Almost another month of nothing… FAIL.
Wow, it’s been a busy last month. I didn’t want to get another month behind, but it looks like I did it again. Silly me. I have to apologize, because this is no way for a lady to behave. I should be writing in my stupid blog more than I have. I would give an excuse, but maybe next time. And since there shouldn’t be a next time, I won’t worry about an excuse.
Right, so why am I blogging today, you ask? Well, because many a thing has happened since the last time I blogged in earnest. Let’s see, I’ve got my TESOL certification since last I’ve blogged. I saw Dir en grey Live for the first time after ten years of fandom. I got to meet up with Jake and Heather for the first time since July. That was good. Yeah, many fun-filled things have happened. I even made this year’s thanksgiving feast for my family. They said they really enjoyed it, for the record. So I’m doing pretty good.
Anyway, with all that has happened in the last month, I find myself at a new threshold. I now must decide where to go and what to do from here. So, naturally, I will make a checklist and post it here. My list of things to do from here on out are as follows:
1.) Create my resume for employment.
2.) Contact an old employer who thinks highly of me for a letter of reference. Just so I have a good one.
3.) Volunteer to work at the refugee center here in town.
4.) Apply to schools in Western Washington and Asia—not to be a student, but a teacher.
My little list of silly things to do include:
1.) Add some categorized pages to my blog for no reason.
2.) Christmas shopping for the nearest and dearest. (fiscally permitting)
3.) Make a point to blog more than once a month. This will be hard with my limited internet access…
Anyway, that’s what I am looking at for right now. This blog is probably going to fit under my “cop-out” post. Did you notice that my new layout design is pretty, and a little less high school chic than my last one? Heehee.
Anyway, take care folks, and by the way... can you find me in this crowd pictures at the Dir en grey concert?
Query of Enlightenment
On today’s episode of Query of Enlightenment, Jenai shares a personal anecdote. A-hem.
But first, a little back history: Yesterday, my truck broke down in Spokane, WA, leaving me stranded in Cheney with my old college buddies. However, since my college buddies all have classes on a Monday, I was left to my own devices– devices which found me at an old hang-out, the Artist Cafe. It’s a small luncheon or dinner cafe with a Philipino menu and Thai or Tailand beverages, and a small market.
Basically, I wanted to have lunch there before I take off again, possibly to never return. That, and I wanted to pick up some of my favorite Adobo mix, etc. at the adjacent international market. Low and behold, they were out of the ingredients I was seeking. I they have NEVER been out before. Since this was such a letdown, the women offered to order and ship the items to me at no extra charge. I guess since I told them that the international market in Idaho doesn’t carry them either, they wanted to treat me special. Anyway, I would rather patronize my old hang-out due to unwavering loyalty (also known as nostalgia.) They of course are more than happy to send me what I asked for, as I am more than happy to pay them for it. (Plus, I make a point to stop in there whenever I travel though town– broken truck or not.) ^_^
Well, this brings me back to the point of this blog-quicky. While I was eating my lunch (the Special: Dim Sum Platter with fruit slices and a tall tangerine flavored energy drink) I ended up talking with the owner about where I was living now, and what my plans were. Since they recognise me, the conversation began organically. It was a very casual conversation that turned into another one of those movie moments, where I start to look for the candid cameras. She asked me, “How young are you?” I said 24. She commented, “So young still! Do you have a boyfriend still here?”
I laughed at her question, “oh, no. I don’t have time for that!” She gave me a look of mock-shock, responding, “Well, I’m surprised at you… but it so good that you are serious about your future. So many women and girlfriends of men want only one thing, a ring on thier fingers! They just want to get married! Now, I don’t want to play match-maker… but you know, my nephew is only 26-years-old, and all ready he’s a doctor! You should meet him, he’s so smart! He had many girlfriends that were too impatient and wanted to only get married to him without thinking about their own futures. But he was so busy to become a doctor that he couldn’t just marry them! It would be too soon! He wanted them to wait for him. Eventually they broke up, but I’m not trying to play match-maker!” Then she grabbed his graduation photo with his doctor’s degree, and a packaged doctor’s white jacket with his name to prove to me that her nephew was indeed a 26-year-old doctor. Now, I know my mother does crazy things like this to people I’ve never met, and I’ve always felt mortified to hear about it. I was half wondering how this woman’s nephew felt about it. I get embarrased just hearing that Mom talks about me a lot with people I do know, so conversations with strangers is almost too much! Or at least, I thought it was.
Next the woman told me her nephew’s life’s story: how he taught himself to read at the age of 2, and proved it to his family by reading the nametags of professionals and greeting them by name in a hotel elevator. She said that she always knew how smart he was, even before he would test higher than everyone in his class, and become magnum cum laude with an astronomical I.Q.
As I listen to this woman pour her heart out about her nephew, I realized how enchanted I was to hear about him. He was a very nice looking man, not that I was letting her be match-maker or anything, (he’s 6′2″, by the way…). It’s true that what made me think about my own life in this situation was the fact that my mom talks about me in this same manner. It’s not that she’s a walking advertisement of my desireable attributes. It’s just that some women take so much pride in their children, neices, and nephews, that it’s hard not to boast of their good qualities. Not that mine are anything compared to Omar’s (the 26-year-old doctor’s), but I realized that the very thing that embarrased me about my mother was lifting my spirits in small-town Cheney, WA. Despite being stranded in my old college town, with all my old friends in class, and me, dining alone, I was by no means lonely. I was learning about the beauty of a perfect stranger’s life. And I was happy to hear about it. I loved hearing about this woman’s nephew. I had a very comfortable lunch listening to her tell me about how Omar “will one day meet the woman God intended for him, and maybe he just needs a woman who is not impatient but can wait to get married…” someone like me, (not that she’s match-making, or anything.)
