Negative Nancy

Right now I am grappling with a couple of things. #1. I have a cold and have made good friends with Kleenex today. #2. I am wondering how my social networking is affecting my lifestyle and what I've actually gained from it. I feel that blogging is a worthy cause. It encourages writing, which is creative and blogs teach me something about my friends or someone else. I find I use my blog-stalking as a diversion to work sometimes, but consider it a healthy diversion. Facebook is a different story. I feel it is totally superficial and often contrived. As I talked with some work friends today, one of us mentioned that he might "quit" Facebook. Myself and another friend, scoffed...why "quit" such a good thing? But is Facebook really a healthy and positive asset to my life? I'm not so sure, yet I am constantly compelled to check for updates, click "like" or join a group and I just don't know why. I kind of feel like I smoke and know I should quit, but can't. I just tried to post a question about my pondering but I was only able to use 420 characters and I didn't feel like I had enough room to really make my statement. I admit the ease of conversation is great and the quick posting makes keeping in touch easier, but I'm not sure how much quality exists in the networking program. #3. I have a lot to be thankful for right now, conveniently it is Thanksgiving....

1. I love where we now live. I think a lot of my previous disgruntlement was location and while I'd still like property and a nice kitchen, a bathroom without a pink tub, a landscaped yard...you get the idea. Now that we've moved, I don't feel like I need to change that aspect of my life.
2. While my job is tough and unrewarding at times, I really like it. I like the school, my colleagues, my classes. The kids are kids but they're never the root of why I don't like teaching. The system is broken and the kids can't change that aspect.
3. Dogs are great, especially mine. Unlike people they are always happy.
4. I have a great group of friends here, finally. It took awhile but I now have a great group of friends that I love hanging out with. Actually I have two groups. My biking friends and my horse friends. My biking friends actually consist of girls now in addition to a fabulous group of very good looking guys. We all got together this week to see a biking movie and I marveled at how different we all are (in both age and outside biking interests) yet how when we bike, we just mesh...we know what order in which to head down a trail, we know who likes which trails, we know who has what bike parts, we even know what each of us likes to eat on the trail. We all have an oddly organic relationship, but it works and we've all come to appreciate what has come to be. While my horse friends are not as close, they're still an awesome support group and another family away from home. Horse shows are not really competitions (they're more like good natured competitions), they're more like family get-together's and while I just chastised networking, networking has allowed me to keep in touch with them in the "off" season.
5. I don't have a lot of negatives in my life. I hear people complaining all the time and while I do my fair share, it's not serious and it's not affecting my life in any serious way. I hear of negativity frequently at work and I wonder why? Sure, the system is broken and needs fixing, but why ALWAYS focus on the negative. Plus, I have too much to do at work to focus on the negative or anything un-work related.
6. I have a best friend. Jarred and I have been together 10 years this Thanksgiving. He's still my best friend and he's still the one. I have a few single friends right now and they comment on our relationship which is a good reminder that it really is great, all the time. Even when Jarred says, as we walk in the door, "Our house stinks. I'll light the candles, if you make dinner."