The big summer project right now is Ryan's pool. He's putting in a 16' x 32' pool in his backyard. He found the one he wanted in Cleveland, went there and tore it down, and now is in the process of putting it back up. It is going to be so nice when it's done. I've been helping when I can, when I'm not at work and when I'm not too tired from work to help. We worked on it for a good 8 hours today in the 95 degree sun all day. All the sand is down and the forms for the bottom are set, but it has to be completely leveled off yet. It's going to take a while to get it all done, but it's going to be amazing. He has been putting a lot of work into it.
Work has been going decent. We were pretty busy a couple of weeks ago and the other PT I work with was on vacation, so it was just me and my boss and the assistants. It was a little crazy and stressful. Now the other PT is back from vacation and we are not so busy, so it's been alright. I am really feeling like an official PT now and actually feel like I know what I'm doing and have some authority around there. I'm not on a power trip or anything, but I do feel like I have more responsibilities now and have earned my place there and gained respect from my peers. Even though the work can be hard (literally heavy lifts), I'm enjoying taking on more complex cases. It makes me feel good to have built a good reputation there.
In addition to work and helping build a pool, everything else in my life seems to be going good at the moment. I have made a lot of positive changes in my life that I'm really happy about. For one thing, I am working very hard on having a new attitude of not sweating the small stuff. I am trying not get bothered by little things that used to really irritate me. Life's too short to get stressed about small things. Another positive change - I have quit drinking. Completely. I thought about it for a long time and never could make myself give it up. But I have decided that it's for the best and the best thing for me to do is just not have any alcohol at all. So I am done. I dumped out every alcoholic beverage that I had in the house and that's it. It's been an adjustment, but nothing I can't handle. A lot of diet pop and crystal light and iced tea and I am fine. Life's too short for being too inebriated to enjoy it. I've also taken up some better hobbies (when I have time for hobbies). It had been a really long time since I actually sat down and read a book for enjoyment. Last week I went to walmart and bought 4 new books and I'm already through 2 of them and will probably get to the library the next evening they are open to see if I can find a few more. I barely use Facebook anymore. I used to be a Facebook addict. Now I really only check it once a day for about 30 seconds. I have a lot more free time to do productive things than sit around updating my Facebook page every 5 minutes. I'm also going to start cooking more often and stop eating quick fix meals like nachos and hot pockets. I haven't cooked a decent meal like I used to in a really long time. I'm going to start again.
So that's what's been going on with me. I feel like it's all been good. This has been a pretty good summer and I think it's going to continue that way. And at the end of summer, I have a week's vacation over Labor Day to look forward to. Life is good.
