Both pros and cons await me, and those are just the people on the honors floors, and that both excites and depresses me.
Part of the reason is the fact my schedule is still up in the air despite the fact I’m starting it in about a week.
I wish I could blame this on STAR MU or the university, but this uncertainty is tied to the currently undisclosed hours I’ll be working at The Missourian, the local newspaper.
I won’t find out where the 15 hours I pledged to work will fit in for another week; and I don’t know how well they will fit. It’s not class and it’s not the job, it’s the potentially chaotic combination of the two that has me off-kilter.
Truth be told, when I pray about it, I calm down. I figure God is using this as an attempt to get me to calm down and put my trust in him.
I’m faced with a situation where I have to have faith, or I’ll just go nutty worrying about possibilities or circumstances that may never come my way.
As certain friends can attest, I am a grand master of the “What if…” Game. I’ve used it to construct all kinds of entertaining impossible-to-solve-scenarios in my stories. And when I’m lucky, it’s often helped me find a way out of painted corners. I have found, however, that when I play out scenarios in my own life, things can get out of hand quickly.
I have no idea how many eulogies I’ve composed when people were late showing up. Another game I play to keep sharp is “List another rationale.” You take an action and after the obvious reason is given, such as a person is at a restaurant because they’re hungry, and try to list additional motivations: he’s meeting his long-lost twin, he’s a health inspector looking for a reason to close down the eating-joint, he’s an alien studying our strange earthling ways, or he walked in the wrong door intending to go to a psychiatrist but is too meek to walk out and go next door.
I’m constantly composing stories; even if only about 5% even make it to a keyboard or notebook.
When it comes to composing my own life, however, I’ll admit I need some help if I’m going to get by.
When contemplating what my final update from Sullivan would be, part of me wanted to end it with a moral that summarizes the best lesson I’d learned during Christmas vacation.
The other part of me realizes that I can’t find one thing to represent everything that has transpired or that I’ve experienced.
For once I’ll surrender to reality over fantasy, and throw out a few brief lessons learned (or re-learned):
Time spent catching up with an old friend is priceless.
God is the best therapist, counselor, and friend to get one through the rough times.
Pauly Shore’s career may have peaked with "Encino Man," but at least he was never on a “celebrity” reality show.
Note from 2005: Paul Montgomery Shore "stared in," for lack of a better term, in "Minding the Store," a faux-reality show in 2005.
When one mentions their website in a mass email they will get more signatures in their guestbook than emails in reply.
You can go “home” again, but you can’t expect it to feel the same.
Sometimes never looking back means never looking back.
When in doubt, pray. If you’re pretty sure, pray. Repeat as necessary.
Everyone has a good story to tell or a lesson to pass on if one just listens.
I hope there’s at least one thing everyone can take from reading all of this. Now if you will excuse me, I’m plan on taking advantage of my last chance to sleep in my old bed for a while.
I wish you all a good day.
