No Outlet

     Have you ever been driving down the road stuck in traffic? You keep getting more and more irritated at the fact that traffic isn't really moving. Did I mention that you aren't all too familiar with the area you are driving in? Of course, this next scenario usually only happens in that ^ moment. Since you are growing increasingly irritated, you decide to find an alternate route. You start by turning on a road that seems like it's going to lead to another major road, but incidentally ends up running into just another road that looks fairly similar. You decide which way to turn and eventually you end up driving through a residential area. Down most of these roads is a sign that says No Outlet. When you keep seeing this sign, you grow even more irritated because if you would have just stayed on the main road then this would never have happened. You have to start backtracking and going over your old path to figure out where to start over again so that you can get out of this irritating situation. Sadly, I feel that this is very similar to what happens everyday. 
     Now, I don't know about you, but I think that I lead a fairly boring life. My jobs (all four of them) don't really ask for much (okay so one is a little more work). For example, my M/W job requires that I'm friendly with customers. That's basically it. I spend the majority of my day on facebook or playing computer games. Sometimes I'll read a book or stumble. As you can tell, not too much exertion. My T/R/F job requires more physical labor, but I wouldn't consider it hard by any means. Another thing is that it's mostly the exact same schedule every week. Monday - job A. Tuesday - job B, tennis. Wednesday - job A. Thursday - job B, job A, tennis. Friday - job B, job A, tennis. Saturday - job A, date night. Sunday - clean house. For those of you keeping track, job C is an independent-do-when-you-have-time job and I'm currently on LOA from job D. In a nutshell, I have a fairly routine system down. Sometimes when you get so routine, you tend to bottle up stuff that may or may not be important at the time. Smaller, more minute and pointless things start to irritate you. The irritation grows increasingly stronger and eventually, you want to take a new path. Sometimes this will be in the way of a job change. May be other things such as breaking up with a significant other, being aggressive all the time, having a short fuse, etc. All of this usually stems because there is no outlet. 
     Like mentioned before, I play tennis at least three times a week. For the longest time, this has been my outlet. But just like roads close, sometimes the outlet also because so routine that it's no longer your outlet. Granted, this doesn't happen too often with tennis with me, but when it does, it's usually because I've just let too much other stuff bottle up with it. Why is tennis my outlet? Because I love it. Some people even call me obsessed. My tv is constantly on the Tennis Channel and I check scores multiple times daily.  Another reason it's my outlet is because it is physical exertion. The more that needs exerted, the harder I can wail on the ball (and boy does it feel good). A third reason that I call it my outlet is because that I can also do it by myself, if need be. Obviously, tennis is much better with two or more people. There comes a time when you just need to exert, and that's when you grab a bucket of balls and go hit some serves. Beside, practice is usually helpful. So why am I rambling about roads and tennis?
     The other day, Mark and I were having a conversation about whatever. He mentioned that the reason he's been a little more stressed is he doesn't have his outlet anymore. I asked what it was and he said that he used to go to the gym. I asked why he couldn't go anymore. He then proceeded to tell me that someone needed to go with him. And (I've seen him at the gym before) there isn't too much exertion going on. I then told him about my theory about the outlet needing to be something that YOU love, not because someone else wants you to do it. I think I know Mark pretty well. The gym is not a love of his. It's also something that you need to WANT to do, sometimes even by yourself. If someone needs to hold your hand, it's more than likely just adding to the stress that you are supposed to be getting rid of. 
     Therefore, everyone should find an outlet to release their frustrations. Without them, you grow even more irritated and just have to backtrack your steps until you can start over again. The whole time you're backtracking, you scold yourself for being so stupid as to let yourself get into this mess. Also in that process, you have to come face to face with how you did. I'm not saying that your outlet should be your way of expressing feelings and genuine concerns to others. I think it is, however, a great way of letting go of the small stuff that doesn't even matter, just like in the wink of an eye.

