Book Review - "Quitter" by Jon Acuff

My first book was a good book. I will say, it was a poor choice on my part to choose this as my first read of the project. As an avid reader, a shelf full of classics beckoned me as a began this book. I chose to start with this book because I reasoned any book a pre-ordered must be rather pertinent to me, so I put it first on the shelf.

If you are currently in a job or career that you dred getting up for in the morning, this book is for you. If you have a passion for something you do on the weekends or evenings after work, this book is for you. If you've always wondered why you can't do something you love (that you are also GREAT at) for the rest of your life, this book is for.

When I was months away from graduation, I answered Jon's call for people that considered them "I'm....but..." people. I wrote and told him "I'm a college student, but I want to travel." Not exactly the answer he was looking for, but a dream none the less.

Jon has compiled the stories of his readers and friends, as well as a large section of his own experiences, on the subject of "closing the gap between your day job & your dream job." Because I am in what I know is only a temporary day job right while I am looking for future dream jobs, I didn't find this book as applicable as I thought I might. Rather than saying, "Oh, I feel relieved that someone else out there feels trapped in their day job," I felt like I was reading the advice of other people more experienced in the work field. I was able to read and say, "I will not put myself in a position that I hate to get out of bed every day for work. I will carefully choose a career that I can find joy in on a daily basis. I want a job that I am passionate about."

I would suggest this book to anyone who is asking the quesstions I mentioned above. I would also suggest this to anyone who, like me, is afraid of the career world. This book will not soothe your fears but equip you with realistic advice on how to enter the "grown up" world of day jobs, careers, and dream jobs.

Stay posted. The next 2 books are rather exciting. :)

Frozen Yogurt & Peaceful Salutations

Today, I spent the afternoon shopping and eating frozen yogurt with Sarah. We watched a documentary and a romance film. We went grocery shopping.

And said, "Guys suck. They are so dumb!" over and over again.

I have yet again learned the lesson of getting too close to someone before they deserve it. I didn't fall in love or anything, but I had those really long heartfelt conversations with someone that didn't deserve to know anything about my heart yet. I told secrets I should have kept to myself and shared little inside jokes that I should have waited for.

If you would have asked me at fifteen, I would have told you I would have had men (as well as love, marriage, sex, and my career) figured out by the age of twenty-two. It just seemed so obvious when I was in high school that life would make enormous sense when I was walking about this planet proudly displaying my college degree. Today, nothing seemed further from the truth. Rather than crying to my sister and chatting with my friends on AIM about my awful encounter, I sat at my best friends house and listed good reasons to get over it and enjoy my summer/life with a lesson learned behind me.

What I realized today was not a lesson learned, but an epiphany of a moral quality that I have grown into. I didn't wish him anything negative. I actually said, "I'm trying not to be angry, because I want you to have what makes you happy. Just trying to deal in my own way, ya know?" Re-playing those words in my head, today is not a failure but a monumental success. I have grown away from the "I hate men" attitude I once held when things didn't go the way I imagined them and have realized I have a long life ahead of me. I took it all with a grain of salt and wished him well in future endeavors, though they would not involve me.

Here's to lessons learned. Here's to growing up. Here's to letting go of the things that don't bring us joy and moving towards a more complete fullfilling life.

Most of all, here is to going to bed with a peaceful heart and mind.

Progress, Efficiency Apartments and a 60-hour Work Week

I'm working on my current commitment to stick to a consistent writing schedule. Because I haven't done much of my One Year Self-Directed Alternative Graduate School Experience, this post may seem a little, "Hey, look at me and my life." (That was a plug for my friend Elizabeth and her rant concerning self-centered bloggers.)

I have finally settled into my tiny apartment and will work on hanging up art and wall hangings during my half day off tomorrow.

"Quitter" by Jon Acuff is the first book on my reading list for the year. I am about halfway through, into the second year of my project. Clarification: Its one week in and I am already running behind, but I think I'm okay with it. I have chose this challenge and I am going to run at it to the best of my ability. I will work hard and challenge myself for the next 12 months.

So far this summer (all two weeks of it) I have enjoyed nights out with my best friends, live music in the summer sun and a day at the lake. I have gotten closer to the people I love and distanced myself from the relationships that are not going anywhere. I have learned that life is too short to spend it with people that aren't valuable to your life...even if that means going on lots of first dates and saying "No" to second dates.

I will now conclude this post that was mostly about me and not much about anything of value to the general public. If you were hoping for some worldly knowledge or quirky comedic post, I promise to try to live up to those standards in the future.

