100th blog post day

I've spent the last 4 days trying to come up with some awesome topic for my 100th blog post and am not having any luck. This will be a brainstorming post.

In the last post, I mentioned something about being more content than I used to be. As true as that is, I've been wondering how content I really am. 'More' is a relative term so being more content than not content at all isn't much of a stretch.

My living situation is probably the thing I'm most content with. A lot of that is probably because I'm very easily pleased in that area. It's warm, quiet, close to work, and easy to clean.

What about myself? I am not very content with my physical state. I'm not overweight or have any real health issues, praise the Lord! but I got winded during warmup at basketball the other weekend. Not to mention the actual games. I have a bit of a belly, which isn't nearly as bad as a lot of other men my age, but as tall and skinny as the rest of me is, it really shows. If my father is any indication, I need to nip it in the bud and quickly.

Then there's the mental state. Or rather, intellectual state. My brain is becoming stagnant. Work is boring far more often than not. Performing my duties is not an issue, it's just that it's so repetitive that my brain is having a hard time sticking with it. The good thing is that I do have a lot of opportunity to do different things any given day, but when it's slow...it's really slow. Outside of work, there's very little intellectual stimulation right now.

My spiritual state isn't fantastic either. Participating in a marriage and focusing on your kids provides a lot of opportunity to express love to someone else, which in turns takes the focus off yourself. Being by myself so much now is very different. I'm finding it difficult to get out of my own thoughts, so to speak.

Then there's the financial state. It's getting better. A lot better. But there are still things to get done that I've been putting off for far too long. A bankruptcy, divorce, and car repair to name the big ones.

So, what am I going to do about it?

I'll keep playing basketball when I can, which isn't often enough so I'm planning on signing up at a local fitness club. It's only $25 a month for Fitness One, but their machines are really crammed in there. Too small a building for too many machines. The only other option is the YMCA. I haven't seen the facilities, but membership includes a lot of the classes and access to the pool. A little more expensive though.

Not sure what to do about my intellectual state though. I would really like to go back to graduate school. The local state university has a 'high value' MBA program. $26,000 may seem like a lot, but comparably, it's pretty cheap. They have a full online program too. The university itself is only about 45 minutes away, but quite often bad weather makes it too difficult to get there. Another option is the local community college. The only part of that I'm really interested in is a few classes in their 'workforce development' program. It's cheap, but doesn't provide much in the way of 'attractors' in regards to future employment. At this point, I'm beyond the trade school level.

The spiritual state is going to take some work. I've just recently begun participating in a class facilitated by one of our pastors called the Dead Theologians Society. We're going through a series of books highlighting the lives and struggles of theologians. To be honest, it's not terribly engaging. I find the author to be pretty dry. I know it's about theology, which is inherently dry, but still... Never been much of a theologian myself. What I need to do is look for opportunities to help others. So I've signed up to be part of our churches 'Helping Hands' ministry. Their focus is to help people with moving, light home repair, and other stuff. I've also signed up to attend a small group Bible study, which focuses on the Bible (duh) rather than theology.

The financial state is going to keep on how ever it will, but I will focus on saving. During the move, I found the penny bank I had as a kid. Now it's setting on my desk and already has about $8 in it. I intended to take pictures of it, but my 'new' camera has died already. Might be the battery. I'm not going to fix it, but save up some money for a new, higher-resolution, P&S digital camera. Maybe a Cybershot or Lumix. Or maybe get real ambitious and find a DSLR. Anyway... I'll certainly focus on saving more than that penny bank can hold. Even now I have more in my checking account than I've had for years. (For all you single moms out there, yes I will be helping out more with the girlies expenses.)

So there there are. All my brainstorming laid out in a few paragraphs. The underlying theme being "what am I going to do with myself?"

Don't want to forget the other stuff either. Like learning to play the guitar, taking a writing class to become a better blog writer, getting my piano back so I can pick that up again, cooking classes, taking more pictures, using all of these things to cut back on my gaming, and probably other things I've thought of that don't come to mind at the moment.

And about other stuff... I'm on Team Foxtrot for the Cap League. Here's the avatar I made for it: