Nothing in Particular

I felt the need to write a little tonight in the old blog, but I don't have anything particular to share, so I will ramble a little.

First, I will update you all on the progress of my new fingernail. It is still growing, but VERY SLOWLY. In the meantime, the old fingernail is getting more pitiful every day and hanging on by a few weak cellular connections.

I am proud to announce that I have officially started my Christmas shopping, and lo and behold it is still November! This may be a first for me, but there are still many weeks for me to get behind in completing this task, so I won't celebrate too much yet. Speaking of shopping, today I went for the first time to the much acclaimed IKEA store at Atlantic Station. Wow, I had no idea what I was getting myself into! Just getting in the place to park was like going to a full-blown mall or maybe even a small airport, but keep in mind it is just one store. One very large store. It took me a few minutes after I was inside the building to figure out which way to go to start shopping. I wish I had been accompanied by an experienced IKEA-shopper to introduce me to this megalopolis of homewares. Thankfully, I was in no hurry, so I slowly navigated my way around and wandered around wide-eyed for a while. I even bought a few things, though I almost thought I would never find my way out of the shopping area to the pay-and-leave area. I finally managed to get to the cashiers, make my transaction, and find my car in the parking garage. Whew! I will spare you the next adventure, which was a visit to the rest of the Atlantic Station shopping area. Let's just say I felt like a complete foreigner in my own land, completely incapable of navigating my way around in a remotely intelligible manner. Maybe I'm not cut out for the big city after all.

And finally, an update on school. I almost forgot about school. We are nearing the end of the first semester (1 of 4), and so far I am still enjoying prosthetics and orthotics and school in general. This morning was the first of our last four major tests for the semester, and we also have one group research project to complete. So with three tests and one project to go, I feel good about this nice tidy list to check off before the start of my first 3-week Christmas break in six years. Yeah!

Productive Procrastination

In order to best remain true to my procratinating tendencies, I have been completely unable to accomplish the extent of my goals for this evening. At least not yet. I am still trying to overcome my aversion to completing a task before the last possible minute, so maybe before I turn in for the night I will finish at least one thing. One thing I am working on is a presentation for this coming Monday, and I am near completion. It is a scary feeling to be so far ahead of schedule, thus my inner procrastinating self is rebelling strongly. I do not know this feeling of being ahead of the game, and it is being rejected by every fiber of my being. In order to divert my attention from this strange feeling, I took a few minutes to read about another procrastinator's story...

He very wisely describes his theory of structured procrastination:
"All procrastinators put off things they have to do. Structured procrastination is the art of making this bad trait work for you. The key idea is that procrastinating does not mean doing absolutely nothing. Procrastinators seldom do absolutely nothing; they do marginally useful things, like gardening or sharpening pencils or making a diagram of how they will reorganize their files when they get around to it. Why does the procrastinator do these things? Because they are a way of not doing something more important. If all the procrastinator had left to do was to sharpen some pencils, no force on earth could get him do it."

And one more bit of wisdom:
"Procrastinators often follow exactly the wrong tack. They try to minimize their commitments, assuming that if they have only a few things to do, they will quit procrastinating and get them done. But this goes contrary to the basic nature of the procrastinator and destroys his most important source of motivation. The few tasks on his list will be by definition the most important, and the only way to avoid doing them will be to do nothing."

Very interesting. I like the way this guy thinks; I can understand and relate. We must suffer from the same disorder. Lucky for me, he has already figured out how to master this weakness and turn it into strength. All I need to do is find something more important to do than this presentation, and I will have it finished in no time.

More info:
http://www.structuredprocrastination.com/

The Ocean

This morning I heard a song on the radio that I hadn't heard in a long time. I actually have the album, but I have an abundance of CDs and some get lost in the shuffle. Hearing the song really made me smile, as it is a great reminder of the greatness of God. Greatness as in bigness. When I was little, before I really understood anything about God, the ocean was a place that I could always sense the greatness of our Creator. In the presence of such vastness and the powerful churning of waves against the shore, how could you not be in awe? The song that I heard earler (lyrics below) really captures that feeling that the ocean tends to create... "something about the ocean makes me rise up and praise". Add a starry night to the scene and my soul is on comprehension overload.


Ocean (by Ten Shekel Shirt)

"Lately, I've been thnking about You
And lately, I've been dreaming of You
And lately, I can't get You out of my head
Get You out of my head

Something about the ocean
Makes me rise up and praise
Something about the heavens
Makes me stand in awe again
Something about the sunrise
Reminds me of Your faithfulness
Something about the ocean
And I'm lost in love again
I'll sing until I sense a smile
Upon Your great and lovely face
And till I know Your glory's in this place
Your glory's in this place"

Rebirth

More accurate than "rebirth" would probably be "regrowth", but I used the word rebirth for a reason. To what am I referring? I am writing of my poor, previously smashed, dead fingernail. This is somewhat of a gross topic, I know, which is why I managed to talk myself out of posting photos for all the world to see. Nonetheless, I am amazed to report that today I first noticed the new nail that is growing in behind the old and dead one. I knew this regrowth would happen, as it is a natural reponse from a healthy body, but I am utterlly amazed anyway. It is amazing that we can destroy, however unintentionally, certain parts of our bodies and they will grow right back. I know there is a finite limit to this concept, but it is still pretty impressive. What is so impressive is the precision with which our bodies know to create certain types of cells in certain places with specific compositions and functions. As I am witnessing this take place on the nail bed of my left index finger, I am in awe of the complexity that I take for granted when the nail grows every day of my life in a minute and invisible proportion. Our skin does the same thing, constantly replenishing and rejuventating itself every day of our lives. Bones do too, and the list goes on. Because my old fingernail had literally become disconnected from the back of the nail bed, it is truly like watching the birth of a new nail as this very slow process is finally becoming visible (my injury occurred on September 21). So if you are feeling a little weary, or if you feel like your old bones are just not what they used to be, find encouragement in your rebirth today. There are wonderful new cells being created in you all the time!

Promoting

I almost hate to share what I am about to write, because it reveals a certain amount of hypocrisy in myself. But oh well, who am I to pretend that I am not a hypocrite?

Today, for the first time in a long time, I had the privilige and joy of promoting a field, a career, and a vision that I truly believe in. Some of us who are in the MSPO program and part of an organization called POP (Promoting Orthotics and Prosthetics) participated in a technology fair at Tech today that highlighted technology in the realm of disabilities. I truly enjoyed the opportunity to answer questions and share about why I love this field, why it is so exciting, and why others should love it as well. You can see here that I was really enjoying myself:


On the other hand, back in my previous career, I was equally involved in promoting the field. The difference was that I didn't truly believe in it. Now, I wouldn't say that I was entirely lying or deceiving, as I did and do believe that nuclear power can be a great career for some people. But it wasn't the career for me, so I often had to muster up the enthusiasm to get me through a career fair or high school educational visit. You can see here that I really looked like I was enjoying myself:

But the reality is that I was basically just acting in that previous career, acting like I loved it, acting like it was terribly exciting, and acting like others should really love it too. I am so thankful now to be able to just be myself and to not have to act but truly promote what I do with enthusiasm that does not have to be mustered up.