This is Going to Hurt: Everything You Need to Know about Pain.” The last time I experienced this much pain, I had a wisdom tooth extracted. I’ve had wisdom teeth taken care of in the past, but somehow, this one was just too hard. I had no idea I was in for a world of hurt. I don’t know how I’m going to sleep tonight. I don’t know how I’m going to sleep tomorrow. But it’s ok. After all, today is the first day of my new life. There’s some good news, as well. You see, at this same time last year, my husband and I were very involved in a car crash. We were driving back to the city (it was nighttime, as I recall) and there was a car coming at us head-on from the other direction. Since there was no time for us to react, we just stopped and waited for the other car to barrel through the front of our car. We were both OK; I don’t recall any serious injury. However, it was enough to shake my nerves. But really, that’s all in the past now. So, tonight, I want to send a prayer to all of those who have been injured at the hands of another person or another animal. It’s not fair. But it is reality, and I hope to God that you recover and that your pain subsides as you heal. Today was the first day of this year, and boy howdy, was it a good one. On January 1st, my mom, who has been in the hospital with a bacterial infection for the past two weeks, finally went home, well and healthy. Well and healthy, that is, until last night, when she had a seizure while sleeping. But that’s not what I’m going to write about. Instead, I’m going to write about a day off. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a real day off. In fact, it’s been a while since I’ve taken an entire day to myself. I had the day off for two reasons. First, I am writing a blog. I’ve been working on my writing, but I need to get back to it. I have a new job, which means I’m working 12-14 hour days, seven days a week. Second, my son’s hockey season just started, and my youngest is playing in an All-star program. I’m going to try to get some of that written about as well. To be honest, I had mixed emotions today. One of the best parts of going home is coming home to your puppy! But, when I looked down at Morky, I knew it was going to be another day that didn’t go according to plan. That’s OK, though. We did a lot of bonding. He loves me, even though I’ve never had puppies before. It seems like it’s been a while since I’ve had a proper Christmas, but really, it was more like I’ve been in the midst of too many things all at once to think about a day of rest. On top of that, my hubby and I will be leaving for Hawaii (and the west coast) in about a month, and then off to Europe for a month. So, I’m not exactly getting all of my relaxation done. It’s OK. It’s something to think about and talk about when I get back. This year, I’ve decided to do the work that I want to do, to pursue the activities that I want to pursue, to live in the moment, and to try to accomplish what I want to accomplish. I am also going to travel around this world and find what it is I’m looking for. I don’t know what it is, but I do know that it’s out there somewhere. That doesn’t mean that I’ll ever find it or that it’s always there, but it’s something to look for. Until then, I’m going to try to relax, enjoy my family, and live each moment as it comes. In other words, I’m going to have a great new year. So I haven’t been posting much, because I’ve been too busy. Today I received a check in the mail for a very large sum of money (I’ll not mention the amount), and I spent most of my day writing a check. What do you think of that? It’s not that I’m an especially wealthy person, but I knew that if I was ever going to find a nice home to call my own, I had to be ready. A lot of it has to do with where I live. I’m now moving to a nicer house, with many things that I’ve been craving since I was a kid, including a basement apartment. I may be crazy, but the bottom floor of my new house will have a fully outfitted apartment. I’m going to be spending a lot of time in the basement of this house. If you’ve read anything else I’ve written here, you know that I’ve always wanted a place to just hang out without any commitments to anyone else. I still want that, but I’ve never had the opportunity, especially in New York City. I’m looking forward to it. This may not seem like a big deal to some people. But to those who grew up with me, I know that I’m lucky. So many people dream of owning a place like this. I know that my childhood was an eclectic mix of things that I won’t write about in this blog, but I won’t forget. I had something that made me feel special. If only for the month of August (August 10th to be exact), I got to live the way I wanted. The rest of the year was spent going to school. I wanted to escape from my family life, so I did so. Everywhere I went, it seemed that I was labeled as being different. The fact is, I am different. Or perhaps, I’m one in a million. Either way, it doesn’t matter how many people I meet, it will never be a thousand. In the end, it’s my life, and I’m living the way I choose to live. I love you all, even if you’re on the other side of the country, and I wish you all the best in this life. Today, my boyfriend and I celebrated our birthdays together, which was fantastic. We had planned to go out for dinner last night, but he was delayed due to a work commitment. He was still working when I woke up today, so I decided to make our own celebration today. I also decided that I need to change the way I view birthday celebrations. As a child, I don’t remember any family-wide celebrations of birthdays. In fact, I don’t think we had a single birthday party. Nowadays, they are huge productions, and for that matter, they don’t make much sense. I’m not going to pretend that my boyfriend has to have all of this. That’s not how this works. I’m thankful for family and friends who have celebrated with me in the past. But that’s not what I’m going to write about. I’m going to write about the fact that in order to make this work, I need to make sure that I don’t spend a lot of money. There are two big things I love: music and fashion. However, I’ve been on a spending spree recently. My mom and I went shopping recently. She wanted to spend her birthday money (one of the best birthdays we’ve ever had) on new clothes. The problem was that I needed to work, and I thought I needed to spend the money at the store. I didn’t. I decided to spend some of that money on clothing, and I’m going to wear the same clothes until I can find something that suits my taste better. Last weekend, I bought a new TV for my room. That was a splurge. I don’t need another TV in my room, but at the time, I knew it was going to be worth it. I thought about how much fun it was going to be to watch the