The Night I Embraced the Exclamation Point and Became a Different Person

Suddenly, and dare I say happily, life is moving in a new direction. It might not be moving in the right direction, but new is new, eh, what? For starters, I had my first meeting with the TESOL people yesterday, and, if I want to, I can begin taking classes as soon as the fall. The fall! Honestly, I have some mixed feelings about this whole TESOL business (hard to imagine, I know, given my long history of decisiveness), if only because I'm still pretty scared of going back into the classroom. And okay, yeah, if we're being totally honest, I do continue to entertain occasional notions of pursuing a serious writing career. But. But! A gal has to make a living, people, and teaching 'em foreign youngin's how to speak English real good seems as nice a way to make a living as any. Right. Right?!? And anyway, it would be fun to take a class. Why not take a class in TESOL? Gimme a T! Gimme an E! Gimme an S! Gimme an O! Gimme an L! What's that spell?

You know what the hell it spells, bitches!

(Please--for the love of God--don't Google me, nice TESOL people)

In other news, we've begun looking at houses. Like, you know, to buy. As we see it, our timing is damn near perfect, now that The Girl's officially enrolled in kindergarten and the housing market is absolute shit. Do we not rock? Anyway, given my voyeuristic nature, I seriously love me an open house. What, after all, could be more entertaining than rootin' and riflin' through strangers' homes? You just never know what you might find, and some of what you find is so intriguing! Take this house we looked at on Sunday, for example. The whole place was decked out in red, white and blue, with cutesy Americana crap all over. Even the kids' rooms were all stars and stripes, except for the poster of a suggestively-posed Zac Efron (wait for it) . . . on the back of the boy's bedroom door! Fascinating! Fascinating, I tell you! And free! If I were smart--smart enough, say, to not go house-hunting at the worst conceivable time--I would shoot for a degree in sociology instead of a degree in TESOL. But how can I escape the call of TESOL, when the call of TESOL is so compelling? TESOL. TESOL!! Gimme a T! Gimme an E!

And here's where you say, "Gimme a break!"