A lot of things.
I
went to Japan. That was exciting. (Understand that this is a gross
understatement; I miss Nippon desperately, and I want to go back as
soon as possible. I could blog about the experience forever. The
important bits are: I ran into many of my friends that I made while
they studied abroad at uni; the food was fantastic
– I could eat tofu dengaku foreverrrr; I
didn't get to do all I wanted to do in Japan, so I have a list of
excuses to go back: visit Okinawa, go to an onsen, explore ALL of
Tokyo, see all the friends I didn't
get to see, see the cherry blossoms because they'd finished by the
time we got there.)
I
haven't gotten a steady job yet, but I will be starting a temp
position on the 29th. Make twice in two weeks what I made
in one month at the CRC? I don't mind! And then I'll be a Cultural
Ambassador again for my university's summer exchange program – yay,
more moneys! I mean, um, enriching the visit of foreign students to
America. Which I happen to get paid for. Yeah.
Nah;
I'm totally looking forward to it. I had a blast last year. And this
time around I'll actually have some spending money for Pike Place
Market and such (I was broke
last summer).
I've been doing a lot better, all things considered. There's still
some residual bitterness, but knowing that the ex has graduated and
that I don't need to spell out to the roommate that we're not friends
anymore eases the tension a bit. I'm able to enjoy my summer break
and look forward to the new school year.
I'm entertaining the idea of studying abroad in Japan next spring,
since Reitaku University has a special deal on offer to two selected
students per semester from SMU, to waive tuition and housing –
basically I'd get four months of free immersion in Japan if I were
selected (free aside from ticket, insurance, personal expenses...).
If I can't manage to do that, I still want to go back to Japan,
perhaps next summer. And while I'm at, now that I have the traveling
bug, I think I'd like to save up to visit the UK... This has nothing
to do with me hoping for a chance encounter with Benedict
Cumberbatch, Matt Smith, Stephen Frye, or Mofftiss, while I'm there.
Absolutely not. I'd totally be going for the culture, certainly not
to be surrounded by sexy accents.
In the meantime, I like this temping stuff. The agency got back to me
right away, and right after that I had an interview (on Monday) and
now I have a job lined up starting next week. I think I'll keep with
this for a while – seems like a good way to get experience at a lot
of different kinds of jobs, very quickly, without ruining the resume
(according to a friend at swing, this isn't the sort of thing you'd
put on a resume under Work Experience – it's surviving-college
money).
I've
been taking up a lot of things I'd hoped to do last summer but
couldn't because I was wallowing in misery. Which is nice, cos I'm
not bored, for a change. I've been crocheting, painting, reading for
pleasure (go get The Shadow of the Wind
by Carlos Ruiz Zafon – it's quite complex and intriguing and has
beautiful language, not to mention the most elegant non-explicit sex
scenes I've read to date). I've also been doing a lot of baking, which is fairly new, but not unexpected since I enjoy cooking dinner with my dad. I've already created some super tasty recipes. I've even been writing,
which is by far the best part of all of this. There's a fanfiction
that I've been fussing with for about four years now, already a
rewrite of something I tapped out when I was twelve, and it's been
stuck at a certain point for a year – I've written nearly twenty
pages for it in the past week. Now, that's not NaNoWriMo speed, but
it's more production than I've had in the past year, that wasn't for
school. I guess I can credit my Creative Writing class for keeping me
in form. The hardest part of starting any story – or returning to
it after a hiatus – is starting.
CW, I suppose, helped eliminate that barrier, or at least gave me the
confidence to make that first crack to break past it. Yay!
Would it be better if I was working on something original? Probably.
But I'm not worried, so why am I even asking the question? I'm having
fun, and I have the rest of my life to write that great novel
once I have the life experience to do it, God willing.
I'm
a lot happier now than I've been in the past two years. Of course
things aren't perfect – I still slip up and have a bad day now and
then. But I'm not worried about myself anymore. Which is a huge
relief.
Now to hope no one asks me out any time soon. I don't think I'm ready
for that quite yet!
~Sarah
