Food

Quick summary of what I've eaten since Christmas day.
Tuesday: Tuna salad with some crackers.
Wednesday: Two hamburger patties with cheese.
Thursday: Two paper cups full of potato chips.
Friday (today): Some week old potato salad, I hope I don't die from it.

The reasoning for my poor eating habits? Work. I've worked a lot lately. So much so that I've little time to eat. Sure I could eat lunch but why spend the money on it? Sure I could eat breakfast but I'd rather sleep the extra half hour. Sure I could spend my fifteen minute break at the mall scrambling to the food court to devour some unhealthy concoction. But I don't do those.

Today I checked out the cuisine for Azerbaijan. If I end up there, I will eat rather healthy and more often than now. That will be a cultural change for me.

Strung Out

Thanks to the mysterious B, formerly known as anonymous?, for the words of encouragement and giving me the feeling that I am not alone in the quest for an invitation to join the Peace Corps.

All the waiting for me makes me wonder if I'll even get an invitation. I assumed that since I made it past nomination, medical/dental clearance, and came out unscathed I'd be guranteed an invite. Who knows I might be. But I'll have to wait to find out.

In the mean time I'll discuss my emotional lagging a bit, or a lot..whichever. I'm not really depressed or malcontent just...unsatisfied and overly bored. This happens to me every year after Christmas. Yay Christmas. Get the great gifts and its good for the day. Then the 26th comes and its like...wow 364 days left until that feeling of anxiety. I found myself thinking about that the other day at work. I was doing a bunch of busy work when someone asked how my Christmas was. I thought of all the gifts I got, can't complain other than the fact that I've not had the time to REALLY enjoy any of them, and thought "what I really wanted is to not be here this time next year". Sound weird? Yeah. But if you look at the gifts I asked for, and got, you'd understand it.

I asked for a few video games (Gears of War, Call of Duty 3, NCAA Football) to help pass the time till June. Requested an acoustic guitar, which I got. Fender, left-handed (take that Hendrix!). Wanted that so I could learn how to play during the 2 years away. And a couple of big books to read while I'm gone. Complete work of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Cultural Literacy should do the work.

Its like being stuck in second gear. Which is a HORRIBLE analogy seeing as even I don't get that. How about no-man's land or stuck between the screen door and the main door? Thats better. I'm just waiting on word before I can make any movement but at the same time I feel as though times taking too long.

Plus I've yet to wrap my mind around the invites. Some people are now receiving invitations for February, to be honest I'd love a bump to February because I know I'd be going to Ukraine or Romania, and others are getting theirs now for June, blast you B! Makes me wonder about the Azerbaijan. Maybe I'll get Georgia...or Armenia. I don't know but I wish I'd get a clue.

If I received my invite tomorrow would things change? Not really. I mean I'd be elated and excited to the Nth degree. Everyone and their brother would know, minus my work (DOE not GAP and probably my mom). I'd start doing massive amounts of research online at work. I'd buy a few books about said location. I'd study the history, cultural norms, holidays, traditions, practice making their food, and see about finding a great dictionary. By the middle of January I'd just be waiting for June to come. That feeling would last until I don't know....May 25th or so. Maybe not knowing for a bit longer and just anticipating is best. But I check my email every hour for an email saying "Your toolkit has been updated". Of course once that happens I'll be calling home every hour to see if my mail came.

I guess that anticipation of an email has me a little strung out, hence the title. There's only so much reading of other blogs you can do until you feel wanting for more. Which by the way, I really do appreciate the people that actually read my random writings, complaining, and overly eager anticipation of receiving an email/letter. Really, any person that consistently keeps up with my ramblings is all right by me. I try to comment back with every person because I know when I comment to someone else's blog/email I'm secretly hoping for another comment. By the way, still waiting on an email back from someone else. Just threw that out there.

Time to day dream while at work.

I can see you

About 10 years ago my mom told me of my great aunt that refused to watch tv or listen to the radio. Her thinking was that people could hear/see you. I thought this was marvelous fun and wanted to meet her. Anyone remember the tv show Freakazoid! ? Loved that show. It was so completely random. In one episode it stops and the screen goes blue and white letters pop that says "We can see you". Oh how I wanted to show that to my wacked out great aunt.

Little did I know she was dead. No need to apologize or show sympathy. I never met her and she passed away long before I was told about her. But how much fun I would've had...

Anyway, I'm here at work, still sick, and get an email from anonymous. I wish blogger wouldn't allow just "anonymous"...put a name out there people!!! Turns out they find me by typing into google "Azerbaijan Peace Corps blogs". Hmm...so I tried it. Yup. I'm on the fourth page. That means Big Brother can see me. Yay? I don't know...it's only the fourth page. But anonymous filled me in that they'd be heading out in June as well to Azerbaijan and already received their invite.

Let it be known that I do not like anonymous. Mainly because they didn't give me a name to mock and proclaim "why them and not me?!?!" Just kidding anonymous.

I asked a PC group about invitations and received three rather varying answers. One received theirs in two weeks, one in two months, and one six weeks prior. Seriously...no consistency. Whatever works I guess. But even if I got my invite tomorrow I'd still have six months to wait. Though I could seriously alter what I wanted for Christmas...ehhh...

Time to practice patience.

An ol' fashion whining

I now understand why the Peace Corps wanted me to type up a summary of my seasonal allergies. How did I get to that conclusion? Lets take a look at the past week for me shall we?

I started to feel the affects of the weather changing. It dropped to roughly 15 for most of the week with the week prior being that of like 40. The drastic weather change caused me to feel weak and oh so irritable. I was never comfortable sitting at work, walking around at the other work, or doing any form of exercise. And then WHAM my sinuses kicked in. Massive massive sinus drainage. I've tried several means to deal with sinus drainage. Mucines, sinufed, nyquil/dayquil, benadryl, tylenol, alka-seltzer, or a combination of the previous. The only real affect came from nyquil as it helped me sleep and upon my awakening I was fine for the next couple hours.

However the drainage has ceased and a new problem has arrived. Sore throat, coughing, and what was once drainage is now pain when I swallow. Oh and I'm extremely tired. I think I may just have the flu. For the sake of everyone I work with they best hope not. I licked all the cups down in the break room.


Kidding.


But I'm tempted for the sake of having a good story to tell.

Alas, me not feeling well led me to think about why the PC cares about medical stuff, even the trivial stuff. People get to feeling crummy and that can affect their work. I should know cause I'm not really doing much at work. Heck halfway through this, while at work, I nodded off for a bit. I need some cough syrup with codeine.

A phone call

So I decided to call my recruiter to find out more about the invitation process. Basically I got "it depends". Somehow I knew that was going to be the outcome. He gave me a phone number, in which I didn't write down, and told me that they really don't like being bugged but if I wanted to I could call. I didn't want to be a butt, ergo I didn't write it down.

Apparently I should hear only hear something soon if they need me to do anything else. If all else I should hear something in a couple months or so. Yay?

