The Key to a Good Life

I really try not to stress out or panic about really stupid things like to-do lists or inconvenient surprises, like a minor car accident, but sometimes it's really hard to stay calm and relaxed when things just don't seem to be going your way, even if all the things that aren't going your way are really insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Sometimes it takes something significant to happen to remind you how much better life would be if you just took a breath and tried to focus on how lucky you really are when things seem to be against you.
The founder of Camp Longhorn, Tex Robertson, just died. He was 98, and I'm sure most people were expecting that he was not going to be around much longer, but it is still sad news to learn that someone who had an important part in your life, no matter how small, is gone. He did survive the entire summer, though, so every camper this year still completely enjoyed their term.
His family and close friends, however, are now having to deal with a huge amount of grief and all of the frustrating aspects of funeral preparations, etc. All I have to deal with is figuring out when my car will be fixed, and there really isn't much damage. All of my loved ones are fine, I'm not getting evicted, or anything horrible like that, and I'm about to start my last year at Bard, which is exciting and nerve wracking ( in a good way) all at the same time. Being calm is certainly a learning experience, but since I've really been trying, it seems that life has gotten better. It makes me really want to take up Tai Chi.

Sam was in my dream last night. I haven't had a dream about him for awhile now, so it caught me off guard. This time he actually told me why he was mad at me, or at least stopped talking to me. We ended up working it out, which felt good in my dream, but made me feel a little sad when I woke up because I do still miss him. I haven't met another person who filled his place in my life yet, so it's understandable that I still miss him. Oh well, I have a boyfriend, a cat, a wonderful house, a great new housemate, and some awesome best friends. I wish that my mind could just kick into gear.

Why?

I have no idea why I didn't get shin splints until now, but they decided to show up over a week after I started running regularly again. WebMD says that they can be caused by muscle weakness, flat feet or over pronation, or hairline fractures on you shins. I'm fairly certain that mine are caused by feet, which are just like my dad's. WebMD says that to get rid of shin splints you should rest so that they heal, stop exercise as soon as you feel pain, and try other exercise. I don't want to try a different exercise, I like running, and it seems to me that actual athletes who train constantly don't stop as soon as they feel pain. I know it's not a good thing to do, but I was just starting to feel really good running so I don't want to stop now.

Photoshop

I can't decide whether I love or hate Photoshop. I really want to play with it to see what it can do, but I really do believe that it's cheating the real spirit of photography, which everyone knows I am really anal about. It kind of seems like a cop out to just adjust your photo to make it look incredible. If you can't take an incredible photo without putting it through photoshop, then you're not a good photographer. The end. On the other hand, if you're creating a new piece of digital art that originates from a photo, that seems acceptable. In other news I really miss Sarah. I can't wait to see her up here, though apparently she like half signed me up for the tennis team, so we'll see. Maybe I'll join. It depends on Senior Project, which is really scaring me right now, but if Asher made it through and passed, I suppose I shouldn't worry too much.

I wish I didn't need a housemate

Do you ever want to be famous minus all the stalking/paparazzi crap they have to go through? And the stupid politics, but you have stupid politics in almost every field you could go into...including Petsmart! Don't remind me that I work there. I don't know what I want to do after college!!!!

So there's a new movie coming out that I really want to see called The Nanny Diaries. Every time I see the trailer it makes me think of all the adventures in babysitting that I have had over all my years of childcare, like the time in Extended Care that a little girl was potty training, had an accident in her "big girl" underwear, and didn't have any replacements. We told her that, since her mother was going to be there any minute that she should just keep her dress down. The second she stepped out of the bathroom, she pulled her dress up over her head and yelled, "I'm not wearing any underwear!" Then there was the time Courtney and I were babysitting three kids who were Swedish-American. One liked to run around naked and the littlest one insisted that I knew how to read Swedish. On another note, I hate my job.