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Nakedness and new accessories
So I found a local pool and started swimming. I paid the fees for a month's unlimited use (about $40 USD). When the front desk manager showed me to the locker room and showers, I got a surprise: everyone was, or was in the process of becoming, naked. I do not recall ever-- even once-- having disrobed in front of strangers. I've never played a ( Read more... ) -
Not recognizing Madonna: on growing up alien
A couple of months ago, a friend played a Madonna song and asked me whether I recognized the singer. I did not. The voice sounded familiar, but I couldn't put a name to it. She accused me of having grown up under a rock or on another planet. "You DO have Asperger's syndrome!" she teased. (Never mind that lots of people on the spectrum are very ( Read more... ) -
Yes, I will teach in Korea for another year
As a less anxious person might have predicted, the contract renewal interview was an anticlimax. I have another year's contract to teach in the Iksan public schools. When the interview panel asked about my health, I swallowed my fear and said, as calmly and confidently as I could, "You may have notice that I walk with a stick. I have arthritis. It ( Read more... ) -
Five things make a post
1. I watched the entire first season of "Glee" in four days. Rather a sadder show than I'd expected. The Quinn pregnancy plotline reminded me of the movie "Saved." Scenes between Kurt and his father were almost painfully sweet ( Read more... ) -
Your Brain Hates You-- and so does MS Word
So I'm revising a humor book about depression and anxiety for broke, un(der)insured people. Have run up against a few technical and textual problems ( Read more... ) -
Work stuff
So I passed the health check for immigration. I have a document certifying that I am not: HIV+, using illegal drugs, or infected with TB. Not one of those druggy, disease-spreading foreigners, then. To my great relief, no one said a word about my size or the fact that I walk with a cane. Come to think of it, they didn't even ask any questions like ( Read more... ) -
Novel: I have a draft. Now what?
So I've written over 56 thousand words, and will do my best to bring that number up to 60K by the end of November 30th. Then, I will have a Shitty First Draft. What next? The largest document I've ever revised, edited, paginated, and otherwise wrangled into a form suitable for submission to an outside evaluator was my master's thesis, and that was ( Read more... ) -
Even more job musings, plus some culinary experiments
Unless I get a university job offer that includes a salary higher than my current one, I will probably stick with the provincial office of education. The textbooks will be changing next year, so even if I am assigned the same grades and even the same schools, I won't be teaching the same lessons. Staying with the public schools, while neither ( Read more... ) -
one reason to be slightly less anxious about next school year
My supervisor told me that she would write me a very good evaluation for the education office. She absolutely won't mention any of the drunken axe-rampage incidents. -
Would the change be worth it?
Last night, I went through a list of twenty-six university job listings, eliminating those for which I was not qualified, by reason of experience, type of degree, or (in one case) religion. I also eliminated the ones whose application deadlines were too soon for me to be able to acquire the necessary documents, especially letters of recommendation ( Read more... )