oh this year.

I suppose that with my pending departure, I should start recording my thoughts, right?  People like that, right?  

Hmmm, it is of irrelevance whether "you all" (whomever you might be) like it or not, I just need a good, solid, electronic-outlet for myself.  

I need to feel a little more confident in which direction my life seems to be traveling... 
while I travel. 

Graduating from college is an experience that leaves you, in my strong, strong opinion (I promise, I hardly have any of those!), with too many open doors.  Particularly if you, like me, majored and studied a variety of subjects with no clear course of action... Accounting? Nope.  Pre-med?  Chyea-right.  German and Political Science with an emphasis on minority rights and the Roma? You-betcha! 

So, with no clear path in mind I camped, hiked, and wrote resumes all summer only to end up selling running shoes at a local shop in Tacoma, Washington.  While, there is a link to my passion for running here, it was not necessarily what my bleeding-liberal-humanrightsoriented-heart had in mind.  

But, when live gives you... 
melons (you might be dyslexic)... 
lemons(!) you just make do.  

So, this year, I ran, I wrote, I read and I sold and accumulated a LOT of shoes. 

I should count them for s&g's, but I digress.

Perks of taking a year "off"?

Getting to know a new-ish city (yeah Tacoma!), spending much needed time with family and friends from the area, becoming a regular at a bar (go Red Hot!), gaining business, retail and customer service experience, getting offered a promotion and salary (while not worth it, still exciting!), casual dating, learning to budget like a real person (rent, utilities, loans, credit cards, does it stop?) catching up on television, READING books I WANT to read and, in general, taking a breather from the American-GoGoGO-style of life.  Sometimes, actually at ALL times, when you're 23, you don't and shouldn't have it all figured out and you should just enjoy life and its occasional slow pace.  

Well, that is just a slight reflection on the things that are crossing my mind.  Now, I realize I really like parenthesis, dashes, exclamation points and commas! Hurrah!