i think... i'm almost doing what i like to do?

all of the crate lung co-op came home unemployed. i, for one, was thrilled.

in the weeks leading up to the tour i was working a 9-5 job @ Body Worlds 3 in SLC, applying to 7ish MFA programs (which entails writing entrance essays, prepping a manuscript, and filling out tons of paperwork), and planning and booking the Crate Lung Co-Op Winter 08 Tour, which was itself a full-time job. i was pulling 20 hour days. we all were. so coming home to "nothing" was like a dream come true. 

of course, i had big plans for my spare time. i wanted to read a few of the hundred books i had acquired on the road, and at the tin house summer workshop of 08 that i hadn't had time to get to (what with all the nonsense mentioned in the previous paragraph). i wanted to clean my room out of all the clothes, shoes, purses, jewelry, papers, books, anything i didn't want or need anymore (anything i wouldn't pack to move somewhere new). allegedly i had joined a book group called Book Chowder, which meets once a month, and consists of people cooler than me.

i also had plans to take a few classes through the U of U's lifelong learning program. as discussed with the co-op over a delicious and leisurely lunch in lawrence kansas, i am aware that a lot of this nonsense we fill our lives with is just to distract us. and to me, that means distract us from the fact that we're going to die someday. i know it's all futile. but still.

i am taking French I. maybe even French II.

(me in Paris, Sacre Coeur)

i am also taking some cooking classes... since it's something i love to do so much. i am taking sushi making I, artisan bread baking, and olive oil and vinegar tasting. i am rather enjoying retirement.

strangely, a few days after getting home, i actually got a job... sort of. i am grading English essays for a certain high school for about $1-$1.50 a piece. it actually works out to decent money, but the best part is i don't have to leave home if i don't want. i can work in my pajamas, i can work in bed, or i can take the papers to a coffee shop and do it alongside whatever else of my own work i have to do.

tomorrow i begin an artist-in-residence, funded by the Utah Arts Council, teaching Skyline High School's Satorian literary magazine for 8 class periods. (i need to be careful-- apparently a poem i almost taught when i was volunteering there was inappropriate). wednesday i will be reading @ the city library as part of their city arts series. what this works out to is: all my paid jobs involve writing and editing right now.

i wonder how long i can keep this going for.