
Name: M. Marble
As the title suggests, this is a chronicle of my changing times. I currently live Arlington, Virginia and I go to graduate school at ESIA at GWU. I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Haskovo, Bulgaria. Now I'm what's called a RPCV. I see this as an open diary of where I was, where I am and of course where I hope to go. It's a record of the daily trials, tribulations, successes and distractions of my journey. I hope you enjoy it. Welcome to a slice of my world.
I'm also obliged to say that this is not an official Peace Corps website and the views and information presented here are my own and do not represent official Peace Corps views.
Mo'nonymous on Wow, just wow...
Mo'nonymous on Wow, just wow...
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So, it's a week later and I still haven't gotten my write up for the trip done yet... Such is life, unfortunately. I'm currently running 14 hr days which has definitely put a crimp in my free time. Quick blurb updates since that's all I have time for... Go in for my PC dental exam tomorrow. This should be the last hurdle I have to jump through as long as I can talk the medical staff out of making find a shrink to talk with. Apparently when they asked if I'd had counseling within the last 5 yrs they didn't mean career counseling - which is the type I received (all of 4 times). Thus a big misunderstanding that I now need to sort out. Work is going well, even though I'm tired of it all. Had a going away party on Friday night for a number of people in my overall department. I can't wait for mine. Ended up talking with a woman (probably one of the most attractive women I've ever known) for one of the first times even though I've known her for over 4 yrs. Of course since I'm not her type, there will never be any chance of things happening with her. It was nice to have my suspicions confirmed that there's a lot to her. And speaking of women, the one in my class continues to amaze me. Unfortunately she has a boyfriend with whom she moved in with this weekend. I've helped her with some homework, she's baked me cookies and is going to be lending me the latest Harry Potter books. Heck, we might even go see the latest Harry Potter movie this upcoming weekend (since her boyfriend doesn't like them). I've spent every night after class for the last two weeks talking with her (at 30-45 min a pop) and all I can say is God must certainly be watching out for me, (because it's all about me). Let's just say she's the type of woman which could derail my plans were she to be single. Speaking of God, I gave a talk before the beginning of both church services this morning on the Alpha course we're running in the fall. Without consulting Pastor, I picked a couple or three verses out and let them be the foundation of my little "talk." One of them comes from Matt 22 when Jesus is asked about the greatest commandment. He of course replies "Love the Lord your God - but second is love thy neighbor as thyself." I focused on love thy neighbor and reaching out to them to spread the Word - even if it is a bit awkward. Well, wouldn't you know it, the Gospel for the day (unbeknownst to me last night when I wrote up my spiel) was the similar passage out of Luke. And Pastor gave his sermon paralleling my little "talk" - of course more defined and eloquent. It was just rather neat how it all tied in together. The Indians are above .500 which is a praiseworthy event in and of itself. TAR is getting amazing ratings and has all but been greenlighted for a 7th season. James got a job teaching 4 sections at the University of Wisconsin, Riverforest this fall. Congrats to him. He also fell into another job working with friend for the next few weeks and thus will be occupied until a couple weeks before classes start. Life seems to be treating him well - which he deserves. I feel for my ExGirlfriend mentioned in my last post. I haven't had a chance to talk with her much since the incident - I just haven't had time - and I just hope she's doing well. Well, that's all from here for now. One of these days I'll get caught up...
So this past week I got in touch with one of my past girlfriends. Now, I know that many find it strange, but I always try to be friends with my ex-girlfriends. I don't tend to casually date and I feel like these people know me best. What would it say about me if they didn't like me. So anyways, after not talking to one of them for quite a bit of time (ie, years, not months) I sent off an email to her catching her up on what I've been up to the last two years. After about a month or so, I saw her come online so I dropped her an instant message (I knew her IM from her AOL name on her email). We end up chatting and I give her a call. We talked twice last week and it was really nice to get back in touch with her.
From what she told me she's in a really bad relationship right now. The guy tends to drink... a lot. And aparently he's not the nicest when he does. He also tends to be overly jealous and can't stand her even associating with other guys. She tells me she's not happy, but doesn't know how to get out of it. I give her my two cents and we move on to talk about other things. Well a few days later I get a nice email from her telling me how nice it was to talk again. I didn't have time to reply at the time, so when I saw her sign on last night I droped her an IM. Here's the actual transcript (with names changed, obviously):
Me: Hey there
Me: thanks for the note
ExG irlfriend: yea what note?:
Me: the emailExGirlfriend: sure, yes i wanted u to have it
Me: cool - well I'm gonna go to bed. Have a good night.
ExGirlfriend: mike you there
ME: yeah?
ExGirlfriend: you two u bastard drop dead dont u ever contact this hoiuse again unless u want a beating of ur life (Asshole's signature)
Me: whatever
ExGirlfriend: eat shit u home wrecker
ExGirlfriend: find ur own women basytard
ExGirlfriend signed off.
I was suspicious after ExGirlfriend didn't realize what I was talking about, but I didn't think the Asshole knew my name. So I responded when the Asshole responded to me. I'm sorry, but what type of sorry ass loser do you have to be that you are so insecure that you sign into your girlfriends account to check up on her and then threaten her friends. His type of jerkoff never learned that a good relationship requires you to trust the other one - and yes (gasp!) they will have friends of the opposite sex. If you're that insecure you should get your own shit straigt before you start trying to share your life with someone else. And what type of mentality is it to threaten to beat someone up who's over 3 states away. Oh yeah buddy, I'm coming in to steal your girlfriend. Oh yeah. You better get you best baseball bat and a case of beer and drive over to kick my ass. If you're that paranoid better look out for the UFO's which are coming too.
And I'm sure that anything else that's gone wrong in his life - no other women leaving, no DUI's, and no nights spent in Jail - are his fault either. I almost pity him. But not quite. I sincerely hope that my friend (ie. ExGirlfriend) can manage to get out of that relationship as soon as possible. She deserves better.
I'm doing a write up of my trip - and it's taking longer than expected. So please be patient. I got in on Sunday evening and had my next post-Bach class start on Monday (actually it started last Tuesday, but alas I was in Wyoming at the time). It only meets for 5 weeks - at 2.5 hrs a night, 4 nights a week - and I had my first test earlier this evening. I'm pretty sure I aced it, which is a nice feeling after feeling really behind for the last three days. On a side note, there's a girl (isn't there always a girl) who was in my Micro Econ last semester who I never really got to talk to until the final class or so. I remember walking out to our cars together after the last class and talking for a bit. And as I drove away I remember kicking myself for not asking her out. Well, how often do we get a chance at redemption? She's in my current class as well. We talked for about 45 minutes on Wednesday when class got out early. We'll see where this goes...
And I found a couple articles on OpenDemocracy which I found especially compelling. Both are by John C. Hulsman, a Republican Realist and my personal hero. I seriously have a desire to shake his hand and tell him how much I enjoy his weekly write-ups. Anyhoo - he lays out the Democratic and Republican viewpoint of international relations and explains how this Presidential election is key to both parties and their philosophies. I don't know that I have ever read an article I agree with more than his Republican treatise. It is from this perspective that I, a registered Republican, find myself almost obliged to vote for Kerry as the lesser of two evils. Well, I've always said I'm a thinking Republican. Let's see if I can have my voting stand up to my own words. I'm worried about this election...
Well, I'd typed something out about the difficulties of the trip so far and how it's great to see friends. It was legnthy and I've lost it. So this will have to suffice. I'm in San Fran until tomorrow hanging out with K and enjoying SF. Tomorrow James and my trip changes from the plan as we head up to Reno to do a bit of gambling instead of heading up through Oregon. Life's good... I love my friends.