A month of silence

One month of silence and at this moment my head is filled with so many different ideas and I have so many different plates I am juggling I am confused as to where to begin.

An exercise I like to do with my interns in Breckenridge that helped them explore what are their deep set personal values. The way we spend our money, time, energy, what we dream about, what our goals in life are all indicative of our values.

I thought I might write a bit about those things in my life as I am feeling scattered with busy head traffic.

Familial - I miss my family, although we had a superb time together last weekend in Houston for Father's day. Everyone is happy and healthy, it has been 6 months since mom has passed away and my family still seems to amaze me at their strength. Aji and I have consumed each other in our lives so here very much feels like my family to me right now. This being in a relationship thing is new for me. Like most things, rewarding and challenging.

Fiscally - Humble....the best way to describe my current situation. I very much enjoy my work, but it does not offer much in the way of substantial income. Especially not for someone like myself who has the education and experience to hold much more challenging positions offering more comfortable salary.

Socially - I miss my dear close friends that are scattered across the nation and the world for that matter. I have created some lovely friendships here in Austin, but I get in trouble when I begin to compare my best friends to my new friends in Austin because they just can't live up to my BFF's. I also do not feel connected with a group yet. I had an automatic family with couchsurfing, but I am searching for more I just can't put my finger on it.

Professionally - I have a dream to be an in home caterer/chef but I am feeling intimidated by my lack of training or culinary education. My dream of selling banana ice cream has some how melted away into the hot hot Texas heat. I am intimidated by the whole starting up a business idea and cannot seem to put one foot forward. I am working currently as a pedicab driver on 6th street. I am also a server with a catering company. My main job though is working with 6 adult clients on a 1:1 basis by taking them out into the community for events, errands, restaurants, social activities etc. Each client has at least these three disabilities: deaf, blind and mental retardation. The pay is decent but I have to travel all over Austin so it is frustrating how much driving I have to do.

School - This fall I will take my final two classes with Western Michigan University to complete my masters degree in Education for the Blind. In the spring I will complete an internship that will allow me to get my certification to work in the field of blind and low vision. In regards to nursing, I am half way finished with a certified nurse's aid course. It is humbling starting in the nurse's field with my education and experience as a nurse's aid. I am hoping to begin my pre-req classes by next summer. It will take me about 3.5 years to finish the nurse program including all of my pre-reqs so it will probably be

Traveling - I will once again get my travel pants on at the end of July. I am going to Colorado to run the week long adventure camp for blind teenagers. When that finishes I am going to bike from Fort Collins, CO to St. Louis with my BFF Nicole to go to a wedding. We are still trying to figure out how we are getting back :) Dad is meeting me in Colorado where we will visit Rock Mountain National Park and possibly go backpacking! I will then make my way to Nevada to attend Burning Man. When I get back to Austin, I will of course have to start working again and taking my last two classes for my masters degree.