Forever young

We all need to read this one over and over until it becomes part of who we are.

HOW TO STAY YOUNG

1. Try everything twice. On Madam's (of Whelan's and Madam) tombstone she wanted this epitaph: Tried everything twice...loved it both times!

2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down (keep this in mind if you are one of those grouches).

3. Keep learning: Learn more about computers, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain get idle. "An idle mind is the devil's workshop." And the devil's name is Alzheimer's!

4. Enjoy the simple things.

5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath. And if you have a friend who makes you laugh, spend lots and lots of time with that person.

6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person who is with you your entire life is you. Lost time can never be found. LIVE while you are alive.

7. Surround yourself with what you love, whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.

8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

9. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county, or a foreign country, but NOT to where the guilt is.

10. Tell the people you love that you love them at every opportunity. I love you, my special friend.

11. Forgive now those who made you cry. You might not get a second time.

12. Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.

Spending and Materialism

http://moneyandvalues.blogspot.com/2008/01/battling-roots-of-materialism-by.html
In this little gem, the writer makes a link between materialism and low self esteem. So I considered it for a moment, and lo and behold, for me, it's correct. Track when I blew my budget out of the water, and low self esteem was right there making the universe ache for me. Now its probably not 100%, and I don't think spending is a cause of my low self esteem. But it's a pretty good indicator of how I feel.

What did we do before the internet? I have so much good reading material on the web these days!

Thoughts for a new new year.

My apologies, it's been a while since I've felt I need to blog over here.

Well, I've graduated from law school. My immediate reaction is "Now what?"

And I have no real answer. I have lots of ideas, but first things first. I need a basic job that will pay my bills. That's got to be the first priority, as my job runs out at the end of this month. Somehow, I'll find something.

Then, we'll see. I'm still contemplating Vegas, mainly because of its better job market and cheaper living. But in order to get there, I need money. I see a trend here.

And beyond that, I have faith that things will work out. But in the meantime, I'd love some stability in my universe. I crave it like I sometimes crave ice cream. A regular paycheck that covers all my bills sounds like heaven. And I haven't heard anything about my loans yet, so I'm a bit terrified about those, too.

I'd like to practice as an attorney. Then again I know me, and if I got a sexy satisfying job, I'd want to stay put for a while. Still planning on the July Bar somewhere, but I have another month to contemplate that and save some cash so I can pay the fees.

And yeah, I'm terrified about the amount of money I need to come up with over the next few months. It's huge, and I very well might have to wait a full year for next February's Bar exam, simply because I can't afford it.

Yes, I still want to kick my family because they're not helpful in the slightest.