Mt Rainier climb July 2013

My Buddy

Rest in Peace Old Friend...My world is a lot brighter because you were in it!

I'm the worlds worst blogger! :)

Last time I said I would write about my adventures...how long ago was that? I'm pretty sure I'm not cut out to be a blogger! :D
Well I'm going to write a little bit about my latest adventure. I'm ready for all kinds of change!! It starts with getting a new job. I'll be moving back down to San Diego next week to start a new job at the end of Sept and I'm super excited! I got an apartment 1 mile from the beach (sorry Bakersfield, you can't compete with that!) I'm excited to start running on the beach and getting myself back in good running shape!
I'm also super excited that today I got a new haircut! She cut so much off that the hair on the ground looked like a medium sized cat! Ok, its still pretty long...I have 8 times more hair than the average person according to the lady who cut it! But I like it a lot and feel like she took about 10 pounds off my head!
Next thing that is changing is that I really think I'm going to get a DOG! I've been wanting one for 15 years and it never seemed like the right time. But if I keep waiting for the right time it never will be...and I'm feeling like this is a great time to get one! Of course I need to settle into my job first, but I am serious and really hope to get one before Christmas!...before Thanksgiving!
So this week I'm packing boxes and getting rid of stuff to prepare for moving this weekend! I'm really excited about the new direction things are taking! I feel like the world is my oyster and I can't wait to see where things go!

Starting New

So I really haven't done anything with this blog in a very long time. Honestly I don't think anyone reads it, which is probably a good thing! :) But someone at work yesterday was marveling at all the "adventurous things" I have done so far this year and I started looking at my life in a new way. I HAVE done some pretty cool things since 2011 started...things that are considered out of the ordinary or adventurous. And I'm pretty happy about that because one thing I never want my life to be is ordinary. So consider this a fresh start to my blog. I'm going to make this about documenting my "adventures"...things that may seem ordinary or no big deal to me, but it seems other people are pretty impressed by them. So here is a preview...Guyana, Rockclimbing rescue skills class, Kayaking with Sea Otters...but I'll have to leave it at that for now because I need to get to bed. The ordinary parts of my life, (like going to work) require me not to stay up all night writing a blog! More to come...(lets hope I stick with it this time!) :)

Life in Bakersfield

I spent the better part of the day today in San Diego visiting the church I attended while in school down there. I still consider it my church even though I don't live there anymore and can't attend very much at all. But when I go back there it just feels like home. I feel God so strongly in so many great people there. Regardless of where I'm living, I think I will always go back there when I am in San Diego.

But now here I am in Bakersfield. I never in my life thought I would move here. But when I had a hard time finding a job I wanted in San Diego or Orange County, this job knocked on my door. The job has been great. I have learned so much in such a short time and feel now definitely like a therapist and not like a student anymore! That is amazing to have so much more confidence as a clinician. I do work so long hours due to some crazy paperwork, but I am slowly but surely getting faster and able to get home in a more timely manner so that is great. I can't say I have much of a life in Bakersfield though. Its too hot to run unless I get up super early and the air quality is so bad that most days I don't really want to run for fear of suffocating. (a little exaggeration, but not much) :) I'm so tired after work that most days I just want to go home and veg out for a while. It probably doesn't help that I am never here on the weekends either. I find myself driving to OC just about every weekend for one reason or another. I'm feeling a little guilty about it...like I'm not giving Bakersfield a chance. It really isn't as bad as its reputation (except the heat and air quality)...well at least I think it isn't, I'm never here to know. :)
Anyway, after going to Disneyland with my parents this weekend and then a great day in SD at church (and feeling really filled with God), and seeing old friends, and meeting about this years El Salvador trip(which has lit an excitement in me about serving God some more), Bakersfield is seeming a little more lonely tonight than it has been feeling. Its so hard to give a place a chance when your heart is elsewhere. Poor Bakersfield, I'm so sorry, I'm sure you are wonderful and filled with wonderful people, I really should give you more of a chance...but right now all I'm thinking about is how I have about 9 more months until I can go home.

Quick update-job search

Its about time I write something on here! I think I start out every blog by saying that!! So just a quick update that I passed my law test and now I am officially a licensed PT!! I have been spending the last 3 weeks or so job searching and I'm finding it harder than I thought to find a full time job in San Diego. Everyone wants experience. Can't really take a part time job down there...can't live in my tent on the beach or in my car!! I've been staying in the guest room of my very awesome friends in Orange County and so we have been throwing around the idea of maybe finding a part time job in OC (if I can't find a full time one) and just staying with them to keep the bills low. We will see. I actually already worked my first (and only) day as a PT, but that was a nightmare story that warrants its own post so more on that later. I also have a place that seems to LOVE me and it seems like it would be a great spot for a new grad...but the catch is its in Bakersfield...not sure I want to live there!!!! So anyway, that is the latest scoop...just a quick update. There are so many things I need to write about that I have skipped...so hopefully I can backtrack and update whoever actually reads this very soon! :)

This just in...

...I decided to check the website again just in case for some odd reason someone came in on the weekend and updated my score...and there it was...a big beautiful "PASSED"!! I don't think I have studied so hard for so long for anything in my life! So glad I don't have to take that LONG, painful test again! Look there kids, hard work really does pay off! :) Now I just have to pass a MUCH shorter California law exam next week and then I'll be a licensed Physical Therapist. Wow!! I just can't get over it...Never be afraid to set BIG goals and go for them! It feels awesome when you work so hard at something that seems SO difficult at the time and you accomplish it! I'm not quite there yet...gotta pass the next one too, but SO CLOSE I can taste it!!!!