Out with the old, in the with the new... year.

Holy crap!  It's 2012!

Just as I was settled in to 2011, it turned into 2012.  Doesn't it always seem to go that way?  But, that doesn't mean 2011 was not a good year for me.  In fact, it really was a superb.  Here are some highlights!

Milagra in our new apartment.

·        I moved into my first apartment.  It's rather small, but I have my dog with me, I have one of my best friends as a roommate, and it is a fantastic location.   

·        I lost 33 lbs, and have maintained most of that.

Milagra and I with our new bikes.

·        I quit my job at Snowbird and started a receptionist job downtown at a legal firm.  I love it!

·        I've dated some dudes, I've dated some duds, but at the end of the year, I still knew who I was (which is more than I can say for the end of 2010).

Rock Climbing

·        I took up cycling, and it is one of the best decisions I have made in my life.  Ever.

·        I've gained a plethora of new friends and think they are great people to be associated with.

·        I reconnected with some very good friends, only to find out we still get along just as well as before.

·        I took up rock climbing, and went canyoneering.

·        I've made it 4 months with no internet or cabled TV (just DVDs) in my new apartment.

 

Canyoneering

·        I've been growing my hair out, and it's now the longest it has been since I was about 8 years old.

·        I went to Portland/Corvallis, Philadelphia, Colorado Springs, and New York City for the first time, along with attending my first Boise Pride Festival.

·        I read a lot more books than ever before, and utilized my library card very well.

         

Daisy and I in Philadelphia.

   It's been a great year.  I am a completely different person than I was a year ago, and I love it.  I think it is important to realize that happiness is a decision.  I don't understand how people can live their lives being okay with unhappiness.  I used to, and I got sick of it.  I think the major lesson I learned in 2011 is that it's not worth it to dwell on pain.  

At the Boise Pride Festival

This doesn't necessarily mean that you shouldn't be upset or  hurt, but I feel it is important to learn to not let it eat away at you.  

There's a time and a place for everything.  For example, If you are sitting alone at your apartment when someone hurts you, read a book or go for a walk.  Call a friend to grab a bite to eat, or watch a movie.  Don't stew.  Also, friendships can help you through anything. Learning this has changed my life.  

I wonder how the next year will go for me.  I've come up with some resolutions that I'd like to accomplish:

·        Lose 15 lbs.  As I stated before, I maintained MOST of my weight loss.  I never officially reached my goal weight, though, so I'd like to do that.

Ginny's Dog Food Portions M-S

·        Get Ginny down to a healthy weight.  She has always been a little chunky, but since I moved into my apartment, Ginny has put on some weight.  Two days ago, we started going to the dog park. Next, I portioned out all of her meals for the next week with Beneful Healthy Weight dog food (with 3 meals portioned out per day), so starting today, she is on a diet.  I think she has the easy part!  I get to portion out her meals every single week!

·        Socialize Ginny.  She's never really been around other dogs very much, so my goal is to help her be comfortable around unknown dogs.  Usually she has to warm up to them.

·        Save up money for Graduate School (undisclosed amount for this year), or buy a new saxophone.

·        Ride my bike to work 75% of the time.  This might take me a little time to get started, since I’ve never commuted much on my bike (and it is freeeeezing outside), but I love the idea of this. It means I would ride to work approximately 16 days out of 20 work days a month.  This also helps with my next goal…

·        Don't fill up my gas tank more than once every 3–4 weeks.  I hate buying gas.  So, my goal is to avoid it.

·        Volunteer at the Bicycle Collective regularly.

And last, but definitely not least (on the contrary; it is my very favorite goal):

·        Building a new bike from the frame up.  I never really knew much about bikes, and I’d really like to learn, so my goal is to build a bike from the frame up.  My plan is to make a single speed road bike with a flip flop hub so that I can also use it as a fixie, if I so desire. 

This year is looking to be a good one.  It’ll be a year focused on bettering my life, and bettering my dog’s life.  It’ll be an adventure, that’s for sure!

Portland.

Looking for Help from Instrumentalists!

Hey everyone!

I am currently taking a class that requires me to do a final project within a multicultural class in the community.  The school I’ve been working with is Bryant Middle School in Salt Lake City with their music department.  I have been working with the jazz band, beginner bands and orchestra.  For my project I had to come up with something that I feel would benefit the students.  I have come up with three different parts of the project.

1. The first part of the project is to create brochures for the students.  These brochures would contain a compiled list of cool tips to fix/repair instruments, instrument care, playing technique tips, etc.  I have to complete this project by Sunday night, so any input ASAP would be greatly appreciated.
2. The second part of this project is to have a compiled list of live performances students can attend, types of music careers, and playing opportunities that would inspire Middle School students to remain in music program. 
3. The last part of this project is to have collegiate students come to Bryant Middle School with me on Monday (April 25).  The ideal time would be 10 am for their beginner band, although 9:30 could also work if more people could come.  This would be the jazz band.  For this part of the project, I would like to have the collegiate students demonstrate playing, have an instrument petting zoo, show how to repair instruments, and have a question and answer session. 

The instruments that I specifically need are:  Flute, Clarinet, Oboe, Saxophone, Trumpet, Trombone, Baritone/Tuba, Strings and Percussion (specifically drum kit).  These are the instruments that the band members play, but all instrument input is definitely accepted!

