Success or fail, you tell me.

So, there are two elements at work here.

We have an Elf, his name is Goomba. Brandon is slightly embarrassed by his name because he arrived in our house when he was 3, or maybe 4.  It seems the years are starting to blur together.  This year, our Elf has been inspired by the Dinosaurs that went viral (check out the article about the parents that set up their kids dinosaurs in different play settings) and by other Elves that have been up to some fun in the 24 nights they get to visit the homes of their kids.

It appears that Goomba made a slight spelling mistake.  Poor Bradon. Perhaps Goomba should not  have arrived back without sleep.  *AHEM*.  Perhaps Connor will become Conner at some point this month?  Time will tell.  Maybe next year instead of trying to do NABLOPOMO, I will attempt to blog a month of the shenanigans our Elf gets up to.

The other element is the LEGO.  Apparently I have been a wee bit obsessed with lego in the last week. It has been quite pathetic actually.  There  have been several nights that everyone is in bed and I am up, playing with lego.  I am not sure if "playing" is the right way to describe what I have been up to.  It could also be classified as organizing all the builds that have been dumped together and who knows what we have, and maybe with Christmas coming, we should really figure it out.  I also think it was oddly therapeutic.  The last few weeks, hell, year, have been interesting for me at work.  I am glad that I switched roles in the last year, however, I think it will be time to try out some different areas of Student Services in the coming year for a CHANGE.  I like what I do… but I think have hit the wall in terms of what I can do within my department. I have been told a few different ways that if I want more, it isn't going to happen in the current context, and I only need to hear and feel it so many times before I am willing and open to take a look around.  I think all that transpired around this awareness was a little unsettling, and I must say, was an eye opening experience.  In the last decade, I have looked for mentors, and frankly, the people I would call mentors have not been the people I thought they would be.  Isn't that life though… always full of surprises.  I think this was also the appeal of lego.  I was creating something from a plan, and it was just nice to follow well crafted directions for a change.  My biggest challenge with our lego is finding all the pieces.  It is weird, I seem to be finding pieces in the oddest places, and at weird times.  The lego builds have been a soothing counterbalance to work.

Talk about a circle - I started with a picture of Goomba with the kids, a little about lego, contemplate work and not truly being all that satisfied about what going back to my old job holds to looking back up  at the picture of my kids.  It puts it all in to perspective.  It will be interesting to see what 2014 holds.