The Accidental Olympian

COOL THINGS ONLINE

In love with the song, even more in love with these crazy people all playing the SAME GUITAR AT THE SAME TIME. So amazing.  

 

The internet is awesome and wonderful. 

That is all. 

GIVE A GIRL A "LIKE"

Remember back in the day when I was moved into round two of that strange frugality contest? Remember how I came on here and begged for your votes, but then 12 seconds later I read the rules and realized how much you'd have to do if you made it to the final round so I panicked and started BEGGING people not to vote for me? 

Yeah I know, that was weird. I agree. 

This, is not one of those moments. 

 

Right now all I'm asking for is for you to help me win $500 at my local Alaskan pet store, which I love by the way, by doing nothing else but clicking on this picture of Oly, and when you arrive at its location on Facebook, giving it a big o'l LIKE. 

Simple. Awesome. Puppies get kibble. 

Right now this contest is in a neck-and-neck between Miss Oly and some puppy that chewed through a door. Which yeah, I get it, puppy destruction is crazy, and kind of funny, and if you have a dog you totally understand, but damn it, look at this girl! Jumping for joy! Being awesome! Wanting to win her mom $500 so I can finally not put 50% of my income into her and her sister! 

So again, if you wouldn't mind liking this picture of Oly I will seriously love you long time. 

PLUS? One person at random from all the "likers" will get their very own goody bag!

If you have a pet, that is. If you don't have a pet, I can still send you a squeeky toy, but that's pretty damn weird. 

Winner is chosen on Feb 13th. So come on people, let's take 1st place. 

TIME WARP

Anxiety.

I've talked about it, oh I don't know, once. Or twice. Ok, like a million times.

Because it's a part of me. It makes up who I am. How I think. How I problem solve and how I deal with the daily issues that creep into my world.

But my anxiety isn't always a sucking evil vortex of depression and lameness that leaves me sobbing on my bathroom floor.

Sometimes my anxiety manifests itself into an inability to live in the moment. To be in the now and just be ok. Anxiety is a black hole for a fragile brain, and if you're not aware and alert, one moment you find yourself being all, "Today is Monday, and today we will have pasta for dinner," and the next you slip and fall through the black hole and your brain no longer gives a rats ass about that dinner you're supposed to be making because all of a sudden it's next summer, or next year, and how will we do this? When will this happen? How will it happen? Can I control every aspect of it so it comes off exactly how my anxious control riddled brain wants things to run?

What the fuck, brain. We were just supposed to make pasta. Remember?

Yesterday I finally came out the other side of a vortex I'd been swirling around in for quite some time.

After bouncing around in there at warp speed, living twelve hundred miles ahead of today, a little moment happened, and my feet touched back on earth.

I looked up and realized my time warp had stolen all the oxygen from the room.

For myself, and another.

When these black holes happen, it's only once I exit them that I remember what a waste they truly are. How being unable to live in the moment not only inhibits my life TODAY, but it also destroys this fictional world I'm attempting to puppeteer way out there in the future. Because no matter how I plan, life will never be what I pre-create in my crazy mind.

And odds are? The real thing is better than what I'd come up with. Because to have genuine moments of happiness I need to actually live in the moment.

Shocking really.

This is all to say I'm back on earth.

It's February 7^th, 2012, and that's the only day that matters.

Whatever happens tomorrow, next week, next month or next summer will happen. It will. And I won't enjoy it if I can't enjoy this simple moment, on this average Tuesday. 

SNOWY

After looking at a computer all day, blogging for work, social media mastering, newslettering, emailing, creating and functioning, I come here and.... nothing. There are things that are bursting to come forth, ideas, questions, comments, and yet. It's not time for them to appear. So I wait. And twiddle my thumbs. Read the works of others and wonder when the flood gates will open. And in the meantime? Pictures of cold things. 

MADE IT TO THE OTHER SIDE

As the darkest and most gloomy part of the Alaskan winter set in, people began asking me (mostly relatives) in why in the hell any of us ever choose to live up here in this cold dark nothing. They usually asked me this question when I told them the sun came up that morning at 10:30am, and was setting at 3:30pm, oh, and did I mention it was also negative 11 degrees outside?

But it's simple really. 

One minute it's like this. 

And on the shortest day of the year you're absolutely APPALLED by how low the sun is at "high" noon. You shudder because you know that you are smack in the middle of some of the darkest time you've ever lived in, and yet, you made it this far, so you remind yourself it can only get better from here. Tomorrow won't be as dark as today, the next day a little lighter, and on and on until summer is here. 

 

Before you know it you know you look out your window and surprise! Where you had become used to seeing complete and utter darkness as early as 3:30pm, suddenly you realize the sun is setting, and it's only 4:15!!!!!

You may even find yourself jumping for joy. 

Maybe you'll even send pictures to your family talking about how excited you are, and they might begin to worry about you. 

But you don't care because IT'S STILL SUNNY AT 4:15PM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

And if that didn't make you happy enough, not a few weeks later you look out the window and yet again, Alaska surprises you with a slowly fading sunset at GASP, 5:15. 

After the solstice we were only gaining a handful of seconds, hardly even a full minute of extra daylight with each passing day. Now we're nearly into February and everyday we're gaining minutes upon minutes of extra light. Suddenly I can remember that world of too much light. Realizing that I'll actually use my blackout curtains before I know it. 

Thank you Alaska for having light related A.D.D. and never letting us get used to one type of daylight for too long. 

Oh, and for moose. 

Damn I love those goofy animals.