Guess what, guess what!

Monday was a good day.

At 6 p.m., I was sitting in the courtyard of the Newman Center with some of my closest friends.  I decided to check my e-mail for the 6th time that day, expecting the same result that each previous log-in had yielded: an empty inbox.  However, to my pleasant surprise, my inbox was anything but empty.  In fact, it was quite full.  I'm not talking about multitudes of e-mails.  Rather, I am talking about one e-mail that holds multitudes of possibilities.  Let me share with you the first sentence of said e-mail:

"I am pleased to extend you an offer to join the Teach For America 2011 corps!"

After months of applying, filling out forms, doing activities, interviewing, and waiting, I have received the answer I've been searching for, and I couldn't be happier.  For the next two years, I could be making a difference in the lives of elementary school children in Camden, New Jersey as a Teach For America corps member!

As you can imagine, receiving this news was amazing.  And what was equally as amazing was sharing my celebration with my best friends.  Now, I can look forward to graduation with excitement.  Although I am still sad to be leaving the place I've called home for the past four years, I will be experiencing the opportunity of a lifetime right around the corner! 

I can sense that this blog could very well turn into a collection of stories about my day-to-day interactions with children, and this could not excite me more. 

I'd rather have change in my pocket.

If I had a dime for every time I've thought about updating my blog in the past few months, I'd have like 9 dimes. 

So much has happened since my last post that part of me wanted to give up on this "chronicling a year of change" thing. Hence my lack of posts.  After all, in order to truly chronicle all that has happened, I would have to write a novel. From what I understand, blogs aren't supposed to be chapter books.  So why bother?

But no. I can't let this one slide. I have seen far too many personal goals of mine buried under a thick blanket of outward responsibility (i.e., school, work, extracurricular activities, my social life, etc.).  I often wonder why I am my own toughest critic when it comes to my success with all of these things, yet when it comes to my personal health, goals, and growth I always seem to find away to let myself slide.  

Sometimes I joke about having a stomach ulcer by the time I'm 30.  Sometimes it's hard to convince myself that I'm joking.

I'm going to try to keep up with this thing.  Even though I feel like I've fallen behind on my own life, there's no time like the present to start playing catch-up. This blog is going to be my first attempt to follow through with something for myself. In the next few days, I hope to recount some of the major things that have happened within the past few months so that I can move on. After all, moving on seems to be a recurring theme in my life right now. Gotta love change.

For now, I have one month and 10 days left until I graduate. And I hear back from what may very well be my "dream job" on Monday.  Stay tuned.

Upside-down, twisty-turny roller coasters.

When I was younger, I was absolutely terrified of what I called "upside-down, twisty-turny roller coasters."  Between fearing death and even more so fearing the loss of my lunch, there was no way I was getting on one of those.  That is, until my brother John (who, I am very happy to say, is newly engaged to his soulmate) convinced me to try it.  I remember that roller coaster ride quite vividly.  In fact, I believe John's exact words when I pulled the harness over my head were, "Well, there's no turning back now."  Since then, you just can't keep me away from roller coasters...

...quite literally.  Pardon the overused, dramatic cliche... But I often feel like every aspect of my life is like a roller coaster.  Even the moments in the past few weeks where I thought about updating this blog are evidence of this:

1. When I came back to school just over two weeks ago to kick off my very last semester of college. (Bittersweet doesn't even begin to describe how I feel about this).

2. When I found out that I was invited to the final interview for a job I applied for. (Yea, I applied for a job. Just one).

3. When I had a wonderful experience at a conference. (Still a work in progress).

4. When I realized that the old, consistently stressed out Karen is back and "better" than ever. (About which I am surprisingly surprised).

...And now... when I remembered that the whole purpose of this blog was to chronicle these things so that I can look back on this monumental year and... well... see. 

We'll see, I suppose, what ends up coming of this blog. Of this year. Of this life.

For now, I'm stressed.  Hence the overused, dramatic cliche.  Upside-down, twisty-turny roller coasters. But, for the sake of positivity and "that's a stretch" analogies, I made the choice to get on this ride.  In life, you have two choices.  You can either sit on a bench and watch others on their roller coasters (because, really, everyone's life is like a roller coaster.  Let's be honest) or you can get on your own and enjoy the ride.