I know this is very short notice, but with a lack of efficient communication between my teachers and I it has kind of come down to the wire.  If anybody has tips, that would be great!  Feel free to comment on here, e-mail me, text me, call, me, anything.  The brochures need to be completed by Sunday night.  If anybody would be interested in coming to the school with me on Monday, that would be fantastic!    The sooner you can let me know, the better.  Thanks so much!!!

Don't Know What You've Got 'til It's Gone...

                For WDC this year, we are all coming to Portland, OR.  I decided to come up a few days to early to Corvallis via greyhound so that I could see how I like it (because I’m considering moving to Portland or Corvallis for grad school).  On the bus I was pretty reserved and quiet until the end of the trip.  This was mostly because I was tired and it was a very, very long trip.  The people were nice, though for the most part they struck me as “hicks” (please excuse my stereotype).  The man sitting in front of me boarded the bus shortly after we got into Oregon (if I recall correctly?), was on crutches, had a 3” long goatee, gray hair, a hunter’s cap, and dressed like a cowboy.  Towards the end of the trip we started conversing with all the people around us.  When asked him how he got injured, he informed us that he was run over by a semi… twice.  Apparently he was standing on the side of the road when the truck driver dozed off and ran over him.  Not knowing what happened, the driver decided to back up, running over him again.  This kind of struck home to me because my sister-in-law was killed by a semi-truck driver about 11 years ago.  After we arrived in Portland I didn’t see him leave, but he wasn’t in the terminal with me for the hour and a half that I waited there.  I went out to lunch with a friend during the layover and when I returned he was there along with a 20-year-old man that had ridden the bus with us.  He wasn’t waiting for the same bus we were, but he was hanging around the terminal because he was staying in a hotel tonight in Portland before flying to Dallas to have surgery.  We were conversing and somehow we started talking about his accident.  Apparently after he was struck he was in a coma for 17 days, then was taken to a retirement home for recovery.  He has pins in his arms and legs, and has plates in his head.  He has scars all over.  He’s been wheelchair and crutches bound since he was able to leave his hospital bed.  He also informed me that his daughter just recently passed away.  He stated that “parents shouldn’t have to bury their own children.”  I told him my mother frequently says that and that two of my siblings have had spouses die.  It was hard to watch him try to cope with what happened while being there with us.  I recall him also saying “I stayed alive for her, and she couldn’t do the same for me” and “after it happened, I just wanted to hurt everybody like I hurt.”  How do you cope with that kind of situation?  One of my biggest fears is the pain I’m going to feel when that sort of thing happens to me.  Seeing the pain on his face was hard enough.

                After giving him a minute to compose himself, I told him about him about how I had plans to go Snowboarding in Oregon, but that those plans were canceled.  He told me he was a skier, so I asked if he had ever skied in Utah.  He totally has!  Not only has he skied in Utah, but he’s been to Snowbird (where I work) and Alta.  How awesome is that?  He then told me how fantastic the snow is, and that although most places in Oregon don’t compare most of the time (occasionally they do), there are a couple places that do.  I don’t remember which places he said though, I’ve never heard of them before.   We also found a ski magazine of Mt. Hood Meadows where we looked at the trail map and I compared it to Snowbird for him.  We tried to explain to the 20-year-old about how if you go out of bounds you’re screwed if you get injured haha.  I searched in my backpack to see if I could find a trail map of Snowbird but couldn’t.  I did find my ski pass though, and showed it to him.  He asked me if he could have my “Snowbird” lanyard, so I gave it to him (hopefully I can find a new one haha).  I’m not sure why, but this simple gesture seemed to touch him.  To me, I simply gave away my lanyard.  To him, I was a girl that had a big heart.  This sort of bothered me a little bit, because I feel like there is so much more I could have done for him.  When I had to say goodbye, he said “thank you so much for this, it means a lot to me.  Especially coming from one skier to another (I corrected him and told him I’m a boarder).”  I then gave him a hug and left. 

                The whole experience was pretty awesome, but I can’t help feel bad in a way.  This man has been through so much.  He used to ride a bike tens of miles a day.  He used to ski all the time.  He used to do all these things, and they were taken away from him by someone that didn’t have the decency to pull over on the side of the road because they were too tired to be driving.  And he lost his daughter.  I can’t imagine how much that must hurt.  On top of it all, he was so grateful to me for something as small as a lanyard that he can show to people.  I am frustrated with myself because I didn’t do more.  I should have gotten his phone number so I could call and make sure he was doing alright after his surgery.  I didn’t even get his name… not even his first name.  I feel so selfish.  I didn’t do anything to deserve better things in life than him, and I feel like I have so much more I could have given. 

                I really hope his surgery went well.  I wish I had gotten some sort of information so I could call and check up on him.  What I do know is that his gratitude for a simple lanyard and hug will affect me for the rest of my life.  To him, I was the girl with the big heart that listened and shared my lanyard.  To me, he’s the man that is still fighting after all that has happened to him, and grateful to be alive even though he’s lost the ability to do the things that are most important to him.  It inspires me to keep on fighting, especially because my battles are much smaller and much more manageable.  If he can do it, I sure can too.

                By the way, Portland is beautiful.  In my consideration for places to move I am also looking at Seattle.  I've driven through there once, and it was absolutely gorgeous.  I've heard many great things.  After arriving in Portland, Seattle has some stiff competition!  Dang, I hate making life-altering decisions.