Anything's Possible

A few of the photos I've been scanning have really struck me because they either highlighted how young we were in comparison to how old we are now, or they highlighted some hopes and dreams that as of today are not what that person in the photo would have expected or thought would be in their future. I think the pictures that really triggered this most were the ones I came across of Becky's auditions at EMU to get into their theatre program. I see those and I see so many of the students that I've worked with recently. I see hopes and dreams and an idea of where life is supposed to go.

Though, supposed to is a funny word really, there is no real supposed to. There is what we would like, there is what we want. However, there is to much diversity and too many variables for a "supposed to" to work out. Perhaps that's just the cynical me having been through a life of things that didn't turn out the way they were "supposed to." I guess this is a bit of a tangent and aside form the point. The point is that I see photos of people who had plans for what they wanted their lives to be like.

As I was looking at some of these pictures I started to get this nagging thought come into my head about perhaps regretting where people ended up in life. For example, did I hold Becky back from doing what she wanted to do in life? I mean, that doesn't mean that she's unhappy with our life, but at the same time is it going to be one of those things that when we're old talking to our grandkids will it be said, "oh yes, that was when I wanted to do XYZ, but instead I married your grandfather." Perhaps that came to mind because it's something that I've heard a lot in my family. 

When you're young and just leaving high school it seems like anything is possible. There are many doors open that you can go through. As you get older those doors start to close and there are fewer paths that you can take. The momentum of life will take you right along and before you know it you find yourself somewhere different than perhaps you expected you would be. It makes me want to be far more intentional with my choices. I don't want to just flow along through life and wake up someday somewhere I don't want to be. Generally I don't think that's a problem for me all that much since I have very specific goals and idea for what I want going forward.  Though at the age of 18-early 20ish the goals were different and less defined. So, youths, be sure you know what you want and don't dillydally. It also helps if you have a decent family that supports you and gives you decent guidance and help. Having to do it all yourself leads to a lot of trial and error, and it takes a lot longer when you have to do everything yourself.

Picture(s) of the Day: 
Picture 44

One of the photos of Becky's college auditions at EMU that I mentioned above. I wish she had better guidance than she did. Having been on the coaching side of things, it's very important to find a piece that's good for the person, not that you as the coach thinks is good.

No, You Lock It Up!

I've had a bit of an internal debate as I've been scanning, and then posting photos. I'm finding it kind of fun to see these old photos, but I wonder if others find it fun and interesting. As I've been posting them I've generally not tagged too many people in them. I mean, some people don't get out of the tags, but others I've posted and just left them there to allow them to tag or not tag. A few people have tagged friends in comments so they are sure to see the picture. So perhaps people are finding the photos enjoyable. One friend then scanned some of his photos that he had and posted them in the comments. I found that greatly enjoyable.

So I guess there are probably two sorts of people out there. The first are the ones that get a kick out of seeing photos they haven't seen in probably 20 years. The other is the people who see these photos and wonder why I didn't lock them up in a vault never to see the light of day again. I guess I can see that, we all avoided having our awkward adolescence posted all over social media on account of the internet being new and slow and incapable of good photography. Though no one has removed a tag, or asked me to remove a picture. I've also been selective about the photos I've posted to avoid anything too embarrassing. I mean, I can't change your face, or general being, but take that embarrassment out and I've done my best to highlight pictures that are fun and many are people dressed up for events and things.

I also wonder if others see this as a way of living in the past. I mean, that's not what I'm going for here. I want to preserve the photos before their physical formats decay or in the event of damage or destruction due to a fire or flood, or who knows what. As I'm preserving, I thought it'd be fun to post what I'm coming across. Generally speaking, I have no longing for these past days, well except perhaps the part of being young and thin, with all my life ahead of me. And the 90s were great and all, but I do appreciate more the life I'm in, being settled and secure, with awesome kids, and all the cool ass shit I've done. Anyhow, I hope people are enjoying my photos and not cursing my name for plastering their awkward adolescents all over social media.

Picture(s) of the Day: 
Picture 43

From my birthday in 1998, I seem to recall that this was unexpected and someone threw it together (possibly my sisters) and we just had whomever was available to come have pizza and hang out. I don't know, it was nearly 20 years ago.

The IRS Is Good

I don't know why people all wait till the last minute to do their taxes. I mean, sure there are people who have super complex tax situations and it takes a while for them to get their shit together, so they of course get a pass. However, for those who have pretty straight forward situations, like, do it as soon as you have all your stuff.  The IRS is way better if you do your taxes early on because we did ours less than two weeks ago, and we already have our refund. I suppose the downside of this is that we are going to miss all of those, "use your tax return" sales that pop up, but we aren't going to buy anything so I guess it doesn't matter much.

