131. Life

It turns out that having a full time job, going to the gym 3 times a week and taking guitar lessons means I don’t blog very much. Sorry.

So… I’ll fill you in on my life a bit now.

Work: I love my job. It’s exhausting, and occasionally emotionally draining, but so incredibly rewarding… and fun. Aside from some minor personality issues with my coworkers, and the relatively low pay, it’s honestly a perfect job. And the personality issues mostly just roll off my back. I play every day, and get hugs and kisses every day, and told that I’m loved/awesome/funny/supercool or other such wonderful affirming things by children who don’t lie every day. As I said, it can sometimes be emotionally draining. The preschool I teach at is a Head Start preschool, meaning that the vast majority of our kids come from low income families, several of them actually come from a nearby emergency housing shelter… all of these things combine to mean that many of the kids come from less than ideal home situations to say the very least. Today, for example, one of our little pieces of precious showed up with bruises on her face that suspiciously resembled a hand print, and when asked what happened her response was “Mommy”… it’s hard not to cry sometimes.

In other completely non-serious work related news, my crush on Hot Mom shows no sign of waning. I’ve gotten to know her more, because her son is in my group, and her awesomeness has not helped the situation. It’s just a crush though, no need to worry about the state of my heart.

Life in General: Well… as I mentioned, I’m going to the gym 3 times a week, working with a personal trainer that was a (somewhat insulting) gift from my mother. It’s rough work, but I actually have come to somewhat enjoy it… or perhaps just not hate it. There are results, I feel healthier and stronger, and well… I am getting smaller, very slowly, but it’s happening.

The guitar lessons were my birthday present to myself. I really wanted to take guitar lessons when I was little, and I asked my mom, but she was really stuck on piano… and trombone. I had to take trombone lessons for years, Torture. But the guitar lessons are fun. I have callouses on my fingertips, which makes me feel all rock-and-roll… although the fact that the first song I figured out how to play on my own is “Listen to the Water” – a kids’ song we sing at the preschool a lot… so not so much rock and roll.

So… my life is going good. I’m on a bit of a happy cloud right now because I just found out that one of my heroes – Ani Difranco – is going to be playing in Montreal in a month, and I just got tickets! And this time I’m going to get good seats. Last time I saw her, I ended up way at the back and I’m short so I couldn’t see a thing – well, beyond the backs of the people in front of me. At one point the guy beside me turned and said something to the effect of “I bet you wish you were wearing heels, eh?”, I responded truthfully “I’m wearing 3 inch platforms!” Yeah, I’m short. It’s first come first serve for seating, so I’ll be getting there early… I’m going to be right up front. At least, that’s the plan.

Oh, and I’m planning on going the GCN conference again this year. I’ve already started scouting out tickets… quite excited about it.

So, yeah… making plans. I know I’ll be here at least until the summer, despite the fact that the guy whose job I took at the preschool (I didn’t take it from him, he moved to the UAE) is trying to get me to come and teach with him for the next term. Turns out the school he’s at is short of teachers. I did say I would follow him if he and his wife recommended it, but I don’t want to leave my job until I’ve been there for at least a year… besides, as I said, I’m really enjoying it. Honestly, if it paid more I might even consider remaining in the country for a few years! It’s not that I am money hungry or anything, I just need to pay off my mortgage as quickly as possible… it feels like a weight around my neck. Once it’s paid off I can teach anywhere… fulfill my dream of going to the developing world and teaching there again.

Gay stuff: Honestly, not much going on on this front. I had all kids of blog related thoughts, but work and life seems to have pushed them aside in my brain. I am on a mailing list for a local group for queer women, but thus far there have been no events… However, there is one planned for November 8th, so hopefully I can meet some people there. I know this is not Korea, and I shouldn’t expect it to be anything like Korea, but well… I sort of have this expectation (that was born in Korea) that if I can just get my foot in the door of the dyke community here then I’ll suddenly have this whole new network of people and events. We’ll see what happens after November 8th. So far, as far as I can see, only myself and the organizer have agreed to go… it’s just a gathering at a local desert place, so it’s pretty low key, which is fine by me.

Oh, I did just come out to another of my Christian friends. A friend I was particularly nervous about coming out to because she’s pretty conservative, and also pretty direct. I didn’t give her much chance to respond… I didn’t mean to do this, I was just nervous, but I sort of blurted it out at the end of a phone conversation. She really didn’t know what to say, except that it didn’t change anything in our relationship, which is cool. Maybe we’ll talk about it more another time. Who knows.

Well, that’s it… that’s my life. Not too interesting, but full. And fun. And satisfying.

I'll leave you with a taste of what I'm going to get in about a month... this is my favourite song off of Ani's lastes album... at least, it's my favourite right now. that will probably change in a day or so. Enjoy.