are you ready?

Hey ya'll. To my peeps in Jax:
I just want you to know how much I love you. I wish I could come see you more often. Or that you could all come see me! You could rent a beach house here in Virginia Beach and we could all jam out! Anyway...just wanted to update and let you all know what's up with me.
I am really happy. I love my job and I am meeting new people. My family is great to me and I am doing well living here.
I gotta go cause my training test is starting. I love you!
Shan

oy vey...

Hey ya'll.

Pray for me.

Pray with me.

Pray for yourselves.

Pray for open minds and grace-filled hearts.

Pray for love to overshadow everything.

Pray for peace and direction.

I love you all.

Shan

wow

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to jump on here real quick and let you know that life is good. I am happier than I have been in a really long time.

The reason?

God and I are chummy. I'm talking to Him every day (totally recommend it) and I know He is leading me where He wants me.

It's still a scary road - with a lot of possible hurt in the future. But I am confident I am loved and have been created as I am for a reason.

How cool is that?

I want you all to know that God loves you just as you are. And I love you all too.

you want me to WHAT on labor day?

Ok...so, I got a little story.

I washed and waxed my car on Saturday - it's gorgeous. Then I went to pull my motorcycle out of the garage to wash and wax it too. And I still had my wet flip flops on. I slipped. The bike started to fall over towards the wall. My finger got trapped between the handle bar and a shovel. It was there for almost two minutes. I yelled for help. I couldn't move my feet or my finger without risking a worse injury. My dad finally heard me and came running. He pulled the bike off my finger. Oddly enough, it was the crooked finger which I broke when I was 13 or so. It felt like I broke it again - but it was only badly dented in. It has since healed and I am now using it to type. Pretty sweet.

Tomorrow I have my funds test. We have had to memorize thiry nine fund names, initials and numbers. And the names are super long, e.g. Limited term tax-exempt bond fund of america. They will give us a blank sheet of paper and we have to write them all. I got it down. I was out to lunch today and telling a friend about the upcoming test. A girl at the table next to us heard me and asked if I work for American Funds. I said yeah and she continued to tell me I work for the best mutual funds company out there. I think she's right.

I told my manager I would like to get into training. I think I would make an excellent trainer. It suits my personality. We'll see how it goes. I am still enjoying my job - and tomorrow is jeans day. I'm super stoked about that one!

I miss Jacksonville - and I miss my friends. But I am glad to be here. My brother and I got to hang out today. And my whole family played rook tonight for a couple hours. Good times. Dad and I are going to start working out together.

It's past time for bed now. I'll check ya'll later!

far fig newt in

So...has anyone noticed I love using these "..." ? Hmm...too bad I can't add them into my speech pattern. You know...for emphasis. I guess I could poke the air three times in a row. Or maybe I could start saying, "dot, dot, dot." I will try one or the other tomorrow.
Training is still going well - for those of you who want to know. I am enjoying myself. I realize that "Shannon" and "mutual funds" don't really mix well. As someone said on my facebook page today, "I never saw you as the business type." Yeah, well...me either. But I gotta pay the bills somehow.
Lea is looking at loans for houses out in Cali. And Wicked is leaving LA in January of next year! Phooey. That's all I have to say about that. I still want to go see it in New York.
I am going to try to make it to Jacksonville for a visit in December or January. I would like to have my ordination service then as well. We'll see.
I still miss all my friends. But I have come out of the funk I was in for the last few weeks. There's so much possibility in the air. It's scary - but soooo cool. I definitely want to squeeze all I can out of this life. I've crossed a few things off my "bucket list." I don't actually have one. But if I did...I would have crossed these off:

Tour Europe
Jump out of a perfectly good airplane
Travel around the US...singing and playing guitar
Own a super fantastic, expensive guitar
Be in a band
Own a motorcycle
Graduate college
Get a tattoo
Be thanked on cd liner notes for a kick butt band
Go on a cruise (to the Bahamas)
Hear other people singing my songs (when they didn't know I written them)
Be completely and utterly open and honest with someone
Get married
Have sex
Get divorced

Ok...that last one wouldn't have really been on there. But...it's pretty much the best thing that ever happened to me. Although I would have done anything possible to make it work. One person just isn't enough when it comes to marriage. I think that's why there are usually two people. Hmm. Yeah.

