i got a job

yep, i got a job. i don't actually start until the last week of august, but it's nice to know i'll have something after i graduate. i think i'm really going to like it. it'll be with an environmental consulting firm (i always said i'd never work for one of these!) and i'll be working on chemical remediation projects at contaminated groundwater sites. pretty exciting, huh? well, it is to me. there some really cool stuff going on with iron reducers right now. uh huh, just what you all wanted to know (all 5 of you who read this!). ;-) so, that's just super!! i'll be married to a really super great sweet wonderful loving handsome man by then too. yay! horray! aaaaaahhhhh. neat. bye.

lighthouses

i have always been fascinated with light. and lighthouses. like the one on my blog page. i’ll talk more about light later- trust me. but lighthouses are what’s catching my attention right now. it’s such a perfect analogy (maybe perfect is too strong a word, but you get my drift). i just keep picturing a boat in the middle of the ocean. it is tossed and turned around in every direction, depending on the weather, and has no anchor that is strong enough to hold it to the ocean floor. and it’s dark outside. are you picturing this? because the boat is so small and the waves so big, it seems that there is no light. but then, as the boat rises to the top of one of the waves, before falling back to the trough-out of nowhere- comes a beam of light. it catches the eye only for an instant, because it must keep scanning, but it’s enough. there is light. it isn’t completely dark. there is guidance and direction and strong ground. the direction is clear, if only for a moment. lighthouses are an illustration of hope and guidance. they provide a warning light and a safety light. in the midst of indecision and a whirlwind of crazy life, there is truth- our God provides that. there is guidance. there is hope. there is direction. land is near. it’s not any particular place on land that we are searching for- only solid ground. and it’s searching for us (He is searching for us). that’s comforting. decisions don’t have to be so hard- we just need to look at the important factors- love, life, and land- the solid ground that he leads us to.

thank you alanis...

but this won't work as well as the way it once did
cuz I want to decide between survival and bliss
and though I know who I'm not I still don't know who I am
but I know I won't keep on playing the victim

these precious illusions in my head did not let me down when I was a kid
and parting with them is like parting with a childhood best friend

I've spent so long firmly looking outside me
I've spent so much time living in survival mode

-Precious Illusions by Alanis Morissette

procrastination and alternate universes

procrastination is an amazing thing. i'm pretty sure it is inversely proportional to pressure. it is the highest when there is little to no pressure exerted on the subject doing the procrastinating. take me for an example: my tech talk (equivalent of a master's thesis defence) is this thursday, i have a paper and 45 minute presentation due next week that i have not bothered to start, my thesis is in dire need of loving attention, i should get a job since my funding is up this may, i'm planning a wedding for this july (the 9th), etc, etc, etc., and i'm sitting here writing a blog and reading other people's blogs. hmmm. there is no real due date for anything. therefore, there is no pressure. therefore, there is much procrastination. great. just great.

on another equally disturbing subject, you know how there's an alternate universe for the socks that get lost in the dryer? do you suppose that there is another one for pens and pencils? i think there must be...

look out world, this could get crazy

um, yes. thanks to some beautiful friends, i, shanna beth, have a blog site! holy wierdness! i do have a lot to say and it usually just gets said in my head. so now, whoever reads this will hear my head thoughts. does anyone else think that's a bit odd? well, if you don't yet, you will. i think this will be fun. yay! horray!