I don't think that the IRS gets much credit because no one likes to pay their taxes.  Well, I mean, I don't mind paying my taxes because, you know, I like clean drinking water, and I like that we give grants to kids who can't afford to go to college, and all the other programs that I support like the NPS, NIH, NASA, etc. I also am sick of hearing/seeing millennials complain about never being taught how to do their taxes in school. First, that's what parents are for. Second, everyone is so different that it's hard to teach you how to do something because there are many different approaches.  Third, it's not that hard, just fucking do it. Like, get your forms from the mail, get your TurboTax, or whatever program you want to use, and just do it. It's not really that hard. It's not like it's rocket science. Stop acting so helpless when you've been asked to "adult" for five seconds a year.

So, thanks IRS for being so efficient and giving me all my money so quickly. You get a lot of shit, but you are good at doing your thing.

Picture(s) of the Day: 
Picture 42

My little helper who was very excited to see I was "fovvling" when she got home and ran inside to get her snow shovel and helped me do the entire walkway. By help I mean that she tried to scoop up snow and mostly just dumped it on the area I had already cleared. She's the best helper ever, and I loved how excited she was to help.

The Slow and the Bittersweet: Friendship Drift

As I wrote the title to my blog, I wondered if anyone would get the reference joke. At the same time, you're not supposed to ever explain a joke, so I guess I'll just have to hope. That being said, welcome to another blog brought to you by the thoughts of scanning 20 year old photos. This is somewhat related to yesterday's post about that feeling that some of these photos are from another life that is different from mine. It is related in the sense that many of the photos I've been scanning show a tight group of friends who are having a great time and are quite happy. However, when you move the drift begins to set in. It was probably better than past moves because when we moved the Internet was becoming a thing, and it made it a lot easier to keep in touch with people. We now had things like AOL, and then Instant Messenger. Later things like Facebook and Instagram popped up and made it easier to stay connected to people.

At the same time that distance still begins to expand and previously shared paths begin to diverge. Life happens, new friends take priority, new relationships, marriages, children, and before you know it, you're still connected in superficial terms. You still see their posts on Facebook, you still see what's going on in their world, but you're not really one of the people involved in that life. It leads to a bittersweet sort of response when you look at the photos; they remind you of fun times and connections, but they also are an artifact from the past. They are markers from a past that can't be rebuilt or resurrected, time, life, and distance have conspired to push these forever into memories.

I wonder if others have a similar feeling, or if they just look at the photos and think, "Oh yeah, that was a thing" before moving on. Do they even look at the photos? Are these thoughts that they also have or is it just something that I think about because of my unrooted past so I lack any sort of consistency in my relationships over the years? I mean, my oldest friend I keep in contact with is from my junior year in high school right after we moved to Michigan. It's not like I have that childhood friend that I've known since I was in Kindergarten. I do appreciate the photos, and I hope others when they come across their own photos have similar warm feelings. Perhaps one day when we're even older and feeling nostalgic we'll decide to get together for a little reunion.

Picture(s) of the Day: 
Picture 41

In 1998 we took a weird trip after our visit to Virginia that took us across the middle part of the country from Virginia to Kansas City, Missouri. Along the way we stopped off in my grandma's hometown of Woodbury, Kentucky, Mammoth Cave, St. Louis, and then up to Lake Michigan and home. This is a photo of us in Mammoth Cave somewhere.

The Never Ending Snow

Well, another snow day! This was the shortest week ever, since we got one on Monday, and then probably should have had one on Wednesday because that commute was treacherous. Though, I think they were saving that one for today because it was clear that the storm today was going to be a big one, and so far it's not been disappointing. It's been a while since we've had a good snow like this, though the past few days and weeks we've been getting a bunch of snow and that's led to a lot of snow days. I mean this snow has been going for hours and it's supposed to go for a a while, then there's supposed to be a bit more coming on Monday.

I think the thing I hate about this never ending snow is that it's coming in these annoying little bits here and there. That means that every few days I've been out shoveling. I mean, shoveling is a nice work out, but I'm getting really tired of doing it. We're also into the part of winter where I'm done with it. I can deal with winter before January, and then January winter is like, "oh ok we're still doing this eh?" Then February is way too close to March, which to me means that we're to the point where we should be done with snow and things should be about ready to start sprouting and blooming. I mean sure, it's still early February, but I'm done with the snow. This better be the last big storm, though it seems like there's usually something that hits in March.

