Hot, Passion and Motivation <---catchy title

It's hot. Plain and simple. Not the just the "nice weather, got to go run around outside" kinda hot, but the "blah, I don't want to do anything" kind of hot. In about 4 hours it will be perfect for a walk by the water or in the city, but til then I'm hunkering down inside. This will not protect me from the heat (this old wooden house seems to retain heat like no one's business), but at least it will shade me from the burning rays of the sun.

Anyway, my point of this entry was to avoid any real work that I had hoped to accomplish. This 'real work' is actually applying for jobs and internships that I am interested in. It is so easy for me to float along, working part time for my friend, lazying away the mornings or taking a few days off to go to theme parks, play tourist in SF, or go rafting. While there is nothing wrong with having fun, I have noticed that a limited income sometimes makes it tricky to have all of this fun.

That got me thinking on two things today. Passion and Motivation. I'm the kind of person who wants to be doing something worthwhile. I want to be passionate about my work, and therefore I want to work in an area I am passionate about. For the past few months I've noticed I've lost that passion, and it is about time to get it back. Strange as it may be, I am passionate about Geography and learning about the earth. That leads me to motivation.

I have realized that if I want to work in geography, I need to start somewhere. Having spent the last 3 years working in an unrelated field, I sort of feel like I am starting from scratch as far as experience. The interesting thing though, is that the thought of an unpaid internship working with geography sounds great to me (of course, paid would be nice).

My second burst of motivation came in a surprising way today. I had to run into the City for work this morning and later found myself on craigslist looking at apartment prices for SF. Now don't get me wrong, I love where I live, but the temptation of moving to the big city is out there. My rent in Oakland is a bargain, and yet I am barely making ends meet. What if I had a real income, though? Think of what I could save... or what I could splurge on? I'm not a person driven by money (as seen by my frugal budget on a 20 hr/week job), but it is motivating to think of what I could do if I wasn't "just scraping by".

Here is my list:
-get a personal trainer
-sponsor a child in India
-fly to Oregon to visit Chris, Jess, and the girls; Fly to Arizona to visit my close friend Suzie who just moved away.
-new bike (I'm a dreamer)
-Grad school (this will probably happen anyway, but saving sounds better than student loans)

Well, not much of a list... I guess it's my realistic list- my dreamer list would include: going back to Ukraine, travel, explore, travel, etc.

Anyway, it's still hot. I still haven't gotten those job apps. out. One of these days ; )