Transitions - round 832

July was a busy month. I entertained the fabulous Michael D, cheered on roommate at finish of San Francisco Marathon (she ran 2nd half) and cooked pancake breakfast for 6 afterwards, went to an oceanside cabin on Bodega Bay, swore I would freeze to death in San Francisco's chill... and lost my job.

So now I'm yet another statistic. Luckily I was already one week into teaching European teens English at a language school (run by Canadians!), a course that lasted 2 weeks total. Being back in the classroom was challenging, but using my gray matter to bend teens to my will was entertaining at times, rewarding (yeah, it's hokey) at others. I learned they ride penguins in Spain. And the koala mafia fights with the butterfly mafia in Italy. When a kid said "2 butterflies came to my grandparents house..." then trailed off and looked at the ground in obvious sadness, reliving the painful memory it was amazingly hilarious. They were a creative class, that's for sure. I've also been teaching more French privately and finding that while French grammar trounces English in terms of complexity, I can still make people understand it. Mostly.

Job hunting isn't my favorite activity. But one gig I'm starting on is working with ConferenceHound.com; I have my first blog post with them up now. Their aim is to be something between kayak and yelp for conferences, a pretty cool idea. I'm working on other writing projects, trying to keep the resume factory productive, and learned the basics of driving stick shift so I could commute to another short-term gig last week. Joblessness finds me with so many things to do I wonder how I spent 40 hours a week working in the shop.

I also got my hands on The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. And read it all in less than a day - fabulous ending to a great, thrill-packed trilogy. I love it when the operations kick in and they outline all the clever steps involved so that justice can be served. He was a huge women's rights guy it seems as well from looking at his characters and plots.

Also discovered Porchlight, a local storytelling group here in SF and am looking forward to going to more of their events, maybe trying to tell a story or two of my own. My sister Cassie comes tomorrow morning for fun and fabulous times before she starts college - glad I have time to spend with her!