today’s oddities

I’ve had one of those weird days today, where the universe has seen fit to show me that I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. Everything I’ve read today has been about pushing out of your comfort zone -- three different books, and my horriblescope! And that effort is something that’s been smack in the middle of my radar, as I’m feeling a bit stymied with my life, and am willing to start pushing my boundaries a bit.

My mom and I had a fascinating conversation over the weekend, in which she threw out a number of activities for me to consider, and I listened to myself give one excuse after another.

"Work on a political campaign."
"I hate politics. And the race always ends."

"Join a hiking club."
"They’ve all hiked Mt. Everest. I’ve only ever climbed Mt. Holyoke."

"Take a cooking class."
"It’ll just make me fat."

After twenty minutes of hearing myself come up with one lame excuse after another, I realized I was stuck. So now I’m willing to make some inroads into doing something new.

Perhaps karate...

Also, I read a cool quote from Mark Twain: "History does not repeat itself, but it rhymes."

Also, I gave a class today, and saw my boss taking copious notes during it. Convinced she was going to tell me how horrible the presentation was (it was a little discombobulated, I’ll admit), I dreaded getting her feedback. But as soon as I realized that she’s doing her job by helping me do my job better... well, then it was like she was giving me extra money! Especially because her notes were very positive -- and even the "creative criticisms" were phrased productively. I wrote down her thoughts and really took them in. Because I want to do my job as well as I can. And while she and I have completely different teaching styles, she’s clearly doing something right. She covers the bases that I don’t even remember to consider.

Also, she was on Jeopardy. So clearly she knows a LOT of stuff I don’t.

(However, I’m way hotter. That evens the scales a bit.)

Also, there are some really cool things I want to check out (like Grupo Corpo at BAM this weekend) and having something to pursue always makes me feel more alive.

AND... I didn’t eat any candy today. (My system is in shock.)