Complacent Ramblings

There comes a time in everyone's life where they start to get an itch. Since everyone is different, all of their longings and desires are different, as well. If you ignore this itch, or rather try to avoid it, then you end up with something along the lines of complacency. For example, if you've read any of my previous blogs, then you know that I love to travel. Ever since I studied abroad, I have wanted to go on my next adventure. Funding has made this a great obstacle. However, there comes a time when someone needs to stop making an excuse why they can't do something and make it happen. It is, after all, your dream or longing. My last blog included a little bit about my grand adventure supreme. I have started planning it (or, rather, reading up on Europe and taking notes about things I possibly will have some interest in). The reason I started planning it is because I realized that I need to stop telling myself to wait. I have decided that for now I will just need to work the three jobs in order to make it happen.

There are, of course, other things that you can get complacent about. These things come in the form of jobs, relationships, friendships, and just life in general. I also frequently get complacent with jobs. I get comfortable with what I'm doing and where I'm at and forget to set new goals for myself in order to keep a bit of change and to not get bored. When I run out of challenges, I probably won't stay at that job for too much longer, unless I really like a lot of the people I work with. When it comes to relationships, I feel that a lot of people end up getting comfortable and not experiencing anything new. It's great to have a date night, but if that only consists of sitting in front of the tv watching the same show every week, you're probably heading for a brick wall. Go bowling. Visit a new restaurant. Go on a flipping walk! New experiences and change also allow for new conversation to come about, thus being able to learn more about each other and in the process, growing closer together.

Friendships get complacent when one of the two ends up trying to ignore the qualms of the other and just saying "that's just how they are". Eventually, it will progress from that into a down right annoyance and then become something that just makes you angry. We all know how the majority of these friendships end up. As with life in general, sometimes you just don't realize what you need that keeps you on a level playing field. Usually every person has that one thing that is their release. If you don't take part in that past time then you will become a slow ticking time bomb. Bombs are bad. With that being sad, don't get complacent. Don't get so comfortable that you end up making excuses as to why you cannot do something or why you cannot feel a certain way. You are your own worst critic and nobody should be worthy enough to make you feel worse. Lastly, I saw a quote one time that read "nobody is important enough to make you angry". How true is that?

The Grand Adventure Supreme

It has been my goal/dream for a very long time to backpack across Europe. I don't mean a couple weeks to a few locations. No. I want to see it all! I'm just having a hard time deciding if I really want to see it all in one swoop, or if I want to split it up into two or three different ones. I would go with the latter, but I know that by the time the second/third ones roll around, I will want to revisit the places I've already been. If I go with the first option, I may end up on vacation burnout.

I already know some places that I want to visit, such as Sweden, Croatia, Germany, etc. (and yes, those are very vague), but I want to plan a specific trip that allows for certain time in places to see all that I want to see. Some people say I'm crazy for planning such an extensive trip, but if I don't start planning it then the trip will never happen. So what would you do to plan your trip? Where would you go? What specific things would you do?

New Years Resolution

Every year, people have the daunting task of coming up with the perfect New Years resolution. There are the usual ones such as stop drinking soda, exercise more, eat better, floss everyday, and start/finish a new project.  Most people end up giving up on their resolutions for one reason or another usually by the end of January. I have known some to last all the way until August, but I do not know a single person that has ever stuck out their resolution for the entire year.  What's my 2012 resolution? Let me explain.

My resolution for the year 2012 is to read at least one book per week. I know it sounds pretty boring, but it's actually a lot more challenging if you look at the big picture. I work two jobs. Between these two, I probably work at least 60 hours a week. I am also on a tennis league and do other various things throughout the week to occupy my time. So say that a book reads at the pace of a page every two minutes (obviously some are harder reads). That would mean that a book that is 300 pages (about average for my bookshelf) would take about 600 minutes to read, or ten hours. Now, with working 60 hours a week, it can be pretty tricky to make yourself have 10 hours of reading time. With that being said, I am currently a week and a half behind on my timeline, but I am reading three books at the same time. Let me tell you a little about the books of the year so far.

