New Beginnings

It seems like most endings entail new beginnings - that is certainly the case for me right now as I enter into a new chapter of my life. I've spent the last four years as a collegiate studying, planning, prepping, and grinding out day after day all for the sake of a degree. Things have changed excessively since the my first day of classes as an eighteen year old local fac-brat (that's lingo for faculty brat). In fact, these changes have been so drastic that sometimes it's hard to recognize the person I used to be, or identify with her at all. Sometimes when I look back on the last few years of my life it's as if I have a third person perspective on my memory - and that's sort of strange.

Where is my life going now? I'm fresh out of the oven and intellectually baked, headed towards bigger, better things than pure academia. I've had a lot of people ask me recently what my post-graduation plans are and they don't seem to be satisfied with me telling them I want to be a figure competitor, or that my next show is in 7 weeks, June 26th. But that IS my next show, and those are my plans, and everything else is sort of falling around that.

I've been really blessed to have certain support systems in my life over this past year as I began my journey to the stage. One of the kindest and most generous people in their time, effort, and understanding was one of my supervisors at work, Heather. Heather encourages me to be myself and makes me trust my intuition and judgement. When a lot of people are questioning how healthy competing is physically or mentally, she understands that what I do is in the name of the game - that if I want to do this I have to suck it up and do it... even if that means having a few weeks of pain and suffering (and crying). Heather reached out to me from the kindness of her heart and offered to let me stay in a guest room of her house post-graduation. At first I thought she was just being excessively nice (she has the tendency to do that), but one day she conveyed to me the seriousness of the offer. I accepted :D

So yesterday, after working (and working out) at the gym I began my trek to become the newest addition to the Heather household. First my dad and I wrestled my twin bed from my room at the family house... down the stairs and into the van. After transporting and assembling it here at Heather's I went back to Winston and packed up some more things from the room that I used to share with my sister. Do you know I've never ever had my own room? This makes my new living arrangements even more exciting! I went over to the dorm to say goodbye to Ellen and get a few more things - since I don't have to be officially moved out of the dorm until May 17th (graduation) I am not rushing myself with getting all of that mess together. It's sort of like a war zone in there after Ellen moving and exams. I got my food from the fridge all packed up in my multiple coolers, some clothes, and my bedding. Then I headed out to get groceries. For some reason 12ish on Friday is NOT a good time to be grocery shopping because all of Winston Salem was out and about in gridlocked 90+ degree weather getting their grocery on. I snagged my 10lbs of chicken at the Chef's Mart along with my spinach and salad and then headed to Whole Foods to buy lunch for myself. I didn't want to have to worry about food prep as much yesterday so I had let my fridge get really low on everything so that transporting it all wouldn't be a huge hassle - or make my food go bad (note, 90+ degrees here). So I bought myself a delicious plain grilled chicken breast from their deli counter and it was delicious (something yummier about not having to make it for yourself). Back at Heather's I got to become acquainted with my shelves in the fridge, my shelves in the pantry, and the most beautiful thing of all: the dishwasher.

The rest of the day was very nice too. Heather and I met her brother at Wake and went to a used book sale over at the coliseum. I got myself two books for casual reading. How crazy is that? I actually WANT to read a book - and for fun! I'm looking forward to this because I was quite the avid for-fun reader once upon a time and I'd like to get back to that again. Kim suggested to me the other day that I needed to give myself a break from electronic media and communication. Yes, I might have an internet addiction and I am trying to cut back! After the book fair fun I took Heather to Riverbirch to get the weekly steak and potato meal. We sat outside and our waiter was sort of strange, but he didn't force the desert tray on us, so that was good! Later that evening I went and removed the rest of the packed boxes from my family house and fed the cats that I've been babysitting. Then I returned to Heathers and went to bed. That was probably the most restful night's sleep I've had in a very long time. Her house is more into the outskirts of Winston in the country, so it is very quiet and there aren't garish street lamps. I can turn my sleep machine up all the way and fall asleep to the lulls of sweet white noise....

Yeah, this is a great beginning.

I'll post again soon about my adventures today... there were so many of them that I am totally worn out (in a good way). So look out for the tale of the 15 dollar crate of a sweet potatoes coming at you tomorrow morning ;)