Random quote

Still haven't heard anything from placement, which I'm guessing will be awhile before I hear anything. So thats okay. But a friend has this up in her away message and I thought it fit with the Peace Corps.

"To laugh often, to win the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch ... to know even one life has breathed easier becase you have lived, this is to have succeeded."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

SWEET JESUS

As of 4:45pm yesterday I have been medically cleared to serve in the Peace Corps.

And suddenly a weight has been lifted off my chest....ahhh sweet sweet clearance...

And it continues

Long time no post!

I had my blood drawn a couple weeks ago for the titers, CBC, and hepatitis B antigen surface thingy. I'm all normal and immune. Always a positive thing to find out. It took the lab two weeks to get that to me. Two weeks! Okay...in real life I was much more patient. I typed up my symptoms to seasonal allergies in paragraph form explaining that the drastic temperature changes in the Midwest cause me to sneeze a lot in the morning and that some times I'll take a benadryl. Really thats all that happens but its called seasonal allergies? I'm fine with grass and pollen but by God change the temperature more than 20 degrees in one day and I look like hell.

Alas I sent out the remnants of the paperwork and hope that its enough for them. It should be seeing as everything is fine and sent in but who knows right?

There are rumblings going around about invitations coming for those due to leave in April and May. So I'd imagine by Christmas time (or January) I'll have my invite if all goes well. Yay?

I'm still excited about the Peace Corps but the paper work thats been bogging me down has well....bogged me down. Hard to imagine spending two years in another country when OMS keeps saying that they did the wrong hepatitis B antigen test. How many tests are there?! They say hepatitis B surface antigen and not the hepatitis B surface antigen envelope. My doctor says hepatitis B surface antigen core. Any idea folks? Oh well.

On a positive side of things after joining the Biggest Losers for the DOE (contest has 32 people and the pot for winning is $320) I've lost 4.6% of my body weight and can now do 30 pushups with ease. I don't think I've ever been able to do 15 with ease. So yay me and my new fangled biceps. Next goal, 50.

Tubbs

So I went to the doctor yesterday to meet with good ol' Dr. Don Johnson. The nurse was a bit confuddled with all the paperwork I had. Which was by far a lot less than my previous amount. So in he came and looked at all my paperwork and his reaction was similar to mine "wow...they're picky". Two options came up...get another MMR or hope that the titer showed that I still was immune. You'd imagine I would still be but I didn't feel like having another shot so I went with the titer. Then he noticed that I need a polio titer and flat out said "I wonder if they do that anymore...wow..". Always comforting to hear that. All in all the doc agreed with me that they were picky. I mean hepatitis B surface antigen seems close enough to hepatitis B surface antigen core. Granted I've no idea what that means.

Somehow I have a feeling I'll have to get some shots and more blood taken. I'm praying that I don't have to.

Update

Ahhh a real update. Its like finding an old pair of jeans and realizing that they still fit. The "letter", quotations used to add pizzaz if you will, arrived last Friday. Which meant that I couldn't get it until Saturday due to work. I have my doctor's appointment this afternoon to get the following (this is off my memory):
-complete blood count report....no idea
-hepatitis B antigen skin test....something about the original being a hepatitis B antigen envelope skin test...yeah..no idea
-titer test...doctors lost my MMR and polio vaccine forms...yeah more blood drawn..
-Doctor to put down whether he is an MD or DO...that was easy to miss

And at some point I need to write about what my seasonal allergy symptoms are. Extra mucus and phlegm. Almost seems a waste of paper to type that. I'll come up with something a bit longer I guess.

On another note I got a comment from an anonymous PCVer. Its always weird getting an email from blogger saying you have a comment. But they made note that not all the people I meet that write that blogs are all that cracked up to be. Kinda disappointing but to be honest the only one I think I'll really meet doesn't do blogs but sends emails. But whatever...just meeting other people in the PC is just fine with me. I'm easy to please. :-)

Going Postal

Three months! I hit the three months marker. So to celebrate this joyous experience I called OMS. Could you think of any better way of celebrating?! Me either. I got ahold of my screening assistant, lets call them D for the sake of this post. (Couldn't use Q cause it sounds awesome, X is over used, Z is typical, Y comes off mean, M is in use to Bond.) So D gets my social and asks "didn't you get our letter?" and pauses. I HATE pauses. It can mean so much! D continues with "well we sent you a letter asking for more information. We need verification that you got your MMR, follow up about your seasonal allergies...etc". But the important part was "this is pretty easy stuff for you to do so it shouldn't take long after we get it to put you through the process".

So now I wait...I hate you postal service...with a passion. Not really hate but a general dislike that burns like a giant supernova. Whatever works right?

Well yay for knowing something!

Future thoughts

It occured to me awhile ago that I may not be able to keep this blog up and going for several reasons. Whether its due to security reasons (I doubt people in the Caucus region would really care about what I told America about their food...but whatever...they may), lack of internet, or even little time to update. Rest assured faithful readers, whomever you are, I'll keep my blog alive and well.

Besides I think reading blogs goes along with one of the tenets of the PC, sharing another culture with America (or for Borat fans...U S and A!). I've learned a fair amount from reading other blogs about their adventures, let downs, fall outs, foibles, and joys. Heck I even have personal favorites. For me they are like rock stars, they may not have the whole sex drugs and rock n' roll bit but whatever works right? The teacher traveler guy cracks me up and yet I'm intimidated by his mad skills to climb stuff. I'm afraid of heights so naturally he intimidates me. Brian Herbert is a good read, and he responds well. Matt from One Revolution updates a LOT so its enjoyable to see the somewhat mundane life of a PCV. I also enjoy Julia from Thailand because of her flat out honesty with her short comings.

Yeah I don't know any of them and probably never will but they are giving me hope that I can and will do a decent job. Heck someone may one day read my post about how I've counted how many times I've had rice pilaf*. That may in turn give them a laugh or give them an idea of what life is like for me. And that is a great cycle. It shows the human side of serving and allows you to think "oh wow I wonder what they are like in person". Maybe I'm just in awe of PCVs. No idea...but probably.

I saved another volunteer for last because well there is a chance of meeting her. She's the one that told me that there's a good shot I'd probably end up in Azerbaijan. I can just imagine meeting her and saying "wow reading about your life has been amazing and its so great to finally meet you". That'd be creepy AND weird. So lets hope I don't meet her.

On a PC frustrated note on Sunday, Monday maybe, I was so irritated that I was going to say some unlikeable things on Myspace about the PC taking FOREVER with my medical clearance. But the first post I saw was someone with the same issue...but theirs was 6 months long. Couldn't complain after reading her post. I hadn't had rude people talk to me. I hadn't had to wait six months to go and serve (only 3...and yes I'm counting). So I couldn't complain and I lost that infuriating desire to say ill-will. I realize all the prioritizing and everything I really do. But you'd imagine they would hire more people AND would be up front about waiting periods. Oh well. My patience is being tested and so far I've been pretty good.

