metamorphosis

I received a copy of Strengths Finder 2.0 for a seminar at work. From the on line quiz, my strengths are (in order) Empathy, Input, Intellection, Developer and Individualization. The leader of this seminar is an incredible woman. One I have trusted since I first met her. I do not like my empathy. I do not feel it is a strength, I feel it is overwhelming. But after some discussion, I am going to try and sort out a few things. She feels my extreme empathy means I have a greater purpose, and I need to find it.
So, as part of my journey to define what I like and what I want, I am going to start by defining what I don't like and want. I hope by sorting through the negative junk first, I can glean the positive and find the direction I need to go.
So I do not like:
1. Meaningless meetings
2. Bureaucracy, red tape, paperwork
3. People who will not accept responsibility for their jobs, information, actions.

More to follow

the big snip

I had my hair cut off yesterday. Here are before & after:

I am donating it to Pantene Beautiful Lengths.

They use the hair to make wigs for women who have lost their hair from Chemotherapy. I am lucky to have thick hair that grows very quickly. I really hope this small snip for me helps someone in need.

I am remembering my kharma!

February Blues

Sure glad this is a short (but 1 day longer this year) month. The bleak midwinter sky of today made it feel like it was 5:30pm all day. Nothing much happening. Election stuff. There is an off chance that our primary here in NC might get some coverage as close as Obama and Clinton are running. The Grom's head coach resigned. He is understandably shook up. But you never know how things are going to shake out. My man is finally on the road to health. Bad kidney stone got blasted Friday. If I could just get rid of my cough and sore throat funk, we would back to 100%.
Today's photo is just a little Tiki I found on the net. The Polynesian deity always makes me smile.

Fat Tuesday

Happy Mardi Gras! I do not have any photos of Mardi Gras masks, but I took this one of Luchadore masks in a flea market in Puerto Vallarta, so it will have to suffice.
What are you giving up for Lent? It starts at 12:01am. I have been trying to figure out what I could give up the would truly serve as a sacrifice, but as yet, I can't think of anything. I live simply, don't buy a lot, I love my husband and try to eat right. I have really been trying to maintain a positive outlook and complain less. I think by focusing on what I want in my life (positive) as oppsed to what I don't want (negative) will send positive vibrations into the universe, which in turn will flow back to me. Sounds a little convoluted, but it makes sense to me.
This is also Super Tuesday and I hope those who have primaries today, got/get out there and vote(ed). We need positive change.

perspective

Occasionally, life happens in such a way as to make me regain perspective. It yanks me out of the minutiae of petty drama, and shows me the cinema scope of what is most important. That has happened this week. I get so torqued over the unimportant drama of my job, sometimes losing focus of why I go in to work in the first place. Well, this week has been a lesson.
I was struck down by my first ever case of bronchitis. I thought it was just a cold-with-cough, but after 4 weeks of it (compounded by laryngitis) I went to the doc. It took 2 courses of antibiotics to get rid of it. Well during this personal illness, my dear, sweet hubby was assaulted by a kidney stone. Not his first, but certainly the worst-7mm in size. Tuesday morning at 5am we were in the ER. They doped him up, did a CAT scan and told him to schedule an appointment with a urologist. The pain meds they gave him only took the edge off. He went on Thursday and was supposed to go back Friday (yesterday) for a pre-op appointment, to get ready for lithotripsy (sonic blasting of the stone). Well, the intense pain hit again about 6am yesterday. He took both of the pain drugs, but they did not help. He threw up on the entire drive to the doctor's office in Hickory. He threw up the 45 minutes we waited to be seen, he continued to throw up while they were x-raying and examining him. They gave him a strong injection (50mg Demerol & 50mg Phenergan) for pain and nausea and he continued to throw up. In the whirlwind of it all, they got him for emergency surgery. He now has a stent to bypass the monster stone until they can blast it. The kidney was not draining and that was making him very ill. It could have been even worse, but the doctors, nurses and all those involved at Frye Hospital took care of him. They even had valet parking so I could get him in very quickly. He is tires and sore from all the vomiting, but at least he is more comfortable and his kidney is able to drain.
What I do at work, I do to earn money for us to live. My job is not my life.
Sometimes I forget that.