Lists...

Because I suffer from ADD, staying focused and on task is very daunting for me. I also have extreme difficulty starting tasks, and if I do start something, I have trouble seeing it through to completion. I get overwhelmed... or bored... or my mind moves on to the next task on my list and I feel an overpowering urge to begin what ever happens to come to mind next. I am EXTREMELY distractible. These symptoms have affected pretty much every aspect of my life - school work, grad school work, and even things that seem as simple as carrying on conversations with friends or cleaning my house. If one person has said it, ninety people have said it - "Why don't you make lists, Carrie Beth? Do one thing, cross it off, and then do another." Do they honestly think that I haven't already tried every coping strategy known to man? Lists sometimes work for me. Sometimes they don't. If I'm especially distractible, or if I'm feeling even the teensiest bit overwhelmed, lists only make things worse. If I get too overwhelmed, I completely shut down. Oh, I'll look like I'm busy doing what ever I'm supposed to be doing, but I'm definitely not "there."

Ok, enough of that. (See that distractibility coming into play?!?!?) Too heavy for me this morning... I want to make fun lists...

Places in the US I want to visit:

• New York City (AGAIN! I LOVE IT!) (This time I want to go at Thanksgiving or Christmas.)
• Boston (Again!) (Exactly one year ago today, I was flying home from Boston after spending about 10 days with JD, Sheigh, and the kids. Sox games, shopping, Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market with my friend Amanda who was also in Boston for the summer.) (See, I'm already off topic!)
• Seattle (and Washington state in general)
• Charlotte
• Washington D.C.
• Maine or Rhode Island or somewhere up there in that area...
• Chicago
• Texas
• Cali - San Francisco, L.A., Sonoma
• Las Vegas (although I've heard it's really, really nasty in the day time. I just want to see the lights and hustle and bustle at night.)
• New Orleans or Baton Rouge

Things that are currently pissing me off:

• The fact that my driver's side window will not roll down... the motor is dead. And this means I can NEVER go through a drive through again. Let's face it... spending a couple hundred bucks on my old car is just not a good idea.
• I also have a leak somewhere in my air conditioning something or other in my car. I have to add a can of freon to my car every 6 weeks or so. And let's just face it... that freon's gotta be going somewhere. And we all know our atmosphere doesn't need any more drama.
• I guess this is turning into a car list. My car ('95 Cougar - my sister's college car and mine...) uses oil like nobody's business. I constantly have to add oil to my car. Ugh.
• I think the biggest pisser of them all is the fact that I FINALLY have a decent down payment saved, and I would be getting my Master's pay raise in the fall. This means all conditions are favorable for the purchase of a car. Except for one tiny, yet huge thing... I don't have a job secured for next year. Therefore, buying a car would be a really dumb move to make right now.