The first book that I read is The Jester by James Patterson. In this book, a lowly man sets of for the Crusades in order to have a better life for his family. While fighting, he realizes that he will never be able to achieve what he set out to, and so he returns back to his village. When he arrives at his village, he finds his motel burned to the ground, wife missing, and son murdered. He then sets out for vengeance for his son and to find his wife. On his journey, he falls into a boar's trap. A Lady from another town rescues him and nurses him back to health as he tells her about his quest. Once he is healed, she leads him to meet the jester of that town. The jester tells him that they are going to turn him into a jester in order for him to get into the walls of another town. The ploy works. However, he finds out that who he thought was responsible is, in fact, not. He goes back to his own village to seek refuge. The Lady from the other town goes to meet him there because she needs to know if he is okay. While she is there, the village is attacked and they find out who really was responsible. The entire village then groups together to march on all of the villages until they can locate everyone responsible. Before they know it, every surrounding village is ready to march on the main towns of the land. Now, I know this book doesn't sound all the interesting from how I've described it, and it starts off really, really slow (I started it last year some time), but once I got about a quarter of the way through, I couldn't put this book down. All in all, it's about a little peasant that goes against all odds to defeat all the people that once stood in his way and said that he couldn't do it. He also gets a pretty hefty reward at the end. I happen to really enjoy James Patterson books because he's always throwing in twists and keeps a reader on their toes. 

The second book that I've read this year is also by James Patterson; Private. This book is about a private investigation firm in California for the upper echelon of the famous. Within the book, there are about three subplots that keep you wanting to read to find out more about a specific plot. I found myself wanting more of the first one that they introduced, probably because it fit more into my demographic. In one subplot, the firms owners best friends wife ends up murdered and they need to track down the killer. In the another, there is a serial murderer killing high school aged girls by luring them with a phantom cell phone number. In the third, the reputation of the NFL is at risk of being tainted because of betting. How all three of these tie in to one another is that the mafia is somehow connected. While it wasn't the fastest paced J. Patterson book I've ever read, I am excited to read the next book in the Private series to see how certain relationships have grown and where they are now (I've heard Europe is the new setting). 

The third book that I read is Dawn by Elie Wiesel. This is actually the second book in a trilogy. The first of which was Night and I read that near the end of last year. Night was about Mr. Wiesel's experience throughout the Holocaust and what he had to go through as he ended up at Auschwitz. In Dawn, he wrote more of a fictional story. However, the main character was to portray him and the experiences that the boy had to go through were to represent the struggles that Mr. Wiesel went though in the years immediately following the war. Dawn was a little bit harder to read than Night, but Night was one of those books that I literally couldn't put down until it was done. 

The fourth book of the year is Day by Elie Wiesel. It is the third book in the trilogy previously mentioned. In it, Mr. Wiesel accounts the true life story of his hospitalization following a car accident. While in the hospital, he is faced with fighting for his life, his love, and reality. At the start of the book, he is having a hard time wanting to go on. By the end of the book, he has a new found appreciation for most everything in his life. All three books were very informative and, while not necessarily enjoyable due to content, were interesting to work through. 

The fifth, sixth, and seventh week books are currently all sitting on my coffee table. The easiest read of them all so far has been The Slow Moon by Elizabeth Cox. The one I started first is The Invisible Wall by Harry Bernstein and the one I've found myself most frequently picking up is A Terrible Slendor by Marshall Jon Fisher. The first book is very Jodi Picoult-ish. It flows very well and I could probably finish it within one sitting. The last two books are both World War I era books. The Invisible Wall is about a Jewish family that lives in England; the invisible wall being right down the middle of the street. The other side of the street is Catholics. Neither side is to go on the other side. I'm only about a quarter of the way through, but I suspect it is about how the children of the families decide to go against the wall and decide to forget that they are divided. The book I keep picking up is also a wartime book, although it focuses mainly on another topic: tennis. It's about the 1935 Davis Cup tie between Donald Budge of the United States and Gottfried Cramm of Germany. Most of you probably find this boring, but I am salivating just thinking about it. Remember, I said in a previous blog that I am addicted to tennis. 

So now that you know what I've been reading, you can do a little math to realize that I need to finish all three of these books by next Saturday to remain on track. I know it's going to be a pretty challenging task but I am looking forward to it. Beside, you can learn a lot from just picking up a book and reading it. Do any of you people have suggestions of books I should read? I have a fairly full shelf, although small compared to a library. Just give me some ideas of your favorites and I will definitely look into them. So now I bid you adieu because you know my New Years resolution that came within the wink of an eye.

