lead by setting a good example for a bunch of 8th graders. I am sure he is one of the only honest, decent men these kids see on a daily basis. And this is the man God choose for me. This is the man he picked to be my husband. And I couldn’t be happier. Good choice man!
I am sure he would be mortified if he ever read this, but I really have nothing to worry about, since I am pretty sure nobody actually reads this. But really, if you do happen to read it, hug a math teacher.
08.09.08
I hate South Bend
So I have this friend. I probably shouldn’t start out like that, because friend isn’t really an accurate word to describe what this person means to me. I have known her since I was a freshman in high school, and she is the person I have turned to for pretty much everything since then. She has seen me grow from an awkward, weird 13 year old to who I am now (not much has changed except the number, I know). She is a wonderful person and she inspires me to try and be a wonderful person. Her name is Kelly.
Kelly got married to a great guy named Jon a few years ago. He plays the organ. Recently, he got accepted to Notre Dame for grad school, which is awesome. However, that meant that he had to move to South Bend, Indiana, where Notre Dame is located. Which naturally meant that he took his wife with him ( though I did tell her she should just move into our spare bedroom, because I am much cuter and more charming than Jon).
But here is the thing. I miss her. It’s not like we saw each other all the time and talked on the phone for hours each day and went shopping together before she moved. She lived in Tallahassee, and I live in Lakeland. But before, I always knew that if I needed her, she was only four hours away and she would come. If I started to miss her, I could get in my car and go see her for a weekend. But now I can’t, because let’s face it, I am not going to drive to Indiana. Now it is a trip that requires planning and time off of work and plane tickets. Which sucks.
So that is why I hate South Bend. Because it is so far away and not even all that cool, but it still gets Kelly.
08.07.08
Well. Here we go…
I want you to know that I accidentally typed the title and two sentences jUST lIKE tHIS, because I didn’t know I put caps lock on. Silly me. Anyway. What’s up. I decided to try some of this blog junk. Not because I think there are hundreds of people out there clamoring to know my thoughts of various topics. Just because I am bored and I really need something to occupy my time. Anyway, here are some things you should know about me:
-I am 23. I will be 24 in a month.
-I am awesome.
-I have the world’s most fantastic husband. His name is Kyle, and he is glaring at me right now for succumbing to the blog world.
-I have a dog named Tessie. She is fantastic and a little bit dumb.
-Jesus and I are pals. That means he’s got my back and I’ve got his. So if I hear you say anything bad about my friend or do anything to disrespect him, we will have an issue.
-I miss my Mom (who lives on the other side of the country) more than I ever though I would when I was 13.
-I work a completely meaningless, pointless, and terrible temp job. Hire me to do something meaningful. I don’t care what it is.
-I love Harry Potter. LOVE.
I am going to stop listing random things now, hopefully you will learn a bit about me through intense character study and reading comprehension. So I am done with this first blog post. It was not as difficult as I thought it would be. I am gonna go eat a terribly unhealthy meal now. Cheers!
