A Tuesday Afternoon 7-Minute Free Write

I am allowing myself exactly 7 minutes to blog. So, let's do this.

I love my new job. I love it because it's busy, and I feel like I'm solving puzzles all day. It also helps that I have a weird love of calendars, and I spend most of my day playing with calendars and trying to make people's schedules fit together. It's a game to me. A game with boxes and....tetris. Let's pretend that was a complete/clear thought and I'll move on. Dontlookatme

Being so busy at work makes me have to be intentional about what I do with the free space that I do have. Unfortunately, not much of that has been allotted to blogging lately when my other options are friends, family, sleeping, reading, and watching Parks & Rec. So here I am, being intentional about blogging.

How much can I blog in just a few minutes? Something you might not know about me is that I can type freakishly fast. Sometimes I like to challenge people to typing speed contests when I want to make them feel bad. Just kidding, I actually avoid any and all competitions in which I might possibly make someone feel even slightly bad. This is why I never play Scrabble with most people. It's uncomfortable for me to win by too much. I avoid playing basketball for the opposite reason.

I miss baseball.

It's the playoffs, and I miss baseball. Somehow I don't get enough of it in my life since moving to CA, but it was a big part of my childhood. I miss it and I love it and I want to make some kind of commitment to going to as many games as possible next year. Baseball, I love you forever, even if we've had this trial separation. I need a hot dog.

One thing that inevitably makes me feel better on busy/stressful work days is to listen to all The National songs on my playlist for a couple hours on end while I chisel away at my work queue.

Their music is monotonous and shouldn't blow my mind, but it does. I don't know how. It's calming and thrilling to me all at the same time. I didn't even think I liked them at first, and then somehow I became obsessed one day. It's working music, is what it is!

Why haven't I seen them in concert?

I had an interesting weekend, because I was sick. And being sick makes me think.

Sometimes I think I get sick right when the universe/God is compelling me to take a closer look at stuff. It also makes me have weird dreams about my friend having an extramarital affair with Donald Trump and then tasking me with telling her husband about it. First of all, no. Second of all...wha?

This weekend I had a random thought come into my head while I was sitting in bed. Something about worrying if I've let my childhood slip away. Keep in mind, there was Nyquil involved in this moment of thought. First of all, I'm only 27. Secondly, I almost never think like that. I love birthdays. I think every new year is my best year yet. And, most of my friends are usually a few years older than me -- so I perpetually feel like a spring chicken, and can also see a lot of examples around me of how the coming years are still going to be good/great/productive/fun.

This was my soup when I was sick. I ate it with all 3 of those utensils:

Sometimes I think about going back to school. I don't mean that.

When I look at my finances, I realize I really don't mean that at all. Debt be gone, you minion of satan. But, I do have some honest moments where I wonder, if I'm really going to make this career switch from writing to HR, if I will need an MBA or other grad degree to really make it happen. I mean, living on pennies works out okay in your 20s.....but you know, 30s are coming. And then 40s. And I don't want to just scrape by forever. Does anyone ever reach a point where they feel like they aren't scraping by? Tell me what it's like over there.

OK, granted, "scraping by" is probably an exaggeration of my circumstances. I know I'm always planning some kind of travel and going to concerts, etc. But I would love to reach a point where the combination of rent, car payment, dental cleanings and Redbox overdue fines in a typical, non-traveling month, doesn't make me just come even on the finances. Maybe there are $$$$ areas I can tighten up here and there? (Don't even mention Redbox, it's beyond me.) (I'm the girl who started shipping books to myself via Amazon to read rather than going to the library, because it was more economical than paying library fines.) (Trust me.) (Plus, I love books. My library is always growing and I love it.) (Books aren't negotiable -- they're food for the soul.) (Lay off me.)

My time is up. See how fast I typed?? Also, confession: this was originally a 5-minute blogging window. Seven it is.