At least with this snow we're getting a nice big dump of snow. If we're going to get snow I want to get a big old heaping of it. I actually do like snow in general, but I want it to be enough that I have to stay home for a few days and not have to deal with going out. You better make all the shoveling worth it. At least this year I have a helper who wants to "fovvel too!"

Picture(s) of the Day: 
Picture 40

Ronan seemed unimpressed with having to go outside in the snow. Thought, I think I'd be pissed off if I had to dip my asshole in the snow to  drop a deuce. He's not nearly excited by snow as Sam and Simon were.

Through A Mirror, Darkly

I have a lot of distinct period of my life that are generally related to where we lived. We moved far too much, so with each move came a different period. Probably the most significant shift was moving from Virginia to Michigan, and as I've been scanning photos I've been coming across some rolls that were from before we moved, and some were from after we moved. The thing is that as I'm looking at these pictures I get this feeling of remembering events, but feeling like I'm remembering the events of another person's life. It's like remembering the story of a movie, or a book, but not remembering my own life. It's a weird feeling to see photos of yourself and at once remember them, but also feel detached from that life.

It's almost as if that life was in another dimension that was going in a specific direction, and moving was changing to a completely different universe that took life in a drastically different direction. Like, maybe that original person in all the pictures grew a goatee and became and evil scientists like evil Spock in the mirror universe. Or maybe I should grow a goatee because I'm in the evil universe (I mean, Trump is our president, this surely can't be the good universe).

I suppose some of that just is that it's from so long ago, but then again at the same time, I don't feel the same way when I look at photos of being a little kid, nor do I feel that way when I look at pictures after we moved to Michigan. It's just those Virginia years that feel weird and detached. It was a period when I was a different person, with different interests, and that drastically changed moving to Michigan. Perhaps the other thing is that all these photos that I haven't looked at in years are just reminding me of things I had forgotten. If that's the case, then perhaps I won't have to grow a goatee.

Picture(s) of the Day: 
Picture 39

A photo from shortly before we moved to Michigan, which is now nearly 21 years ago.

But You're So Old!

I've never really felt or thought of myself as old. I suppose that's the thing about aging, it happens slowly over time and you generally look like you did yesterday, and probably last week, and last month, and most likely last year. Sure, I'm closer to 40 than 30, but neither of those are in any way old. Then you go and scan in photos that are 20 years old and you suddenly see yourself and feel incredibly old. Or perhaps not that you feel old, but you see yourself as incredibly young. You then acknowledge that you're no longer that young, and thus comes the feeling of being old. You see these young kids and think, "OH MY G! Look at those tiny little babies! What are they doing with their tiny baby selves?

The problem is that these photos don't feel like they happened all that long ago. I mean, 19 years ago was graduation, it certainly feels like it's been a while, but nearly 20 years doesn't feel accurate. Then you start thinking about the other direction. If 20 years ago doesn't feel like that long ago, 20 years from now would equally be not that long from now. That puts me at nearly 60... Oh dear. Did I just set off a mid-life crisis? THIS IS THE END, I'M SECONDS FROM COMPLAINING ABOUT MY JOINTS AND CLAIMING I CAN FEEL THE RAIN COMING! 

Ok, not not really. Because the thing is, I still don't feel that old. Even when I see the babies as late teenagers early 20s-agers, I just think they're young.  I hear my friends, WHO ARE YOUNGER THAN I AM, complain that they're too old for some things and I'm like, "DUDE! SUCK IT UP!" Perhaps oldness is just a mindset. Don't act old and you won't be old? I suppose that only works so long. But don't be lame in your mid-30s,  you're not that old yet, even if you aren't a tiny baby anymore. Have fun, and do shit.  But also, freak out a little because when did you get that old?

Picture(s) of the Day: 
Picture 38

A photo from our first trip to Chicago to see Eddie Izzard in Circle. This was a huge deal that we got to see Eddie. He wasn't very popular and the theatre was very small. He came out after and signed autographs to the small group waiting. Nothing like the huge groups that would come in later shows.

Dude, Where's My Stuff?