Going on week 11

Ahhh Peace Corps. We have a hate love relationship at this point. I hate waiting yet you love it. You hate reviewing paperwork and I love knowing its not my fault.

I remember reading other people's blogs about telling others about their invitations, I remember reading posts on Yahoo! about people getting their invites, and I remember a time when I was hopeful that I'd get my invite soon. Week 11...c'mon! "You'll hear something shorty" just keeps going through my head over and over. I knew my stuff wasn't on the top of the list but it should be kinda close at this point.

Oh well...it reminds me of a plaque my grandmother has in her kitchen that says "God grant me patience, but please hurry!"

What makes it worse is that everyone and their brother knows I'm doing the Peace Corps. They all know that I'm supposed to leave next year. They all know that I was going through the medical process. So they all assumed that by now I'd know for certain where and when I'd be going. Example, an email from my friend Ang "hey how's the Peace Corps stuff going? I remembered thinking that you said you should know this month". I told her I would probably know something in two months, my bad.

My responses are starting to become possible lies. I say possible because I've no idea. I tell people June and Azerbaijan. Those two are a bit arbitrary. I came to the conclusion that it's probably going to be Azerbaijan because of some clues (see previous posts) and my nomination is for June and I don't think it'll be changed. I wonder if my excitement would change when I receive the invite letter saying that? Doubtful.

I'm starting to come up with ideas of things to do for projects. In a year I'll probably be able to actually DO them yet I've got an idea. Weird.

Anywho, this blog is getting in may way of waiting for contact with the PC. :-)

Until next time

9 Weeks!!!

Its been 9 weeks to the day since I've heard anything from the PC. And by anything I mean in regards to medical (dental went by rather quickly). Yesterday I gave my screening assistant a call. I assumed they would be back from their honeymoon. Alas, voicemail. Then today around noon I was playing video games at work (normal) and my cell rang. Didn't recognize the number so I didn't answer. Not the first time. Voicemail. Well I'll be. Tada its my screening assistant! Weird. I called him back, nothing. "Son of a..." is what my coworkers heard. Hour later they called me back and we briefly discussed how on earth I hadn't heard a thing. Turns out they were supposed to have reviewed my file but hadn't and that I would hear something shortly. I should've asked if shortly meant a day, a week, three months...etc. But atleast they were courteous enough to call me back and to be so prompt. I'll give'em credit for that.

Oh for those that only get to read this blog another update. I got the job at the GAP (EXCELLENT employee discount) and I've mainly been working weekends. My boss...hottie. Assistant boss...major hottie. One of my coworkers...reallllllly cute. Has a bit of a southern draw to her and a giant smile.

Loads better than hearing about dried up vagina and menopause.

7 weeks

Ahh the 7 week marker and yet my OMS contact is still on his honeymoon. Good for him I guess.

I think I'll wait until week 8 to start harrassing. I know I'm on the wait list. Plus I read that they're finally getting through with the February/March people. So its a slow moving process.

Six weeks!

I've made it to the six week marker of medical clearance. Ahhh the joys of medical clearance.

In other news I've got an interview next week for a part time job at the GAP. Thats right I plan to work 7-3:30 then drive south to work from 4-11. Sounds thrilling doesn't it? Gotta pay the bills some way.

Holy Crap!

5 weeks. Nothing like keeping count of the weeks.

I have gained a quick "idea" of what its like to be in another class let alone another underdeveloped culture. My student loans take half of my salary (roughly one pay check a month) and the other half goes to rent, gas, utilities, and cable/internet. I think I end up with having $50 for food a month and maybe $100 gets saved. Thats right...$50 a month. Remember the Rachel Ray show that does $40 a day? Yeah spread that over a month. I eat whatever comes available. The staff went on a retreat and brought back their leftover stuff that no one wanted; cookies, some candy, and bagels. I took the bagels and for three days I made meals out of them. I used up some old spaghetti sauce (about a week or so old) of my roommates, some string cheese my parents gave me, and some Italian sausage I took from their freezer while I was there last (A. they don't mind B. I did the grocery run and this was one of the items). So I made bagel pizzas for three days. Alas I have one Italian sausage left that I'll cook for dinner tonight. Sounds pathetic doesn't it? You do what you can. Doesn't really help that when I went to take a shower last night the water wouldn't get hot. Probably will spend my savings to pay for a plumber. If the roommates weren't going to be in this weekend I'd just do what I did last night and use hot water from the coffee pot and wash myself in the sink....I wonder if that will translate well into PC life "yeah well I've been washing myself out of a sink for 3 months beforehand". I hope I get a call back for a part-time job so I can afford more. My other plan is to "find/come up with" about 65 million pennies. I'm not kidding either. Pennies are underused. I think if I can come up with that many pennies I can pay off my student loans and stuff for my sister.

Anyway...

I was watching Everybody loves Raymond last night on one of the scribbly channels (cable AND internet comes today, major reason why I'm poor). But yesterday I had a Holy Crap! moment. You know feelings of anxiety that just pop up out of nowhere and make you realize everything thats going down? Had that yesterday with the Peace Corps. I was doing my thing and it just hit me. In a year from now I'll be in another country with new friends, counterparts, enemies (hopefully someone nice), etc. I mean in another country!!!

Thats scary yet exciting, like getting a new haircut, having sex for the first time, and eating cafeteria food.

I can easily see why PC people sort of group up together, marry each other, and gain long friendships. I mean as a nominee I'm scrounging around for any bit of information I can get on what its like living in country, adapting, adjusting on the way back, if they can get cheez-its...anything. And apparently I'm not alone in my scrounging. Plenty of people read my blog and others' blogs just to take notes on what they are going through to attain this wild adventure. It almost makes me want to meet these people, and some I may. An example if you'll allow.

I get an email update from Sam (name changed due to sensitivity reasons and such) in her journeys through the Caucus Mts. I don't know Sam. I don't know if she has a little brother named Chuck, if she loves nutella, dreams about being Sarah Jessica Parker, or if she thought hop scotch was the shit. I know nothing about her besides the fact that she's a PCV in the Caucus Mts and that she's my hero. She's doing what I want/plan to do. And to me thats amazing. I read her email update with awe and admiration. For this brief time in scrounging up information until I'm inducted into this community I find those involved to be breath taking and majestic individuals. Some may scoff at those statements. "They're only human beings who are in another country...its not like they beat up Dr. Doom or rescued a fellow firefighter". Thats true. They can't bend steel and they probably don't know how to fire a gun (some may) or use a fire hose (again...some may) but they're traveling the world in hopes of helping mankind and creating a bond between two nations and more importantly...two cultures. Thats heroic to me. I look up to Sam and the other people who update their blogs, journals, and email lists.

Annd off my soap box for a bit...

Seriously send me your pennies...

Hmm

I tend to read other PC bloggers post so I have a general idea of what they're going through or have done. One of my favorite ones (can't remember her name) is doing her service in Thailand until she recently had some health issues (something with her back) and is in China until she can move back.

