Saturday, February 15, 2014

People.

This isn't the type of blog I intend to have, but it's part of my journey, so I'm posting it anyways.



This week, I'm batting 1000 when it comes to things getting screwed up. Between Sunday evening and Thursday, plans I had were cancelled or blown off 6 different times. SIX! By 5 DIFFERENT PEOPLE!! Two of them I can completely understand and am not even upset about in the slightest. The others... I don't know whether to be pissed off or simply feel hurt.

Sunday: work, homework, social time. Nope, friend cancelled due to unforeseen (but acceptable) reasons.
Monday: homework, class, homework, class, social time. Nope, blown off (as in, no response at all) by - not just 1 -- 2 different people; go sit at home alone.
Tuesday: homework, social time, class, online quiz, social time. Nope, blown off AGAIN, and then cancelled on; repeat last night.
Wednesday: homework, class, social time. Nope, cancelled (reasonable this time).
Thursday: homework, 5-year anniversary. Nope, world crumbled around you, cancel everything and stay home.
Anyone else see the pattern here? 5 solid days of zero socialization, plus heartbreak and self-doubt (maybe they're cancelling because I suck at being a friend) and studying myself to the core. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE ASL and I will be an amazing interpreter (See what I did there? Yay for positive self-talk and self-confidence!) because I can't imagine my life without such a deep connection to Deaf culture. This hard work and stress is entirely worth it because the outcome will be magnificent! But, without a little socializing, I'll drive myself crazy or worse...

Somewhere in all of this, 2 FUBAR friendships (due to my personality scaring people) and a relationship in complete shambles. Plus, friends I fear I will lose because of the broken relationships. It’s having a ripple effect.
I know my personality is very strange. I’m a ball of quirks just unraveling the more you get to know me. I've changed a lot (physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally) in the last 4 years. Example: To the point where someone I knew when I was 16 recently said, "She wasn't like that when I knew her" when he caught me laughing and being obnoxious with one of my best friends. He meant that in a good way (I asked, because I'm still insecure like that) because he thought I was a boring person. People who I am close with know that is not the case. People who I'm not close with don't quite see it that way. There aren't many people that really KNOW me.



I don’t even know how to approach it anymore. Do I adopt a “take me or leave me” approach, or do I adapt to my surroundings and tweak myself to better fit those people I want to have in my life? Maybe it’s too late to have those people in my life, and maybe I don’t need them there anyways. But, if I want them there, isn’t it worth a little sacrifice? Last time, though, those sacrifices led to hiding myself and behaving a certain way because someone in particular preferred it, and that led to people not knowing who I really am. (See the above comment from an old friend; that was how I was when he “knew me” because that was how other people preferred me to be)
Or maybe (and I think this might be the most likely) I don’t know the real me, because it’s a work-in-progress… So, do I ask the people I already know and care about to join me on the adventure; or do I just go alone and wait to see who comes along, or who follows? Would you join me, or would you wait and see if you could jump on board when things are a little more predictable? Because if you know me at all, you know that I’m a little bit of a wild card sometimes…


Thoughts?
~Al

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

It's been a while...

...since I've had anything to write about the time to write about life.

Shortly after my last post (promising to post more, I know, I know), things blew up around here. Between the middle of April to the middle of May, several ER trips were taken for our foster daughter, ultimately ending with her leaving us. That was a challenge. Plus, school came to the end of the semester, I got a THIRD job and life kept moving on. But, I thought I had survived it. Turns out I was just going through the motions. Between stress headaches, very complex migraines (think micro-seizures in my brain stem and you won't want any more details), vitamin deficiencies, and the list goes on, my body and mind went into survival mode and it wasn't pretty.

Well, not a whole lot has settled down, but it's organized somewhat manageable chaos. Now, I'm forcing myself to spend more time figuring out who I am and what the hell I'm doing with my life. I'm sick of waking up in the morning and groaning at the realization that my life hasn't been a bad dream. My life has been a roller coaster, but it hasn't been all awful and I've decided to pick out the positives in life.

I love my coworkers -- and you'll probably hear about them frequently, but I'll change their names so there's no issue with them finding out I'm talking about them. Ha! I STILL love cooking, and I'm doing a lot more of it. Later today or tomorrow, I'll post a little bit about school and a couple pics of what I cooked up around here the past week or so.

Catch ya later,
Al