Becoming Mr. Business

All throughout this second semester of optometry college, I had this constant feeling like I was forgetting something. The air around me each day was heavy with this feeling – like, I forgot to lock the doors of my car, leaving my two sticks of Trident gum vulnerable to theft. Or maybe a more universal scenario for all the pedestrians out there, it always felt as if I forgot to put Dominique’s malicious lemur back into its holding cell after giving it what was supposed to only be 10 minutes of outside time (A situation I think we’ve all experienced more times than we’d care to remember). Needless to say, I finally discovered what had been causing this uncomfortable forgetful feeling today when I woke up in a terror sweat from my cheddar popcorn induced nap; I had forgotten about this blog (Sorry to break the fourth wall). In the immortal words of Jaleel White in his powerhouse performance as Steve Urkel from the smash hit ‘Family Matters’, “Did I do that?”

Whoops, I neglected my duties as co-class blogger and now I feel as uncool as Steve Urkel (left). Maybe if I blog enough this summer, I’ll blossom into a swan like the debonair Stefan Urquelle (right).

When I realized my negligent ways, I immediately jumped onto the information superhighway and made a long overdue visit to this blog, and it wasn’t pretty. There were cobwebs, tumbleweeds, and other metaphors people use to depict long term abandonment. I had let this blog down :(. Sure, second semester was tough and I was working hard on my school work over the last four months, but that isn’t an excuse to neglect everything else in life. An invitation? Sure! But not an excuse. Ugh, this whole mess makes me feel terrible for my behind the back mean girls gossiping that I participated in regarding the obese alley cat that wanders my neighborhood. On an almost daily basis, this chubby adorable cat that I’ve decided to call Mr. Business, struggles to climb over my 6 foot fence in order to nap on my covered patio furniture for 8 hours. Unbeknownst to Mr. Business, I like to watch him sleep and sometimes groom himself as I laugh at him and call him lazy. I know, I know . . . I abandon blogs and gossip behind cat’s backs. I’m a monster!

This is Mr. Business, the cat that likes to sleep on my patio furniture. One time he placed a dead bird on my doorstep as an offering of payment for all the times that he uses my backyard as his personal lounge. In return, I maliciously critique his bad habits from my ivory tower. It’s a projection of my own insecurity and I’m working on it.

I may have been catty (pun NOT intended) when targeting Mr. Business’ laziness, but I realize that people often criticize in others what they are uncomfortable with about themselves. I was a sass to Mr. Business and his constant sleeping, because I AM Mr. Business. I was Mr. Business all year. I was good about studying and doing well in my classes, but I was terrible about everything else. I didn’t hang out with my awesome classmates nearly enough, I didn’t go to the gym ever (whoops), I didn’t reserve time to relax, and I forgot that I have a family (I should probably let them know what I’ve been doing the past nine months). I think Mr. Business was trying to teach me a lesson by showboating his lazing habits in my face on a daily basis. He was trying to tell me to get up, get out and live my life. I need to learn how to manage my time and balance my life, or else I’ll wind up on the same faded piece of furniture covering every day while the world passes me by. Thank you Mr. Business for opening up my eyes. This summer I plan on going to Optometry’s meeting and conducting research on the lens as part of the T35 research program, but I won’t let these things interfere with the chronicling of my journey to becoming an optometrist on this blog. As a special event, tune in June 9th when I feed Mr. Business a can of albacore tuna on Facebook live as a thanks to him for reawakening my desire to manage a balanced lifestyle. I’m just kidding, I won’t actually be doing that. Besides, Mr. Business could probably stand to lose a little weight. Oops, there I go again.