Today I look at CNN.com and find that Thailand is going through another coup. Somehow I feel worse for her. I mean there are other volunteers there that will have to adjust. I mean get reassigned, wait it out, or move to a safer location until things get fine. But I can't help but feel bad for her. I mean the other volunteers get to say goodbye to their counterparts, etc....and yet...she's in a hotel room recovering not being able to do anything but wait.

Odd turn of events

So I wanted to be proactive. Ya know check up on things and make sure all is turned in. I wait until people aren't around so they don't have to listen to me talk on the phone. Quickly found out who my contact person is in OMS and dial it up. Gone. He left this nice long message. Apparently starting yesterday until October he'll be away. October!!! Why do I have this luck when it comes to medical? Atleast he has a good reason (getting married...good reason..). Hmm...maybe I'll harrass someone else..

Update: Transferred to a different person...who is not in either.

One month

And its officially one month since I've sent in all my paperwork. Oddly enough yesterday I was concerned that I would get mail at my parent's home sitting there waiting for me. So I got ahold of my sister and of course I had mail...and from the PC. Oh twisted fate. I move out and three days later the PC sends stuff. So I about had a caniption fit, lost in Madden 07 (didn't save so now I can go back and bust up Carson Palmer), and drove out to my 'rents house. Turns out the ONLY mail I had was from the PC. And what was it? A letter telling me I was dentally cleared. Great. I knew that about two weeks ago.

But thanks to the peacecorps2 group on Yahoo! I've learned that I may not have sent all of my information. Something about HIV 1&2 tests and I may have only sent a lab result in for HIV 1??? Don't know.

I think I may call OMS to see how everything is going and if they need anything from me. I don't think it'd hurt to ask.

Three weeks

Well I've made it to the three week marker. No news is good news I guess. Yay Peace Corps.

Dentally cleared

As of Monday I'm dentally cleared to serve in the Peace Corps. Two more weeks until I get to complain about medical taking too long.

"The goose is cooked"

Well my mother's $500 shopping spree was passed onto me. That's right. I had that unimaginable duty of gathering $500 worth of food in five minutes. It was like supermarket sweep...except we kept the food.

How did I fare? Well it would've gone better if I wasn't limited to just two of said item (of which I understand the store manager's reasons). Alas the list of food follows (from my memory atleast):
two hams
two geese (one was dinner yesterday...not that good)
two ducks
6lbs of ground meat
two racks of ribs
2 filets
2 ribeyes
2 NY Strips
2 pot roasts
2 pork tenderloins
a chicken
a cornish hen
2 bags of doritos (random buy)
2 cans of macademia nuts
2 containers of the good OJ
Limeade (no idea really)
4lbs of colby cheese (seriously...lots of cheese)
Assortment of ice cream
Hot pockets/pizza/pizza rolls

Thats all I can remember. Exciting no? Needless to say I could've gotten up to $800 and I probably did.

As for this week I'm in the process of moving into another house. I figure if I have a year left until the PC I might as well have some form of privacy. Speaking of the PC it took like three days to get the correct stuff to send off for dental. First they couldn't find my panorex. Then I asked for a better contrast and they couldn't do that. But alas on the last day I got some negative and a brighter picture. Hopefully that's enough for them.

Week two of waiting begins...

Hold up

About 6 months after turning 16 I got a job working at Marsh Supermarkets. I worked there for four years (holidays and such during college before RA stuff) and enjoyed the comradery (for the most part) with my fellow employees. Cut to Saturday. My mom goes to the store in what I think the last week I'll not have to pay for groceries. She tells me about some contest and asks me to look at the receipt to see if she was entered. I look it over and yup she's automatically entered. Big deal.

She won. What is this reward? $500 shopping spree for this weekend. I'll be eating very well on Saturday. Don't know what I'll be eating (steak, lobster, shrimp, turkey, cornish hen, macademia nuts, etc) but it'll be good.

As I find this out I notice a packet arrived from the Peace Corps. I immediately know its not an invite packet (no email saying I was medically cleared especially since its not been gone too long). Ahhh my dental stuff was returned with one request. Which made me rather happy. That means they've looked at my stuff and went through it AND I only had one issue. My panorex thing is hard to read and needs a brighter contrast or on photo paper. I'll be picking up my new copy on Wednesday and mailing it out that day (hopefully).

Either they're on top of the game or they want to get me through the clearance fast. I'm hoping for both. :-)

Spoke too soon

So my packet was received yesterday. Imagine that. A little complaining then WAMMO! Nicely done PC. Way to keep me on my toes. A little unnecessary but oh well.

But my stuff is under review. Doesn't that sound fun? In the mean time I was reviewing stuff for the Foreign Service. Its one of the options I was thinking of after Peace Corps. I read over the scenarios and stuff for the interview and things like that and went "dear God I can do that". My experiences with student government and being in residence life really prepped me for crisis control and taking over a situation. Lets just if I become an Ambassador's Aide and an earthquake occurs, rest assured I could handle it.

This is all on my confidence in myself though. It'd be sad if I believed that and I failed miserably. :-)

So this blog will be a bit unused until I hear from the PC. Which could be a week, a month, or two months.

I get by (a little whining I may regret later)

My best friends in Florida without me, my friends are waiting for me to move into a house, and I JUST applied to another job. Sounds all complicated but PC has been playing with my life.

I kept having dreams that I would get invited earlier than my supposed nomination date. I was told there was a chance my invitation would be different. So it left me to not make any moves. So I didn't move to Florida (amongst other reasons like student loan payments). So I've not moved in with friends (would hate to move in and then two months later have to leave). And I didn't want to apply for the job if in a month I was leaving.

Ahhh this wrecks me. Its left me in a bitter mood at the moment.

My medical packet full of information (including an index to assist the medical screeners) was shipped last week and yet mytoolkit hasn't changed. I check my hotmail every 15 minutes waiting to be told that they have received my medical packet and are processing.

I know processing will take some time, unless of course they want me to fulfill another program, then I have a little wait to endure.

My impatience is growing just wanting to know that they got it. Waiting for clearance is I'm sure going to suck.

FINE!

No not fine as in "how are you?" "oh I'm fine". Which everyone says but nobody means.

I'm finally finished with medical paperwork (hopefully). Endured my eye appointment today with an extremely attractive, unfortunately married, optometrist. Bit expensive. My lenses were $80, frames were $10 (insurance covered like 95% of frames), and I had to get some sort of retinal scan thingy ma bob. I wasn't paying attention to the optometrists words. :-)

I'd walk it to the post office box in the circle but its raining fairly hard. Oh well. The mail tomorrow. And then waiting for 2 months. Score...

Another update...sort of

Tomorrow I get to go in and have my PPD (yes I read the sheet) read and placed on my form along with whether the lab results were normal or abnormal. Well thats based on my labs being done as my doctor said they were to be finished on Monday. Thursday I'm fortunate to say is when I get to go and get my eye stuff done.