I don’t know, I suddenly have different feelings about my mother, thanks to this stupid coincidence. I think that maybe next time I hear that my mom just praised me in front of a perfect stranger, I won’t be so humiliated. Maybe that stranger will enjoy hearing how proud my mom is. Maybe he or she will just appreciate hearing about what I have accomplished in that same way people enjoy watching the characters in a movie accomplish small feats of life. I mean, my life isn’t so different from a sitcom or t.v. drama– I wake up, get into all kinds of shinanigans, pause for commercial breaks, solve my problems, brush my teeth, and go to sleep, only to wake up and repeat– just like everyone else.
Anyway, I just wanted to blog what happened today. It was oddly refreshing, in an independant films kind of way. I felt like that world traveler stranded in her home country, talking with international people about their smart children and their desire to have me meet them one day, not that they’re trying to play match-maker, or anything. I would love to meet Omar in the future. Not to be introduced to him as a prospective girlfriend… but just to see for myself what makes the women at the Artist Cafe glow with pride. And I want to meet all the people I’ve never met who had heard my mother’s endless speeches about me and my travels and writing– not to prove that my mother told them the truth, but so that they can see the physical manifestation of my mother’s pride, and me see the people who might have been influenced by a simple story about me.
Is that so strange?
A Conservative We All Can Admire: Anne Korin
I’ve said this a few times, I know. But I’ll say it again: I’m a blue girl in a red state (Idaho), and I am very interested in what Obama’s thoughts on Anne Korin’s Oil Solution are. In fact, I wrote his campaign a lengthy letter (not as long as a blog post, mind you) about my concerns on the matter. Why, you might ask? Because I think of her strategic solution to ending America’s dependency on world oil and stripping the power away from radical Islam is genius. I can’t understand why neither candidate for the presidency has snatched her up and talked to the American people about her suggestions to crushing oil dependence.
I watched Ms. Korin speak on C-Span via YouTube, originally aired on TV August 4th, and was greatly impressed by her speech and even more impressed by her answers during the Q&A. (If you are interested in watching the seven parts of her speech on YouTube, I will be posting links below the body of this post.) What I do not understand is why neither the Obama campaign nor the McCain campaign has talked about the benefits America could gain from flex fuels from corn, sugarcane, etc. I don’t understand why agriculture and farming are not being held as high as other issues at this time. THEY SHOULD BE! I know this may sound like the result of countryside brainwashing from living in Idaho, but let me assure you, what I’ve learned from Anne Korin makes sense. Not just on a country-bumpkin level, but on a developed country level. We have the technology; we just need the go-ahead. Besides, I’ve been saying that my generation needs to go back to tilling the land and growing for a long time now… Anne Korin is just giving me more solid reasons why we should, and teach these valuable skills to our children. But I digress.
As a country we are in a precarious position, as Obama has said several times. I agree. And I also believe Ms. Korin is absolutely right about a few things. For example, our government should be making a law that requires all cars and trucks manufactured/produced from now on to be flex fuel vehicles. It is necessary to making oil loose its strategic hold on our country. (Ms. Korin explains better than I do, but bear with me. If you’re still confused, you can always watch the YouTube vids.) We also need to repeal the tariff on ethanol imports to help make this possible. Personally, I don’t even understand WHY we have such a tariff!
Ms. Korin also made a good point that this is the first war since the civil war where the American people are paying for both sides. That’s an outrage, but it’s true. How, because as long as we are buying foreign oil (remember, the US only has barely 3% of the worlds oil… so we have to buy it from offshore,) we are paying for radical Islam’s war on America (and Christianity and Western thoughts and ideologies.) Anyway, I want to know why Obama has not grabbed a hold of these truths and used them in his campaign. He’s calling for change, but he’s not really called for this change—and this change is BRILLIANT! Plus, Ms. Korin would be an excellent top energy adviser to Obama’s administration. I want to see the specific details and clear plans that Ms. Korin has brought to the peoples’ attention in the Obama plans as well. I think we need them.
Sen. Obama, had said it’s time for change. I agree. I think a major change we should focus on immediately is flex fuels. That’s the change we need not only to better our country, but also to better the entire world, so that no one needs to depend on oil controlled by OAPEC. We can do this; we just need a leader to remind us “yes we can.” Just think how helpful flex fuels would be on a global level. There are many underdeveloped nations out there with perfect conditions for growing sugar cane for methanol. These nations are on the receiving end of US aid. We could help them soup up their own economy just by encouraging them to do what they do best—grow a valuable crop that will give us the edge we need against the Middle East, radical Islam, and OAPEC. We would cease paying for both sides of this war, would have liquid fuel options other than oil, and if we cease to be in a ridiculous war, we have more time to concentrate on other issues that have been talked into the floor by Obama and McCain already.
Anyway, that’s all I will say on the matter. Now it’s your choice on whether or not you listen to Anne Korin yourself. If you do and like what she says, write to the candidate you wish to vote for and tell him what you think about flex fuels and Anne Korin’s Oil Solution. What have you got to lose? Thanks.
PART ONE, PART TWO, PART THREE, PART FOUR, PART FIVE, PART SIX, PART SEVEN
