Staying Focused

Since Kimberly has been here she has accomplished one big project in her own life. She got divorced from a marriage which was stifling both parties. She got out of a town which was also holding her back immensely. She has accomplished a lot here around the house and yard and in Ligonier. But it really is time for her to quit delaying the rest of the big issues in her life. It's been a year and a half and it is time for her to focus, and I told her that. She keeps letting other issues distract her, and I told her she has to stop doing this.

1. She needs to get the remaining issues from the marriage and her bankruptcy taken care of.
2. She needs to change her name legally.
3. She needs to get a part-time job to start saving for her future expenses.
4. She needs to get back in school to retrain as a counselor.
5. She needs to have the surgery, electrolysis, voice training and whatever else and complete her transition.

Her counselor told her she needs to stay in a stable relationship. The counselor is right. I explained to her how lucky she is given her situation. She is living with someone who supports her transition and will not hinder her in what she has to do regarding surgery and the other procedures, and will actually help her. She is living in a house which is paid for and the vehicles here are paid for. She is living with someone who is willing to work for a living and who is not going to ask HER for the financial support. She is living with someone who is willing to live with a student for several years. She has wonderful counselors and doctors free of charge who will help her through this. She needs to accept that she is in the best situation she could possibly be in under the circumstances and get going on all these important goals. She needs to stop getting sidetracked on issues to delay her focus on the big things and she needs to just put up with minor irritations and not blow them out of proportion.

The Cold Weather Continues

It was really rough going to work this week. They did not close the college I work for. It was -4 with -20 wind chills the first two days. I have to park very far from my office, and I really bundled up to make it from the parking lot to the office. It stayed fairly miserable all week. Luckily, I had done some extra work the week before, so as I began to fade, I was able to work less hours as the week progressed. I had run out of hours at noon yesterday, so I was able to leave. It was not bad walking back to the car. I went with Kimberly to Ohio to see her therapist yesterday. It was a very interesting experience to meet her therapist. The main thing accomplished this week at work was finalizing and posting the schedule for Black History Month on the web site. I enjoyed doing this. This requires constant vigilance because there continue to be revisions, additions, and deletions to the schedule. I am just trying to survive this cold spell right now before I make any plans to do anything big.

Brutal Weather

We had several days of sub-zero weather with strong winds and dangerous wind chills. Naturally, they did not close the college where I work. Over the weekend, we celebrated Kimberly's birthday. She was 52. She got a book on becoming an expert cookie chef for her birthday. We also baked a cake. I chose the mix and the icing, but I'm not very good at this kind of thing, so she did most of the work. The cake was yummy!

I spent some of these cold days celebrating my distant past. I made quite a bit of Algerian couscous to survive this weather. As it turned out, the Battle of Algiers was on TV and I watched some of it. I had seen it in France. It is in both French and Arabic with subtitles.

Another way I've spent some of these frigid days is watching the Penguins, who are doing fantastic. I enjoyed watching them in Montreal and hearing O Canada in French. The Penguins have only lost one game in ages, and they lost it in OT, so they even got a point out of that one. They won again last night. It's very exciting. The usual suspects, Crosby, Malkin, Staal, Recchi, and Fleury, all did great last night.

It was awful walking to work the past few days. I have to park far away, and it was -4 degrees both days. The windchill was around -20. Today I get to go in a little later because I am working an AIDS Awareness table for Black History Month at a campus which is closer to home. It's warmed up a bit and the wind has quieted down.