Moving to Florida

I am packing up the necessities and moving myself back to Florida in three weeks.

Why so sudden?

I realized that I am never going to be happy here. It doesn't matter what I do here because I am always unhappy. I have a decent job, I finished my EMT course, I have an opportunity to settle here and go to school but none of that helps. I need sunshine. I know it's silly, but sunshine does make all the difference in my overall outlook. I find it really hard to look forward to my day when all it is is grey outside every single time I look out my window. Florida is my home. I miss my family (even when they are grumpy) and I want time to just focus on school. I want to be a normal full-time college student again. I can't do that here because in order to live day to day I have to work all night. It's really tiring and it is making me physically sick. It is time to move forward.

No, I don't have a concrete plan. I have an idea of what I want to do when I get to Florida, but for once I am going without a certain plan. It seems it doesn't matter what I plan anyway since nothing ever works out the way my plan is. I need more support to have a solid plan anyway. In Washington I feel like I have no support system whatsoever. Yes, I have some decent friends here but they are not the type of friends that are able to provide me with the supportive environment that I want to have around me.

My tentative idea is that I will get there (I will be living with Jenny for awhile) and start looking for an EMT job while I do something else in the meantime. Jenn has told me she might be able to get me a job as a waitress in the meantime.

I'm selling everything I own except the necessities and using that money to pay off some hefty bills. My goal is to get absolutely everything paid off (school loans and medical YUCK) and then return to school full-time in the fall debt-free. I hope this works out. I wanted to buy a car when I got to Florida but I might just hold off until I get everything paid off. If I need a car to get to work and such I will buy one but I am hoping I will be able to use public transportation until I have everything dealt with.

It's scary moving across the country. It's also weird to admit that I am scared. My roommate, Diviya, and I were talking last night and she said that she never thought I could be afraid of something in the future. I always deal with the hard stuff by taking it head on and this time I am nervous about what that actually entails.

Hope all is well with you.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!

I hope that everyone gets a chance to spend time with their family or friends today. :)

For the past few weeks I have been a little bitter about Christmas. I wanted to be able to see my Dad this Christmas (I haven't spent Christmas in Florida since 2008) but tickets were really really expensive and I didn't think I could get the time off from work anyway. I ended up with the time off but no Florida, and thus I was bitter about spending the holiday alone.

I backed my bitterness with the knowledge that Christmas is based in pagan tradition anyway- Saturnalia, the Roman holiday of debauchery and drunken folks, the winter solstice, the sun god birth of some middle eastern god... and then even our traditions are tainted: Nordic pagan traditions of burning a Yule log for fertility, the Christmas tree being a symbol of fertility also, and other things... (Christmas was banned in Boston at one point because it was celebrated as a excuse to get belligerent and drunk for two weeks at a time) and I feel that the reason for Christians to celebrate Christmas have nothing to do with the way that we practice it today. Thus I was determined not to celebrate Christmas much to many of my friend's dismay.

I broke down. Amidst all the present buying that my friend's were doing to show that they cared to their family and loved ones, the holiday propaganda everywhere, and one room mate's determination to make the house as festive as possible I decided that although Christmas really has very little historically to do with Christ I would participate. I went out and bought Christmas presents all on one trip and received an invite to a friend's for dinner. Tomorrow I will spend the day at my place having some "me" time and in the evening I will head over to my friend's to eat and be merry.

But to properly and historically celebrate the holiday (of course) I did buy a bottle of wine. :P

Christmas Cards

I am going to attempt to do Christmas Cards. They are probably going to be pretty late. I'm not sure if they'll be decorated very Christmas-sy either since I am against things like Christmas Trees and mistletoe and yuletide logs that all have their roots in pagan rituals about fertility. (Seriously... look it up...) Maybe I'll go with blank cards and a cute note inside.

In order to do this I will need addresses though! Please send me addresses so that I can get cards out.

xoxox

happy december.

hello friends & fam!

Tonight I am FINALLY getting a night off. For those who don't know, I have been taking an Emergency Medical Technician Course for the last ten weeks. I got the top score in the class (93%) and top final score in the class (98%). I spent a lot of time studying and working with the guys at Spokane County Fire District 10 to prepare for this class. The work paid off. Now I just need to take the National Exam and get certified to work in almost every state in the country.

The next step is to find someone to sponsor me. Initially I was planning on volunteering with Airway Heights Fire Department in their program that sponsors EMTs without being a firefighter. Unfortunately I was told recently that they only want firefighters, so I am going to test in February. There are two departments that I am going to test with: SCFD 10 (http://www.scfd10.org/) and Airway Heights Fire Department. I am also applying with American Medical Response (www.amr.net) and as many other places as possible to be able to get my sponsorship.

I want to take a phlebotomy class at the local community college here. (http://www.iel.spokane.edu/LNB/Business---Community-Training/Phlebotomy.aspx) This course, on top of my EMT course, would really be helpful to help me establish a solid job while I finish school. I don't think I will be able to afford it right now though. It's over 1500 dollars. My classes at Eastern (up to ten credits) are only five dollars plus books with my job. It's a good deal so I think I will put off the class until later (unless I can come up with 1688.oo like magic).

Next quarter I will be taking a chemistry class, a medical terminology class, and a finance class that amounts to ten credits. I can't take more than ten credits a quarter unless I pay full tuition with my job. It works out only taking ten credits for the next two quarters, but after that I want to return to full time for sure.

What are all of you doing for the holidays? I am taking the day off (normally I work Sundays) and just laying around the house. I'm not going home for Christmas (plane tickets to FL are over five hundred dollars!) so I will be chilling out here in my apartment watching Bones and Dexter all day and eating takeout. =]

I went to see my Mom, Erin, and Aden for Thanksgiving. It was nice to get away for a five days and surprise my mom. I baked all night long for Thanksgiving day (TONS of REAL pumpkin pie) and spent some nice time at the Mall of America with Erin. Aden and I played catch outside for awhile on Thanksgiving day. Aden is so big now! He is so smart and cute. He is guaranteed to be a heart breaker one day.

So that's the catch up! More specific stuff later. <3 to you all :)