Luckily there's an optometrist in Monument Circle. Thats really random. I mean its REALLY random. I mean in the circle there's the South Bend Chocolate Factory (I doubt I'll actually go in there), a radio station, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, an Episcopal Church, Starbucks, and an optometrist? Weird. Alas I'll be going during my "lunch break" to have all the forms filled out and on my walk back I can stop by FedEx to place the ENTIRE packet in the mail. Sweet freedom!!!

Well thats hoping that I don't have to have any more exams. As long as the bloodwork shows that I'm not diabetic (sister and grandmother are), that my cholesterol is reasonable (I've lost 3 lbs to help that), and hopefully I won't have to visit a psychiatrist (father's bipolar but on meds and is relatively okay...annoys me at times but okay). Teeth are fixed, holes still there from wisdom teeth, and my vision doesn't suck that much.

Sweet sweet freedom from these forms. Not all too difficult to fill out but time consuming.

Of course once the invite stuff comes I know I'll have to fill out more forms. But they won't be about my apparent allergies to sulfa, latest bowel movement, if my balls are normal, or if my gums bleed.

Clearance

So today I go in for my PPA (PPD? something with a big P). And I'm kinda excited. Do you enjoy pain? Not so much. Do you have a crush on one of the nurses? They took my blood how can you like someone that does that?

After I get this done (and measured on Wednesday) I'll only have eye paperwork to fill out for clearance. Ahhhh the sweet sweet thought of being done with paperwork. Well thats if they don't require any more medical work. Lets hope not.

On a sad note my once prevalent saying of "Don Johnson told me that my balls are okay" has run lame. So sad. I enjoyed saying it for the fun factor and the odd looks. Alas there was a time limit.

On an even sadder note (possibly happier note?) I learned today that I'll probably be invited to Azerbaijan and not the Republic of Georgia......wait a minute....you lied to us!!!

No my faithful readers I've not. Alas I was under the impression from my recruiter the following countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, and the Republic of Georgia (ie the Caucus region). When I repreated Azerbaijan and the Republic of Georgia to him he said "don't forget Armenia". So I ASSUMED (yes I know what that means) that it would be Armenia. Turns out he has no clue. Then I met someone on Yahoo! (note the exclamation mark...don't want that to get confused for regular Yahoo) that has the same nomination heard they were starting up a pilot program in ROG (got tired of spelling it out...besides I've that its the way PCVs refer to it). So I thought ROG was it. I mean here's a source. Well she must've lied or gotten some bad info (or got lied to but thats not a real option...probably got lied to but who's counting correctness here?). I got in my email from said Yahoo! from another group I joined recently the PeaceCorpsEEandCA (which doesn't happen to be very active....yet....) or maybe it was CIRPCA...anyway. A PCV in Azerbaijan posted about a new pilot program for Azerbaijan was starting next summer. Ahhh I fit that category AND that region. Man it seemed like a sign. Then she said that it was for Youth Development. BING BING BING!!!

So now I get to meet some Azeris (as I have learned from Wikipedia that they go by this), eat some caviar, and plan on learning a difficult language. But on a bright side a lot of people can understand it. Weird...I know. In some places its called Turki or Turkmen. Its spoken in northern Iran, Azerbaijan (duh), ROG, parts of Russia, eastern Turkey, and some parts of Western Europe. Chance of using that ability for the government later on? Lets hope.

On a really sad note I've met two highly educated people that didn't know where the Caucus Mts (or Black and Caspian Seas) were. No not my parents. No not some friends (although I met some people over the weekend that had no idea either). My dentist and Don Johnson (MD not Tubbs' best friend).

Its unfortunate but the best way I give directions is to say "if you know where Chechnya is then go south a bit" or "look at Ukraine...go south to the Black Sea and go right". Telling a doctor that makes me feel smart. :-)

My balls are okay

So when I went in to get my tests taken, physical done, and other stuff it was interesting to say the least. The nurse was a bit flustered when I was like "here are my forms I need to have filled out". Needless to say she wasn't thrilled. Turns out my eye sight is okay by their standards, blood pressure, and all that junk was A Okay. Didn't really have doubts on that.

Then I met Don Johnson...my doctor. Ahh the humor I had before meeting him. I just couldn't bare to ask him where Tubbs was. He was far too nice. While filling out all the forms he kept initially every page. Hopefully PC is okay with that. He okayed the stuff I filled out about myself. Kinda weird. Then the physical came. Turns out my nuts are okay. What guy isn't concerned about his little friends? I was!!!

Then he wrote a nice looooooooooong list of labs for me to get done and had me schedule time in next week to get my PPA done (which I had done at one point but they lost all that stuff). So I had my nine or so tests done. Pee in a cup then four vials of blood drawn. Ahhhh Peace Corps how much you hurt me.

But...my balls are okay..

Mecidal stuff

Here's the thing. When I was two years old I got some kind of virus. Nothing too deadly or serious that modern medicine couldn't handle. Although when I was like 4 I almost died from chicken pox....seriously.

What did my parents do? They took me to the hospital and I was put on antibiotics, aka Sulfur Drugs (now known as simply sulfa). And what happened? Projectile vomitting and diarrhea. So they took me off my meds, gave me a lot of fluids, and put me on a different antibiotic. Since then I've been deemed allergic to sulfa (and probably penicillin since my mom is).

So while realizing that "hey now I have a doctor I can visit" I realized I should start filling out my medical forms. Then tada I came across stuff about my medical history. They want to know my reaction to the drugs and if I have a pen to shove in myself when I get a bad reaction, etc. I was 2 years old...2...I don't remember what I ate on Sunday let alone how I react to sulfa.

Crazy. And while looking at all the paperwork I can't possibly figure out how many trips to the doctor I'll have to make to get all the paperwork done. I mean besides the physical there are so many freaking lab tests. Atleast I don't have to have a pap smear.

El Language

So in my boredom at work I decided to look into the Caucus Mts for an idea of weather related issues. Is it hot, cold, snowy, wet, foggy even. And in general I've no idea.

Lets say I end up in Western Georgia. Well thats not enough. Lets say Western Georgia 10 km from the mts. Then I'll have a lot of rain to deal with, humid summers, and snowy winters. But say I'm in Eastern Georgia near the coast I'll have less rain, more humid, and a snowy but milder winter. Intriguing I thought.

Then I came across the language part. Ummmm...yeah. Kartuli (ქართული) the transliteration of that is Georgian. Looks like scribbles to me. Yup. All scribbles. I know that first thing is a k but thats about it. So I then decided to look at Azerbaijan and Armenia. I honestly think that Georgian is the hardest. My personal opinion though.

Those poor poor Georgians will have to do so much work with me.

Where does a B.A. in Liberal Arts get you?

So upon entering college I could've gone into marketing. Thats what the college expected of me. Thats what my dad expected of me. I was excellent in it in high school. National competitor, business student of the year. And what did I do? Political Science.