Future posts will include:

-Book reviews
-Life lessons learned
-Funny things that happen to me that will make you say, "Haha. Oh man, that's so funny."
-Other things that are more interesting than my day-to-day life.

My Final Year of College/Update/Thank-you

Dear family, friends, teachers, professors, and the others most important to me,

As I sit down to write this story every year, it becomes increasingly more difficult to sum up the year’s events in just a short letter. I finished my last letter with hopes of moving home to work at a flower shop in Houston. Due to various circumstances, I was needed at the flower shop I currently worked at so I decided to spend the summer in Marshall. I spent about half of the summer housesitting and the other half living with friends. It was a summer that hinted at what it would be like to live alone and work 40+ hours a week. I began a relationship that would teach me more life lessons than I could have every anticipated.


As the fall semester began, I started my final year of college. Three years had flown by and I was now wrapping up the loose ends of my time at East Texas Baptist University. I also got engaged in the fall. It was a busy time of taking a full course load, working three jobs, and planning a wedding. Any of you who saw me knows how crazy my days were and how little time I had to sit and relax. It was this fall that I realized God called us to take a Sabbath. He was trying to tell me to rest in Him and trust that He would lead me to accomplish the things I was called to do. I finished the fall semester in school and started working at an amazing restaurant, THE blue frog GRILL. I had no clue the impact this job and the people at this place would make on my life.


Christmas break was an incredible and heartbreaking time. Joey and I called off our engagement. Looking back on this moment, I don’t understand why I was so embarrassed to call friends and family to break the news. It felt like we were failing and every person who said we were “too young” or got engaged “too soon,” were all right. I now realize that by beginning this conversation, Joey was being brave and responsible. It was the hardest experience I have ever gone through and to go through it with a man who I had hoped to spend my life was excruciating. We were friends for years before and the dynamic of our relationship was forever changed. I spent the rest of Christmas break starting to repair my life and move in a positive direction. This consisted of a weekend at a friend’s ranch, time on my sister’s couch, long talks at Starbucks, and lots of being alone, listening to my iPod and journaling my thoughts and prayers.


Coming back to ETBU for my final semester was the most difficult adjustment I have had to make since beginning college three years ago. I had to start breaking to news to people on campus and learning how to reshape and plan the future that was quickly approaching after graduation. Kayla and Sarah spent many evenings reassuring me that God had a plan, regardless of how crazy everything else felt. My classes this semester were strategically planned out to allow me time to work at both Rainbow Floral and THE blue frog GRILL. Though working so much has been stressful at times, the support I have found by co-workers and bosses has helped me continue to grow and learn through the semester.


Graduation is in twenty-six days away and I don’t have it all figured out…but I am content with that reality. I have found a beautiful, old studio apartment just a few blocks from downtown Marshall. I will continue to work full-time at THE blue frog GRILL and two days a week at Rainbow Floral. For the next year, I will be continuing education on my own by completing the “The One-Year, Self-Directed, Alternative Graduate School Experience .” Read more about it here: http://ramblingsofagirlchasinggod.blogspot.com/2011/04/one-year-self-directed-alternative.html.


As usual, I close with thanks. I am increasingly thankful for those in my life that constantly influence my growth, both through my time in college and before. I will continue writing these letters to all of you, because this is not my story alone. This story holds a piece of each of you. The love, time, advice and support you have given to me has been deeply woven into the story of who I am and who I am daily becoming. I thank God for each of your presence in my life. I hope each of you sees the part God has given you as my time in college has unfurled. And I hope I have been able to bless and serve you in one way or another.


Love and more blessings than I can count,

Jackie

The One-Year, Self-Directed, Alternative Graduate School Experience

(All credit to Chris Guillebeau, creator of the online manifesto “A Brief Guide to World Domination”. http://chrisguillebeau.com/3×5/)

The One-Year, Self-Directed, Alternative Graduate School

Experience Subscribe to the Economist and read every issue religiously. Cost: $97 + 60 minutes each week.

Memorize the names of every country, world capital, and current president or prime minister in the world. Cost: $0 + 3-4 hours once.

Buy a round-the-world plane ticket or use frequent flyer miles to travel to several major world regions, including somewhere in Africa and somewhere in Asia. Cost: variable, but plan on $4,000.

Read the basic texts of the major world religions: the Torah, the New Testament, the Koran, and the teachings of Buddha. Visit a church, a mosque, a synagogue, and a temple. Cost: materials can be obtained free online or in the mail (or for less than $50) + 20 hours.

