people

“When was the last time you did something for the first time?”

The title of this entry came from Debbie’s tweet. Now, I’ve been meaning to post something new since my birthday, and it’s almost been 2 months since. To say that much has happened since then is a drastic understatement. A handful of journal-worthy events have passed, a couple of which may be life changing forks. Between the Jim Beam double-shots of my birthday night and today’s insomnia attack, these occurrences bear so much weight that I’d rather not burden this blog with the details of the woes, the triumphs, regrets and insights that I’ve been through. I would rather answer Debbie’s question.

So when was the last time I did something for the first time? Two weeks ago, I went cycling around campus with a colleague and friend. It’s the first time I hit more than 20km, in any mobile exercise. Just yesterday we hit 19.5km. Both accounts were first time for me. The fastest freewheeling downhill glide measured approximately 45kph. Yes it was scary. It was also another first.

This season is also the first time I’ve been asked handle this much work for our Department. I’m not complaining at all. but the responsibilities bestowed upon me can sometimes be so overwhelming. Given these situations, I surprise even myself for pushing forward, as best as I can. The road’s not yet finished though, but it seems I’m on the right track.

I could think of several other “first time experiences” that fall within this evaluation period, but things are happening fast that I can’t piece the recent stories properly, not just yet.

What I’d like to share, though, is that it is the first time in years since I’ve had an new perspective on things.

I’ve felt this before, but not in a long time. The direction-altering forks I’ve previously mentioned play a big role in this new vantage point.

What is this perspective? I’d rather not explain here. These beans can be spilled to a select few.

Is it good? is it otherwise? Perhaps it’s too early to tell.

It’s a new mystery, and I don’t want to pretend to know all the answers.

Or perhaps I already do? Perhaps I knew the answers to these questions a long time ago.

Maybe I just didn’t want to admit that I did.

In the meantime, I’ll just just enjoy the (bike) ride.

We were kids

Back in 1991 I joined a bunch of friends to meet up with pretty cool Maryknollers for a lunch birthday bash. The celebrant was a bubbly thin girl with unmistakeable big hair. After two decades of wild hair evolution (i.e. corn rows, skinhead, short and straight, etc.), she’s still thin. In fact, it seems like her hair is the only aspect of her that constantly changes. The rest of her continues to remain the same.

She still belly rolls today as she did when we had our nightly phone convos. She still raises the bar on thoughtfulness. She still regrets not attending ballet lessons as a kid, and makes up for it nowadays by attending strange dance classes ( I still say that those jazz classes involve some form of crazy doo-wop finger snapping). She’s still the physical manifestation of what most people would call “care,” perhaps the costume she’d wear in a values-themed Halloween party. She still thinks that beer could be better. She’d still add sugar in her SMB if she had the chance.

This morning, I incidentally noted that everything evolves, and perhaps she has too (besides the hair).  She’s a supermom to my very cute god-daughter. She now runs a portion of an organization that involves raising fingers to officemates. We were kids when we met, and now we are far from it.

However, even after losing things like college years and letters, we still are, without a doubt,  excellent friends.

I took the site name of this blog from a song that could have well  been written by her.

I was always hard to keep up with. I think I never said thanks.

I know you’ll act as a clever medicine.

with Jeng and little Akia