Round 4 - 60 Pictures

To see the original list, click here.
To see the previous questions and pictures, click here.



16. A picture of someone who inspires you.




This was hard. I take a lot of inspiration from a lot of people, so I had a hard time picking just one.

Anyways.

Dr. Ruth Jenkins was my advisor and professor at Fresno State. By the time I left, she felt more like a friend or colleague than professor. She was one of the professors who really fueled my love for literature. She pushed my writing further, she pushed my discussion skills, and she encouraged me weekly to pursue graduate school. She's also an incredible person with a husband and kids. She has a life outside of the university. Considering one of my dream jobs right now is to teach at a university, she's a good life model! She inspires me to continue with my love of literature even if it makes me crazy by finals, even if I have to live on rice and water, and especially if my husband is understanding and supportive enough to encourage my studies even if it puts a cramp on our family life (which he definitely is).




17. A picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently.




Moving to Japan!
Our first PCS as a married couple, my first move overseas, our second home together, a new country to learn and understand, new road rules to master, new language to decipher...moving to Misawa has been the biggest change in my life.




18. A picture of your biggest insecurity.




It may not always be obvious, but I am ridiculously shy. I was the little kid that hid behind my mom's legs so I wouldn't have to talk to anyone. I would cry if adults tried to talk to me. After years of teaching myself how to walk without looking at the floor, and talk to strangers without hiding, and all the other little changes, I'm still shy and I still get anxiety when I meet new people or do new things.

The intensity isn't always the same. But it's always there and it's tiring to deal with. I'd love to be one of those people who can walk into a crowd of strangers comfortably and leave with all new friends, but it's just not me. Which makes moving every couple of years and especially moving overseas kind of terrifying. But exciting too.




19. A picture of you when you were little.




This is the only childhood picture I have on my computer, the rest are at home with my parents!




20. A picture of somewhere you'd love to travel.




I just googled and picked the first clear image, so I'm not really sure where this is, but it's somewhere in Ireland.

I WILL travel to Ireland at some point in my life. I want to see Dublin and the country. I want to have an Irish beer in an Irish pub and quite probably get drunk and Irish dance in the pub. (I was an Irish dancer for 10 years.)

In my dreams, I imagine spending months traveling around Europe and leisurely exploring town after town. If we somehow become rich in the next couple of years, maybe that will happen. More likely we'll take an amazing vacation that was entirely too short and we'll dream of going back every night. But my husband and I are both determined and we WILL go.

Who knows, maybe next time we'll move to Europe! Jeff loved Naples and we'd both go back to Italy in a heartbeat. We both doubt that's in the cards for us, but we also doubted moving overseas at all was in the cards for us, and look at us now...




Also, an update on the fire alarms!
We had SEVEN total this past weekend. Yes, SEVEN. We were thrilled. The last one was 6am on Monday morning, ew.
Monday afternoon maintenance was in our lobby checking out the machine for a few hours, so I'm hoping that fixes the problem. We haven't had another one yet *cross your fingers* And since it's currently snowing so hard I can't see the buildings across the street, I would really love it if the system didn't malfunction again!