16 of 30

Yesterday's word was: cyclical. Yessss! A legitimate point for me!

My printer is working again. I've learned my lesson and will now run to Wal-mart in the middle of the night if I run out of ink, rather than telling it to keep printing and risk burning out another printer-head. That was annoying.

I'm thinking there is some sort of story or blog or something that I want to write about identity. Finding an identity or making an identity or discovering one's identity... I'm not sure what. It's percolating.

In the meantime, I refer myself to the list.

16. What are your 5 greatest accomplishments?

Uhhhh Hard!

1) I'm gonna have to say surviving: And that sounds a bit dumb, I know... but... if you knew me before Nathan's death... If you'd ever been inside my head when I started thinking about death and almost had a panic attack... There was a reason why Nathan's greatest concern was that I would be ok. Because before he got sick, I wouldn't have said it was possible for me to be ok without him. (Btw, I'm not sure that it's fair to say that this is my accomplishment, as much as just a straight out a gift from God.)

2) Academic Stuff: I'm putting them all in a big lump, because once again... I'm not sure it's fair to say this is an accomplishment as much as a gift from God. So here's proof of my smarts: 31 ACT, Valedictorian, Summa Cum Laude, 165 GRE Verbal. To sum up: I is supa clever.

3) Getting published: I know that the Moon City Review isn't The New Yorker or anything, but taking the chance and putting my work out there was hard, and nerve-wracking and scary and intimidating. And I know people who submitted and weren't accepted, so I'm really proud. I need to keep submitting work, and not just end it here, but getting accepted (and therefore acknowledged by peers and professors) was a really big deal to me.

4) No longer biting my nails: I know, the farther down I go the more I'm stretching, it seems, but this is really something I consider to be a big accomplishment. There are a lot of things that come really naturally to me and I don't have to work very hard to get. (Academics is one of those things.) But every time I trim my nails with clippers, it's a victory. I was a chronic nail biter, and it's the only thing Nathan ever told me bothered him. I'm really sorry that he didn't get to see it, but it's my own little personal memorial to him. And it was hard to do, and every now and again I still have to  break out an emery board in an awkward place so that I won't chew on my nail to even it out. I kinda hate that my nail obsession makes me look so shallow, but I guess someone will have to get to know me to realize that it's a lot deeper than it appears.

5) My friends: I think each and every friend that I have is a great accomplishment. There is that saying, "you have to be a good friend to get good friends"... And I do think I'm a pretty good friend- but I think my friends are greater than I am... (and that includes my family members who are also my friends... which are most of you.) Friendships are work, but I'm so blessed by my friends that I'm happy to put in the friendship-work to maintain my relationships with these people. In fact, it's "work" that I enjoy. How could I not? Have you met my friends? They are all amazing in so many different ways.

And in conclusion, please enjoy this song about bacon- from the same people who wrote that narwhal song.

 Boom! Pig!