My Cup Runneth Over.

Things are just ducky.

School is good, and going quickly, and full of cool people. The chefs in our first class told us that the year was going to fly by, and they weren’t kidding. I’m working on my third month there already, out of 12 months of class. Crazy. Also, lot of the people that teach there are near the end of their careers- they’ve seen it and done it and quite a few of them aren’t there for the money as they could be making far more elsewhere. The faculty wall has some phenomenal resumes on it… I definitely couldn’t get networking like this at South Seattle Community College. So it’s money well spent.

I’m planning not one, but two trips to South America- one during summer vacation, to Suriname and French Guiana, and a big one after graduation, before I head back to Seattle. That one’s going to be the whole shebang- Bogota, Valparaiso, Machu Picchu, Buenos Aires, Rapa Nui. It’ll be Alaska x10. Never in my life did I think I would go to South America before I went to Europe or Japan, but it’s going to be pretty great.

I’m just beginning to legitimately understand Spanish when people talk to me- actually about twelve kinds of Spanish. Colombian, Cuban, Chilean… eek. Ironically, the one that makes the least sense to me is Puerto Rican, and I live in a Puerto Rican household! That’s going to take some work yet. And lots of normal stuff in local dialects here mean really disgusting things in Mexican, so I’ll have to be careful not to mortally embarrass myself when I go back to the west coast. Good times.

I’ve been working on zines again. Like, actually cutting and pasting things, not just thinking about them.

Meetup is great- starting a group here was one of the best things I could have done. I’ve met a lot of really interesting, amazing people, and they’re all getting a lot out of the meetup, which is swell. I’ve gotten some good feedback to the tune of “I can’t believe you’re only 26! You’ve really lived a lot,” which is great, because no one wants to be a teacher who can’t rise to the occasion. And it’s overwhelming to know that one of my brainchildren is literally changing people’s outlook on life. This has definitely gotten way bigger than me… it has just taken on a life of its own.

I went to another Meetup last night that was a total delight, even though it was a long drive and work will probably prevent me from attending again for awhile. I had only ever seen artist trading cards online at Suicidegirls and I think Tribe a long time ago, and even though I was fascinated by the concept, I’d never tried it out or met anyone who made them. But I made one, and then I made a bunch, and now I have a new project. It even motivated me to really open up my cabinet of art supplies (the Cart of Fate, to those in my Meetup… haha). I’m using stuff I have not touched in five years. One of my Artist’s Way-ers went too, and we had a blast. She made some really neat stuff, and I got one of the cards she made. It’s great.

I miss home, and I’m looking forward to going back, but my life is so great right now it feels like it could pop. Hurrah.