One thing I will never understand

Changing tastebuds: I've recently been experimenting with my "habit foods". By default, when I'm hungry and don't want to eat out, I eat cereal or chicken patties. For breakfast, I usually go for a bagel and cream cheese. Coffee is my main source of caffeine. Last week, I went for oatmeal, just to see if it's been "seven years" since my tastebuds decided they didn't like oatmeal. This week, I'm trying tea. So far, I've been successful in enjoying both of these things. Though, I'm still not a fan of lettuce on sandwiches or mayo in general or onions on anything.
When I'm hungry and I just have to go out to eat, I usually end up at a sushi place, Olive Garden or Sonny's. And when I go to those places I get either salmon or chicken and broccoli in some form. I've tried other meals to no avail. How do I know when it's been long enough to be able to enjoy something I never enjoyed previously?

That is all.

summer of love

just a quick count:

# of engaged people I know: 5

# of weddings: 4

# of babies on the way: 5

i'm going to be sick.

Random thought

So I was thinking today about my position in the office. Not my position, as in I’m a secretary position, but as in I am in glass window-ed office right off the elevators. If someone were to come into the building, some crazy, doctor-hating patient, I would be the first one to go. The crazy person would come off the elevator and shoot the first person he sees. Yeah, that first dead person would be me.

Anyone wanna buy me a bullet proof vest?

eco-friendly chic

the rising price of gas has forced me forced my feet to walking. I have always wanted to live in a place where dominant forms of transportation are public or pedestrian. I felt like I was doing something to help the environment by walking everywhere in Australia. I never once lamented over not having a car while living abroad. Combined with green canvas-like grocery bags and lots of walking, I came back a changed woman.

However, upon my return to the states, I immediately got back into my car and cruised around town. I used plastic bags for my groceries and never looked back. Until now! well, until last July, when Ryan and I moved into our apartments, just across the street from the main strip of stores and restaurants. Half the time we walk, the other half, we drive the short distance. I don't feel too too bad driving b/c it's less than a mile to get to where we need to be, as opposed to a few miles each way. It hit me today though, that we really should be walking to those same stores A LOT more often. It's healthier, gas-friendly and money-saving. If we have to walk to the restaurant, we'll probably be too lazy at least half the time. And if we walk to get groceries, we'll buy less b/c we won't want to carry it all home, in theory.
I walked to publix today and filled my green bag with fresh fruit, deli-turkey and cereal. As I walked home, I felt rather proud of my eco-friendly conscience. If only I could apply that to other places in my life. I do intend to invest in a hybrid car at first opportunity and as soon as I can find a home where there is a recycling route, you can bet your bottom dollar I will have a paper bin and a plastic/metal recycling bin! Til then, I slowly bring the paper goods to work to recycle (admittedly not very regularly, but i'm working on it...) and die a little on the inside with every can I throw away.

shall I tell the world?

In the past, more specifically during high school, I blogged on livejournal. For some reason my life seemed much more interesting and journal provoking. I had a small network of friends who frequented the journal and frequented theirs. As I transitioned into college life, I continued to breath life into my livejournal as I fumbled my way through freshman year. My circle of friends grew further when I joined GCL. After a while, things got out of hand with who was reading and commenting on it. I just felt like too many people I never spent time with were reading it. It was like they were spying on my life and pretending to be a part of through my blog. A lot of the problem also came from seriously bitter feelings toward GCL. I ran from GCL and will never look back. Since then, I have been sensitive about who I'm comfortable with reading my blog. I know it's silly to want some semblance of privacy on a public blogging service. I might be brave enough sometime to let people know I actually have a blog, but not just yet. we shall see, we shall see...

Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?

This is a question I have been asked many times in the last few months. I went to (::counts on fingers::) several interviews in my quest for a new job. I interviewed at: a daycare, UF's housing office, UF's Admissions office, a dermatology office, UF's College of business, a museum (for a volunteer position, and finally the dept. I will be working for starting Feb. 12. There may have been at least one other interview that I can't recall at the moment, but definitely every interview that I listed, the Interviewer asked me where I see myself in 3-5 years. Mostly, he or she just wanted to know if I was going to be in town long enough for them to be interested in hiring me.Usually, my answer was half-catered to my actual feelings toward life in the future and half catered to the type of job I was applying for. Sometimes I wanted to be a teacher at an elementary school or other times in some sort of healthcare administration position.

The truth is, I only have a vague idea of what I would like my future to hold. If I look back to where I was 5 years in the past, I remember being elbow-deep in my senior year, trying to arrange projects for National Honor Society, wondering whether my relationship with J.B. was going to work out, fighting w/my parents over why I didn't want to live at home for college, and loving life as Senior, dying to be a Freshman in college. I had no inkling of an idea of the lovely life I would lead at UF.
For example, I didn't know I would hold true to my feelings against being memory-erasing drunk and partying all the time. I enjoy a glass of wine a couple times a week, but am very rarely drunk. I didn't know I would find a church that I felt accepted me, but then 1.5 years later want absolutely nothing to do with said church. and I certainly would not have said that I saw myself staying in college town for any amount of time after graduating, much less planning on being here for probably another year or so.
But that still doesn't answer the question of my life in 5 years. My dream to be married, own a home (condo or house, I'll take either one really), maybe be a mother, have a good steady job which I enjoy and happy. I would like to live in Colorado at some point in my life. I want to travel in Europe.

I have some short term goals, some long term goals and some eventual goals in mind. The project I'm really turning over in my thoughts lately is flipping houses. For my first attempt, I would like to purchase a home here, live in it for about a year and work on the house's value, then sell it for a profit. The goal is to save about $10,000 for a down payment and still have a bit of emergency cash. I don't know very much about buying houses or flipping them for that matter, but it feels like a good project. Besides that, it would feel nice to actually own something like my very own home.
The kink in the plan has to do with my feelings toward actually owning my very own home. I have always felt that I didn't want to own a house or any property before I was married. I just thought that buying a home was something you did with your husband, not your very serious boyfriend whom you live with. My goal clashes with my dream. I'm not quite ready to wear a ring on a choice finger on a choice hand, but I feel like I am ready to buy, improve and sell (mentally, not so much financially).
So where do I see myself in the next 5 years? The answer is: I don't know.