HOLY SHIT THIS IS A LONG ENTRY
Man, my life has become so much more interesting lately, but that also means a lot of stress and such. I've adjusted to the general change in pace in my life fairly well, but some interesting clusterfucks have developed, only very few of which it would seem polite or relevant to discuss here.
The one I am most concerned with, and also one of the most clusterfucky of these various problems, is the question of just what the hell I'll be doing come Autumn semester. I'm split between the intense, small town small class small college education of Cornell College and the more relaxed, party town, lecture hall (at least the first two years) education Iowa would provide, at a lower cost. Whatever, I don't care, both would suit me fairly well in their own ways. I am more concerned with the fact that I was recently accepted into a program (www.thailandexperience.com) that would allow me to teach conversational English to Thai kids on a Thai beach resort island for the fall semester. (click on "Teach Samui" on the website to learn more about what I would be doing) This would not be a problem, however, if my dad were a little more okay with it. The program is sufficiently inexpensive that I am currently able to pay for it, as well as about a month of travel throughout Thailand before I begin my training course. Also, it would be pertinant to my future because I would get a TEFL (Teach English as a Foreign Language) certificate, which would not only be a ticket into the Peace Corps, but also various other (paid) foreign country teaching jobs after college.
Buuuuutttt...my dad is dead-set on having me go to college the fall after my senior year. That's seriously the only impediment to this whole shebang. I've cleared it with both Iowa and Cornell, and I'd be able to enroll for the 2nd semester/5th block at either colleges. It's just that Papa won't help pay for college if I do this, which is sort of bad.
Clusterfuck #2: Girls. Seriously, girls, what the hell is up with this "when it rains, it pours" shit? Ignore me for 6 years, and suddenly start talking to me in the last 1/4 of my senior year? It cramps my style sometimes, ya know? But in a really cool way. I just have the sense that I'm building a weird, incestuous house of cards that will all fall down in one big orgy of screaming that will end in me stealing a car and getting out of Ames shortly before my house is burned down by a screaming mob. But I get that feeling fairly often nowadays, so whatever.
Spring has sprung, though. You (and I do mean you) have no fucking idea how much the weather has improved my general mindset. I've basically quit cigarettes because I no longer want to do anything but just BREATHE and frolic like a little girl in a patch of daisies. It's weird, though. Even though I have a lot of stuff to do nowadays, I still manage to spend most of my time doing stuff I enjoy. I even dig my classes now that the weather's nice. God bless spring...I was starting to worry about the way things were heading.
The whole suspension thing worked out reasonably well. My last school-mandated therapy session was today, and it ended with the therapist concluding that I was right, and I had no reason to be there, and Mr. McGrory was wrong. I intend to walk into McGrory's office and do a little gloating dance. Gah...words cannot describe the absolute hatred I reserve for the administration. Ask me about it sometime, it would just be silly to swear as much as would be neccessary to describe it.
Boy scout campout was tight. The caving campout has always been my favorite, because the day starts out with all these really scared little scouts who won't go in the caves because they're scary, and it never fails to end with a group of mud-covered little kids who basically have to be dragged away from the caves because they love them so much. Their transformation, from completely petrified and alone, away from their parents, to loving their independence and marveling at the wonders of mother nature, encapsulates everything I love about Boy Scouts, and the case in general for Boy Scouts. Fuck the uniforms, fuck the controlling adults, fuck the ceremonies. When an organization, no matter how homophobic and shitty, makes it possible for kids who have never camped before to develop a passion which will affect them for the rest of their lives, it gets Evan's stamp of approval. Is that bullshit? Please give me feedback on this.
Uh yeah, so we should go out for coffee sometime. You should give me a call, we'll hang out.
The one I am most concerned with, and also one of the most clusterfucky of these various problems, is the question of just what the hell I'll be doing come Autumn semester. I'm split between the intense, small town small class small college education of Cornell College and the more relaxed, party town, lecture hall (at least the first two years) education Iowa would provide, at a lower cost. Whatever, I don't care, both would suit me fairly well in their own ways. I am more concerned with the fact that I was recently accepted into a program (www.thailandexperience.com) that would allow me to teach conversational English to Thai kids on a Thai beach resort island for the fall semester. (click on "Teach Samui" on the website to learn more about what I would be doing) This would not be a problem, however, if my dad were a little more okay with it. The program is sufficiently inexpensive that I am currently able to pay for it, as well as about a month of travel throughout Thailand before I begin my training course. Also, it would be pertinant to my future because I would get a TEFL (Teach English as a Foreign Language) certificate, which would not only be a ticket into the Peace Corps, but also various other (paid) foreign country teaching jobs after college.
Buuuuutttt...my dad is dead-set on having me go to college the fall after my senior year. That's seriously the only impediment to this whole shebang. I've cleared it with both Iowa and Cornell, and I'd be able to enroll for the 2nd semester/5th block at either colleges. It's just that Papa won't help pay for college if I do this, which is sort of bad.
Clusterfuck #2: Girls. Seriously, girls, what the hell is up with this "when it rains, it pours" shit? Ignore me for 6 years, and suddenly start talking to me in the last 1/4 of my senior year? It cramps my style sometimes, ya know? But in a really cool way. I just have the sense that I'm building a weird, incestuous house of cards that will all fall down in one big orgy of screaming that will end in me stealing a car and getting out of Ames shortly before my house is burned down by a screaming mob. But I get that feeling fairly often nowadays, so whatever.
Spring has sprung, though. You (and I do mean you) have no fucking idea how much the weather has improved my general mindset. I've basically quit cigarettes because I no longer want to do anything but just BREATHE and frolic like a little girl in a patch of daisies. It's weird, though. Even though I have a lot of stuff to do nowadays, I still manage to spend most of my time doing stuff I enjoy. I even dig my classes now that the weather's nice. God bless spring...I was starting to worry about the way things were heading.
The whole suspension thing worked out reasonably well. My last school-mandated therapy session was today, and it ended with the therapist concluding that I was right, and I had no reason to be there, and Mr. McGrory was wrong. I intend to walk into McGrory's office and do a little gloating dance. Gah...words cannot describe the absolute hatred I reserve for the administration. Ask me about it sometime, it would just be silly to swear as much as would be neccessary to describe it.
Boy scout campout was tight. The caving campout has always been my favorite, because the day starts out with all these really scared little scouts who won't go in the caves because they're scary, and it never fails to end with a group of mud-covered little kids who basically have to be dragged away from the caves because they love them so much. Their transformation, from completely petrified and alone, away from their parents, to loving their independence and marveling at the wonders of mother nature, encapsulates everything I love about Boy Scouts, and the case in general for Boy Scouts. Fuck the uniforms, fuck the controlling adults, fuck the ceremonies. When an organization, no matter how homophobic and shitty, makes it possible for kids who have never camped before to develop a passion which will affect them for the rest of their lives, it gets Evan's stamp of approval. Is that bullshit? Please give me feedback on this.
Uh yeah, so we should go out for coffee sometime. You should give me a call, we'll hang out.