I've never really thought back and went "man I should've just done chemistry or accounting". I mean politics in important to society. Plato said that Political Science (capitalized due to importance...yes its not grammatically correct) is "the Authorative Science to rule the others". And I fully agree. I mean politics reflects society and pushes society to work in certain aspects. Granted it doesn't fully control society but it limits the access of society (i.e. cloning and stem cell research). It has its good and its bad.

I wanted to be a student of that science. Its a noble feat but lets face it...it doesn't pay the bills. Working as an administrative assistant would be okay if thats what I really wanted to do. But its not. I'd love to work for the IDP or the General Assembly. But to get on there you really needed to do an internship or know someone. I was the prez for the student government and know of no one.

Whats a guy to do? Well my friend Brandan wants me to move to Florida and live with him while he gets a position as a teacher with a pay of $37k a year. Yet I'd have no job and student loans being demanded to be paid at the beginning of next month.

Add on to still living at home with the parents.

All this due to my B.A. being in liberal arts and not really demanding in the field of careers.

So where does a B.A. in liberal arts get you?

The answer. Peace Corps.

No the PC isn't a cop out for working. It's not a back up plan to grad school. It's the next step in life for me. It just happens to be a really far step from now. I mean a year until my time comes up. Thats one heck of a wait. Then it'll be off to the Caucus Mt. range. Like it would hurt to know which country. Although the Republic of Georgia seems likely.

So it'll come down to finding out if I want to get another job in Indy or to forget it all and head to Florida for a little under a year.

Blarg

So last week I got my wisdom teeth taken out (Thursday to be exact). Which is an experience alright. I think I threw up like four times and slept like three hours and felt horrid. Note to anyone who hasn't gotten their wisdom teeth taken out...do it and get it over with. The meds make me nausous and uber tired. I write this thinking "maybe I'll take a half day".

Anyway when I went in to get the procedure done I took in my dental packet which had the form and bitewing xrays. Around 5pm (like 5:03) I was out of my stupor enough to check my packet. No signature, no copy of xrays, and my bitewings were gone. A little ticked. I spent Friday (even though I should've been resting) in and out of that office to get all three. Crazy. But alas my dental is done. Or so I hope.

Saturday I finally got my letter that allows me to visit a VA Hospital. I wonder how much it'll cost.

Doctor update

So I went and checked with my insurance...again. Yup still don't have a doctor until the first. Kinda shady isn't it? But I called PC and they'll be sending me an authorization letter to let me go to a VA Hospital for my exam and such. Yay.

Medical

So I was having a good day. Called in my insurance to the dentist (in which I get reimbursed for surgery...I can deal with that). Called to make an appointment with my doctor. They fit me in perfectly tomorrow. Called my insurance to make sure its okay. BAM! Day goes to hell!

Normally I keep names of people/groups/organizations to myself so as to not be slanderous but in this case I'll make an exception...yes they made me royaly mad. MPlan...yes thats M-P-L-A-N...decided to assign me a new doctor because my old one was in a different network. So I called today and they said I'd have to clear it with MPlan. MPlan was apparently unaware that the doctor left the network and that I would have to find a new doctor and until August 1st I would not have a doctor. Thats right I have no FREAKING DOCTOR!

So now I'm looking into going to a VA Hospital to get my paperwork filled out. I read something on a Yahoo! group about VA Hospitals filling out the forms and giving exams for either free or uber cheap. I'm hoping for free.

Dental

So here's an actual update. Last Thursday I had my dental exam. All was good except me being told I need to get my wisdom teeth taken out (which I expected). And of course having to come back for a filling to be done. Following that I went to a Peace Corps reception at an African gallery with my sister. Gotta say. I liked the gallery. It was nice. The food wasn't too bad either. I'm guessing its something better than what I'll get there but whatever.

My sister got a good laugh out of everyone though. People got into groups of family, current/former PCs, and nominees. My sister was the last at the family and made the claim "yeah I'm the sister of Jacob and I'm here to show him support or something like that but really I'm just glad he's leaving".

Wooo. Oh and I met someone that I have a mutual friend with. Don't know if friend is the right term though. This woman asked where I went to college and I told her and she was like "well I know these people" and one of them happened to be a roommate of the said mutual friend. Yeah...I totally made out with that "mutual friend". So I kept my mouth shut on that. And another notch was done in my dental clearance by getting my filling done on Saturday (ow) and my wisdom teeth come out this Thursday (probably a major ow). And I've yet to figure out who my doctor is. Lets hope that takes less time than the exam.

An update

So I finally have an update. After an excrutiating time of looking into finding out just exactly WHO is my doctor I found him. Then I found out he's moving offices. Then I found out I need my ID card to see him. I don't have it yet. BUT I have a dentist appointment tomorrow. Thank God. Then I need to conquer the eye doctor so I can get my prescription and get another pair of glasses (I'll be reimbursed a whopping $12...for that anyway). More to come as I hunt down an ID card and figure out where my eye insurance is.

Still alive

So I've not put anything up recently because well...there's nothing really to put up. I've kinda realized that getting my medical and dental clearance forms done right now would be a waste of time and effort. Apparently they normally take like a month to be processed IF I were leaving soon. But since my nomination isn't for a year I doubt I'll be cleared within 3 months of submitting everything.

Plus add to the fact that I didn't know who my doctor was for nearly three weeks. Thank you MPlan for messing up my life. Hopefully I'll have scheduled a meeting with this new doctor and get a physical done by next week. Then I'll hit up the dentist and eye doctor (hopefully the same day).

Med

I'm "on hold" because I've not turned in my med forms. Apparently they were mailed yesterday. Yay doctor visits?

On the road to nowhere

So I didn't really have a chance to post on how my interview went. Probably because I was uber busy this past weekend. But yeah it was pretty good.

X called and he opened up a questionarre and started spouting out questions that I had rehearsed my responses too. I even got the man to laugh. He asked about how I felt about wearing different types of clothes in a culture and my response was something like "well clothes are just a small part of me and I'm sure I can adapt my clothes to fit". So he responded with "well what if you were in a society where everyone worer Def Leppard shirts" "I'm okay with that. I like Def Leppard" he laughed and changed the question "what if they all dressed like ballerinas?" "well I would probably ask why then put on my tootoo".

All in all it was good. Then it came to nomination time. I was up for Central Asia in Feb but that got full. Then there was an interesting one in April in the Caucus Mts. But the pilot program in Eastern Europe sounded AMAZING. So amazing I capitalized it.

Now I'm on the road to nowhere (thank you Talking Heads...that song is stuck in my head). I'll have to wait a bit for medical stuff to come in and then work my ass off to get it all finished. My only issues I know of will be dental (wisdom teeth are intact) and the fact that growing up I had a TON of ear problems (up until I was like 10 or 12). But thats all better.

Next level

I've hit the next level of frustration. My recruiter never called.

Edit- I'm a moron. For some reason I can't tell time. He called an hour later. I hate you daylight savings time.

