I dislike talking on the phone. Phones make me feel awkward and tongue-tied. I like to imagine that I’m intelligent, at least on some levels, but phones have this weird habit of zapping my brain to bumbling mush.

When I first learned about the online ordering possibilities for pizza, my world was made brighter. And cheesier. And all around more tasty. I discovered a Chinese restaurant with online ordering about a month ago, and I’m certain my life is now complete. Bad day? There could soon be crab rangoon on the way without using a phone!

I know the internet has changed my life in far more complicated ways, such as introducing me to my IRL husband and best friend, but I seriously love that I can order dinner online and have it delivered to my doorstep. *grin*

How do you know when you’re running away from a problem instead of solving it? When is a fresh start really the right answer?

My mother is considering selling her townhouse and moving out-of-state. She wants to get a better grip on her finances, which I admire, but she simultaneously wants to avoid a family situation that is upsetting her.

I understand the powerful draw of ‘starting over’ in a new place, meeting all new people, trying to build new routines for your day. But, I also know that you’re stuck with who you are at the fundamental levels. You might be farther away from certain toxic people, but you can’t simply move away from your memories and personality. You’re still you,  just in a different place.

So, I’ve been watching this show on Hulu for the past couple of days. It’s turning in to a fun guilty pleasure. Anyway, in the fifth episode there’s a great line:

It’s like you are in a boat. You’ve got this one oar over here and it’s just rowing and rowing and rowing, you know, furiously fueled by everyone else’s expectations. And that’s never gonna stop. But, it’s kind of got you going around in circles, cause if you want to move forward, then you also have to row with the oar that represents how you see yourself.

Sometimes I feel like I’m only equipped with an oar and a half. I don’t always have a very clear vision of who I am, or who I believe I could become if I worked at it. The internet can make it so easy to hide this truth – I can edit and photoshop the current moment, and, to some extent, delete the past.

It’s not the same as having two oars.

Starting next Monday I’ll be working full time as the store’s Payroll Clerk. It’ll be kind of nice to get an increase in hours, and two days off every week, but it will mean my work days are considerably longer than they have been recently. It’s going to take me a while to get used to going to bed a little earlier and getting up before 6am most days. I’d much rather get an earlier start than have my whole afternoon sucked away by work though. I’d hoped to be able to work half-days on Sunday, but right now that won’t be possible. Maybe when summer is over and the temp workers start leaving..? Well, it will be easier to take the occasional vacation day on non-critical Sundays, so that helps.

Anyway, it will be soooo nice to have Saturdays off. I’ll be able to see my friend Mara during the day for a change! And I might get to do things with my brother too! And, since I work in retail, having Saturdays off is sort of a big deal – that’s the busiest day of the week, and I don’t have to be there! I can’t remember the last time I regularly had a weekend day off. It was probably a couple of months after I moved up to the Cities in 2000, when I got my first ‘real’ job. Crazy!

Of course, me being me, whenever I have to make a change in my schedule I consider trying to sneak other changes in, hoping I won’t notice them so much. For example, since I’m changing my bedtime anyway, why not make it even earlier so I can read every night? Or, why not start doing sit-ups and eating breakfast each morning? Or packing a lunch instead of spending money at work? Most of my little fantasies of change just get lost in the reality of life, and that’s ok. I can always think about it again next time I make a pattern change.

I’ve been working on my research project for school quite a bit lately. I decided against the topic of minimum wage legislation, and instead went with a topic that is much more familiar to me, and more dear to my heart. I’m researching the benefits of using Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences in grade school curriculum.

During my first two years of college, I thought that someday I’d become a middle school teacher. I found MI theory incredibly fascinating and full of potential. Why has the standard of intelligence been so narrow in US history? Why have we placed so much emphasis on language and mathematics/logic? There have been many brilliant creators throughout world history that were more inclined toward music, dance, visual arts endeavors, etc. yet our country often seems to ignore the value of such pursuits. Anyway, it’s nice for me to be able to put my knowledge of MI theory to use for my current project. My years in education training were good for something, anyway.

If you’d like to find out where your intelligences lie, check out this Multiple Intelligences Test. This particular test is not terribly scientific, just as most internet personality tests are really only for entertainment purposes, but it will give you some basic insight into the theory and what your natural talents are!

Here’s my results: