"Mean old levee taught me to weep and moan...
Cryin won't help you, prayin won't do you no good"
Truer words have never been spoken, this of course, being spoken from experience. The Great Basement Flood of 2016. And we thought the Great Basement Flood of 2013 was bad. In terms of casualties, 2013 took the cake. In terms of sheer water volume, 2016 was raging with a vengeance. If you've ever wanted ankle deep water in your basement, I highly advise against it. I'll admit I was tempted to go out and get a kayak or paddle board or something, but mostly I just wanted to cry.
It was overwhelming and incredibly difficult to do anything but stand there in bewilderment. Two hours and our basement had magically turned into a lake. I wanted to just leave it. Maybe it would just go away? Unfortunately, I knew it wouldn't.
I feel like I've stood in this exact same spot in my life so many times. What's the next step?
I've been struggling with trying to reconcile where I am and where I want to be. Let me tell you, there's a gulf there. Part of my struggle is this image of a perfect career I have in my head:
Problem 1: I don't even know what it is
Problem 2: A perfect career most likely doesn't exist
So I'm chasing a unicorn or the end of a rainbow or Sasquatch. Silly, isn't it? I've just always had this need to move, to achieve, and the real world just doesn't work on my schedule. I don't have a plan, and I don't even know where I want to go. I just expect so much of myself.
Within the confines of school, I was able to have a measuring stick. To know where I needed to be and how to get there. The world just doesn't work that way, and I sure haven't figured out how to make the world work for me.
I'm trying to enjoy all the good things I have, but something keeps telling me that I need to be doing something with my life. I just wish I knew what that "something" was/is.
A friend posted an interested article awhile back about how there is no such thing as a "perfect" job, how even people who love their jobs still have bad days, and even though they enjoy their job, they still hate about 20% of the stuff that goes along with that dream job. That, I can get behind. That, I can understand.
Here's to hoping that instead of the 5 gallon wet vac, I can find a water transfer pump. In the literal sense, it was a lifesaver. Now all I need is a metaphorical water transfer pump to come along...
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Friday, May 27, 2016
Spelling Bee Day and a Basement Flood
There are days I get excited about and then days I get excited about. Funny thing is, I didn't even know today was the Scripps National Spelling Bee until scrolling through the guide on the TV in our lunchroom. So, of course, we watched what we could of the afternoon round and noted that the finals would be on at 7.
A large part of my love for the Bee came from the Spellbound documentary that my high school Broadcasting teacher showed us in class. I loved each and every one of those kids so incredibly much - they were unique, and they owned it. I so admired the dedication and the willpower it takes to study day after day, night after night, cramming your head with as much information as possible, trying to make connections between languages and root words and prefixes and suffixes whenever possible. I found (and still find) it fascinating.
I was never in a spelling bee (that I can remember), but something about just watching the kids who have worked so hard get to reach that final goal makes me so happy. They're incredibly intelligent and incredibly hard working. I admire that immensely. So, I enjoy seeing little snippets of all the contestants' personalities and cheering them on when they're able to spell (as the commentator described them) diabolically difficult words.
...and then somehow in the 2 hours and 40 minutes that we took to watch the Bee tonight, our basement flooded. I'm not talking just a light coat of wetness, oh no. We are talking ANKLE DEEP water here. Over half of the basement. It makes you want to cry, but you just can't because the whole thing is just so absurd. You had a shitty day already, and now it's 10:15, and you have to deal with this? It's almost too ridiculous to believe. So you take your little 5 gallon ShopVac and try to start sucking up the (relatively conservative estimate of) 200 gallons of water on the floor.
We eventually gave up and decided we'd try to get to Home Depot first thing in the morning for a bigger wet vac. Tiny over here just isn't cutting it.
In other news, it's been a really long time since I've written, and this time (it's always "this time," isn't it?), I'm making a concerted effort to keep on keepin' on. The one thing that will make that feat a little easier: a new writing machine! My poor, sad 2008 white MacBook is still functioning but has outlived its ability to be updated. I could no longer sync my phone or get any software updates at all. That's 100% my fault, since I failed to get Lion or El Capitan or Mount Rushmore or whatever the hell it was. So this time, if there's an update, you best believe I'm on it!
Currently exhausted. Until next time!
A large part of my love for the Bee came from the Spellbound documentary that my high school Broadcasting teacher showed us in class. I loved each and every one of those kids so incredibly much - they were unique, and they owned it. I so admired the dedication and the willpower it takes to study day after day, night after night, cramming your head with as much information as possible, trying to make connections between languages and root words and prefixes and suffixes whenever possible. I found (and still find) it fascinating.
I was never in a spelling bee (that I can remember), but something about just watching the kids who have worked so hard get to reach that final goal makes me so happy. They're incredibly intelligent and incredibly hard working. I admire that immensely. So, I enjoy seeing little snippets of all the contestants' personalities and cheering them on when they're able to spell (as the commentator described them) diabolically difficult words.
...and then somehow in the 2 hours and 40 minutes that we took to watch the Bee tonight, our basement flooded. I'm not talking just a light coat of wetness, oh no. We are talking ANKLE DEEP water here. Over half of the basement. It makes you want to cry, but you just can't because the whole thing is just so absurd. You had a shitty day already, and now it's 10:15, and you have to deal with this? It's almost too ridiculous to believe. So you take your little 5 gallon ShopVac and try to start sucking up the (relatively conservative estimate of) 200 gallons of water on the floor.
We eventually gave up and decided we'd try to get to Home Depot first thing in the morning for a bigger wet vac. Tiny over here just isn't cutting it.
In other news, it's been a really long time since I've written, and this time (it's always "this time," isn't it?), I'm making a concerted effort to keep on keepin' on. The one thing that will make that feat a little easier: a new writing machine! My poor, sad 2008 white MacBook is still functioning but has outlived its ability to be updated. I could no longer sync my phone or get any software updates at all. That's 100% my fault, since I failed to get Lion or El Capitan or Mount Rushmore or whatever the hell it was. So this time, if there's an update, you best believe I'm on it!
Currently exhausted. Until next time!