The clock's a-tickin'

On my 25th birthday three years ago, I blogged about the last decade of my birthdays. I ended this ramble with a list of things that, at the time, I wanted to accomplish before I turned 30. Now, having just turned 28 last Friday and being increasingly unsure of what I'm doing with my life, I figured that there's no time like the present to revisit my list:

1. Use the word akimbo in a game of Scrabble.
WOW. I can't believe that this was the top of my list and that I've had this goal for three years...and I still haven't been able to find that perfect harmony of Scrabble tiles to enliven this dream. I do, though, regularly talk about playing this word; I now select friends based on whether they know the meaning of "akimbo."

2. Get something other than my work-related articles published.
In my staff bio that I wrote two months ago, this was my goal for the year. I'm glad to see that so far I'm being consistent...I still have these same goals.

3. Figure out what I want to be when I grow up.
Ha, I've spent the last three years doing serious research into what I DON'T want to be.

4. Find wuv, twoo wuv.
Now more than ever. Actually, I might be happy getting laid just a few times, then finding wuv after that.

5. Wash my dishes.
[Looking over to the sink...] Yep, still need to do that. Luckily, they're different dishes than they were three years ago, so I've got that going for me, which is nice.

6. Change the template on this blog (I'm trying, Jenna!)
Jenna was someone who read my blog back in the day and thanks to her I DID change my template. I can cross something totally inconsequential off my list! Yay!

7. Pay off a credit card (god, I am funny)
I'm getting closer...it would have helped me in the last few years if I didn't have a slew of health problems, if the hard drive on my computer didn't die, and if my car didn't catch on fire -- I could be a lot closer to paying off my balance if not for those hiccups.

8. Buy a car cooler than my minivan
I don't even have a car now. The minivan, post-fire/post-me-accidentally-hitting-a-bank-with-it, was not worth bringing to Cayman. So, I would be happy to have any car right now, even if it were a minivan.

9. Visit family in god-forsaken Ohio.
I did this! I accompanied my mom up there for a weekend in April. Now I just need to see the other half of my family there; sadly, they live in a less cool area (I know -- "less cool than Cleveland? Is there such a thing?"), so I think I might continue to be a bad granddaughter/niece/cousin/person for a little while longer.

10. Finish all the knitting projects I've started this year.
This will never happen. Ever -- especially now that I live in a country that doesn't sell yarn, knitting needles, or related notions.

I actually don't have anything to add to this list, which is good because my combined various to-do lists are long enough. Someone else might say, "be a kinder person," but I'm in touch with reality and know that I'll need a lot more than two years to make that happen.

Long time, no blog

In the time since I last blogged, I moved from Montana to Fort Myers Beach, Florida, then to Clearwater, Florida, then to Pigeon Key, Florida, then to Fort Myers, Florida (my third move there), and then finally out of the country to Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands six months ago. It's been an eventful last two years; I hope never to have another two years like the last. I'm totally beat.

So, what's Cayman like? It looks a lot like south Florida -- beach, palm trees, strip malls, abundant lizards, zero topography. Our highest point on the island is "Mount Trashmore," the landfill. I don't find the island terribly scenic, but then again, I've been living almost exclusively in beach communities for the last six years, so I'm hard to impress. The water is better here, though; it's freakishly clear. The first time I went swimming here I found the water clarity alarming, as in, "Oh, shit -- what's that underneath me?!? Oh...it's my feet." The Caribbean Sea is like a really big salty swimming pool...with stingrays.

There are some really inconvenient things about living here. For one, no one from the States ever calls me because it's too expensive. So, that leaves calling friends and family up to me. Instead of paying 50 cents a minute to call from my cell phone, I use Skype and call from my laptop. Call clarity is inconsistent. I just had a tantrum and hung up on my friend because she couldn't hear me, though I could hear her perfectly. I've been craving the sound of a familiar voice and it irritates me that communication is such a pain in the ass. It makes me wonder: do people move to the Cayman Islands and just sever ties with everyone in their home countries? The longer I'm here, the more I realize that seems to be the case... That or they came here with someone -- boyfriend, wife, group of friends -- and they don't feel the need to maintain regular contact with people at home. I came here alone. I don't even have my beloved little dog with me. When I get home from work, either I have a frustrating conversation with someone in the States on Skype or I talk to myself. Neither is very satisfying.

I could bitch more about living here, working here, making really inexplicable decisions about my life, but I've got to save something for later, right? I just wanted to get the ball rolling with writing again. I found a blog today called "Miss Britt," which weirded me out because that's what kids call me (...because it's my name...) and because this blogger was born in 1980 like me and moved across country to Florida like me. Unlike me? She's married with kids and was featured in the Hot Blogger Calendar. I realized today that if I would ever like to be in a Hot Blogger Calendar, I need to actually blog again. I have lofty aspirations.