Ready or Not, Here Comes the World!

Ay Caramba!

As my final semester of college draws to a close, I am inclined to notice the fact that the "real" world is closing in on me. This is evidenced by a lack of a future class schedule and by the impending need to find or create employment to provide sustenance for myself.

Surely it can't be all that bad. I mean, I've got a (business) plan. I can get the money coming in. I can make this work. I'm sure of it!.... Aren't I?

I watch the coming events like a Great Eagle approaching to carry me away unbeknownst to me if I am prey or passenger. If I be prey, it will surely mean much stress as I struggle and scramble to gain my footing in the world. If a passenger, I will be carried to new heights and successes that I have not seen before. Obviously, I hope for the latter, but only time will truly tell what destiny I pursue.

==========

This becomes a time of reflection and prediction, with the hope of yielding direction in my life as to where to go from here. The challenge I have right now is lack of prescience. The veiled nature of the future quickly obscures vision as I attempt to look further into the future.

I am grateful to the Lord for the immense blessings he has given me in providing sustenance and reducing worry in past years of my life, and I expect he will continue to do so. Though I have this comfort, I still find myself restless and uneasy as very significant future events crest the hill that has for so long kept them veiled from my view.

How do I feel about all of this? ...

~ inadequate ~

... Why do I feel this way? Partly because of recent challenges in my life that did not produce what I deemed to be favourable outcomes, and partly for reasons that I either do not know, do not understand, or cannot adequately explain. I must say, though, it is quite frustrating, stressful, and scary, looking forward to a future filled with great uncertainty.

Throughout it all, it is my hope and prayer that Those eyes who have been watching very carefully over me shall not forsake me in the coming months. This next few months (or years) could be a bumpy road, so I guess I'd best latch my seat-belt and prepare for the ride!

Approximately 70 Hours of Blood, Sweat and Tears (Less the Blood)

That's right. Seventy tantalizingly long hours. Seventy hours of researching, thinking, not thinking, consternating, experimenting, revising, scrapping, adding, losing, crying, finding, crunching, checking, fretting, sweating, finicking, sleeping, pacing, complaining, racing and, eventually, submitting!

You might ask what all of this -ing-ing was for? Well, it's certainly not for the sake of thinking up adjectives! It's all because of a simple concept, complex in its reality, that can be summed up in a nightmarish two words: Business Plan.

Never in my life have I EVER had an assignment like it. Never again, I expect, shall I ever see the likes of it again - at least not for school. A simple document, 38 pages in length, sapped away nearly two hours of my life for every single flimsy, yet delicate, page.

All I have to say about the experience is: WOW! I never thought it could be so much work! Alas, that dreadful time of work is over, and now begins a period of rest... kind of. Now it's on to my accounting project, which is pretty straight forward, but still time consuming...

Will this semester never end?!
- Yours Truly

Restoring sight to the (partially) blind!

It's that glorious time! Finally!

Tomorrow, I go to Calgary to get Corrective Eye Surgery at LASIK MD. I will finally be able to get rid of those dreadful glasses I've worn for the past decade!

There will be two things about this that will sting: the price, and my eyes (for the first several days). Running nearly three grand for the procedure to be done on both eyes, I will find myself with renewed eyesight. But this price is for Advanced Custom Wavefront LASIK, and has a number of benefits:

• Improved eyesight (of course :P)
• 50% larger corrected area (reduced chance of "halos" around light sources)
• 20-30% less corneal tissue removed
• Free retreatments for life (if my prescription starts to slip back under 20/20)
• Five years of post-op checkups
• Full refund of the procedure price if they can't correct to 20/20 or better after a retreatment

All in all, I must say that I'm really excited! I'll be sure to post updates about how the procedure went and how the healing process is going in the near future (when it's actually safe to look at a computer screen for more than 30 seconds).

Cheers,
Neil