Category Archives: General
busy busy busy
I know, I know, I know. I am a horrible blogger. But in my defense, I have been fairly busy and every time I think I’ll write a post I come up with something better and usually more important to do.
So why is my life oh so busy that I can’t even write in my blog when I sit at work in front of a computer all day? Well, the main reason is, I’m moving to Nashville. Soon. Like, before the end of January, probably sometime mid-January. The exact date isn’t known yet as we (Chris and I) are looking for a house, hopefully to buy but possibly to rent, and I am looking for a job. A job that pays well, that doesn’t suck too much, and that preferably requires my degree. Sad thing is, this type of job is apparently hard (maybe impossible) to find. I’ve actually only applied to a few places because there is just nothing out there. I was under the impression that having my B.A. would give me more opportunities even if it’s a worthless Liberal Arts degree, but everything I’ve found either requires only a high school diploma/GED, a Bachelor’s in a very specific oftentimes technical field, or a Master’s. Nothing here for this little linguistics major.
Since I’m sort of at a standstill when it comes to finding a real job, and I’m not sure if I want to go back to school, I’m actually considering going into teaching. Nashville has two programs where you can get accelerated licensure and then work for your Master’s while teaching, at a greatly discounted rate. This is very appealing to me, except both programs service Metro Nashville Public Schools and I have some reservations about that. Mainly, teaching at one of these schools would be extremely tough, and extremely frustrating. I like the idea of helping out those who really need it, but working my ass off to try to help kids who don’t want the help, in an environment where I may not feel entirely safe, doesn’t sound altogether pleasant. Then again, I’ve mostly heard that this is a big problem with the high school kids. Maybe elementary students would be better. (Which is somewhat ironic, because I thought that I’d much rather teach high schoolers than little kids, but I guess it really depends on where and what kind of students I’d be teaching.) I’m still very interested in these programs, despite my doubts, but applications are due in a few weeks so I’ve really got a lot of thinking to do.
My other option would be getting my ESL certification at the Tennessee Foreign Language Institute. It wouldn’t guarantee me a job, and I wouldn’t be getting my Master’s, but it sounds a lot nicer than teaching kids who may just cuss me out and threaten me. It also only takes a couple of months to get and is a bit cheaper, and I think the environment would be a lot more enjoyable. Even if I decide against the ESL certification, I’m still planning on taking foreign language classes there, definitely Spanish because I’ve decided it would be very practical for me to learn it (and probably fairly easy), and maybe Japanese since I’d rather not throw away all that I’ve learned so far. Classes are a bit pricey but they offer volunteering opportunities in lieu of paying for classes, so I may try to take advantage of that.
Aside from searching for jobs, looking into schools and teaching programs, and starting to pack up my stuff for the move, I’ve also been working on my crocheting. I’m trying to come up with an amigurumi animal that works up quickly and can be sold for relatively cheap, that will sell really well. Other people have accomplished this, so I figure, I can, too (though it’s easier said than done, apparently). I’ve wanted to do a line of maneki neko (lucky cats) for a while, and I did come up with a pattern for them. Here are the ones I’ve completed so far:
Here are some close-ups of the white one and the green one. The white one is the first one I made and has rounded ears, and the green one has flatter, more triangular ears.
They’re definitely cute, but they are incredibly time-intensive and I hate to sell them for less than what is equal to the amount of effort I put into them. The problem is, people tend to not want to pay a whole lot for crafts, especially something that is essentially a stuffed animal. Sooo, I need to think of something else I can do. I’m kind of burned out from the kitties, though, so I’m going to take a break and work on some things like hats for Christmas presents.
Well, this has certainly been a long post. I’ll try to post more often so I don’t end up writing a novella next time.
busy as a bee
Ack! I am so bad about posting in this thing. I’ve been pretty busy the past week or so working on my Halloween costume and crocheting things for people. I made another beard hat for someone’s Halloween costume, I’ve started another for one of my friends, and, best of all, I have finally sold some things on Etsy (yay!). Someone purchased a donut pin cushion, which I had to custom make, and then someone else requested a custom order of three mesh bags, two of which I’m in the process of making. I am very excited about this and hope that I’ll get more sales once I’m able to make and put up more items.
I’m going to write a post about my Halloween costume (Leeloo from The Fifth Element), but I’m waiting to see if people at the party got better pictures of me than what I have.
I also have another Japan entry in the works, it’s just taking me forever to actually finish it up and get it posted. I keep finding more exciting things to do than work on it, haha.
thoughts on school, japanese, and life
My experience here has turned out a bit differently than expected. To be perfectly honest, I kind of regret undertaking such a trip, mostly because I’m going to end up completely broke because of it, and also because it’s not been all that great. But, on the other hand, I’ve finally made it to Japan, the one place I’ve always wanted to go. And it has been fun at times, so I suppose it’s been somewhat worth it.
I think that, overall, GenkiJACS is a good school, and that studying Japanese there would be a good experience for anyone. However, for it to be worth the money and to actually learn the language, a longer stay is necessary. With only three weeks of classes, my personal experience has been disappointing. We’ve been going over the same stuff days in a row and the last few days have just seemed like a waste of time. I was under the impression that we’d have one week of normal language class and two weeks of just exam prep class, but instead we’re getting three weeks of normal classes (4 hours a day) and the exam class is just an additional hour a day. I’m rather aggravated by this because I don’t really feel any more prepared to take the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. The next testing date is in early December, and though I’d really love to take it then, I don’t think I’ll be prepared for it. It’d probably be best to just wait until next July and have a better chance of passing Level 2 (which is the second highest level). I refuse to take Level 3, mostly because it’s a waste of time.
