Goals & Adventures

In exactly 60 days my cousin, Kristin, and I will each board planes in our respective cities. My destination? Orlando. Hers? Orlando.

If history is to repeat itself (and in this case I hope it does) we will find each other somewhere near baggage claim. There, we will exchange hugs and thousand watt grins. We'll both giggle when we spot our shuttle driver because he'll be holding a sign with Kristin's name on it, and we'll think that's the bee’s knees. He'll take our bags for us and still giggling we'll follow him out. And just like that we'll step out of the airport and into our next excellent adventure together. 

In 61 days the second annual Celebration of Harry Potter event will begin at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Universal Parks. Just like we did last time, we'll arrive a day early, to get settled and conduct recon. We will, undoubtedly, have an amazing weekend, just like we did last time. I don't think it's possible to be more excited for our second installment. 

I'm incredibly excited that James and Oliver Phelps (the Weasley twins), and Evanna Lynch (Luna) will be returning this year. I'm also exciting that Sir Michael Gambon (Dumbledore) and Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid) will be attending this time. I'm beyond excited that they will be holding autograph sessions, something we felt was sorely lacking last time. I'm excited to see the Diagon Alley portion of the park, which opened on my birthday this summer. I'm excited to drink hot butterbeer and eat at The Three Broomsticks and Bubba Gump's. I'm excited for every nerdy moment of the experience! 

But all of that excitement pales in comparison to how excited I am that I get to do all this with Kristin. Over the years, though regularly separated by hundreds of miles, Kristin and I have grown closer together. During our last excellent adventure in Orlando, we set a goal to find one thing we completely disagreed on. We failed. Whether the topic was politics, religion, or what to have for dinner, we invariably found ourselves landing upon the same page, or at least in the same chapter. We also set a goal to be “all in” on the trip. Essentially, to completely participate, to not miss out on a single moment and not go home with any regrets. That goal, we achieved. And I cannot wait to do it all over again.

Being 60 days away from this adventure means that November has come to a close; another NaNoWriMo come and gone. I am not at all ashamed to say I did not reach the 50,000 word count goal; not because I tried my best and just fell short, because honestly, I didn’t. I decided very early on in the month to not earnestly pursue NaNo. There was just too much going on, and I had other goals that I decided took priority. That’s not to say I am abandoning my projects, because I’m not. I did toil with it some, and tinkered with others. But I didn’t engage in thirty days and nights of literary abandon, as is customary for NaNo. To do that would likely have meant falling short of my other goals, a compromise I was not willing to make.

For quite some time I have had the vague and under pursued goal of losing weight and getting fit. At the tail end of October I set upon solidifying this goal a bit, giving myself definite parameters with an ascertainable achievement date. I decided that ideally I would like to be down to a size large, from my current size of 1X, by the time I go to Orlando. But the primary goal I set was to build up my endurance, to be able to sustain the copious amount of walking this trip will entail. With the help of my fantastic trainer, Muna, I have set about trying to reach this goal. Admittedly, I have not been as proactive as I could have been this past month. But I am proud to say I have stuck with it much better than I ever have in the past. Starting a new job at the beginning of the month limited my availability for sessions. Luckily for me, Muna is an early bird, and we meet at 5:30am once a week to train. I’ve still got a long way to go, but I have noticed small victories. Like bumping my weights up, being able to push myself farther, and not being as sore after my workouts. (Except for the last one, she made me do burpees and all sorts of stuff, I could hardly move for three days. But I totally deserved it, and it felt like progress, so it was worth it.)

The very same week that I committed myself to this goal, I stumbled across a new song that I have sort of claimed as my theme song for the time being. I’ll try to link to a youtube video so you can hear it. But it’s called Rise Up by Vincent Steele, Michael Woodenbridge, and Nine One One. The lyrics are as follows:

Rise Up

A new day

A time to change

A time to start living

Forget about yesterday

Its time to start living

Seize the day

And take the fall

When the world starts to crumble

I’m taking on the impossible

And I’ll rise up through the fire

I’ll rise up through the fire

Take control and let in unfold

Rise up

Rise up

I’ll start today

I’ll rearrange the life that I’m living

Things will never be the same

It’s time to start living

Seize the day

And take the fall

When the world starts to crumble

I’m taking on the impossible

And I’ll rise up through the fire

I’ll rise up through the fire

Take control and let it unfold

Rise up

Rise up

And I’ll rise up through the fire

I’ll rise up through the fire

Take control and let it unfold

Rise up

Rise up

There are three shows that I watch on the CW, and I kept seeing commercials for another one of their shows (The 100), which is where I first heard a sample of this song. I liked it so I decided to try and figure out what the song was. Once I found it and listened to the whole thing I couldn’t believe how perfectly it fit. So this has been my theme song this month.

