Paper Adventures

I just started a new job (bigger gun, smaller workload), and while I’d love to do this work, I’m not sure I can survive on this pay for much longer.

So, I am now seriously considering moving back to South Korea to teach English again. I didn’t really care for it while I was there, but then, I was teaching elementary, which is so not me. If I could get a gig in a university, all would be well.

Alas, my husband has finally started breaking into his field, which he absolutely loves (the Dirty South Hollywood… a.k.a. film stuff). I don’t want to tear him away from his world right as he’s finally settling in on something he really enjoys.

So, I’m conflicted.

On one hand: bitter cold. On the other: I’m not fazed by the murders that occur two blocks from my house because it’s just so common here.

I don’t know what to do. For now, I’ll keep doing my thing. But I’ll also put in an application or two…

Any and all comments and advice welcomed.

By C.S. Gallagher

I don’t realize, I
Hold my breath when
I see you.

It feels like, An
Elephant on my chest.

My stomach fills, With
Butterflies with wings
Of razors.

And I just can’t, Stop
My racing heart.

I wait to, See
If you’ll turn to me
And smile.

Or if you’ll, Just
Keep walking by.

Boondocks

It’s a slang term meaning the middle of absolutely nowhere. Some have shortened it in colloquial terms: “He lives out in the boonies.”

It comes from a Tagalog/Filipino word, bundok, which means mountain, though sometimes it implied that the area was rural and difficult to get to. Americans adopted it in 1910s and again in WWII to mean basically the same thing: a remote, rural place.

I’m actually kind of from the boondocks. Not really, but I’ve lived in boondocks in both America and the Philippines!

Each time I have a major change, it takes longer and longer to adjust. This is, perhaps, why many people are so abhorred to change.

It’s not that the change is harder; it’s that the process is examined with every tiny little inkling in the brain. I nitpick every little detail of the change and constantly wonder if it was the right choice.

Every decision can snowball into something better or worse or just end up at a stagnant stop at the bottom of a slope, so every decision is difficult. I’m always second guessing myself.

But, I did get paid to chase ducks out of the quad. I get paid more to chase ducks than I did to chase criminals. (Actually, I won’t see a dime of that pay raise, as I’m using the entirety of it to obtain health insurance for my husband… he’s never had health insurance before… he can go to the doctor WHENEVER he is sick now… no one can understand this unless they’ve had to save up for a month in order to afford the up-front cost of going to a doctor).

I’m playing the part of “numbskull security guard,” though I’m actually a commissioned police officer who will have twice as many degrees as the majority of people who will be my clients. Yet again I will have to endure the constant barrage of people who regard me as an idiot. I never can escape that. I just have to accept it.

I have to accept it, but it doesn’t mean I can’t still cuss them out in a foreign language or three.

Thursday was my last day at my job (parole officer) and I am starting another one as a glorified mall cop (read: university police officer at the college I went to a decade ago).

And I have no idea what to expect.

(to a coworker who ate beets throughout the entire academy): “Hey, guess what! I finally tried a beet! Now I know why my mom never fed them to us as kids.”

“Did you seriously come to the office drunk?”

“Look! Weave roadkill!”

“No, you can’t smoke marijuana. It’s illegal.”

“Wow. A car pulling a man on a riding lawnmower. Haven’t seen that in a while.”

“Hey, boss, someone might call to complain about me today.” “Why?” “Because I knocked on the door too long and they actually had to get out of bed and come open the door.” “Okay.”

“Of course they only give out tylenol and ib profen. If they shelled out narcotics in jail, no one would actually want to leave.”

To a guy getting off probation: “I hope I never see you again!” “Me, too!” :)

Death by hanging

Homeschooling/Online High School

Phonograph

Psychology of strangulation

Tooth sharpening

Famous lost things

Gunpowder residue test

The rate at which boiling water evaporates

Naturally blonde black

Hairstyle descriptive words

Fake universities

Henna

Nicotine addiction

Languages of India

Oz: Really?

G.I. Joe: Okay.

Oblivion: Good.

Oblivion’s Soundtrack: AMAZINGOMGWHOCARESABOUTTHEMOVIE

Iron Man 3: Marvelous!