I have been so busy! Who knew that a puppy would be so much work? We have out first training session on Sunday with a trainer who came highly recommended. Link to follow the full report.
Pup is getting fixed in a couple of weeks too (God, please let that calm him down just a bit!). Meanwhile, the little potato we had less than 4 months ago is now a 50lb ball of muscled energy. I foresee myself looking for a single family home in November when my lease expires. My place is just too small for the three of us. Especially if the dog keeps going like this... I'll be lucky if he stays at 70-80 lbs when he is fully grown.. my guess is ... probably more. I love me a big hammy pooch!
In other news, I have been mulling over the concept of finding direction in life again. This meant re-evaluation my goals (I should say, re-establishing as I think I had lost complete sight of them till now). I had to sit down and seriously evaluate where I am now, and how I saw my future. I do not mean my personal situation as much as career wise. For once, I had to break out of the MOTHER box and think about ME.
I am a glorified secretary. Executive Assistant. Ha! I never intended to be that. Never thought in a million years when I graduated from my Ivy League school with my BA i would fall into this particular area of work. The thought of being 40, or 50 and still doing this, makes my head spin. It makes me dizzy, weak at the knees and utterly hopeless. I am so far from where I should be!
Of coarse, If i am to ever move forward I need to know where i should be. I need to establish a positive destination.
Thinking back on my loves, likes and dreams in college, I realize I cannot really align myself with them today. I am a very different person now. There is one thing only that persists. It is the fever, passion, love and need for interaction with all things African.
The happiest year in college was the year I finally managed to gather the courage to focus on something outside of what my parents had expected me to do. Post Colonial African Literature (for my English Major) and African Art (for my Art History Minor). That one year, while in Oxford, I was in education heaven, despite the fact that while I was supposed to be studying James Joyce (as my dad was led to believe), I was deeply immersed in Ngugi wa Thiong'o.
There was something about the fact that all of his books touched on the need for identity, the confusion of identity via colonialism and the loss and corruption of cultural identity that really resonated for me. These were themes that, although not of tribal background, and not necessarily affected by colonialism, I felt I was dealing with myself. Ngugi was but a gateway into a variety of deeply engaging, rarely studied in the west, African voices who kindled my passion for Africa even more.
So here I am, 10 years later, stumbling back and forth, wanting to find meaning and passion in my work life and a purpose to "skip to work". The closest I have come to that is indirectly. My company currently works to make a difference in many developing countries. India and more recently Africa (yes I know Africa is not a country! Identifying the region more narrowly would give up too much at this point).
I support people who are constantly traveling back and forth between these continents -- people who bring forward many fascinating ideas and solutions that are deeply needed to the issues. My only resentment about my job is that I want to be an active part of this, I want to be in the field seeing the need and knowing I am contributing to the solution, I want the high touch interaction. Living vicariously through the co-workers I support is just not enough for me.
So here I am. Destination found, via business school. BUT, rout unclear. Sure I know the relevant steps. Study hard, take the MCAT, apply, and study, graduate, and then re-evaluate direction to destination. The map is clear. But how does one get there, when they are unable to walk? I have carried the books for the MCAT prep class in my bag for days. I keep wistfully pulling them out, petting them, craving the time to go through them. They are like a long distance lover. There, comforting, in my head, but far from tangible and reachable physically. After two weeks of planning to study, i have found a total of 30 minutes. That is ridiculous. And not for lack of trying.
So now I am mapping out the steps to learn to walk so I can start the journey to my destination.
Dog training, check. Adjusting kid/dog schedule. Getting kid to bed at a decent hour ( ahh here is the rub of it... If i can get this done, i can make 2 hours in my day. Good lord, that's a battle with the kid!).
Next steps, start seeing what my work network can accommodate for me in terms of getting more business experience. The loong trip ahead seems so glorious. Please think of me, and give me strength to take these first steps. Once I start walking, I can push through the obstacles in the way. It is the start, that defines the journey. As long a sI am sitting here, I am not going anywhere.
