Thank God it’s a 4-day holiday. Happy Birthday to the Queen of Thailand…thank you for being born so I can get a couple days off of work. You know, I can admit that my students are slowly convincing me to fall in love with them, but I needed a break. Mid-term progress reports just about killed me! I for sure had to write about all 120 of my students and figure out grades and blah blah blah. Honestly, I’d much prefer to be the student TAKING the mid-terms than the teacher GRADING them. Bonk. To make all that worse, I had a parent meeting day last Saturday, and let’s just say that Thai parents are VERY involved in their children’s educations. But, amongst the questions, comments, and complaints, I did have one parent keep telling me how lucky her son was to have me as a teacher because I cared so much and actually taught something. I guess it’s things like that that make my job worth it. (Can I get a witness from all you teachers out there?! Haha!)

For the holiday, I decided to stay in Bangkok and just chill. I need to try to get healthy again, and get the rest of this semester planned so I won’t be stressed over this next month. (That’s the goal, anyway.) Other than laying out at the pool (always), I went out to dinner at Coyote’s with a bunch of people from work one night and then sang karaoke. Um yeah, I’m always down to sing some karaoke. I went and got a pedi and an oil massage with Sena, and we also hit up this unreal buffet for brunch one day. I kinda love hanging out with her…and talking about life, boys, travels, and office drama.  So, all in all, I’m pretty glad I ended up staying in BKK this weekend…I really just needed a laid back holiday.

So, the big news of the week…(drum roll please)…

Yeah, that’s right…it’s “Facebook official.” My profile says “in a relationship with Eric Thomas” and I love it. Why in the world does our society put such an emphasis on something as dumb as a FB relationship status?? Is it not possible to be in a relationship without putting it on FB for newsfeed to announce to the world?? Haha whatever, but it is what it is people. So to all of you who have bugged me about the lack of “officialness” (coughCORTNEYcough)… take THAT! Haha. I can’t even begin to explain how great it feels to be able to tell the world that Eric’s been upgraded from “boy BFF” to boyfriend. :)  But on a serious note, it’s crazy that I moved to the exact opposite side of the world and ended up with Eric. It’s just another thing that shows how much God’s in control, and how life is all about timing. I know there’s a reason I’m over here right now, and I’m not losing sight of my purpose. God’s still got big plans for me here in Thailand, and I have no doubt that He’s got big plans for Eric back in the States. I’m excited to see what He decides to do next…and as always, I’m trying to find the beauty in the mystery of life rather than worry about it.

So, I finally decided to get serious about grad school this week. I started studying for the physics GRE so I can get into the Astronomy program at UNC……aaaaaand FAIL. I attempted to read the first chapter of my Classical Mechanics book (which was supposed to be a “simple review”), and it was as if my dreams of teaching astronomy were crumbling on the pages as the formulas blurred together and made me feel like a first class idiot. I USED to think I was smart. Haha. Talk about a humbling experience. I really want to believe that I can prove myself wrong and actually teach myself astrophysics, but the reality of it is staring me down and I think it’s time to throw in the towel and realize that astronomy is just going to have to be a hobby or a unit in a 6th grade Earth & Space Science textbook for me. But you know, that’s a-ok. I have other options…I’m the Queen of Backup Plans. And more than that, I know God knows what He’s doing. I also know that with God, all things are possible…even passing the physics GRE. But honestly, I have too many options to be weighed down and worried about something that  might not even happen. I’d be okay going the journalism route anyway. I have more experience in that field than I do astronomy, and plus I absolutely LOVE writing. I have a killer portfolio from all my work at the Lee Clarion, and I’ve done several other pieces recently that I can add to the list (i.e. Times-Free Press article about the Red Shirts). To top it off, UNC has an amazing journalism grad program. In fact, there’s one on campus, and one online so I have choices, and everyone knows how much I like keeping my options open. One of these days, I’m going to have to just pick one thing in life and go with it though…probably sooner than later. Haha.

So lately, things have been absolutely amazing. I’ve still been sick a lot, but the work drama has died out, and life is leveling off nicely. It’s so easy to get caught up in the contentment of life and forget who’s in charge of it all, though. God is the one in control of things, and He is the one who is still (always) writing my story. I hate it when I look back and evaluate myself and find that I’ve forgotten to thank the One who is constantly blessing me, especially in the good times. It’s so easy to just call on Him with life gets hard and things go wrong, but what about all the other times when everything works out perfectly? It’s God who is always right there holding my hand when I’m crying, but it’s so essential to remind myself that he’s still by my side high-fiving me and celebrating with me when life is going great! I have to sit back and gain perspective a lot of the time and remind myself everyday that God is my #1. He needs to be my first priority, and it’s His dreams that I need to be striving for, not my own. I always go back to the verse…

Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart. [Psalm 37:4]

It’s my life verse (partly because I have it tattooed on me!), and it always reminds me that as long as God is my #1, everything else will fall perfectly into place. It’s amazing when God’s desires become my own, and everything aligns perfectly. (I have my life-constellation theory for that one, you know…just like the stars, everything is always changing positions relative to where I’m observing from. And yes, I know I’m a geek for comparing my life to the night sky.)

Ok so anyway, here’s to only a few more weeks until I get to come visit you at home. I’ve taken down most of my countdowns, and it’s true that time passes by quicker when each day isn’t numbered. I’ll leave you with this…it’s the trailer to “Going the Distance” and I’m pretty stoked about seeing it (for obvious reasons haha). But, Hollywood TOTALLY stole my story…bonk.

I’m out. //Cwalk.