jason mraz gave me the best advice this weekend

I had the privilege of being in the wedding of two dear college friends over the past weekend, reading Shakespeare's Sonnet 116 (and bursting into ugly sobs at the end, thus embarassing myself and making everyone in the families cry also). Here's a quick rundown on Matt and Rachel: I met them the day after they met each other at freshman orientation in Tulsa, and it was apparent to me that they were already bonded. Rachel and I lived together sophomore year, and had a really bad fallout at the end of that year, but after a summer to cool off we started hanging out again. They threw me birthday parties and had me over almost every week senior year to cook dinner for me, and I generally had a really good time with them in college, and their wedding was beautiful. It was nice to spend time with them before and after the wedding, and since everyone they invited from TU came to Missouri, we all spent a big, happy weekend together. Lots of good times.

Tonight was the closing ceremony for Lutheran High School. It was good to see old classmates and teachers, but I'm really grateful I graduated five years ago and I have the emotional distance to let the school go. I still hang out with the friends that still want to hang out with me, and it's sad to know that we can't go back, but I'm honestly okay. Even more after tonight, the advice that Jason Mraz gave me is eerily appropriate. So here it is.

"Hold your own, know your name, and go your own way."



"Good morning son, I am a bird wearing a brown polyester shirt"

can't sleep

I just finished my second interview and I really need to get in bed, but naturally I'm not ready to sleep yet. Here's how they went.

1) Skype, the Foreign Affairs Office (FAO) person could see and hear me, but he could only type in response. I was using Keenan's Guitar Hero microphone because my laptop one sucks, so it was kind of like blind karaoke, with words and no music. It was definitely different, and then all of a sudden we're getting to the part where I ask questions and the call was dropped. Turns out he had seen enough of me to make his decision, so he ended the interview without letting me know. At least our contact person said I did well; it still left me with a funny feeling.

2) Phone, with the FAO lady who called half an hour late (that's a big deal considering the 13-hour time difference, her 3 p.m. turned into my 2 a.m.) and only talked for five minutes or so. She just asked if I had any questions about the school, and like a dufus I had the laptop all the way off so I couldn't pull up the email with the school details. I couldn't think of very many good questions this late, so when I was done pulling stuff from thin air, she said she would email a contract.

Hopefully one of these two jobs will be the one, they're actually in the same city! It's not too big, you know, 6 million people. I know it's good to keep options open, but at this point I'm ready to commit, be done, and move forward with one school. All this emailing back and forth and trying to work interviews around the time difference is tedious. The longer I have to wait, the higher the airfares go...

"it is by the grace of me you never learned what I could see"

one year anniversary

Today it has been one year since I graduated with a Bachelor's in English from the University of Tulsa. A year ago today, I had no idea where my life was going. Funny how some things don't change. The second school in China just jerked my chain around, I haven't heard from them in two weeks. I'm about to spend my Sunday evening applying for a second round of jobs, and hopefully I'll still be able to get into China by August. This is highly frustrating to me.

"blackbird singin' in the dead of night--take these broken wings and learn to fly. all your life, you were only waiting for this moment to arise"