Pup is getting fixed in a couple of weeks too (God, please let that calm him down just a bit!). Meanwhile, the little potato we had less than 4 months ago is now a 50lb ball of muscled energy. I foresee myself looking for a single family home in November when my lease expires. My place is just too small for the three of us. Especially if the dog keeps going like this... I'll be lucky if he stays at 70-80 lbs when he is fully grown.. my guess is ... probably more. I love me a big hammy pooch!
In other news, I have been mulling over the concept of finding direction in life again. This meant re-evaluation my goals (I should say, re-establishing as I think I had lost complete sight of them till now). I had to sit down and seriously evaluate where I am now, and how I saw my future. I do not mean my personal situation as much as career wise. For once, I had to break out of the MOTHER box and think about ME.
I am a glorified secretary. Executive Assistant. Ha! I never intended to be that. Never thought in a million years when I graduated from my Ivy League school with my BA i would fall into this particular area of work. The thought of being 40, or 50 and still doing this, makes my head spin. It makes me dizzy, weak at the knees and utterly hopeless. I am so far from where I should be!
Of coarse, If i am to ever move forward I need to know where i should be. I need to establish a positive destination.
Thinking back on my loves, likes and dreams in college, I realize I cannot really align myself with them today. I am a very different person now. There is one thing only that persists. It is the fever, passion, love and need for interaction with all things African.
The happiest year in college was the year I finally managed to gather the courage to focus on something outside of what my parents had expected me to do. Post Colonial African Literature (for my English Major) and African Art (for my Art History Minor). That one year, while in Oxford, I was in education heaven, despite the fact that while I was supposed to be studying James Joyce (as my dad was led to believe), I was deeply immersed in Ngugi wa Thiong'o.
There was something about the fact that all of his books touched on the need for identity, the confusion of identity via colonialism and the loss and corruption of cultural identity that really resonated for me. These were themes that, although not of tribal background, and not necessarily affected by colonialism, I felt I was dealing with myself. Ngugi was but a gateway into a variety of deeply engaging, rarely studied in the west, African voices who kindled my passion for Africa even more.
So here I am, 10 years later, stumbling back and forth, wanting to find meaning and passion in my work life and a purpose to "skip to work". The closest I have come to that is indirectly. My company currently works to make a difference in many developing countries. India and more recently Africa (yes I know Africa is not a country! Identifying the region more narrowly would give up too much at this point).
I support people who are constantly traveling back and forth between these continents -- people who bring forward many fascinating ideas and solutions that are deeply needed to the issues. My only resentment about my job is that I want to be an active part of this, I want to be in the field seeing the need and knowing I am contributing to the solution, I want the high touch interaction. Living vicariously through the co-workers I support is just not enough for me.
Photo by my good friend Alexandra Huddleston
So here I am. Destination found, via business school. BUT, rout unclear. Sure I know the relevant steps. Study hard, take the MCAT, apply, and study, graduate, and then re-evaluate direction to destination. The map is clear. But how does one get there, when they are unable to walk? I have carried the books for the MCAT prep class in my bag for days. I keep wistfully pulling them out, petting them, craving the time to go through them. They are like a long distance lover. There, comforting, in my head, but far from tangible and reachable physically. After two weeks of planning to study, i have found a total of 30 minutes. That is ridiculous. And not for lack of trying.
So now I am mapping out the steps to learn to walk so I can start the journey to my destination.
Dog training, check. Adjusting kid/dog schedule. Getting kid to bed at a decent hour ( ahh here is the rub of it... If i can get this done, i can make 2 hours in my day. Good lord, that's a battle with the kid!).
Next steps, start seeing what my work network can accommodate for me in terms of getting more business experience. The loong trip ahead seems so glorious. Please think of me, and give me strength to take these first steps. Once I start walking, I can push through the obstacles in the way. It is the start, that defines the journey. As long a sI am sitting here, I am not going anywhere.
