It's a New Start Today - 6/10/08

Last year in June I started journaling.  It was a great experience and one of the big advantages is that I really noticed things in my world more because I was always conscious of what I wanted to write about.  However, I went to India and July and when I got back, I stopped journaling because I was tired.  I have been thinking over the last year that I wanted to get back to journaling, but just didn't feel I had the time to do it (or was just too lazy).

Well, I finally am doing it.  It only took about 10.5 months, but I am here.  This part is easy.  In my journals, I am going to just go over things I am doing or just thinking about.  Keeping it up every day is going to be hard.  What gave me the kick in the rear to start again?  Well, I took a time management course last Thursday (today is Tuesday) and they gave us some very good techniques to use to help us achieve our priorities.  One of the things that was taught in the class was that every week we need to "Sharpen Our Saw".  What this means is that I need time for myself to rejuvenate so that  I can be refreshed to accomplish the tasks I set out to do.  As part of this, we are to pick one thing out of each of the following categories and do it each week.  The categories are Physical, Emotional/Social, Mental and Spiritual.  I picked journaling for the mental part.  The others I picked were walk (haven't started it yet), play on the wii (guilty pleasure) and work on my sermon (which I also haven't started and I am doing on Sunday).  Let's pray that I can continue because I felt it was really fulfilling when I did it last summer.

I have been playing table tennis more the last 2 years than I had previously.  When I was in high school and college, I played all of time.  However, school and actuarial exams got in the way.  Well, I finally finished actuarial exams, so now I have more time to play.  We have had a company tournament in our office the last two years.  Last year, I finished 4th, but my performance was not as good this time finishing 12th.  I felt like I was actually playing better this year, but just didn't perform as well that day.  I have decided that I am going to start competing in tournaments again starting with the Show-Me Games in July.  However, I don't just want to show up and get beat.  I want to actually win some matches.  Therefore, yesterday, I called a person who was advertising private lessons.  He is down in Kansas City, but he said that he is able to teach me over the noon hour if I give him enough notice.  I look forward to meeting him.  Not only will he teach me skills to improve my game, he also has some good stories about the history of table tennis in the Kansas City area.

As I mentioned in the last paragraph, this year, I passed my last actuarial exam.  This was a long (sometimes off and on) process that went on for 12.5 years.  My goal was to achieve fellowship in both the Casualty Actuarial Society and the Society of Actuaries.  Currently there are only 33 people that have achieved both.  I still have one requirement left, however, before I will be a fellow of the SOA.  I will be going to a course called the Fellowship Admissions Course July 9-11, and on the evening of July 11, I will become an FSA (Fellow of the Society of Actuaries).  It has been a long ride, but I am finally glad to be done.

I look forward to sharing each and every day.