I was a success today!!!

I don't like change. Actually, I do like change. The part about change that I don't like is that I hate feeling incompetent and stupid when encountering something new. Today was a big step for me. I learned something.
You see, I had a surprise interview at my job last week for a temporary quality clerical position. I was very truthful when I told them that it had been awhile since I'd really used the computer for things other than email, blogging, etc. I wasn't really all that into the interview because my mind was on other things. Well, today they called me into the office for a couple of tests. They gave me two documents and wanted me to duplicate one in Word and the other in Excel and spend about 15 minutes on each. They said that it was okay if I didn't complete them. They just wanted to see what I could do. I decided to start with the Word one first since I was most familiar with it. Of course, this was the newest version of word and everything was in different places from what I was used to. But I faked my way through it. At the 15 minute mark, I was about 3/4 of the way through. I decided to switch over to the other one. I opened up Excel and sat there for a few minutes just staring at the screen. I realized that I had no clue what to do. It reminded me of the time that I decided that I wanted to play the guitar and so I went and bought one. When I got home, I opened the case, held the guitar, and realized that I had no clue where to go from there. I had to go to a friend and ask him to give me a starting point. Well, that's how I felt when looking at Excel. I tried a couple of things, but it was getting me no where, so I decided that I would go back to the Word document. If nothing else, I could at least finish one of the projects. I know that I didn't get the document perfect, but I know that I did as well as I could. Now, to someone looking at this, it might seem like I failed, not succeeded. That's not the case. I'm starting to learn that if I'm not perfect at something that I've never done before, it doesn't mean that I'm stupid or incompetent. It's okay if my first time (or even my second) isn't absolutely right. I succeeded because I went back to my sewing machine, realized it was okay that I made some mistakes, and didn't cry or put myself down. I decided instead to look at what I did right. I decided to see the risk and challenge that I took and say, "Way to go. You did something you've never done before and you've grown." Who knows what will happen after this, but I'm thankful for the opportunity that I've had to learn a little bit more about myself. Yay for growth!!!! :)

Another challenge update

This past summer, I decided to go on a cruise with a couple of my friends. I didn't give much thought into the decision. I just decided to jump. It was something needed to distract me anyway. Our awesome cruise was the last week of July. We left on Friday to drive to Cali and got there early on Saturday morning. Later, after a couple hours of sleep, we got up and went to Disneyland!!!! Yay!!! It was the first time I'd been there since high school. I was such a little kid. I was giggling in anticipation in the parking lot. It was a wonderful day, even though we were really tired. At the beginning of the day, we bought little tiaras and wore them all day. We had fun being princesses.

Monday morning, we went to board our ship at Long Beach. The security and boarding process weren't nearly as bad as I expected it to be and everyone was very nice. Quite a difference from airports where everyone seems grumpy.

On the ship, we got settled and then had our safety drill. We learned how to get on the escape boats just in case of an emergency. Fun! :)


The first night, we had to test out the deck chairs. It was freezing and so we went and got some hot chocolate, went out on deck, and had some awesome girl talk. It became a tradition almost every night.

Tuesday was Catalina and snorkling!!! Now, water doesn't scare me at all. I've been a fish since I was a baby, but this was a very new experience for me. When I first put the breathing thing in my mouth, it kind of freaked me out. I'm not used to having something in my mouth and trying to breathe through it at the same time. It seemed so huge and didn't seem to belong in my mouth. When I put my head under the water, I had a little bit of a freeze up and slight panic. I was actually almost tempted to get out right there and not go on. I don't know if it was clastraphobia or what, but I decided that I needed to get over it. If I practiced breathing and relaxed, then I would be ok. After all, everyone else was able to do it. I could too. I'm so glad I didn't quit. It was awesome. I wasn't ready to get out of the water when it was time. It's definitely something that I'll want to do again. And I wasn't stung with a jellyfish. I was worried about that. The funny thing is, I talked to a few of my friends later that had gone snorkling later that summer, and they did get stung.

Tuesday night was formal night. I just love getting all dressed up!

Wednesday was Ensenada, Mexico. We went shopping in La Bufadora. I wasn't really in the mood to barter much, so I didn't get much there. I did want to have some authentic mexican food while I was there and our tour guide said that there was this really good place that served fish tacos. One thing that my brother, Tim, told me to do while on this cruise was to be adventurous with the food. I decided to try this fish taco and it was one of the most delicious things I've ever had. That was a good adventurous experience. A not so fun one will come up later.

Wednesday night was a big party on the ship. The other girls went to bed early, but I wasn't ready for that, so I wandered and finally joined in with a bunch of people. I was by myself, but ended up having a blast. I danced on the deck until the wee hours of the morning. I even joined a conga line. Sorry, no pictures for this night. I didn't have anyone to take them. That's probably a good thing. :)

Thursday was an all ship day. We had planned to go swimming and lay out, but it was very cold and cloudy. It was a relaxing day though. Dinner was the adventurous part. I decided to try some smoked salmon for the appetizer. Unfortunetly, I thought that smoked meant it would be cooked as well. Not the case. Let me just say that I am definitely not a fan of raw salmon. Ew! But just for my pride's sake, I choked it down. I wasn't looking forward to the entree that I'd ordered. It was some penne pasta with the most disgusting shade of orange, pasty sauce. It also had shrimp, scallops, and calamari. I'm not a fan of shrimp in any form besides popcorn, but I ate it. It actually was the tastiest thing on the plate. That's not saying much. I ate the scallops, but probably just because I didn't know what they were. But the calamari was too much. When I saw the tenticles and head, I just couldn't do it. I'll stick to fried calamari from McGrath's or something. Dessert saved my taste buds. Baked Alaska. It was yummy and I'm thankful. I needed something good to get that awful taste out of my mouth. I might be a little more cautious when being adventurous next time. :)

Friday morning was back to land. It was hard to come home. We were ready to go on our next cruise as soon as we'd gotten off the ship. I'm glad I was able to have this experience. We'll see where the next one takes me.