Well...I've led a decently awesome life so far. And I still have a good ways to go. I'll add a few more things to the list that I have yet to accomplish:

Get my master's degree
Get ordained (soooo close)
See a Broadway show - on Broadway (preferrably Wicked)
Go to Hawaii
Make a cd of original songs
Pay off all my debt
Meet Josh Groban (whoops...already did that one. Thanks Lea!)
Write a book
See God face to face

That last one can wait a while though. I need time to do all the others. I'm pretty sure I'd have to be dead to see God's face. But, hey - if you wanna show me while I'm alive - bring it on. Oh - and can I hear your voice too? That'd be freaking sweet. For reals. Sorry...tangent.

Man...I love you guys. Whoever reads this (all three of you) - know that you are the best. And if you chuckled at least once during this post...my work here is done.

All my love,

Shan

mocking...bird

...yeah. so...today my training class took 4 hours of mock calls. This is when trainers (and their lovely assistants) call us and pretend to be Shareholders. They come up with the most convoluted requests and we do part of the job we are training for. I did pretty dang good today. I'm real comfortable on the phone since I have 6 months phone experience. And I'm a fast learner, so I am good with the information. Plus...I'm not afraid to ask for help when I need it. This is only the first half of our training...which will last until November. The second part is where we learn processing. Processing includes everything to do with maintaining a mutual fund. Transfers, redemptions, exchanges, requests for SOI's, TOA's...etc. And if you don't know what those stand for...it's cool. Neither did I at first. The good thing is...you don't have to ever hear them again.

I, on the other hand, have to hear them every day. And it's pretty cool. I am learning a lot about investing. Hopefully it will help me make some good decisions with my own retirement. Plus I get to buy mutual funds at wholesale value - which pretty much rocks.

I have been watching the Olympics every morning. I am too tired to stay up and watch, so I record it and fast forward through the boring parts while I eat breakfast. It's a good routine. Nastia and Shawn killed it! I was so happy for them. I actually teared up. And Phelps is just freaking amazing. I like watching track and field too. Gymnastics remains my favorite though...because I was the bomb at tumbling when I was 8. Well...maybe not. But I was the headstand champion every week! For real...I was. I could stay on my head for like a minute straight. I tried it a couple years ago and found out the extra weight really makes a difference. Go figure.

Oh...and I'm totally excited that gas is $3.45 right now. Other than that...not much is happening. I still miss my friends. Ooh! I almost forgot...Kim tried out for American Idol!! I heard that she rocked it. And I am soooo proud of her for doing it. I am sure it was an amazing experience. The judges missed out on an awesome singer. Losers. Whitney tried out as well and she said she was happy with her performance. Go Whitney! I am proud of her too.

I love my cat. And God and I are having some good talks lately, especially today. It really helps to be completely and utterly honest with Him. Like I could hide anything anyway. But sometimes I hide things from myself. If you're a pray-er, I would appreciate any good word you could put in for me. I am trying really hard to listen to God, and get rid of distractions. There are a couple of things I really need/want to know the truth about. God's truth, not man's. Man is stupid. Sure would be nice if God was a genie and would just pop out of my cherry coke and talk to me face to face. Yeah...that would be great. But I guess that would just be like pushing the easy button. Sometimes I wish it existed.

I love you guys (except for you, you know who you are)...try to have a relaxing weekend.

Shan

phooey

hello.

my name is shannon.

i am sad.

i miss my friends.

but i have nothing to complain about. life is pretty darn good. i have a great job, wonderful friends (no matter how far away), an awesome family, a free place to stay, food to eat and a God who loves me still. God bless Him. Hmm...think about it.