the spirit of the General Lee

Unfortunately I don't have a picture, but...

On the way to school today, in the parking lot of the Phoenix Natural Foods Market on the corner of Broad and Pulaski, we saw a pickup truck with a camper on the top that was painted with the same color orange as the Dukes of Hazaard's General Lee, and it had the "01" paitned on the door, and although it was obscured by the camper, appeard to have the stars and bars painted on top. Pretty fucked up, I'd say. The age of the truck would suggest that definitely preceeded the recent Dukes movie. I wonder if their horn plays Dixie. (For what it's worth, on two occasions, once in Rome, GA, and once here in Athens, I have actually heard car horns that play Dixie.)

another reaffirmation of my continued existence

I have felt a little pressure to post if for no other reason than receiving some mock public ridicule via myspace from Holly and Lindsey. I stand accused of being lazy. (To be fair, there are long stretches of time when Holly doesn't post anything either and Lindsey is even less prolific.)

But I am lazy. I don't deny it. Anyone who knows me well knows that I am lazy.

Of course, I am also trying to finish out this hellish semester in which I have enrolled in four classes and am teaching two. I don't remember exactly why I took four classes; I think if I hadn't I'd have had to take one this summer or four next fall anyway. I'll be glad when this semester is done though, and between now and then every day is a crucial chance to work hard and stay on track (or catch up), or to slack off and fall behind. There's really only about a month left before final exams. I've got a couple presentations, three long papers/projects, to write a couple quizzes and part of a final exam, to procter a final exam, and a few exams (a couple of them final exams) to take myself, plus plenty of small homework assignments that are not difficult but time-consuming for my Italian class.

But that's the way it goes when you are in school. It definitely beats the daily grind of a typical nine to five job. I still think academia is a good fit for me.

So sometimes, I just don't even think about coming here and writing anything because it's such a low priority and I am too anxious about schoolwork to focus on it.

The truth is though, it doesn't take that much time to do what I do here and really, as cheesy as it may seem, blogging makes me feel good. So I wonder why I don't do it more.

I guess today I feel somewhat inspired. It has occurred to me that despite the limited time left in this semester, really, it's more than ample time to do what I need to do, if I only work diligently and stay focused.

Something else has happened that has definitely lifted my spirits. When I quit my last job, I applied via the Internet with several different telephone interpreter companies (thanks to Holly for helping me out by most of the searching,clicking and pasting involved with that). I had been discouraged because I never heard from any of them. Until last week. Out of the blue last Thursday I got a call from one of them and promptly did an interview over the phone. Monday I had a second interview and did an interpreting test, and shortly thereafter was informed I could work for them.

I'm not that excited about having to work an additional job BUT we do need the money. More importantly, passing their test and again proving that I am, at least on some basic level, competent as an interpreter is an amazing boost to my self esteem. And if I do have to work, setting my own hours, and working from home, interpreting, is probably ideal. Also, this way I don't have to worry anymore about replacing my TA income during the summer.

So, things are good, now that I think about it.