The upside-down, twisty-turny roller coaster that is my college career is on its last loop. If I'm going to finish this ride, I might as well appreciate the thrill. I'm not going to have my eyes closed for this one.

Besides, "there's no turning back now."

Every little thing is gonna be all right...

I never really understood the draw of Bob Marley's music until I spent a few days in the Bahamas.  I think most people would agree that sometimes the fast-paced, never-a-dull-moment lifestyle can be overwhelming.  I may not have a full-time job and a family to take care of, but I think the fact that I'm already feeling this way as a college student says a lot.  

Last week, I had the opportunity to reciprocate my hectic semester and holiday season with a cruise to the Bahamas.  If I could do one thing to demonstrate the pace and mood of the vacation, I would make you dance to the slow and steady beat of a Bob Marley song.  The relaxation I experienced on this trip could not have come at a better time.  As a soon-to-be college graduate who has no idea what she wants to do with her life, I welcomed this much-needed break.  Even so, just a few minutes after sitting down in the airport to come home, I already found myself making lists in my head (and on paper) of all of the things I needed to do. 

Before winter break began, I declared it to be a one-month journey into my future.  In other words, I decided that every free moment would be spent searching and applying for jobs.  As we all know, there are many things in life that we say we are going to do that, for one reason or another, never get done.  That being said, sometimes the reasons for not getting things done can outweigh the fact that your original plan didn't work out.  Between spending quality time with my friends and family, having an amazing vacation, and being able to simply be, I cannot write this winter break off as a failure.  

And even amid doing seemingly anything but what I said I was going to do, I still managed to save some half-completed applications and discover some potential job-search sites.  Most importantly, though, I (re)discovered a few things about myself and life itself... I only hope that my realizing these things helps in my pursuit of what's next in my life.

In no particular order...

1. Family is very important to me.

2. I need to find a way to feel the relaxation I felt in the Bahamas in my everyday life.

3. I need to keep my good friends close. They are my sanity.

4. Love comes in all shapes and sizes.

5. The people in your life are there for a reason.  (And the people no longer in your life are no longer in your life for a reason).

6. It's OK to say no.

And last, but certainly not least...

7. Every little thing is gonna be all right.

Dick Clark

 

I can't remember ever celebrating the start a new year without Dick Clark.  Even when I struggled to stay awake on New Year's Eve as a kid, his voice would be the lullaby that eased me out of one year and into the next.  I have gotten so used to sharing my New Year with Dick that I find myself practically afraid of the day when an attempt to fill his shoes is made.  My fear, I presume, is based in the unknown.  It's not that I would rather have Dick host New Year's Rockin' Eve forever.  Rather, I enjoy the status quo so much that it would be very difficult to deviate from the norm that Dick Clark has become not knowing who will take his place.

In some ways, my life has been a lot like New Year's Rockin' Eve (well, with a little less confetti and a lot more warmth).  My "Dick Clark" has been my routine of school.  Sure, college threw a curve ball into the mix, but school is still school.  My whole life thus far has been spent preparing for some sort of "grown up" world.  Especially since I started college, I have grown to love this routine.  Now, with exactly four months and twelve days until I graduate, I am absolutely terrified of the inevitable: a major deviation from the norm.  

Even so, here is what I've come to realize.  In describing time and time again that my feelings toward my impending graduation and departure from college are bittersweet, I have discovered why the bitterness seems to outweigh the sweetness.  It's not that I don't think that it is time for me to move on with my life.  Rather, I enjoy the status quo so much that it would be very difficult to deviate from the norm that my life at Temple University has become not knowing what will take its place.

It is with this in mind that I have decided to create this blog.  No matter what happens in the year 2011, it is going to be a monumental year in my life.  My life will take a new direction, and although I do not know what that direction will be, I do know that somehow I am going to get somewhere, and hopefully learn some things in the process.  I hope that looking back on this blog will help me to recognize where I have been, where I am now, and where I would like to be in the future.  So, here's to 2011 being a year of change.  Who knows? Maybe a nice "Ryan Seacrest" is heading my way.  Only time will tell.