Subscribe to a language-learning podcast and listen to each 20-minute episode, five times a week, for the entire year. Attend a local language club once a week to practice. Cost: $0 + 87 hours.

Loan money to an entrepreneur through Kiva.org and arrange to visit him or her while you’re abroad on your big trip. Cost: likely $0 in the end, since 98% of loans are repaid.

Acquire at least three new skills during your year. Suggestion: photgraphy, skydiving, computer programming, martial arts. The key is not to become an expert in any of them, but to become funcionally proficient. Cost: variable, but each skill is probably less than three credits of tuition would be a university.

Read at least 30 nonfiction books and 20 classic novels. Cost: approximately $750 (can be reduced or eliminated by using the library).

Join a gym or health club to keep fit during your rigorous independent studies. Cost: $25-$75 a month.

Become comfortable with basic presentation and public speaking skills. Join your local Toastmasters club to get constructive, structured help that is beginner-friendly. Cost: $25 once + 2 hours a wek for 10 weeks.

Start a blog, create a basic posting schedule, and stick with it fo the entire year. You can get a free blog at WordPress.org. One tip: don’t try to write every day. Set a weekly or biweekly schedule for a while, and if you’re still enjoying it after three months, pick up the pace. Cost: $0.

Set your home page to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Randompage. Over the next year, every time you open your browser, you’ll see a different, random Wikipedia page. Read it. Cost: $0.

Learn to write by listening to the Grammar Girl podcast on iTunes and buying Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. Cost: $0 for Grammar Girl, $14 for Anne Lamott.

Instead of reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica, read The Know-It-All by A. J. Jacobs, a good summary. Cost: $15.

I will be making my own changes to the above as I decide which parts of the study are most important to me. I will slowly figure out the exact specifications of the things I will study.

A (Not So) Sweet Goodnight Prayer

This is my prayer. For you. For me. For all of mankind.


The Franciscan Benediction

May God bless you with discomfort
At easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships,
So that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger
At injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,
So that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless you with tears
To shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger, and war,
So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain to joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness

To believe that you can make a difference in the world,
So that you can do what others claim cannot be done,
To bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.
Amen

Grad School App. Essay. Homework. Crafts. New Books.

The title has nothing to do with this post, but rather things that have had a part in my Tuesday day. It was a very successful day. (Until I just realized I still have to walk outside and get my clothes out of the dryer. Though you will not notice that I have stepped away from the computer due to the very "present" feel of anything read online, I would appreciate a moment of pause to consider that I am now stepping outside into the freezing weather to grab fluffy clothes from the laundry room.)

Brrr...It is cold out there.

I write today about my experience at the grocery store and how God has been pressing on my heart the important things in life, such as sustainable energy, water and food sources. He has been reminding me that he blessed me with a wonderful planet to live on and abusing that resource is no more validated than it is to abuse anything else He has given me/us. This reality comes with the both the weight of making changes in way I choose to live my life and also the urge to pretend I don't understand the injustices of our current way of living and continuing in the ways of the present.

When grocery shopping at Walmart today, I hoped to buy a few fall/winter root vegetables and make "Roasted Root Vegetables" and Asparagus with my broiled Lemon Garlic Salmon. As I walked the "produce" section of the store, I found three types of potatoes. Three. I was absolutely amazed and quite annoyed. I continued on my journey in search of fresh herbs to cook with and found four fresh herbs in the produce section. Four. I am very aware there is a spice aisle, but I was hoping to put some fresh ingredients in tonight's dinner. Lastly, I went to grab some butter, where I found twenty-plus different kinds of butter. TWENTY.

It was in this trip to the grocery store that I was reminded of my desire to more to a town with a Farmer's Market and other sustainable resources to buy groceries from. I am tired of packaged food. God has never packaged food. I realize it is sometimes necessary, but it is not necessary for every food item in the refrigerator to be in a container of some sort. I want to move somewhere that I am not looked at strangely for carrying a refillable cup everyday. I want
to reuse cloth grocery bags. I want to cut back on the unneccesary resources I use on a daily basis. I want to do more good than bad.

That is my desire. That is the driving force moving me after graduation. Not a salary, but a passion to pursue God's heart through the respect and sincere joy of living in the creation that He allows me to experience every day. I want to experience the world He has given me.




" O God, I beg two favors from you;

let me have them before I die.

First, help me never to tell a lie.

Second, give me neither poverty nor riches!

Give me just enough to satisfy my needs.

For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?”

And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God’s holy name." -Proverbs 30:7-9