Day 1

Reading Terry's book is almost like reading my own thoughts, except they're usually worded in a much smarter and more elegant fashion. But, for example, I was highly amused when I read the phrase "It was what it was" on page 22, because that's something I say all the time! And when I think about on a deeper level, even the whole concept of the book is somewhat akin to how I'll often choose to live my life: I like variety, I like surprises. Well, at least, I like pleasant surprises, most of the time. Moreso I meant that I like a level of seeming randomness in my life, like in the food or drinks I have, the music I listen to, or something as simple as a friend coming to visit unexpectedly.

I'm writing this a few days later, but let's pretend that we're back on February 28th. Today is Day 1.

This morning I had breakfast with one of my best friends with whom I haven't had a proper chance to talk in too long a while. We had a fair amount of catching up to do, but in the course of conversation it came out that, in the not so recent past, she had had an eating disorder, and because of it had actually spent some number of days in the hospital in January. Surprise. That explained why she hadn't been very on top of answering my emails, and certainly why I hadn't seen her around much during interim. But she's doing better now, and is determined to take control back in her life. She's strong, I know she can do it.

Later in the day I received an email back from a newfound friend with whom I'd semi-awkwardly asked for a getting-to-know-you "caf-date"–that's just what it's called, they're usually not really "dates"–and she wasn't opposed (it may not be first on her todo list, but let's not quibble over semantics). I'm simply glad that my first invitation wasn't so gauche so as to end the friendship before it'd even begun.

Dinner needed to be fast paced - I had a lot of work to do before tomorrow, but standing in line for my tacos I did bump into another new friend from my interim class who I've been trying to get to know better. We didn't end up sitting together, and we were both in a hurry, but still, it's the little moments of merely saying "hi" (alongside whatever other quick conversation can be had) that can really brighten a day.

In the evening, after dinner and after a little more homework, I meandered my way upstairs to where I expected a peer ed wellness event to be held. I needed one more for the month for my phy ed class, and this was pretty much my last chance. The room had French students in it when I arrived, but soon they left and a group of 8 or so of us entered, anxious to just get the little signature and stamp that says we attended the event. 15 minutes after the presentation was supposed to have started, the instructor was still not there. It turned out, through no fault of our own, we were in the wrong room–we'd gone exactly where the email said to go, but the location changed again and no one bothered to pass that along. Surprise!

The rest of the evening brought more homework. Blech. But the important lessons for today: even small surprises, such as unexpectedly passing a friend in the Caf, can be very uplifting at the end of the day.