Pink Asparagus

Sharing powerful stories from his anti-obesity project in Huntington, W. Va., TED Prize winner Jamie Oliver makes the case for an all-out assault on our ignorance of food.

This is the view from our family room tonight. The snow has stopped, for now. All the woodland creatures are hiding. It’s very quiet outside. This light is caused by low hanging clouds reflecting the ambient light from the city. It’s a little haunting.

Almost two weeks ago I received news that I had been waiting for for almost a year. News about goals, about my future. And the news was not favorable. Short story: I applied to a competitive graduate teacher program that included full tuition at a private institution and a stipend your intern year. I knew the competition would be stiff. In the end there were 45 applicants for eight or nine slots; nine of the applicants were bilingual. The odds were not in my favor.

I decided at the time I would not tilt at windmills. But because I am a person that needs feedback and condolences I titled at windmills with people I know. And basically, they said the same thing: the odds were not in my favor. Phew, it’s not me – it’s them.

That’s not to say it wasn’t me. Because it might have been. But those odds? They weren’t good.

While funkified I read Penelope Trunk’s post How to Get Unstuck in Life

The act of moving toward something helps you crystallize where, exactly, you want to be moving.

She’s right. I need to move toward something again. It doesn’t have to be the final thing, but something on the path. This process has taught me a great deal more patience than I’ve had before, I’m an immediate gratification sort of person (yes, yes, it’s my ENTJ shining through again). I can now wait for something, but there has to be something at the other end – waiting for the sake of waiting, well … I think that’s called stagnation.

So, with all that: onward and upward. Or something.