During this trip, I’ve begun to really think about whether or not I should continue my study of Japanese. On the one hand, I’m a linguist and love learning the language. On the other hand, it doesn’t seem worth it. It’s expensive to take classes and get tutoring, I never get a chance to actually speak it, and I doubt I’ll ever really use it for anything. Translating sounds fun to me (yeah, I know, I’m weird), but would I want to do it as a career? Or maybe even just as a side job, doing some freelance? I guess my love of the language should surpass any and all cons, but time and money are precious things — I don’t have much of either to waste.
I really do enjoy Japanese. It’s such an interesting language to me, much more so than any Indo-European language. I’m just not sure how practical it is. If I’m going to continue studying it, I need to find something to do with it. If I don’t find some sort of job or hobby with which to utilize it, all that I’ve learned will just go stale and I’ll just have to keep relearning everything, over and over, to keep it fresh, and for what? So I “know” a language that I can’t even do anything with? Sounds kind of ridiculous….
I guess I’ve just been having a lot of doubts lately. I’ve graduated college; now what? What am I going to do with my life? Do I want to pursue web design as a full-time career? Should I continue with school? Do I want to do anything with language (i.e. put my major to use)? I guess I can’t really make any big decisions until I move to Nashville, but I definitely need to start figuring things out soon.
it’s almost time!
In 24 hours, I will be sitting in Chicago waiting for my flight to Japan. HOW EXCITING/TERRIFYING. Except right now it still seems rather unreal to me, so I’m not freaking out yet. I think I’ll start doing that once we get to the airport. Then it will most definitely seem real.
This will only be my third time flying. The first two times were to New York, so the flights had to have been pretty short, and on top of that, I was really young, so I can’t even remember them. As such, this seems like my first time flying, and it’s going to be a looooong flight. Kind of intimidating. Though honestly, I’m not too worried about the super long flight to Japan. I’m more concerned about the flight from Knoxville to Chicago because it’s in a teeny tiny 50-seater and small planes unnerve me. It’s a quick flight, though, so hopefully it won’t be too bad. (And hopefully I won’t die.)
I’ve still got some packing to do. I’ve been making a list for the last month or so but just started packing yesterday, and I couldn’t finish it up because I still need to do laundry… and instead of doing laundry yesterday, I decided, sporadically, to go get a haircut. It had grown out quite a bit and though I tell myself every time it gets long that I’m going to keep growing it longer, I always end up hacking it off. It doesn’t look good unless I brush it constantly, it’s too hot this time of year, and I can’t wear it back for too long because it gives me a headache.
So, chop chop. But rather than make an appointment at one of the trendy places in town, I went to some cheapo walk-in place. Now, the stylist did not do a horrible job; but after having it dry and fluff up, I’m not too happy with it. It’s way too boyish, I think. Maybe once I put on some makeup, it’ll look better, but the thing is, I’m too lazy/apathetic to put on makeup half the time. I think if I get some of the back cut off, making it shorter than the front, I’ll like it better. But now the dilemma is, do I go search for a place that’s open on Sunday to fix it? And consequently pay more money for it? Do I hunt the stylist down and make her fix it? Or… I shouldn’t even think about this… should I attempt to fix it myself? The last choice sounds the easiest, but also the most dangerous. Especially since I’ve made this choice before and it was somewhat disastrous. But I don’t know. What if I just snip off a teeny tiny bit at a time, extra carefully? Do I take the chance of making a complete mess of my hair right before my big trip? DILEMMA.
Wow, I just talked about my hair for two paragraphs. Ridiculous! But seriously, what do I do??
I suppose I should also mention the Market Square Farmers’ Market, since that actually has something to do with what this blog is supposed to be about (i.e. crafts). Yesterday I attended my first market as a vendor. It did not go extraordinarly well. Or even just well, really. First off, my booth was, for lack of a better description, quite ghetto. Borrowed tiny canopy with ugly brand names on it. Two mismatching tables, no tablecloths. Makeshit, last-minute signage and displays. Totally ghetto. Secondly, I sold two things, which brought me to $0 after taking out my part of the booth fee. Chris, on the other hand, who was brought along more for support than anything, made like $40. What! This whole thing is my idea, I’ve been freaking out getting ready for it, trying to make as many items as I can, and Chris, who played little part in this and has had his wire sculpture thingies sitting in a box for the past several months, collecting cobwebs, makes more money than me. So totally unfair. But despite my lack of success, it was really nice spending several hours outdoors, especially doing something locally with the community and seeing the center of Knoxville really bustling. It made me appreciate this city a bit more. I look forward to attending more markets when I get back, now that I know what I need to improve upon and have some better idea of what sort of items I need to make.
and so it begins…
I’m starting up a blog. I’ve had several Livejournals, but never a blog, and this WordPress stuff seems a bit complicated. I’m sure it isn’t, but since I’m just starting out, I have to figure it all out and sometimes figuring things out intimidates me. This blog will probably be rather dull for awhile, and likely will be undergoing frequent changes as I try to customize it. I would incorporate it into Whithersoever’s layout but honestly, I’m too lazy. I’ve got other things I’d rather work on. Other things that I need to work on.
So what is this blog going to offer? Well, obviously I’ll be posting about my web design endeavors, since this blog is affiliated with my design portfolio. I’ll also probably have a lot of craftings posts, maybe some posts about cooking and healthy eating, things that interest me/tickle my fancy, updates on my upcoming trip to Japan, and who knows what else. What it won’t have are really personal posts divulging my deepest thoughts and feelings (read: no bitching & moaning). My LJs were always so whiney and boring and I don’t want this to be like them. This is not a journal, after all. It’s a blog that’s meant to entertain and enlighten (in addition to showing off my creations), which I sincerely hope it will. I may give some life updates occasionally, but nothing waaaay too personal. Probably just some gushing over my cats. ;)