My friend's birthday

Today was Melissa's birthday. Oops.

Cranes for Japan

I was walking out of the library when I saw a box that had all these colorful figures in it. At first, I thought they were little notes, but they turned out to be origami cranes. I read the inscription on the box and it said that the cranes were a project by the campus's Acts of Kindness group. They had teamed up with an architecture group for a humanitarian cause. The cause was for the victims of the tsunami in Japan. Apparently, for every origami crane folded, the architecture group would send $2 to Japan to help relieve the damage done to the people over there. They had left little square pieces of origami paper for anyone who wanted to fold a crane and help the cause.

I was footsore from work and had to wait for the bus anyway, so I picked up a little sheet of blue paper from the box and folded a crane for them. That was my good deed for the day.

Made my day

I was already feeling stressed out today. I had an exam tomorrow that I hadn't finished studying for and homework that I hadn't finished, period. On top of all that, I tried to make spaghetti for lunch only to realize that I wouldn't have time to make it AND eat it before I had to go to work. In the end, I had to scrap lunch, do a bit of my homework, and then frantically walk the mile to campus to just make it in time for lunch. I only had a pear (yes, the fruit) for lunch so, by the time I arrived at work I was tired, stressed, famished, and sweating from the exertion of having to walk so fast. I really thought I was going to burn out or just lose it and yell at somebody, but a wonderful thing happened instead--my day got better. I had quirky, upbeat customers, my roommate came by to say hi and visit me, and my coworkers spent the time talking about sex. (yes, talking about sex, you read it right).

You know how I love little, simple pleasures in life, right? Well, have you ever met someone and when they told you their name, it's just the perfect name for them? That happened to me today. A customer in line came up. Tall, lanky, and blond, he wore a lime green shirt and had a long skateboard propped up in one hand. I took one look at him and thought, "That guy must have an interesting name." When I asked him his name so I could write on his drink order, he said, "Ben." For some reason, I broke out into a smile. A genuine smile, not the fake one you have to give customers out of politeness. While Ben was a fairly common name and I wasn't expecting it, the name seemed to fit him anyway. It fit this mild-mannered stranger with the skateboard and this little exchange altered the course of my day.

What's better was that I ended up finishing my homework, studying for my exam, and going to sleep before 1 a.m. (an accomplishment for me). Now I'm going to stop with my delirious ramblings.

Physical Labor

I was talking to my counselor this morning (I go to a counselor now) and she was talking about she liked physical labor and that if she had been born a boy, she would be a manual laborer. I agreed with her. She and I were kindred spirits. I found that a good sign. We both were personality types of what I call "the creator". We like to create things--art, woodwork, food, stories. We also like to work with our hands.

What she said to me was only reinforced later on when I went to my volunteer activity. I'm in the environmentalist group at school and today, I went to help clear away some tree branches and vines so my group could make a sustainability plot near the edge of our campus. I spent a hour hauling away invasive plants such as English ivy and holly branches. It was a good amount of exertion but nothing I couldn't handle. That's when I realized how much I missed nature and I how much I liked physical labor. I could do this for a living, I thought to myself.

I was walking to class after that and I made a mental list of what would constitute my perfect job. Needless to say, the list was very strange. Ideally, I would like a job where I could assemble furniture, mop floors, and do yardwork all day long. Basically, I would be a kind of handyman/janitor. Huh, and all this college education gone to waste. Who knew?

Too bad there really isn't a job like that. Well, unless I wanted to be a self-employed handyman/janitor. Tee-hee.

Mindfulness

Oh, and I also tried doing this technique I learned in my psychology class. It's called mindfulness and it involved immersing oneself completely into the present. I was practicing this while in the waiting room at the counselor's office and I have to admit, it was a bit of a mind-bending experience. Being one who zones out a lot or gets lost into her thoughts, I tried to immerse myself into the present and my mind started to do funny things. The floor was carpeted in the waiting room and as I was staring at it, trying to concentrate, it seemed as if it came up to meet me. Now I don't mean that it rose up from its upholstered state and was suddenly closer to me. It just seemed to...pop. I looked at a table in the hall and it did the same thing. It popped. The table suddenly looked more three-dimensional instead of just a flat object in space. It was quietly amazing. The experience was like looking at one of those 3-D puzzles--the one where you cross your eyes and something is supposed to "pop" out at you. Those never worked for me, but apparently, being mindful did. I tried it a few more times throughout the day and I realized how quiet the world seemed to me. I knew this was because I often kept a running commentary in my head about all that was going on around me. I might do this because I'm a writer and I like to spend time describing my world. When I quieted my thoughts, however, I realized there was a lot of the world I was missing. Birds singing. The wind whistling through a quiet street. I even tried being mindful in the shower (this meant no singing) and realized how much my bathroom fan sounded like a rusty propeller buzzing out its mundane existence. It was mind-boggling to me how such a small technique had such a big impact.

I think I'll try this again.

Bagels and Napkins

Today I was eating a bagel and since I'm a germaphobe, I wrapped the bagel in a napkin instead of touching it. Well, I wasn't paying attention as I was eating so, at one point, I accidentally bit into the napkin, chewed it, and swallowed it. I didn't even notice until I looked down at the bagel and saw that the corner of the napkin was missing and the missing part had teeth marks. So that's what happened in my day.

Relief

I just had a talk with my future roommates and it was such a relief to know that they were okay with all of my roommate concerns. All this time, I was worried that they would hate me if I brought up anything, but they took all of it very well. Maybe I underestimate people. Or maybe I just fear people too much. Or both. Most likely both.

I should try more of this "talking it out" stuff. Now I can go to sleep with peace of mind.