Perspective

So, I've found how much our perspective on something can change so much about our thinking and even affect our reactions to certain circumstances. There is a positive and negative side to everything, and what we choose to look at makes a big difference in what our attitude is like. I always like to try and find the positive in every circumstance, even if there is not much positive to begin with. Well, for instance, spring break is over and we do not have a break until school is done. Now you can either think about the fact that our break is already over and we have to go back to school now, or you can look at the fact that there is only a month and a half of school left for the year. Now this is a small and pretty irrelevant example, but it is easy to see how much your thinking can change when looking at the positives as opposed to the negatives. I guess the greatest thing about perspective is that no matter what the circumstance and no matter how much pain we're going through, we can always find joy somewhere, and that is what gets us through. It is amazing how one's state of mind can help them through a seemingly hopeless situation. So perspective is so very important in our every day lives. Well, this is probably really jumbled and didn't make sense, so I'll stop now. Hey, at least it was short(er).

I think it's funny...

So, I'm sitting here at work and I don't want to be here at ALL. It is just so nice out and there are so many other things I could be doing rather than working. Well in order to hopefully distract my attention from not wanting to be here and to waste some time, I decided I would write a little bit here. I don't really know what I'm writing about yet, but we'll see what happens.

I think it's funny how we do stuff just because that's how they've always been done, even if it doesn't make sense to do it that way any more. That sounds kind of confusing, so let me give an example. Whenever I was with my dad while he was filling the car up with gas, I noticed that he always would pump enough gas in to get an exact dollar amount. This made sense when I was little because he payed with cash a lot and he didn't want to have pocket fulls of change (maybe that's where I get it from). But nowadays, he uses credit cards ALL the time when filling up the car, yet he still makes sure to go to that exact dollar amount. Even though there will be no extra change, and he could probably save some time, he still pays careful attention to how much he is paying. What's worse is that I still do that. Whenever I'm filling the car up with gas I make sure to get an exact dollar amount. It's just a habit. It doesn't make sense, but that's just what you're supposed to do. So it's weird that people sometimes do things out of habit rather than out of what makes the most sense.

On somewhat of a related note, I think it's funny to see how much you are like your parents, or even those around you. The gas story is a good example of that, but even thinking about mannerisms and the way you think and even sounds you make, they are all impacted by what those around us do. Well for me at least. For instance, all of those little grunts and other vocal noises that I make come from my dad in some way, and my attention to detail comes from my mom. Well here, let me make a short list of what I've stolen from my parents:
Dad - sounds, humor, laid-back-ness, introvert, way of thinking
Mom - attention to detail, love for sleep, love for singing, organization

And there are a lot more mannerisms that I know I didn't mention. I've found that I steal laughs from people too. If I hang around someone long enough and hear them laugh enough, I will actually start to laugh like them. That's kind of weird. Sometimes I even catch myself laughing based on who I am with, so my laugh will change within several hours even. So that's kind of crazy too.

Well these are just a couple things that I thought of. It's crazy how the mind works even subconsciously to lead to what we do and how we act. I guess I never really realized how much surroundings and parental examples could affect someone. I guess I'm really glad I have good examples to look at. Well I could probably just write for hours on end here, but then nobody will want to read it. This is getting pretty long as it is. Some people here are ALREADY leaving for the day, I guess that's what spring break does to people. Now I really wish I could leave. Oh well. I'll watch t.v. or something.

Rediscovering the magic of snow days

So, in honor of it being a snow day (we don't get very many of those in college) I thought I would voice my opinion about them. My thinking about them has fluctuated quite a bit actually and for good reasons, so I will now enlighten you as to what those reasons are.

When I was little, I obviously loved snow days because they meant no school. Plus my brother and I would be able to get all bundled up and go play outside for hours on end and make snow forts and play football and do whatever else little kids do in the snow. Plus it was great to be able to come inside and have hot cocoa waiting for me whenever we got done playing. All was fine and dandy until one day my parents decided that I was old enough to shovel. Shoveling is quite possibly the worst thing that you could ever do. Here you wake up to find that you have no school and get all excited only to find that you have to go outside and shovel now for the next two hours. (It actually took this long because we lived on a corner and had a really long driveway, and of course my dad never bothered to get a snow blower until after I moved out). Well I hated shoveling so much that I actually started to hate snow days. You're not supposed to do anything on snow days. Shoveling means doing something. It got so bad that I actually would have rather gone to school than have to shovel my driveway and sidewalk. It was just having my concept of snow days being ruined that I hated so much. Well after I moved out and onto college, I've found that I don't have to shovel whenever it snows. It's amazing! Now we don't have snow days as often, but when they do come, they're fantastic. You just get to miss so much stuff that you thought you had to do. For instance, today I am missing an early morning showing at work, a thermodynamics test, a class after that, a two-hour lab and a late showing of work as well. Just think how much free time I have now! This is what snow days should really be like.

So there you have it. I've come to appreciate snow days once again, and I am glad of that. It's just that if I don't have to go to school or work, then I don't want to have to shovel either. Is that too much to ask?