Update: Nominated for Community/Youth Development in Eastern Europe in a pilot youth leadership program. RIGHT up my alley! :-)

Free time

I have an immense amount of free time at work. I wonder if my bosses are aware of it. Will I tell them? Probably not. I like to keep them in the dark. I think they're aware of how little work I have to do and that what work I do have only takes 15 minutes, of which I've spread out to an amazing four hours. Thank you internet.

But alas an update on PC process. Yesterday I arrived at work with an email from X stating "why don't you give me a call to set up an interview". So I called during a break, not there. So I called during my lunch, not there. Finally I called after work, not there so I left a message.

So today I realized after reading some posts on Yahoo! (thank you peacecorps2) I decided to be persistent and not wait on X. So I called AGAIN and tada! I finally got X! My phone interview is tomorrow at 2 pm (1 pm here). Thats my update and I'm sticking to it.

Dislike!

Original title was "Hatred, thy name is PC". But I don't hate the PC. I'm just frustrated with its system. Apparently thats normal. X finally got back to me today after I sent him yet ANOTHER email with more than a paragraph asking about things. Its like I caught him and he HAD to respond to me.

I think we'll be setting up the interview here shortly. Which is odd because I just ordered a book on the PC and boy that book would help before I interview. Well it may or may not. Don't know.

No update

I'd love to put here "had my interview and it went great" but alas I haven't had it. In fact I've not heard back from X.

I knew he was out of the office last week say Thursday. But no word Friday and still nothing today. From the people I've talked to about it all they all said "be persistent". So I emailed X this morning. And yet no response.

There's not even been an update on mytoolkit thing online. Weird.

Why I want to join

Why would someone want to say goodbye to their friends and family? Why would they want to give up practically everything they own? Why would they want to go to a far off country? And WHY would they want to do that for 2+ years?!

I can't answer that completely. I mean I'll give it my all but I can't just express it verbally. Maybe my mind hasn't developed enough to fully express it. I don't know if anyone's is.

I like helping people. As idealistic as it sounds (and may sound during my interview...whenever that occurs), I like it. I like opening the door for someone. I like knowing that for even a brief moment their mood changes. They appreciate what you've done and it affects their day. Thats magical. Thats monumental. Just from something so small can I affect another person's life. Imagine what I can do in another country for two years!!! Imagine the lives I can affect.

Yeah I know I won't be able to help the entire world. I won't be able to help an entire nation. But if I can touch someone...anyone...then the entire tour is worth it.

How will I adapt to a new culture? No idea. I just know I want to put all my passion and endurance into it.

How am I with eating a different cuisine? Not too shabby. Okay so I can't STAND spaghetti (had it a lot growing up) and I can't STAND tuna casserole (cheese, peas, and tuna...NO WAY), asparagus (I'll eat it but not a big fan), and coconut. But I find a way to like most things. If its cooked differently I may like it more (i.e.- brussel sprouts).

How will I deal with the stress of it all? I don't know. I honestly have no idea until I get there and I get pushed to the limit. All I know is that I'll try to adapt and change. I'll try to find an outlet that relieves it all. Whether it'll be picking up a new hobby, working out, or writing. I'll find something. I always do.

I don't know if that will be enough during the interview. Maybe I've jinxed it all with creating a blog. But I just needed to see my reasoning. Any comments are welcome.

El frustrat-o

I probably should not be sent to a Spanish speaking country. I make fun of them. In a fun and light way of course. I mean my friend Gerardo I nicknamed Chuck. He wanted an American nickname though! Probably didn't help that I kept referring to Taco Bell as real Mexican cuisine and that what he ate was just "faux Mexican". It was all good and fun though. He enjoyed the teasing.

X received my fax yesterday. I had to send it two more times because they didn't "get it". My fax said "hey I'm working okay on my end...don't know what their deal is". I may have exaggerated what it said. Probably something like "transmitting ok"...but thats boring. So he got it around noon-ish or so. Yet no interview was set up, no changing of my status to my application thing online. Maybe I'm just a bit pushy cause I want to go and serve. Hurry people!!! I want to go help!!!

Yeah...yeah...they'll probably still need help after a week. But I'm trying to be on top of everything. Oh well.

Deactivation

As of this moment my application has been deactivated. Is that a good or bad thing? What does that really mean?

Well here's the scoop. X, recruiter's name withheld just because, gave me a call about my application and everything. At first he tells me that I need more experience. Something I DEFINITELY did not expect to hear. But eventually that calms down. Because he keeps saying things like "oh well on your application you did some landscaping..thats Agricultural Development...oh and the work you did in your community is Community Development...so I guess you could increase your chances by being able to do both". Which negates the entire "you need more experience". But he told me that if I want to do TEFL I'd have to volunteer 30 hours a month for 3 months to do that. Which I thought the Peace Corps teaches how to teach (or so what I found on their website and volunteer blogs). Kinda makes you wonder.

The focus behind the call was actually to set up an interview. Of which we couldn't do because I didn't send in a student loan form. (Where was that in my packet?!) And there was an issue of me applying online to the CIA about being a counter terrorism analyst (awesome title isn't it?). They never got in touch with me so I didn't care. I just had to send them a letter asking them to remove my name and send a copy to PC. Not a biggie. But until X received my form and the letter he was deactivating my application.

So I decided to fax the form and the letter to PC. Probably within two hours I did all of that. Yet no word from X. I'm guessing I'll get a call tomorrow. But thats a guess.

From what he told me though there was a good chance of me doing Community Development. Apparently there are people coming back within the month so they're looking for replacements. YAY! :-)

I wanted that more than TEFL. No idea where though.

We shall see. Any volunteers to go with me on the trek to Chicago for the interview?

Oh! If anyone knows a place that could use a volunteer to teach English as a foreign language hit me up.

***Edit***- So apparently I screwed up my fax. How can you screw that up? The letter I sent to the CIA didn't have address so they want me to resend it. I have a feeling my paperwork skills and patience will be tested.

Postage

So when I came into work today I had one goal in mind. Check mytoolkit to see if everything is in. Was it? No. Which left me to wonder what happened.

My $17.36 paid for delivery on Saturday. As of this morning my packet sits in FedEx in Chicago? Refund I say!

Oh well. I'm sure it'll be delivered today. Then I get to call for an interview. Yaaaaay....nervous about that. I hope I don't get grilled. "Whats your favorite type of cheese? Will you eat a goat's head? Do you have clamydia? Whats the capital of Djibouti? How much patience will you have if your boss is technologically ignorant and you have to help him at a moment's notice? Do you sleep in the fetal position? Have you ever licked a toad? How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? Why do you want to join the Peace Corps? Do you have a girlfriend? Do you have a boyfriend? How many licks to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop? And lastly...where in the world is Carmen San Diego?"

I doubt they'd ask all that. But for the record: Blue (or cheddar). Depends on how its cooked and if I have to. Nope. Djibouti (google it folks). Probably not a lot but I'll adapt. Yes...especially when I'm cold. Not that I know of. What exactly is chucking wood? I want to help. Nope. Don't swing that way. 257. Djibouti.

