I finished the time traveler's wife this morning. It was beautiful and I laughed and cried and walked it back to the library so I could tell the librarian that she should read it. but it was hot and i hadn't eaten or had much to drink. I talked to my mom on the way there and back but when I got home I was sick almost immediately. I tried taking a cool shower, but I hate cold showers and I didn't even wash my hair. This guy called me out of the blue yesterday for a job interview and I have to admit that I was suspisious then but today I did some research on the company Primerica and I just think that I might be sick all over again. It's got me rather depresed, because I was so happy after yesterday, so estatic at the prospect that I might actually get a job and make some money and then maybe tom could quit the job that he hates and things would be a little easier. But if I took this job, I would hate it even more, and I'm debating wether I should go to the interview and hear this guy out, or if I should just leave a message over the weekend telling him that I'm not coming.

an update of sorts

well, it's been a while, and although I'm still in that ever-hated state of waiting, I guess it's only fair to catch you all up.

Um, first on the mom front, she has about 80% of her vision back, which is good. A couple of weeks ago we got her and april cell phones so we could keep in touch better and not pay so much for it, and that's been good to be able to know what's going on.

My Kaplan presentation went really well, and the director asked me if I could teach the LSATS, which I think would be really neat. The bum part of this is that I can't start training to teach until June at the earliest, and even then I wouldn't be able to teach a class until October. So it's a slow, drawn out process with not a lot of money in the beginning. But it's a start, and for that I am really grateful.

So I'm not sure if I mentioned it here, but I was feeling really led to work with this family-run mortuary in town. So I went and gave them my resume and then went back to talk to the director to see if he had even seen my resume (which he hadn't). I thought something might come of that, but it was a couple of weeks ago, and I haven't heard anything so far.

I was also supposed to hear back from another Starbucks manager in town, but haven't heard anything on that front either.

Yesterday I drove my resume and myself down to Windsor, which is about 20 minutes away, to see about a receptionist position, because it would be easy for me to do, and at least it would be constant work. We'll see what happens with that.

I sent off my application to be a substitue teacher, and it will probably be the end of summer before I get anything back on that.

It kind of saddens me that I'm (mostly) completely throwing away all of my web and graphic design experience. But there's nothing around here that will use what I've basically poured the last three years of my life into. And the few design jobs that I have found require experience with mac-based programs like quark, which I never really learned because I didn't really like it. So there's that.

In slightly happier news, I got a bike, a really sweet retro cruiser bike with fenders and sweet green paint. I took it to the library the other day and all was well until I had to go up a hill.

Also, I'm trying to think up a way to make this Europe thing work, because I would really like to go, but it's kind of hard with no money. The last month has been really hard on our savings, with the car breaking down and my $150 cell phone bill and my being late with the rent and several other things. At least Tom has a job now (that he hates) that can help with the rent, assuming I remember to pay it.

a big day

today is a big day.

Bev Bev graduates from Reed.

Tom starts his first day working for UNC this summer.

And I have an interview with Starbucks in about .... oh, 25 minutes. So I'm trying to kill time before I walk over - it's across the street. =)

Tomorrow is my interview (reschedualed) with Kaplan. I need to practice my presentation again because I've forgotten most of it, I'm sure.

Hopefully this week I'll hear back from Aadamson to see if they'll want to hire me for anything. So I guess that makes this a big week.

when we pray, we thank God for you and remember your work produced with Faith, your labor promted by Love, and your endourance inspired by Hope . . . 1 thessalonians 1:3

penelope is okay

well, Penelope is mostly better now, meaning that she's back home and recovering in our garage. It's raining tonight, and it also started raining in Warcraft, which we thought was pretty funny.

I went to get fingerprinted today. Tomorrow I need to finish filling out .... okay, okay, Start filling out, the substitute teacher application and hopefully get that sent out. sigh.

mel

penelope goes to the doctor

Yesterday morning I discovered that my interview with Kaplan was actually schedualed for last night. Enter: panicked preparation.

In order to get to Boulder by my 5 o'clock appointment, I had to leave Greeley by 3. Renee had finally reached the conclusion that my job was to come to an unhappy ending, and wanted to tell me in person. She called around 2:55 to break the news, just as I was giving Tom the final run-through of my presentation. 'are you supprised?' she asked? to which I replied, 'no, actually I'm getting ready to leave for an interview.' she told me that Suz wanted to discuss some way of keeping the community going and would call me later. My first thought was 'maybe we could find some trained monkeys. . . ' but before I could fully develop this plot, we had to leave for boulder.

After agonizing about what I should wear, I finally settled on my new grey, fully lined trousers, and a white button up shirt. This was not, it turns out, the best choice.

About five miles out of Greeley, I'm giving my presentation in my head. Tom rolles down his window and cranks up the heat. I am mildly supprized by this, until I realize that he has done this because the engine is overheating and the check engine light is on. We make it about another five miles before Tom decides to pull off the highway and onto a country road. This is a lucky decision, because as we a vearing, Penelope decides she has had enough, and promptly turns herself off.

What do I do, what do I do? Luckily, the nice people at Kaplan had called me earlier in the day to remind me about my appointment. I take a chance on which phone number is theirs and call up my new friend will, who works at the front desk. I tell him the sit: My car's overheated and I'm stuck off the highway and I don't think I'll be able to make it tonight. Luckily he is able to reschedual me for two weeks from now. Whew.

But the car is kind of smoking and um. . . what do we do? We wait. We wait for half an hour for the car to cool before we try to open the hood. We ponder over the possibilities of restarting the car and turning back. We call my mom, who calls my grandpa, who says it would be best not to try to start it, since we could burn the engine up.

so we call a tow truck man, to whom we give lousy directions, and who passes us on the highway. By now it has gotten warmer, around 5 probably, and my lined slacks are making me sweaty. Midas closes at 6 and we pull into the parking lot at 5:55. They've already locked up and give me a drop envelope for my key. great. tow truck man robs us of 90 dollars. great. no one can come pick us up. great.

so we walk. a long ways. In high-healed shoes and lined pants that slightly drag and my computer bag, which is not easy to carry for long distances. it takes us a long time. we stop for fries and orange fanta at the burger king on the way home. sigh.

Amy is coming to take me to Penelope in half an hour. 430 dollars for a new radiator, and i'm not even sure that was the whole problem. boo. Tom's working on his final for honors100, which is retarded, and I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do now and if we can keep the community going. I even offered to do it in my spare time if they let me keep my computer. We'll see. I still have to decide if i'm going to the conference in June, but I guess that all depends on what job I get in the meantime.

well, that's all for now. Until later . . .
m