One Step Closer to Conquering the World

Hello my faithful readers. There has been lots of goings-on around here. Let me tell you of more of the pipe-dreams that have been sprouting out as well of what has been occupying my time.

WHAT I GET PAID FOR:
Jamaican Jerk Pit: As my days here are winding down, I can only hope that I will never have to wait tables again. But the job, as a whole, has been good to me and there are not very many complaints. Working with Ian has been a blast, as well as with my co-worker Derrick, our only authentic Jamaican. Lisa, he wants to know when he will get to speak to you again. Haha. My Jamaican accent has improved considerably over the last couple of month

Tutoring Korean Children:
I had to let go of two of my kids today, Julie (8) and Sophia (11), as they are returning to Korea this weekend. This saddens me greatly, because of all the kids, I'd say they loved me the most. Or at least they pretended to love me the most (when I'd arrive at there home, they would fight about who would get to tutor first). They were delightful children and I am going to miss them. I did, however, pick another student up. He's a boy this time. Paul, age 8. I now tutor six hours a week--more than I have my in my whole experience with this job. I am finding my tutoring skills have come along way, and I am considering, one of these years before grad school, going over to Korea to teach English for a year. I might as well see an Asian country while I'm out conquering the world.

The Bug Range:
I still sort grasshoppers. I go when I can, which hasn't been that often lately. Hopefully I can get myself to go to that job more often because money is good.

WHAT I DON'T GET PAID FOR BUT IS TAKING UP MY TIME
Writer's Groups:
I've joined two writer's groups. Both are small and both welcome additional people, if you're interested. On Saturdays I meet Cat Williams, a friend through a friend who is becoming a good friend, at Espresso Royal on State Street at 1pm. We've only met once, but are trying to make it a weekly thing. And I think Kristina is joining us tomorrow, so I'm pretty excited about that. We exchange a draft a week, and during the meetings do writing excersizes. I also meet with a bi-weekly group of less-familiar faces on ever other Thursday at a different ERC on Plymouth Road. These group, I'm hoping, will help me really get cracking on my writing, an area in which I've been slacking wayyy too much lately. When I'm not writing I feel useless; just working and making money does not satisfy me.

The GRE:
I've been trying to learn how to take that damned test. I hate this world, mostly because of standardized tests. I'm hoping to be able to just get it over with so I can go travel and not think about it.

Big Doings:
I'm the only prose reader in this potluck/concert event. Nate and Xander and Charlie's band are playing. Erik Thor is playing. I'm pretty excited about this. I've been getting a piece together and so it's nice, like I said before, to be writing and have a project. Right now the thing's too long. I have 20 mins to read and I think I have about 40 mins of material. Hopefully my 1st writer's group will help me to cut cut cut.

Fulbright Application:
Do you know that part in "I know what I know" by Paul Simon when he asks the girl "aren't you the woman who was recently given a Fulbright?" Well, I'm applying for that scholarship to study over-seas. My destination (Godwilling) would be South Africa to study writing and do independent research in personal histories. My application process made huge strides today when I went downtown Detroit to see a performance by this group called Walk and Squawk who has close ties with South Africa. I found a woman there who is a theater professor at a University in Pietermaritzburg, Kwazulu Natal. She has agreed to help me narrow down my proposal and write a letter that I need to give to the Fulbright people stating that she wants to work with me in South Africa. The fact that I met this woman today is a shear miracle--I was about to give up this pipedream because I didn't know how I would make the necessary connections I would need to apply. Hopefully, these connections will be strong enough that even if I didn't get the Fulbright, I'd still maybe have an opportunity to go there for a while. The fact that I have met the connection face to face should help my application to shape and compete with the other kids trying to get Fulbright's to South Africa.

Weddings:
Emily Harris is getting married to Alex Loney in about a week or something? They have asked Ian and me to MC the Reception and Weber's. I'm looking forward to this and think it should be a fun event.
I'll be standing up in my roomate's wedding on August 21. The intense preparation period is in full swing and I live with a stressed couple of people. But I'm excited about this wedding too.

NEAR-FUTURE PLANS:
I'll be moving back to Detroit in the first week of August, and then I'll go to the NWF Campout August 6-13. When I get back to the D I will have to find a job so I can rake money in for my trip to Europe in January (I'm planning to go to L'Abri in Switzerland from Jan 4-March 21, and then depending on Fulbright results and personal funding, stay in Europe for as long as possible). I also will probably participate in some volunteer work with Walk and Squawk since their projects have really appealed to me: www.walksquawk.org I also aim to take the GRE in December, maybe? There's also all that passport and Visa stuff to settle.

FAR OFF PIPE DREAMS:
I still want to, eventually, apply to an MFA program in creative writing, but first I have been shooting around the idea of applying for a Master's degree in Urban Planning at UofM's architecture school. Of course, we'll see how I feel about this when I get back from travelling. Right now, I want to get out of here and stay out for a while.