I need a real job...

so I can afford to buy plane tickets and be in the places I need to be when I want to be there.

25th Birthday

Year 25 started with a migraine. Frustrating but kind of appropriate considering how stressed I've been feeling. I know it's cliche but I understand the whole quarter life crisis thing. I'm 25 years old and what have I accomplished? Where is my life going? When my mom was 25 my parents had two kids, a house, jobs that paid the bills. I'm still in school, still renting, still living with a roommate, still using the term boyfriend, and still don't have a 'real' job. It's kind of scary and I'm starting to wonder if things are ever actually going to come together better than this. So I spent the part of the day when I was actually conscious trying to put things in perspective.

• I've got a high school diploma,
• B.S.,
• and even though I've hit a few snags I'm only a few months away from an M.S.
• I'm in a stable committed relationship with a good man who loves me.
• We've accumulated two dogs (that I love), but have successfully avoided accumulating any children.
• I've managed to keep a roof over my head and food on the table while living 10 hours and 4 states away from my family for the past 7 years.
• While I do have both student loan and credit card debt both numbers are relatively low compared to the averages for someone in my position and I have a plan for dealing with both.
• I own my car.
• I'm the captain of a roller derby team.
• I'll soon be the executive director of what will soon be a non-profit organization.
  
• Though I have a few bruises I'm in better shape than I have been at any other point in my life.
• I'm well read in subjects that interest me and have clear and strong moral and political beliefs.
• I've competed in demolition derbies.
• I've submitted an article for publication.

It isn't really that bad. What particularly struck me was the realization that I've tackled three distinct childhood dreams in the last few years. The biggest one was becoming a scientist. While I'm still in school I've managed to survive and pay the bills for over three years now with science based jobs. The second one was becoming a race car driver. When I was little watching my dad in the demolition derby I considered him a race car driver and couldn't wait to try it myself. While I've never won and I'm certainly not hard core about it, it's still one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life. And now roller derby. When I was little I wanted to be a speed skater, but I think that is only because I didn't know what roller derby was. As a jammer on an up and coming league I get to skate as fast as I can in front of a large crowd where people actually know who I am and are cheering me on. Amazing. People actually pay to come and watch me roller skate.

Life is far from perfect and I'm still stressing and, well, my head still hurts. But I'm ok and I think even a little hopeful. I don't know what is coming next but I'm confident that I can handle it. I'll probably even enjoy it. Getting old is not going to freak me out. I can handle this.

The Columbia Quad Squad vs. The Charlotte Roller Girls

The last home bout of the season, the Columbia Quad Squad vs. The Charlotte Roller Girls was on Sunday. Charlotte is a great league to play. They have their act together, with great coaches, refs, and support staff. Both teams have improved a lot since January but we are still pretty evenly matched skills wise and it showed in the score. The game was close throughout. Charlotte pulled it off though, winning the game 85-76 (almost the reverse of the score in January). The difference came down to strategy. Charlotte had a better game plan and did a better job adjusting during the bout. I think CQS got a very good idea of where our weaknesses are during this bout and where we need to go in the future.



The rest of Patrick's pictures are here and A Boy Named Tsunami's pictures are here.

Bout Day!