Diamond in the Rough

Things have been very busy as of late, and it's reminding me of how much I enjoyed (in a workaholic kind of way) the challenge of time-energy management.  Everything I've started the past couple of months is starting to pick up; as the new group of trainees in taiko we learned (and mini-recital style performed) our first piece, LSAT classes have been pummeling me with daily homework, and work is starting to become comfortable and is now challenging in a new, welcome way, especially with a huge first Conference coming up in September.  In all of these I'm struggling to find a purpose and my own niche - I can feel that everything is going to fit together wonderfully again somehow, but I'm not quite sure yet how or when that will happen.  Still, it's right on the horizon.  As Alex would say, that's some Alchemist shit right there.  Playing the part of the Shepherd can be a wonderful, albeit stressful, thing.

Work is a bit of a struggle because I've yet to establish some credibility, but I am feeling more invested because little by little I'm realizing how much I could learn from this organization.  Upon beginning this job I was a little disappointed because I had told myself I would work for a nonprofit...it was only this morning, in the shower, that I realized I AM working for a nonprofit, just not for the purpose I had originally pictured.  Still, on developmental, communicative, and even international affair-related levels, as a young but well-connected organization it has a lot to offer.  I'm hoping that at some point down the line I will have something to offer it as well, but only time will tell whether that will happen.  Or rather, it WILL happen, I just have to wait for the right time.

And I have to admit, Irene is incredibly inspiring.  To learn from her would be like learning from one of the masters of working the influentials.  I mean, she works it.  Like nobody else I know of.  Now if only I were in DC, I could at least see her face to face on some regular basis.  I don't have that luxury here in LA.  But the LA-DC distance is a different story altogether.

LSATs are slowly starting to come together for me - Logic Games and Logical Reasoning..and well, even Reading Comprehension - that is, the whole test - is most definitely a challenging obstacle.  But class and the piles of homework are, very slowly but (hopefully) very surely, proving to be useful.  The test is still (or maybe only) two months away, so as long as I stick with it and don't get lazy, it'll all play out just right.  When I first started I thought I'd never be able to figure out those games, so needless to say, it's like a mini-life victory when I can successfully complete even one.  I almost wish I had even MORE time to practice it all.

Taiko is exciting, but when is it not?  I am definitely looking forward to the next 2 years I'll be able to spend with the team, and it makes it all the better because I love my trainee group.  The 4 of us have a lot of fun together, and we are all able to learn relatively quickly, which means we can get it together faster and try and learn more in shorter amounts of time.  Or at least, that's my hope.  It's only been a few weeks, but really, the faster the better.

Waiting, but not in a complacent manner if that makes any sense, for everything to fall into place, as it seems it already is.  Sometimes there is so much going on in my head that I think if I don't put it down in words somewhere, i.e. here, I'll go nuts.  But I guess that's just a sign that there's a lot happening, and as a result, a lot that is going to happen in the upcoming months.  A little nervous, but mostly excited.  Let's just hope it doesn't all end up consuming me in the end.  Here's to the universe...and it's conspiratory nature.  Only, in our favor, like the old king said.