Yup, I'm a cutter

Well, the MMDC saga continues. I have now been at it for almost a full week and it hasn't turned out quite the way I planned. Some of the things that I have been hoping to accomplish are: pick up fencing or boxing, develop my writing, study anatomy and physiology, workout daily, study Spanish, practice on my guitar, play basketball, and, of course, spend more time with God.

However, I have had to work the past couple of days and random events have arisen that have prevented me from sticking to my carefully plotted schedule. Most days I get in a decent workout and I have my quiet time, but everything else has been pretty haphazard. Here's hoping next week goes a little more as planned...

The two cool things that have happened are that I started cutting at work and I just finished the first draft of a new short story. I have been wanting to be a cutter since I started with the Donor Network five months ago, and last night I made my big debut. It is a lot tougher than it looks. Some of those techs are able to slice, slice, slice and poof! out pops a tibia. But for me, it was like, slice... slice... oh crap... sliceslicesliceslice... slice... slice?... um... is this something we need? They tell me that I will get better with practice. Oh boy. I hope so.

The short story that I worked on is interesting for me because I wrote it in first person, present tense, not a usual style for me. I bought a book called Now Write! that has a bunch of short writing exercises in it, and so I am slowly making my way through this book trying different styles, but mostly using it for story prompts. I haven't read through the entire finished story yet, so I'm excited to do that sometime next week and look at it with a fresh perspective. If it's any good, maybe I'll post it here. So it'll probably stay offline.

At least I'm good at my job... sigh.

I don't know what this is a picture of but it fits my post

Before we begin, let me introduce MMDC to you. It is a new acronym that will certainly change the way I live. But more on that in a bit. It sure has been a while since I last posted. I am really hoping to get back into the routine of writing every day (except maybe Fridays, but those are negotiable). Let's discuss the events that have led up to this point.

Earlier I mentioned my new job with the Donor Network of Arizona. I am still working there. It is because of this job that my life is in a state of... upheaval. I suppose that's the correct word. You see, things are going well. My wife and I are getting along famously and we are definitely enjoying marriage. Our house is wonderful, our puppy is healthy and we don't usually worry too much about money. The problem is the job. Or rather, the problem stems from my job.

We have started a new schedule at the Donor Network where everyone is on call for twelve hour shifts that last from six to six. I signed up for the 6pm - 6am shift for two reasons. First, I am hoping to get more cases this way and in turn, more money. Second, it allows me to be home during the day with the dog and in the evenings with my wife. However, the problem arises when I don't get a case. Because then I am sleeping at regular times and I have absolutely nothing to do during the day. At first it was fun, but now I am feeling lazy (and rightly so).

So finally last night I sat down and made a list of goals. For the most part they were things I want to accomplish, but some, like spending time with my wife, were things I wanted to make sure I didn't neglect. Once I could see what I wanted, I started developing a plan to accomplish my goals. Today is Day One of the epic saga of Making My Day Count. Hopefully in 10 years we can have a reunion and celebrate Day 3650. I was going to make it some really cool acronym like "S.O.AR." or "D.R.E.A.M." but I have decided that I'm not that creative today. Instead I'm left with MMDC.

Meh.

Expect more update goodness tomorrow!