Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Seven Month Recap

When I opened up Blogger today, I was shocked that I haven't written a post since February.  To say that I have been preoccupied with "other things" is an understatement.  While there have been many great things that have happened this year, I have also hit quite a few speed bumps that knocked my entire system out of alignment.  They say the challenges we face in life build character, but I am hoping I have enough character now and I can enjoy the remaining 118 days of this year.

Let's recap, shall we?

SCHOOL 
First of all, you might have noticed that this blog is no longer The Seventh Year Senior.  That is because the 7th year turned into the 8th year and the 8th year finally landed me a position that I LOVE and decided to be done with school for a while.  I am quite confident that eventually I will return for a master's degree, but I think I picked a very appropriate time to take a break from research, papers, textbooks, journal articles, late night classes, and deadlines.

WORK 
In January, I started working in Inpatient Behavioral Health as a Behavioral Health Specialist at Gundersen here in La Crosse.  I have taken most of this year off from doing photography.  I will have a total of four weddings by the year's end and then I will not be shooting weddings anymore.  The idea of doing just child photography has appealed to me for quite some time and I've been slowly revamping everything to make the transition.

HEALTH
This is where life has become a little sticky.  This year has not been the year of health and wellness for this girl.  I've had five office visits, three visits to Express Care, one trip to Urgent Care, three ER visits, spent two nights in the hospital and went through 8 bags of fluids, had COUNTLESS blood draws, and, when added up, I've spent more than 4 weeks of this year in bed.  

OTHER STUFF
I've been writing a memoir.  I had originally set November 20th as the completion date, but I am extremely behind on the word count after losing almost two weeks in August due to illness.  Every spare minute and every day off that I haven't been sick, I have been diligently writing.  It's been an incredible, therapeutic, and emotional journey that is going to be quite an accomplishment when I finally reach the end.  It just may take a little longer than I anticipated, but that's okay.

With the book being such an enormous undertaking, I have not only put photography on the back burner, but music as well.  I did play a few gigs this year at one of my favorite venues - The Acoustic Cafe in Winona, Minnesota.  When it comes to songwriting, I've been stuck in a writer's block rut for a LONG time.  It's actually a sensitive subject, so let's not talk about it.

I've spent almost five hours of my day today sitting at Caribou Coffee bouncing back and forth between Facebook, my e-mail, and writing this blog.  It is probably time for me to go do something productive.  Like, nap maybe?