Hard work

Alright, so I'm trying to be more optimistic. Less volatile, if you can call it that, really. And just overall more pleasant, for myself, and for everyone around me, not just toward customers.

And dammit, it's hard work to be in a good mood. I'm not really sure that I'm doing it right, if it's going to be this much work. But I've never been super-up happy person before so I don't know.

And I think that's about all I've got for today.

Anybody got any suggestions on how to be happy?

Death Star Canteen

it's been around forever, but it never gets old - highly amusing

"I'll kill you with a tray"

Random observation

There are an inordinate amount of blogs about families (kind of like that Christmas newsletter everyone gets from that one family member, only in blog form) and also Religious/Youth group blogs.

And somehow when I push "Next blog" these two kinds are always the next blog.

Why do these have anything to do with me?

Starting over

I've come to a conclusion: No one else is going to try to make me happier.

This may seem obvious to... well, everyone. But this is new to me. I'm not particularly unhappy in most of the aspects of my life. There is definitely room for improvement in every part, but I'm not hanging off a ledge by my fingernails or anything. I just think there's space to grow.

I should probably start from the statement that I'm currently reading "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin. This is partially because it was recommended to me by someone I trust on the subject of books, and partially because I knew I wanted to make some kind of change in my life. I just wasn't clear on what that change should be all about.

I've been trying to make a work-related change for a while now. This is not news. It's just a tough market, and I'm not particularly skilled at anything beyond being a glorified administrative assistant or a quality control lab technician at this point. And neither of these things seem like the way to make my work life happier. So I've been trying to expand my search. And I think in the interim, during the time that I'm waiting for all those companies to start banging down my door, clamoring for me to come and work for them, I should try to be happier where I am.

Which is not precisely what I'm going to do. I'm going to concentrate, instead, on making every other part of my life more fulfilling, in an effort to counterbalance the misery of my current job.

Make sense?

I haven't yet come up for a plan for this but the book is giving me great ideas. I know I need to keep in better contact with the my friends - strengthen the relationships, because people with stronger social bonds tend to be happier. I also know that I need to take better care of myself - get more sleep, exercise more, eat better; even simple things like remembering to wash my face before I go to bed. And I know that I need to eliminate clutter. I live amidst organized chaos, and it's not particularly peaceful, or settling. And definitely not happy-making.

So those are the three current goals. Maybe by the end of this particular bout of self-discovery I'll actually be able to be outwardly optimistic, still keeping my inward pessimism, instead of being outwardly pessimistic with a hint of optimism.

Something for someone who's not me...

Well, it's kind of for me. But not really. I'm walking in the Father's Day Walk for Prostate Cancer. Please sponsor me.

Thanks. (search for L. Dahm)

Safeway Father’s Day Walk/Run for Prostate Cancer

Wow...

Okay, so I'm obviously being a slacker with this blog lately. Mostly because there's not a whole lot to say.

Financially, things are basically the same. I have to be really careful with everything I spend. I do have amazing friends, who are making things easier by figuring out plans for me. Like the friend who has decided that she's going to come to my other friend's wedding in Vegas, because she knows a travel agent and we'll maybe get a better deal, and well for me, if I'm splitting a hotel room that makes it cheaper. So amazing!!

I also have amazing parents. I lost my Ipod Touch just over a week ago, and was kind of depressed about it. I have no idea where it got lost; I swore it was in my purse and then it wasn't and it's just gone. But my parents replaced it. I didn't ask them to. In fact, I said I didn't want them to because I already owe them a lot, but they did and I very much appreciate it, because I was feeling very lost without it. It's amazing how attached we get to our technology.

Otherwise there's really nothing going on. NKOTBSB released a single this week. It's pretty awesome. So I'm looking forward to the tour even more now. And another friend pre-ordered the album for me, for my birthday, so that's exciting.

On the job front, there's nothing new. I'm still struggling to control my frustrations, and the changes that it makes in my personality are not pleasing, but for now, it's a paycheck and I just have to suck it up. Everyone isn't always happy. I just have to deal with that. I should be grateful I have a job. I know. But that's precisely all it is. A job. There is nothing else it can be. As everyone tells me, the next best thing will come. And I know that. Everything happens for a reason. I'll survive. Hardship makes you stronger, right? It'll make me more appreciative in the future.

Right now, I'm just being grateful for my friends and my family and my books that allow to escape on a regular basis.

Huh?!

Alright, so I mentioned earlier that I was reading The Great Gatsby, because I have this goal to read a bunch of the novels that most people read in school, but somehow I never had to. The latest on this list is Catcher in the Rye. And, honestly, between these two novels I'm completely confused as to why we study these things. I'm apparently just missing something, because I'm not seeing anything worth studying in either of those books.

This really just makes me wonder why people think the books that I really enjoy are just "fluff". At least I get something out of them. So far in Catcher in the Rye, all I want to do is strangle Holden Caulfield. Though, wait... maybe that's the point? Is it? Because isn't this the book that the guy who killed John Lennon was reading? That he said drove him to do it? Maybe dude just got really confused and pissed off at Holden and shot John instead?....

Seriously, I really just don't get it... Anybody got any explanations?

Oh, remember you can see my reading time line here: http://www.shelfari.com/limada
(Psst... there's also a widget on the right side of the page, anytime you wanna check it out...)