As I've been scanning photos something struck me. I used to have a lot of things. Little things that I collected. Things like stuffed animals, beanie babies, stuff with my name on it, or other things that have sentimental value.  Though, when I think about it, I have one questions: WHERE DID MY STUFF GO?! One of Becky's biggest complaints about me is that I don't throw anything away, and that perhaps maybe I'm a "hoarder" or a "packrat." Rude.  However, I do know that there are many things that I do keep for various reasons, and a number of the things that I'm seeing in the photos, I have no idea where they went. I don't recall getting rid of stuff that I'm seeing, and I also don't remember it in our apartment. Is it still in a box somewhere? I don't think so because I've been delivered a number of "my boxes" of stuff that was in fact not my stuff.  In fact I have two VCRs that don't work in the garage that were never mine. I think a good portion were thrown out by my sisters after I left home and couldn't take most of my stuff with me. They took over my space and I suppose just threw out stuff that meant nothing to them,  or took things they found valuable.

In the end do I need these things that are missing? No, but they were things that were related to memories. A plastic grape Becky "borrowed" from Meijer, a cork and glass from my senior play, knick-knacks from Cedar Point. Thought come to mention it, I had this hoodie from Cedar Point that I freaking loved, and it disappeared never to be seen again, much like my shirt from Music Man (though that one I thing is probably somewhere in my Gran's house because I recall doing laundry there and never getting it back after that).

The point is that I had stuff, and I don't know where it went. Though, now I do have an urge to go through my trunk to see what I do have that perhaps I forgot about. Maybe when I have some free time...

Picture(s) of the Day: 
Picture 37

A throw back of Spot sitting in his favorite spot on my window. I couldn't resist putting things on his head. He was always a good sport, but looked pissed off... though that was his general face.

Surprise Snow Day!

I didn't expect a snow day, in fact I was so tired when the text came in telling us that it was happening I was so confused that in my sleepy state that I had to fact check it on the school closing site. Like, I thought my dean was joking or something. This is totally absurd, but I was sure that it wasn't possible. Clearly I was tired and brain dead after that weekend.  It was a really to get the day off, it allowed me to get a lot of my school work done that I wasn't able to get done over the weekend because I was working my ass off on the paper and all the reading that I never got done.

We've actually had a few snow days this year, and they always seemed to hit exactly when I needed them most to catch up on some work that I could use an extra day on. I don't know how that always tends to happen. Maybe it's more of a situation where I could get by without the extra day off, but I appreciate getting it and it allows me to catch up. More likely, it's that I'm so far behind all the time that any extra day happens when I need it most.

The upside is that I got work done, but more importantly I was able to spend some time with Sal, who I didn't get to see much the past few days. She's quite the little dictator when it comes to playing, but it's nice to have the opportunity to be told exactly what to do.

Picture(s) of the Day: 
Picture 36

Sal was very excited that she got to help me "Fovvel!" It wasn't that deep, but they are talking about a bigger snow later this week, and I don't need to have it added to that, so I thought it was best to just get it out of the way.

Critical Overload

Remember last week when I said that I was hoping not to have a shit-ton of reading to do right before the deadline? Guess what didn't happen? So, I am completely overwhelmed with reading this weekend and have had no time for myself. I managed to get everything read and the paper written so that I can just edit it tomorrow and submit it. It's been a total pain in the ass. The good news is that I realized the exam isn't till next Sunday, so I have some time to prepare for that instead of it being tomorrow also.

Basically this weekend has been the worst. I don't even have anything else to say, it was just terrible.

Picture(s) of the Day: 
Picture 35

What in the name of Russell Crowe's singing voice is this monstrocity? It's hideous! Why would someone want this? WE ARE CREATING LIVING TROLLS! THEY HAVE MOVED PAST THE INTERNET PHASE AND STEPPED INTO THE REAL WORLD! I'm going to take this in to show my students, they are going to hate it so much.

But He Doesn't Know The Territory!

I can't stand door to door sales people. They keep showing up asking about our roof, or the grass, or wanting to sell books for college, or who knows what else.  Any time they show up Ronan throws his entire body at the window like he wants to go through and eat them alive. I think I might prefer that he doe that because then there would be one less sales guy knocking on my door. The bigger issue is that they always seem to show up when Sal is trying to take a nap.  This isn't their fault, they don't know that there is a baby sleeping, but all the same, it pisses me off because she's not the easiest to get to sleep and she's an asshole when she doesn't get her full nap.  Becky has ripped into a few for it, and then they've gotten shitty with her in return, though that seems counterproductive if you're trying to sell something.

