10 Things I Love About My Sister

My sister's birthday is coming up in April. I was thinking about her this morning and, as usual, she brings a smile to my face. :-) I was thinking about all the wonderful things she is to me, and all the wonderful things she has done for me. Here's a top 10 just for her!

In no particular order...

-------------------------------

10 Things I Love About My Sister

1. She's got a great ear and talent for music. Not only can she play piano, violin, and guitar (among other instruments), she can carry a tune and is one heck of a karaoke singer!

2. When we were kids she'd make up the best games to play when we were bored.

3. She's full of goodness right down to the core. I've only seen her really pissed off maybe a handful of times in my life.

4. She has an abundance of patience.

5. Her ability to live with our mom, and the fact that she chose to let my mom live with her despite my mom having her own home and being fully healthy and active.

6. The way we cry at sappy scenes in movies or tv shows, especially at one particular episode of "Highway to Heaven". We are such cornballs!

7. The time she gave me a knuckle sandwich when...umm...I was being mean to her once. Hey, we were kids and she dared me to do it! It still gives me a good laugh!

8. The way that she parents. I've never heard her complain when she's been up all night with the kids and then still gets herself to work the next day.

9. I love her courage and sense of adventure. She took a job transfer from Texas to Japan in her mid-20's and spent nearly a decade there. She really discovered who she was, met her husband there (a military guy from Pennsylvania), had her first child there, and really transformed into a beautiful woman, wife, mother, and an even more wonderful sister and daughter. I'm SO glad she's back in Arizona!

10. The way she can never correctly say, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles". It always comes out "Teenage Mutant Turtles Ninja"or some other odd variation! It's quite funny!

The list could go on, but I'll save the rest for another day. :-)

I love my sis! She's the best! :-)

Strange Evening

A weird evening tonight.

I had my class at Stanford tonight as usual.

It was pouring like crazy on the drive over there. I couldn't see a thing! About 5 minutes into my drive I thought about turning around because it was pretty scary driving in those conditions. The bay area gets a lot of rain in the winter, but days when it's pouring and driving visibility is poor is a rarity. And the wind. It was really blowing hard! It made me nervous driving over the toll bridge. Scary stuff!

After class I met up with my cousin for dinner. He finally got the keys to his new house and it was my first opportunity to see his place. I drove over and we decided to go to a Japanese restaurant to eat. The place we went to is similar to Benihana's, where they cook the food right in front of you.

In the middle of our meal the power went out! We ended up eating our meal in the dark! It was too funny! The cook had just finished cooking our meal, too, so I guess if the power had to go out, then we were lucky it went out when it did.

The staff brought out candles, but they were these tiny tea candles that actually didn't really help at all. So everyone at our table pulled out their cell phones and we ate our meals with our LCD screens lit up for light! How funny is that?

The power was still out when we finished up our meal. With the power out, we couldn't use the credit card machine. The waitress had to take our information down manually. It was weird. How did people survive before all this technology?

When we left it was eerie. The entire area was pitch black. Even the hotel across the street was eerily dark. We didn't see any emergency lights on either. I would have thought they'd have a generator or something there.

We drove a mile or so, and then suddenly we entered an area that had power. It was strange because it was like going from night to day. On one side of the street there was light, and on the other it was pitch black.

Anyway...it was weird.

Ok. Time for bed. Maybe tomorrow won't be so surreal.

G'night!

Knowing When To Move

A friend sent me this quote over the weekend.

"There is such a thing as "Waiting on the Lord." However, the danger of stagnation is also very real. Learning to distinguish between the two, and finding that critical balance of knowing when to move and when to be still is the process we call LIFE."

I have been thinking about my current job situation and how the job search is really starting to feel like a second job. While I haven't entirely reached major frustration levels yet, it is tiring and time consuming searching for jobs, tailoring cover letters, then following up for what really ends up seeming like a lucky break with a recruiter or fortunate timing with a job opening.

It takes a long time trying to think about the next career move and, in my case, I'm really hoping for an entire career change. But what will really end up happening is anyone's guess! I'm pursuing both avenues at this time. One resume is tailored to the next logical career move based on my current experience, and another one is tailored towards a 'foot-in-the-door' opportunity in a different industry.

I've been thinking about the old adage of "opportunity is preparation meeting luck". How much effort is too much effort? And how much time and effort should we put into pursuing something that does not seem to be producing any fruit? And is it really "preparation meeting luck", or is it just "go about life and luck"? If that makes any sense...

So I asked my friend one of the most unanswerable questions of all time: how much of life is really just surrendering to God and allowing him to provide in my life, versus the free will argument and taking action towards my chosen destiny? This is an entirely bigger debate for another time, so I'll just leave this as is, and you can ponder at your own leisure. :-)

It's a fine line I'm walking right now. I'm doing all the right things in the tangible way, but then there's the 'letting go and letting God' part of it. I need to detach from the outcome of my actions. I can hope for a certain outcome, but I need to keep reminding myself that what I want and what I think I want may not be the things that God knows I need, and I'm certain the opportunities will reflect the latter. It's definitely a different way of viewing life, for sure. I may want things to end up a certain way, but I need to be careful not to be focused on what I'd like it to be like, rather than appreciating it for what it is.

How does one really know when and what kind of move they need to make, versus when to surrender and just 'be still', to just 'be' in season they are at? I'm not really looking for an answer, I guess. It's all a matter of faith and I've still got that deep sense of gratitude I've posted about before. There's still this sense in my gut that I know I'm on the verge of something bigger. I feel like I'm at a critical juncture and God's preparing me for the wonderful thing(s) that are to come. It's weird, but that feeling is still there. It's awesome! And I'm not quite sure what to do with it!

Anyway, any and all job search advice, words of wisdom, prayers, good vibrations, or positive mantras you'd like to send my way, please do! I think it's gonna be a while before something changes with the job situation.

Thanks, ya'all!

-RM