I’m hoping that sharing this goal here with anyone who reads will help push and encourage me to keep at it. Win or lose, I’m very much looking forward to spending time with Kristin and enjoying our excellent adventure together. But I’m also looking forward to continuing to push myself, and eventually winning, no matter how long it takes.

Rise Up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oibwUFArKt8

NaNoWriMo Reflections

Well November has ended. And along with it NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).
And while I did not reach the 50,000 word finish line, I press on.

By the end of November I had reached just over 10,000 words. I blame my failure on a number of things. Part of the problem was that as you all know, Thanksgiving falls in the month of November. Being that I work in a service industry, when most people are closed for such a holiday, it's among the busiest times of year for us. So work was extra crazy and time consuming.  But probably the largest culprit was that I didn't not discover a clear plot for my story until nearly two thirds of the way through the month. I had my characters, including extensive back stories, I just couldn't quite figure out what they were doing in my story, and why. But with the help of my most beloved best friend, Layton, eureka we've got it! I'm now north of 13,000 words and continue to make progress. I try to write at least a little every day; some days I get to write more than others though.

Even though I didn't cross that finish line this time, I'm excited about how much I did accomplish. I started writing stories in middle school, but to this day I haven't finished a single one of them. Many of them, especially my earlier work, are laughably horrid that I could or would never pursue publishing. I keep them of course, because I find it hilarious to go back and reread them sometimes. It's also kind of neat to see how my writing has grown with me. I have a passion for writing. It's something that no matter where I go in life, not matter what I do or where my career path might lead me; I will always write. Getting published would be a dream come true. Although somehow the thought of people reading my work is oddly terrifying. But it's a good kind of terrifying. Not only am I glad I participated in NaNoWriMo this year, I'm also glad I decided to share the fact that I was participating. I received such wonderful encouragement.

I'm inching my way to my own finish line, be in 50,000 words or some other number. I'm excited to see how it turns out. And I appreciate all those cheering me on.

Steph

Wishing

Sometimes I wish life were more like a math textbook. That way, all you had to do was flip to the end of the book to check your answers.

But life’s not like that.

Life is more like a novel. But not the kind of novel you can “Tarantino” and read the last sentence before you start. No, if you try to read ahead, you’ll find the pages are blank. The words only appear on the page as fast as you can read them, as fast as you can live them. And when you look back, you’ll find the words are beginning to fade, and before long the pages at the beginning of the book will be blank as well. You can’t just close the book and put it down either. The story keeps going, whether you read along or not.

That’s what life is like.

Sometimes it’s an adventure novel, sometimes a romance. It’s almost always a mystery. It can be funny and it can be sad. Sometimes it’s scary, and sometimes it’s messy.

But that’s what life is like.

You have to make the most of it. Life goes on, whether you read along in the book or not. But it’s your choice, which way the story goes. When you stop reading, life passes you by. And before you know it, you have no idea how you got to where you are. But if you read along, you can be more deliberate about the choices you make; the choices that decide which way your story will turn.

Far too many times in my life I’ve put my book down. I stopped reading; I stopped trying to figure out what might happen next. And now…it’s like I’ve forgotten how to read it. My life is suffering from a major case of writer’s block. They say hindsight is 20/20, and the past isn’t quite so distant that I can’t look back and see how I ended up where I am. But the past is not what I can change. The problem now lies in moving forward; in figuring out what’s going to happen next.

There was a time when I thought I knew exactly where my life was headed. I thought I knew my calling and my purpose. I saw the destination, and I had the directions, I knew how to get there. But I messed it up, and not in small way. And now, I’m not so sure of my destination anymore. But even if my destination hasn’t changed, I’ve got no idea how to get there.

There are some things in my life that I can say without hesitation that I do not regret. But there are many things I do regret. Many things I wish I could change. I know I could spend my days wishing away my past mistakes. But that won’t change a thing. Wishing wells and shooting stars aren’t going to get me anywhere. But despite that knowledge, sometimes I can’t help but wish. Wish I had a made a different choice, taken a different path.

I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life. As a result, a lot of doors have been closed. I just hope that some of those doors haven’t disappeared completely.