The latest string have been people who want to give us a free estimate on roofs, or siding, or gutters, or something. I'm fine with a free estimate, but it becomes this big ordeal where they have to call their office to confirm the date, and we have to both be there, and all these hoops that I'm not about. Just tell me the cost. I've taken to just saying that I don't buy anything from people showing up on my steps. They always try to get around this, but that's a hard one for them to come up with an argument for. If they don't have a website or card to give me, they can just go.

Picture(s) of the Day: 
Picture 34

Well, ya got trouble... The only traveling salesmen allowed to come to my door better be singing Rock Island.

I Think I'd Better Go.

The other day someone was wrong on the internet. Now I know that may be hard to believe, because the internet is full of lots of useful information and truth. It was one of those posts where I immediately roll my eyes because it's so simplistic in the handling of a excessively complex situation. In this case it was a post about the budget, and to add on to that, it also wasn't about anything recent, it is five years old. The basic premise is an attack on budget cuts by pointing out that government workers earn pension salaries, and perhaps if we want to make cuts that is where we should make the cuts.

This is one of those arguments that makes sense on the surface until you actually have to think about it for a fraction of a second longer than it takes you to hit the share button. Basically it compares the low "average" salaries of deployed troops, and the low benefits coverage of those on Social Security, to the six figure pensions of the president and congress. Why should we pay so much to those people, when we pay so little to the others.  Fight the man! Get the pitchforks! THIS CAN FIX THE BUDGET!

Sit down, John.

Ok, there are a few problems with this scenario.  The first being that the numbers are greatly off. The presidential salary was nearly double what it actually is, additionally, the average pay for a deployed soldier is tricky, and most attempts at it are higher than reported on the graphic.  The bigger issue is that it gives a terribly wrong impression that these can in any way balance out.  There are around 42million seniors, and 11,000 deployed service members in Afghanistan, compare that to the 600ish people who draw a congressional or presidential pension and it doesn't matter. If you took that pay, and you redistributed to the 42 million people it would give them each a raise of $0.91. In terms of using it to "fix" the budget, it accounts for 0.00095% of the annual budget, and 0.0055% of the national deficit. Basically it's an empty argument that does nothing to address the problems of budgets, or benefits. Quite simply it doesn't matter. Not to mention that it also gives the impression that every member of congress gets this amount for life the second they step down. Like all retirement plans, it's something you get when you are of retirement age, and it depends on how long you served as to the amount you get.

The reason I have a problem with this is a few, first it gives the impression that there is just this easy fix where you do this one thing and you can clap your hands and be done. It's not that simple. We have a $4 Trillion budget. That's a number so high that people really can't fathom it. Further, we have a $666 Billion deficit.  Again, a number so high that people really can conceptualize it. If you want to make changes it's going to take work, compromise, and some pain in either tax hikes or program cuts, or most likely both if you want a deal. Is this to say that we can't do it? No. We certainly can and I'm sure if we had two responsible parties who both operated in good faith then we could find a workable deal.  However, we don't, and instead have Republicans who want to destroy the federal government (and I don't say that hyperbolically, they literally think none of the social programs passed since Roosevelt are legitimate and should be ended).

The other beef I have with the graphic is that it is a swipe at our federal workers, and it delegitimize their efforts in the minds of the electorate. It gives this idea that they are something that we aren't, that politicians are other, that they are corrupt, and they are feeding off us. Recently my representative, John Dingell, retired after serving in the House for 60 years! He deserves a pension just as much as anyone else who served at a corporation for that long. He also is a citizen from Michigan who worked hard and did the best for his district. These sort of graphics and arguments surplants the idea that WE are our government, and instead posits that the government is something else, that does its own thing for its own interest. It's a cynical view, and it's damaging our country because it makes people apathetic and think that their involvement doesn't matter and is unnecessary. Such an outlook is dangerous for a republic, and we have seen them fall over the centuries.

In the end after confirming my facts and working on a response for probably the better part of an hour, I decided that it wasn't worth it to comment on. We are to the point that people expect to post any nonsense and not have any resistance to it because it's their opinion. It would be more trouble than it was worth with those involved, so after writing all the reasons that they were wrong, I deleted it. It still bothered me, but I wrote a blog instead, that no one will read, and that won't matter.

Picture(s) of the Day: 
Picture 33

Have I ever mentioned that I hate this book? Like, everyone thinks it's this great book, and I think it's a shitty book with terrible lessons. The boy is an asshole, and the tree gives up everything about itself to try and make it happen. Then the boy only ever gives a fuck when he's an old piece of shit and needs to sit on what's left of the tree. Fuck that little boy.

