A year from now

So my sister asked me today "What are you doing next summer?" I simply replied with "Well..hopefully I'll have a job." She wanted to know if I was living at home because apparently my mom seems to think I will still be living at home.
That made me think...where will I be in one year? Yes I want a full-time position in the field of journalism. But I don't want to be a grown-up, with a grown-up job. Oh well..it must happen at some point.
What worries me is thinking about where I may be in one year's time. There's so many places I want to go. London, New York, Chicago and Minneapolis. And yet, I want to be in La Crosse. I love it here and have so many good things going for me here. So now I am in a pickle..do I move away and hope to one day return home? That seems like the most logical scenario. But leaving what I know and am comfortable with does scare me a bit.
I'm definitely not picky in where I end up having a job, as far as geographically. I would like to end up back in the Midwest someday if I do choose to move away after school. I like the area and want to be close to family. I also want to see the world. This is where I am stuck.
We'll see I guess. Who knows what will come my way in the next year. I just have to have an open mind and be grateful for the opportunities I am given.

My journey with the Boy Who Lived

Yes..I am talking about Harry Potter. As some may know, I am a bit of an HP fanatic. Ok..I may be obsessed. Yes I got to the theatre 60 hours before the midnight premiere of the 8th and final film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. Yes i camped at the theatre, sleeping in tents on concrete. But hey, my friends and I were the first ones in line in the entire U.S. How cool is that?
We had our tickets, we were simply camping out to get the seats we wanted and just to celebrate the amaziness. We dressed up and played Quidditch. We had duels and tried our HP trivia.
It was an absolutely wonderful experience, to spend time with all these people who love the same thing you do.
Many people don't understand the passion I have for these books and movies. And I don't really know how to explain it other than I grew up with the franchise. Harry Potter is what got me into reading. I never in a million years would have thought to pick up a chapter book. I hated reading until I started those books. They took me away into another world when I so despised a lot in life. Middle school you know...not the best years...I spent a lot of time with my books those days.
It truly is sad to see the franchise come to an end. It almost feels like part of me has died. Yes I always re-read the books or re-watch the movies, but it's not the same. It's been a wonderful journey and I have loved every moment of it. My fellow "Potterheads" are some of the best friends I have. I enjoyed sharing the experience with them and watching as our love for the books transitioned to screen.
Call me crazy...I am crazy. But not many can say they have such a great passion for something. And hey...I could be addicted to something worse.. :)

Struggling season

Well the final stretch of the racing season is underway, with only five or six weeks left. It's been a very up and down season. I am currently sitting 19th in points, which to me is unacceptable. I started the season strong, sitting 16th in points for a few weeks. After a couple not-so-great weeks, I quickly began dropping. Last week I did move back up from 20th to 19th, but I need to put the pedal to the metal and climb some more spots. Last week was a great week and I had high hopes going into this past Saturday. I started the night out strong with some great times in hot laps. Qualifying then brought some frustrations as I got loose coming out of turn 4 and got sideways, but saved it. Awful time at 23.4 sec. My heat race then went ok, where I finished 6th. We then made some changes to the car to try and tighten it up a bit as the track would loosen up with the cooling down of the weather. My dad however ordered too many turns to be taken out of the right rear wedge and my car got tight tight tight. The feature came and it was not a pleasant experience. I had big problems holding my car down on the track and it wanted to shoot up toward the wall. There was then a wreck and I came within inches of being in the wall. To my low-side, cars began spinning. I had to make the decision of what to do and where to go. I went as close to the outside wall as I could get without touching it, gunned it and steered clear of the wreck...barely. My stomach dropped as out of the corner of my eye I saw a car spinning at me. I thought for sure my night was over. Somehow, some way, I squeezed through. So could have been a worse night I suppose. We then lined up for the restart and typically my car handles very well on the outside, so I took a chance and went to the outside lane, gaining me a couple spots. Definitely not a good call that night...my car was still tight as could be and I quickly fell back. I was frustrated to say the least,,,but I didn't lose any spots in the points race, and my car was in one piece...which in my book, is a successful night.