Now What?

The only bad part about graduating is that everyone wants to know, and feels free to ask, just what exactly you plan on doing with the rest of your life. I might as well just put it out there that I don't know. Character flaw or not, I try not to get too tied down to any super specific plans.

I once read some statistics about how people of my generation no longer have careers. We will end up in, on average, as many as 5 different job changes throughout our lives. Whether or not that is exactly true, I like the sentiment and it makes me feel better about not having some giant life/career goal that I am working towards. Besides, I have always felt that the events/interests/opportunities that have shaped me the most are things that I have rather unexpectedly fallen into. (I mean, who would have thought I would live in Spain? I was the person that always had my Mexican friends help me do my Spanish homework in high school.) Anyway, I also change my mind a lot.

OK, all that to say, I don't know exactly what I will be doing in the future. I don't have details on the big picture. I've got some ideas in the back of my mind, but I'm just going to let them simmer for a while back there.

I do however have some relative plans for the next six months or so. Ever since I started my Master's program (ok, actually even before I started it) I knew that I would need a break when it was finished (and oh-boy do I ever!). I started a travel fund. I ate rice and beans for 3 years, worked sometimes 2 and 3 jobs, and set aside a little sum.

And now it is sabbatical time (alternately known as my pre-tirement or quarter-life crisis). I'm taking the plunge and letting my bank accounts lie fallow.  It's time to rest, and travel, and just live for a bit. I'll figure out the rest later.

Now, my only problem is that I have been so busy and generally too singularly focused on finishing my degree that I have not had much of a chance to even begin planning my trip. Did I mention that I was planning on leaving just after the new year? Oops. So I have spent the last couple days holed up in coffee shops and bookstores trying to plan. I've got some general ideas, but the possibilities are so enticing and endless that I'm swinging back and forth between overwhelming excitement and mini-anxiety attacks. All this to say, if you've got ideas--send them my way! Nothing is (totally) out of the question.

Which is kinda how I like things.

Go West Young (Wo)Man

I never planned to actually go to Abilene, much less make it my home (on and off again) for six and a half years. I swore I would never go to college there and then once I was there I swore if I ever did grad school I would go far, far away. We all see how that turned out. I won't lie though, it wasn't all easy: I spent a large chunk of time hating the place, the Mesquite trees, red dirt and ridiculous wind. Eventually though, I came to like the place. I even miss it when I'm gone. 

This past week I drove out and was busy both catching up and saying goodbye. It's tough cramming a semester's worth of socializing into one week, but I think I was lucky enough to touch base with just about everyone--from classmates and professors to friends, old roommates and former students who are now speaking English and holding down jobs with the best of them. On top of that I got to take in a few Abilene institutions like La Popular for breakfast one morning and The Paramount for their Christmas showing of It's a Wonderful Life. It was good week, so good in fact it even had me considering staying and taking a job there. 

Abilene I tell ya, it sucks ya in. 

I thought it through though, and I know I can't stay. So finally I got to say goodbye to Abilene (maybe) for good. 

A few pictures from the week: 

Driving out I remembered just how amazing west Texas sunsets can be. 

My friends also threw me an "engagement" party.

Thaaanks, guys. 

It was also time for our second annual Christmas cookie decorating party. This year thankfully Krystal made sure Abby didn't steal any of my cookies.  

Krystal's

Mike's 

Mandi's 

Mine

Abby's 

And, Cody's. Which are always a little special.  

Yum! 

Krystal's airplane cookie 

I also found this guy hiding away in my master's hood (which, I wore all weekend by the way). He came into our possession when we all worked in the Williford/Ellis suite at Logsdon. Some undergrad made an extra-credit 3D map of Paul's journeys with this lovely little guy standing in as Paul. Somehow we decided it would be fun to hide it in each other's bags/gas caps/furniture/desks/etc. Apparently it was my turn, but friends beware: I found him before I left town, so there is no telling where he is!

I also got to spend a lot of time with this little lady. 

Overall, it was a great week (even if I didn't make it out before my allergies exploded!). A big thanks to the people who made this week (and the last 6.5 years) great!

Aachen

I realized that I never posted any pictures from my trip across the border to Germany. So here, I present to you, a bit of Aachen, Germany:

ROAD-TRIP!

This weekend the girls all got together for a mini road trip to San Angelo. I'm pretty sure it was what we all needed. We got to celebrate Abby's birthday, see the Hamilton's and Bakers, relax and kick up a little dust. For me it was nice to just get out of town on a road that wasn't I20 (and I didn't even have to drive!) and not write papers for a day. It was also nice to drive through all the windmills (or wind turbines for the technical). I get antsy out here, but I do love West Texas.

We had a great time having lunch at a cute little deli (even if we were getting plenty of stares...!), getting pedicures and just getting caught up. On the way back to Abilene we had to make a road-trip-esque pit stop at the giant spur we passed on the way. It even had a visitor center! We had a look and tried our luck at a few jumping pictures (which...were interrupted by the residents driving up. Oops!). Overall it was a great day catching up with the girls. It's going to be too long before it happens again, but a December road-trip is in order!

And just for laughs (I think we need more practice!):