Goals Update: February Edition

We are now one month into 2018, so that means it's time for the monthly goal check in, and there's been some things going on, so let's get right into it.

Goal Number One - Read at least 24 books: What I didn't expect when I created this goal was that I'd have a semester that had so few books on the reading list. As of today I have read one book, which is below what I expected, and below the two per month that I need to hit my goal.  That being said, it's way too early to feel terribly concerned about this. I'm sure that I'll read more as the year goes and there's a good chance that I'll be able to hit the goal.  The book that I've read is one for my English history class, Britain Yesterday and Today: 1830 to the Present, by Walter l. Arnstein.  It's of course nonfiction, and covered England from the Glorious Revolution to the end of the 1700s or so. It was actually pretty quick to get through and not as difficult as some books like this can be.  My goal is to also read six books for pleasure, and I hope to get to that once the semester ends. So, focus for summer is to get some personal reading done.

Goal Number Two - Lose 1.5 pounds per week: As always this is a struggle for me. I've been trying to walk at night while I'm reading. I'll go into more detail in the subgoals below.

• Subgoal 1: No snacking after work. January didn't do too well in this. I find that I'm quite hungry when I get home from work.  I'm going to have to focus on this for February.
• Subgoal 2: Hit my step goal every single day. I didn't get this goal every day, but I only missed it three times, and each time was not by much, with the exception of the 28th when I had a tone of stuff to do and didn't break 5,000 steps.
• Subgoal 3: Log every meal, every day, and doing the day of, not the next day, with no overages on calories. I logged all my meals in Janu
• Subgoal 4: Complete a 5k race. I started doing the training but it hasn't been as consistent as it needs to be.
• Subgoal 5: Complete a variety of active activities. I've tried to add in yoga here and there, but I haven't done well on this one. To be honest I forgot about some of these subgoals until I read it again doing this update.

Goal Number Three - Digitize and organize my photos and home movies: This has seen some movement. After doing some research and figuring out some settings I've gotten a number of rolls scanned in. In total I have 82 rolls that will need to be done and I'm already about halfway done with them. I'm actually really happy that I've made so much progress on this since it's been on the list for so long.

Goal Number Four - Landscape the backyard: It's still winter, so obviously nothing done on this front. I've begun thinking about how to achieve this goal, but nothing planned yet.  I should start thinking about it soon so we have something in place once the weather turns.

Goal Number Five - Improve my social calendar: I haven't done well on this. Other than Sal's birthday party there haven't really been any gatherings or visits. As always school and work have devoured my life.

Goal Number Six -  Make progress on my projects:  I've done nothing here at all. Focus on this going forward. Some of these are going to be summer projects because there is no time during the semesters. I'm going to leave the ideas of the projects below just for reference.

• Family history project - interview family members about family history, and combine with digital and photographs to create a photobook talking about the findings. This also will combine with my genealogy work that I haven't done in a while. So working on this more regularly is important.
• Class online resources - I need to create more online resources for my students. I had big plans for this school year and I never completed what I wanted to. My goal is to create those resources so that the rest of this year and next year they are available for students to use.
• Theatre company - I need to figure out what to do with our theatre company. I miss doing creative things, and we've been in mothballs since 2014 in part due to tiny baby, but also due to loss of our core group of participants. So figuring that out.
• Film creative projects - I had some ideas for little movies and scenes that I had talked to some people about doing, and I'd like to actually make some of them.  People may not actually watch them, but it would be fun to do, and may help as a creative outlet that I feel has been missing.
• Check things off long term list - My long term goal list has plenty of project on it, so I'd like to make some progress on a couple of the items.  Maybe piano, or photography would be a good thing to focus on this year? 

Goal Number Seven - Have Seven New Experiences:  No real new experiences yet this year. January was a quiet and average month.  However, that's really to be expected. Most of this happens in the middle of the year anyway when there's more time to do things.  Though, I feel like I should be thinking about what I'd like some of these experiences to be.  Maybe I should get a tattoo, haha! Though if I did I think it would be the Starfleet insignia.

So there we go for month one of the new year. Some stuff has happened, others are still in the wings.  Lots of time left in the year, only 31 of 365, but should probably be getting more organized.

Picture(s) of the Day: 
Picture 32

A little throw back Thursday, 2016 edition. I didn't have an exact photo from two years ago today, but this one was from just a couple days later. It's crazy how different she is after only two years. She was such a tiny little thing and now she's walking and talking and having conversations. It's adorable.