A Life of Pi

So as I start my blog, I just want to say that it won't really be entertaining or even informative. It will just be a place where I can release my thoughts and insights on whatever topic I choose to write about that day. While I usually can't stand grammatical errors, I don't really re-read what I write and so there may be times that my readers will be thinking, "Uh, what?" With that being said, let's begin.


My name is Kasey. I was born and raised in a small town in Nebraska. Then again, what town in Nebraska isn't small. Omaha really isn't even big in the grand scheme of things. Up until seventh grade, I attended school in a one room school house. Not too many people nowadays can say that. I also avidly rode horses when I was little. I was quit good at it and took home several trophies. I also took home a bit of money but my mom always kept that from me. Around the time I went to the city school is when I also stopped riding horses. I didn't really care to put in the time it required and I wanted to focus on other things. This is around the time that I started to play tennis. I remember watching the Williams sisters on tv one spring and so I decided to see what it was like. Naturally, I really enjoyed and to this day some people even tell me that I'm addicted to it. However, that may be an understatement. 


Once I got to high school, I had a pretty solid group of friends. We did a lot of different things together, such as being water girls for the basketball team, walked home from school, went to church activities, and several other things. I played on the tennis team, where I went to state my freshman and senior years. I also was in choir, in which I was selected as an alternate for the all-state choir my senior year. Also my senior year, I was in the a capella group that we called City Singers. I made some pretty dumb decisions that year, as well, but that's neither here nor there. 


Then it was time to go off to college. I had decided upon Northwest Missouri State University because it was close to my hometown but not too close. I had also gone to a couple of tennis camps there and thought that the campus was gorgeous. When I started my college adventure, I had declared my major as Social Science Education (even though they had it down as Spanish). During my sophomore year, I had decided that I didn't really care to be a teacher anymore, so I switched my major to Business Management. Later that year, I added Marketing to it as well. However, in my junior year, I decided that I wanted to spice it up a little bit more and so I changed my major, again, to International Business. I finally graduated with Bachelors in 2010, five years after I had started. Two things will always stick with me from the college times. One is being a member of Alpha Delta Pi sorority, and the other is getting the chance of a lifetime to spend a semester abroad in Maastricht, the Netherlands. 


Through ADPi, I was able to create a lot of lifelong friendships and bonds. Though I no longer have any solid communication with the majority of my high school classmates, I am glad to say that is not the case with my sisters. I met both of my best friends through ADPi and do not know where I would be without them in my life right now (here's to you, Sarah and Jessie). Also during my collegiate years, I was given the opportunity to become Philanthropy Chair. While in this role, my main task was to create a community wide event in order to raise money for the Ronald McDonald House. With the help of my sisters, we came up with a successful kickball tournament. If you're in the northwest Missouri area come the end of March, enter a team! You won't regret it! Now that I am an alumna member, I have joined the Indy alumnae association, but haven't participated in much lately. 


The other proud moment I have in my life is my study abroad experience. On August 23, 2009, I boarded a plan and took off to Europe. While I must say that actual teachings of my host school weren't that great, the lessons learned in general will be with me forever. Some such lessons are travel whenever possible, an inch of snow to Europeans is a snowpocolypse, and liberalism really isn't as bad as some Americans make it out to seem. While in Europe, I was able to make it to Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Berlin, Germany; Munich, Germany; Prague, Czech Republic; London, England (twice); Aachen, Germany; and Rome, Italy. Out of those other places visited, my favorite would be Munich. Actually, Germany as a whole was pretty awesome. Then again, that would probably be associated with my fascination for learning about World War 2 and the Holocaust. When all is said and done, I could easily move to Europe and escape the "freedoms" of the United States. 


When I graduated from college, I moved to Indiana to start my "adult life". It definitely has not been an easy life. There have been many, many road blocks, but, like they say, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I have not been able to find a job that I really enjoy, but I have been able to meet a guy that means the world to me. While this chapter of my life may be closing, I know that there will just be a new chapter waiting to begin. 


So now you know a little bit more about me. My future blogs will probably be more random and about things like books, beanie babies, tennis, and movies, just to name a few. While this blog seems like it's been a lifetime about me, it's all happened in the wink of an eye.