I've got my pirate shirt ready for what is shaping up into a very nice birthday weekend. Having a birthday in January is not that great when you work in public accounting because it is BUSY in late January. Last year on my birthday I was working in tax and going to school. My birthday was on a Wednesday and I worked at an internship that I had started the week before. I didn't know anyone, and no one knew it was my birthday. I worked until 5:30, and then immediately went to school. My twin sister went out with all of our friends, but I didn't get out of school until 9pm.
This year my birthday is on a Thursday and I have to work 11 hours. On top of working long days, I am taking BEC the Saturday after my birthday. Initially, to get approved to take the CPA exam during busy season (there was an issue with my NTS expiring) I had to agree to come into work after sitting for the exam (if you've taken a section of the CPA exam you know you are just mentally wiped afterward), and then to make up any additional hours the Sunday after that, which would have meant my birthday weekend was going to suck.
Luckily, we had a meeting at 8:30pm before leaving work about possibly working late on Friday, and half a day Saturday morning (when I will be taking the exam) in order that everyone can leave and go to Gasparilla. For those not from Tampa, Gasparilla is a month long pirate festival. Gasparilla time is very neat in Tampa because the city really changes, especially in South Tampa. They put up bleachers along Bayshore Blvd and start blocking off street parking, which isn't so cool, but all of the houses will put up their pirate flags as well. There are so many events, that it seems that everyone has some sort of Gasparilla experience. It includes three parades, a kid's parade, a day parade, and a night parade. The parades are listed in order of the drunken debauchery that takes place from least to most. There is also an Art's Festival and a Distance Classic race series. In addition to getting off for the day parade, I have also submitted a proposal for people from my department to be sponsored by work for the Gasparilla 5K Corporate Team Challenge. The proposal is in the final stages of acceptance, so we should find out tomorrow if it gets final approval.
All in all, I've been on a really positive keel lately. Work is busy and that can be stressful. I can see some of my nervous habits cropping up. I've been rubbing my face and picking at any little scab or loose string or other little oddity I come across. This caused me to breakout last week, but even that hasn't got me down. The weather has been beautiful this last week and I've been using my lunch breaks to study at the park. It is weird how sometimes I am just so positive and outgoing and content, and then for a little while I just get down and a little quiet and introverted. I'll take the quiet times for weeks like these. I'm sure a lot of it has to do with my continuing to work out. Being active has always made such a difference in my psyche. I know that I let the guilt from being sedentary and making unhealthy choices simmer and corrode my confidence. Now that I've been working out and eating healthier I just feel positive and hopeful. I even saw some ab muscles when I was blow drying my hair at the gym this morning. My stomach is still a little softer than I would like above that, but it felt like the sun coming out from behind the clouds, so to speak.
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