FedEx

So yeah. I get to pay a fair amount to have my packet shipped off to Chicago. Thats right I get to go to FedExness to pay for a packet that would normally have paid postage. Why?

Turns out that the packet was "sent" on April 12th. I got it a week later. Which gives me a week and a few days to get all of it together. Which really boils down to a few days because of my conference early in the week. And the packet is due in the office on Monday. Probably would've gotten Tuesday but nooooo... Primary Elections. Oh the irony. My love for politics bites me in the rear end. Yet I'm still second guessing the whole form thing. Maybe because the online thing says the forms need to be completed. Should I call again? No idea.

Although I do enjoy the toolkit thing online. It gives the steps to go to the next level. I'm like 3 steps to being a nominee. Then 1 to being an invitee. Then there's trainee and volunteer....wow...lot of steps left. Oh well. Off to FedEx to donate my life and money.

***Edit***- $17. 36. Thats how much it cost me to have my packet overnighted (darn you Saturday charge!) to Chicago. I thought everyone would like to know. :-)

One, two, three

So three forms for the folks....

Yeah...totally the same thing as the online recommendation. So they only have to do one.

Would've known that if I got to see the online one. But nooooooooooooooooo.

But that means I get to ship off everything that I have so far!

BBBllllaaaaahhhh

BLAAARRRRGGGHHH!

I feel better. :-)

Three forms left to fill out. Just three! Libby has hers and who knows if she's done it or anything. Responding to email=good thing. Lacie will fill out one next week and my boss is late for work...by a few hours. :-)

So there's an update.

Oh and on a brighter side my sister, the destroyer of my childhood, has become my biggest family supporter. Considering my mom said I'd probably be taken from the home, beaten, and killed, it didn't take much to become my biggest family supporter.

"Now you can't get into trouble"

Wednesday was my fabulous day off. I woke up at 9am!!! Thats exciting for me. Sad but it was exciting as all can be.

After eating some muffins (wildberry...deliciousness) I made my phone calls to Chicago and to Hendricks County. PC-Chicago informed me that they no longer send label sheets (what I was missing in my initial packet of forms). Which was a big sigh of relief. Then Hendricks County Sheriff's Office DOES do fingerprinting (and for free!). So after a bit my mom and I (yeah somehow I got her to come on my errands) jumped in the car and drove to U of I. Ahhh good ol' U of I. It was a teacher's conference in Schwitzer. Which means busy as can be. Which also meant the form for Libby got to wait in her mail folder while she was at conference. After I trudged through ruthless, and bitter teachers (not really) I got my transcripts and proceeded to Danville, IN (Hendrick's County Chair...they need something more catchy...pie capital of central Indiana...something...).

Fingerprinting is an art really. You stand there and let someone direct your hands to the canvas. And my hands on instructor was Elizabeth (cute young 20 year old with COLD hands). While pushing my hands into ink my mom made the comment "now you can't get into trouble". Did that mean before hand I could've? When asked about it being for an employer I responded about joining the PC. Her response was "well good for you" and something more was to come out except we were interrupted by a guy wanting to get a gun license. Sure take away my moment with the cold handed Elizabeth by asking to have a gun license, ya insensitive gun person.

Alas two additional things added to my folder to the PC. Just have to track down Lacie, annoy Libby, and beg my boss to fill out their confidential forms. I think two weeks is enough time to get it all together. Mayyyyyybe.

El paperwork-o

I should've taken Spanish in high school or even college. "Noooooooo take German. It's easier." My friend David said. Not only was German hard with the red headed former Nazi, it hasn't paid off yet. I could've put Das paperworkisch but that would just prove the professor right in giving me a B in the class (I did well on the final).

Alas while I was writing an earlier post I was assuming I'd get some form of paperwork to do in the next few days or maybe a phone call for the PC. Turns out when I got home after an interentingly odd day ("help" at a conference, loooong lunch, sit at an office playing on the computer...ie post..and finally clean up at conference) I came home to a packet on the table from PC. Yay? Ahhh a packet full of information demanding to be filled and returned in two weeks. Its like a miniature test of my endurance. Get fingerprints done at a police station (seriously....), get my transcripts, deliver some reference forms for them to fill out that will be mailed to me then to the HQ (lots of steps), and something else (fortunately my memory isn't being tested).

Needless to say I'll be running around tomorrow getting this all done. Plus add to the fact that they forgot to add something to my packet. Interesting-isch.

My road to nowhere...

Yesterday I learned an important thing about myself.

As I walked into work, turned off my iPod, took out my ear pieces, and took off my glasses, I was apporached by my boss (of which I think I have like five...all different titles/demands of me). She corrected me on a form I filled out that I was given by another boss (Education Specialist) that was for requesting comp time for Monday's prep work for a teacher's conference. Turns out that I'm not allowed to work it because the "Department frowns upon it". This proceeded to cause a battle between the bosses.

I didn't work Monday night but my story doesn't end there. I ended up helping prep for the conference during work (the one boss was able to get me to do this without informing the other one). During this "prep time", otherwise known as lugging crap, I learned two things. 1) I'm by no means a wuss. 2) I'm not Superman. I don't even think I'm on a Supergirl or Superboy level either. Maybe a Superman with some kryptonite around...and a chest cold. What? Clark Kent looks buff.

Cut to why I really created this bloooooooooog. About a week ago I sent in my Peace Corps application. Which I had previously done about six or seven times beforehand but never turned in. Chicken? A little. But I made a lot of pointless excuses not to finish it. So I turned it in. Begged a friend to write a recommendation (actually three volunteered), coaxed a volunteer supervisor to fill one out, and my boss suprisingly enough agreed to do one. Definitely ran out of excuses. It's like God wants me to go forth and prosper...in another country, details details...

That application took me part of the work day to do. I had nothing to do. Go figure. Then the magical medical form with questions like "Do you have a heart problem? Yes or No" "Do you have glaucoma? Yes or No". I mean there were no options to write "Yeah but it was a mild heart attack. I just took an ibuprofen and got over it" or "why are you offering marijuana? I don't smoke it but I can help some poor farmers in South America sell it". Unfortunately I just got to click the little circle with no. Poor poor farmers won't get my marijuana selling skills...of which I really have none. I think I heard somewhere about a quarter..or dime of marijuana...does that mean how much it costs or its size or what?

I'm too much of a straight shooter. I need to know these mad gangsta' skills before I do the Peace Corps. I need to represent America right. Probably should work on daying "dawg", "foo", and "ya'll" without having a smirk.

Anywho, I'm waiting on my toolkit from the Peace Corps and a phone call in order to continue this adventure. Knowing me I'll be like "okay time to go to the doctors and get all the tests done tomorrow". Paperwork is either my best friend or my nemesis. If I do it as soon as I get it then it's grand. But if it requires little energy then it sits (ex: my taxes sat at home for a month...all they needed was a signature).