I had this feeling that 2008 was going to be a great year for me, or at least an exciting one. Although we’re only 3 months into the new year, already so many changes have occurred. One of the most prominent changes would be my living situation. The new roommate was hard to get used to at first, but the more time I spent at the new place, the more I’ve grown to really love it. I have a roommate who isn’t home much, and when she is, we talk, or we watch tv and movies together, sometimes do dinner. I also have a nice two bedroom place to myself the majority of the time, which has a lot of perks. The hot tub is a  huge plus, and I cannot wait until it’s warm enough to test out the pool.

Another huge change is my romantic life. I’m single once again, but for the first time in a long time, I’m happy about it. I do love DG, I probably always will. But I have realized that I fall in love with a person’s potential, and no amount of love I give, or encouragement or support is ever going to make that person change. They have to have the drive and ambition to do it on their own. I’m learning to be a bit more picky, and a bit more reserved. I’m a heart on my sleeve type of girl, and I tend to just give my heart away without a second thought. I always want to skip the dating stage and head straight to comfy sweatpants, when shouldn’t I be enjoying the beginning? Isn’t the first three months when you’re just learning about someone? Why commit to that person completely before you even know how they like their eggs?

Professionally, 2008 has been amazing. I am learning more and more about the technical world and the longer I’m at my job, the more I love it. I love coming to work in the morning, and I love what I do. They treat me so well, and I couldn’t ask for a better situation.

I’ve been spending a lot of time with friends, both old and new. I’m developing my friendships, and having a lot of fun in the process. I’ve starting going to a regular potluck Thursday, and EB and I are training for a 10K. I love going on our runs, where we probably talk more than actually work out. It’s the thought that counts right?

So here’s to 2008. It has and will continue to have its ups and downs. But I have a feeling that this is my year, and big things are happening. Here’s to riding the wave.

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I love my dog. Anyone who knows me knows I treat my dog like my child. He is my best friend. But, just like with a child, he can do things that drive me absolutely insane. The other day I took my little cousins and my dog Oscar to the park. Oscar went into puppy mode running around and barking like crazy. My 5 yr old cousin got scared and ran away, and of course Oscar chased him and thought it was a game. Needless to say, my lil cousin is now terrified of him.

And then there was last night. Oh boy. Last night he woke me up at 2am, 3am, and 4am to go to go outside and go to the bathroom. The poor fella is sick, so he had to do his business a bunch. While I’m grateful he didn’t leave doggie presents all over the apartment, I’m also understandably grumpy and annoyed. I do NOT like getting dragged out of bed into the cold three times in one night. The worst part is the little bugger is sick because he probably ate something he shouldn’t have. He is not on my good side this week. I swear that dog can make me so mad, but then I look at him and I can’t help but smile. I mean who can stay mad at this face?

Ok, so I know I have vented in the past about my roommate situation. But it’s not that I think she has ever been malicious, I just think that we’re very different. We have some really fun times, and as we get used to each other, I think we’re starting to get in the swing of things. I’ve been having a rough week, and I didn’t even think she noticed. To my surprise though, last night she gave me a very much needed hug. I was shocked that she cared, and it made me feel so much better. And to top it off, today she had flowers delivered to my work!

I am floored by her compassion for me even though I’ve been fairly tight lipped about what’s going on. It’s funny, when I’m sad I actually don’t open up a ton, especially not with a roommate. I guess I think there are people you have to be strong around, and I just don’t want to fall apart in front of this person who already sees enough of me. I don’t like feeling so vulnerable, and it is nice that she’s respecting my space. I’m beginning to think that this roommate stuff is more than just a way to save money. It just might be a little bit fun.

Lately I’ve been doing a lot of self reflection. In the past it seems I’ve repeated my mistakes over and over again, causing this pattern of unhealthy behavior. I like to think I’ve grown a little, and I’m breaking patterns. In doing so, I’ve found that I have a lot of time to sit back and think about the things that I want out of life. This can be really hard on me, being such an overachiever. I know exactly what I want, but it’s not something I can just go to the store and buy. It’s not something I can say, well if I work really hard at work, and if I’m super tidy and clean, and if I do my very best, it will happen. I have absolutely no control over the situation. All I can do is sit back and say, I’m going to live my life, and hopefully the things I want will fall into place. Easier said than done, but I think I’m taking the baby steps. I’m amazed at my restraint, because there is still a part of me that wants to collapse into tears and worry and fret because I don’t know what is going on, and I can’t plan it all out. In the words of my dear DG, I need to just, “play it by ear.” This lesson of patience has been the hardest lesson of my adult life. My approach right now when I get restless is to go running. So if nothing else, I’ll get some killer legs while I wait.

I recently read this article about the 10 types of friends you should have. One of them was the bunny: The Bunny is a friend who thinks and behaves in generally the opposite way to you - she is, for example, happy to pander to men if she thinks it will benefit her in the long run, she flirts outrageously, exaggerates diabolically and she has a tendency to wear the sort of necklines that could get you arrested in certain countries. You are often driven mad by The Bunny’s approach to life, but you also have to
admit to finding her company refreshing and it’s a relief to be exposed to someone else’s rules for a while. Spending time with The Bunny is like taking a holiday from being you. Naturally she knows this and tends to play up to it. This describes my roommate to a T. Unfortunately, that often driven mad quality has been at full force as of late. I don’t think she realizes how rude she can come across sometimes. Today she criticized my dog, which is basically criticizing my parenting skills. I was so livid, but what can I say? I am legally bound to this person for another ten plus months and I have to make the best of it. It’s not always bad; she is a nice person and we have fun together. We have fun the way normal friends do though, and we definitely lack that closeness some roommates share. I have to look at this as a business arrangement instead of a stand in family. Just because I’m craving the family life doesn’t mean I’m going to get it from her.

If you’ve been following along with my posts, you may have noticed that I’ve moved off of blogger and onto my own site. You may have also noticed that there is a different look to the new site. What do you think? I wanted to give a major shoutout to Ruthie who has been my Blogging Guru and who has helped me design the site. Thanks for putting up with my constant questions R!

I have always been an advocate for drinking tap water. My reasoning is because tap water has to be tested all the time, whereas bottled water doesn’t have to go through as much testing. This is my belief anyways. So I have a brita filter to help with the chlorine taste and I figure I’m good. Well, I got my bubble burst today when I read this article in the New York Times. There are drugs in the drinking water? You’ve gotta be kidding me! And my brita filter doesn’t protect against it. Worse yet, it’s in the bottled water too. The drugs are in small doses, but it makes me wonder: are our kids going to suffer some crazy developmental effects from all of these drugs? Or are we going to have weird mutant cancer when we’re in our 80s? It explains some of the wacky people I see when I’m out and about town. It’s something in the water…

So my work keeps track of billable hours we do and every two weeks there are the top 5 billable winners. Because I’m on the helpdesk I am never in the top 5. Thanks to this grueling project I’ve been doing, I finally made it into the top 5! It isn’t a huge deal, but it does make me look good, and it might help out with the whole raise thing. Either way, I’m pretty stoked about it. Can I get a woot woot?