Misheru

Marti and I just celebrated 4 years together, hurray! And, he bought me Napoleon Dynamite as a gift, so I can stop talking about it online (finally). In other news, I completed 100 pages on my novel and now feel at a loss as to what to do with it. Also, we are gearing up for the first board meeting for my non-profit start-up, and if anyone out there is interested, let me know. We are hoping to create a safehouse for trafficked children in Arizona. And now — off to tuck the niño in bed and so I will say good night.

Yes, tonight it is good-bye to 10 full days of Arabic class. I leave my class knowing important words like “handkerchief” and “male neighbor,” but my early departure means I will never know strategic phrases like “piss off” and “that’s my breast and your hand shouldn’t be there,” which I have always found crucial when traveling in foreign countries. The reasons for my departure are deep and varied, but I’d like to use a time-honored excuse used by college students dropping classes the world round: the professor is a complete lunatic. Yes, yes, I’m now sure he is a serial killer or a Wal-Mart shopper in his free time, and I just can’t take that kind of risk anymore. I have a child. It’s definitely the professor, because I certainly did not take the fact that he assigned us 35 pages of homework for the weekend into consideration. Not at all. But anyway, folks, now I have plenty of free time to finish my novel, study for the foreign exam, start my non-profit organization and paint my house. This spring is going to be a real piece of cake, male neighbor.

Click here to see the quicktime trailer for Napoleon Dynamite (is anyone going to buy me this movie?).

Here are some pictures of my trip, but now on the route back. We stopped in Oregon to visit my friend Carrie and her family. She and I have been friends for 20 years this fall — hard to believe. We met in elementary school. (more…)

Why do I do this to myself? I approached my boss about getting some more hours by asking if they were interested in offering ESL classes at the library, and now he wants me to teach two classes during the 6-hour time period I am there on Saturdays instead of one — essentially cutting out my prep time. Turns out they are desperate for an ESL teacher — 32 people are on a waiting list — and so now, suddenly, I feel an enormous amount of pressure to go ahead with it, even though I won’t get any additional pay and will have to prep during my free time. Why? Why?