The Date

Last weekend, I met a guy while I was out with Muang and Karen.  We hit it off because we actually had a conversation rather than being grabbed and gyrated against.  Phone numbers exchanged.  Cute texts and flirting via e-mail.  Promising, yes?  The date was set for Saturday.  I told him to pick the place since he asked me out.  He chose a charming bistro in Capitol Hill.  All the makings for a fantastic date.  Except the guy.  We hugged when we first saw each other.  He's 31, Canadian, and works for Amazon.  I knew this from when we first met.  New things I learned from our (very awkward) (stop and start) (reminiscent of learning to drive a stick shift) conversation over dinner that his wife left him 6 months ago, the divorce just went through 3 weeks ago (meaning that it had just gone through 2 weeks ago when we met) and smokes pot.  I understand that divorces happen but I'm 22.  I don't need that much emotional baggage right out of the gate.  Also, I need someone with passion.  He has no passion.  He's only in Seattle for work but likes it here.  I want someone who loves where they are.  He's done some traveling but seems like he has seen enough of the world.  I want a man that thinks there is no such thing as enough of the world.  Needless to say, there was a first date but there will not be a second.  At least, I got a free meal and learned more about what I don't want in a person.

Side note:  The housing hunt is continuing.  Homeless in 26 days and counting.  Muang and I have a few places that would work nicely.  Now we just need to see which ones would be the best fit for our needs.

Intolerable Cruelty

After the last straw from Time, I gave notice to my landlady today.  I will need to move out by the end of the month.  I am so happy to know that there is an official countdown to a new living situation.

More Hugs

Well, since the last post, I had my job interview, went to two fundraising events, and had another student pass her citizenship interview.  I have yet to hear anything back from the interview which at this point means that I didn't get the job.  I've been sending out resumes more often than I'd care to remember.  The housing hunt continues but on the back burner to job search.  I only have a few more weeks of class left.  I am getting burnt out and could really use a rest to not get attached to my clients.  I know a job I don't get invested in won't be as satisfying but I need time to recharge and leave work at work.  There has been some Time drama but nowhere near as bad as in the past.

I went over to Russ and Beth's last night for a cook out.  It was nice to be around a group of family and friends that makes me feel truly welcome and loved.  I have concluded that I just need more hugs in my life.

Falling In

I have a job interview tomorrow!  It is for a data analyst position.  I sent my resume on Sunday and heard back from them Monday morning.  I had to do sort of a skills test thing which I also did Monday morning.  I got a response right away.  My resume isn't strong on the tech skills so having the skills test covered makes me happy.  Muang and I also found a really awesome place that I am going to call about tomorrow.  It's possibly perfect.  I'm nervous that all of this is happening so fast.  I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.  After looking for so long, how can it all fall into place in one week?

Family In Town

I have been terribly busy lately, what with Mom and Dad visiting.  It's been delightful (and occasionally stressful) to have them around.  They arrived on Wednesday.  We went to dinner at Henry's Taiwan so Dad finally got to try the beef shaved noodles that I have been raving about.  It is so nice to have the people that I 100% mesh with around.  The people that get all of my odd references and think sarcastically enough to pick up on all of my jokes right away.  We also went to buy some interview clothes.  I now have a complete interview outfit.  It is kind of boring but I can add and accessorize later.  Right now, I just want something that I can feel confident about something that says I am professional and can do any job someone might be hiring for.  I also am down about 2 sizes which is a great confidence booster.

Thursday, my parents got to see the end of my Talk Time class.  One of my students wanted to tell them how smart and pretty I am.  It was absolutely darling.  They got a tour of ACRS and then we got banh mi and bubble tea in the ID.  After making dinner at Russ and Beth's house, we hung out for a bit and then I went home.  We met up at my house the next morning so they finally got a (Time-free) tour of the house.  We got dim sum at Jade Garden which was delicious as is to be expected.  I did outreach with Muang which was nice.  A few of the locations actually wanted to talk to us and seemed genuinely interested in what we had to say.  I did Zumba which was great because I hadn't worked out for 2 days.  We went for a hike in Discovery Park on Saturday.  It was beautiful but had lots of hills.  My knee was not very happy about that but the long hike got our appetites roused for a fabulous dinner of Cuban sandwiches at Paseo.

Spending the night at Russ and Beth's house brought back some memories although it was in the sewing room and on a leaky air mattress which meant that I did not get a great night's sleep.  I ended up going down to the living room and sleeping on the couch.  Breakfast was bagel sandwiches with the smell of a smoking pork shoulder in the backyard as an amuse nez.  Muang made it out to join us for dinner.  My parents wanted to spend more time with her since she's such a big part of my life right now.  It was a fun night.  They will be leaving tomorrow and life will go back to normal.  At least I will get back to my normal workout schedule.

We-naturally

Sorry about the break between posts, blogosphere.  I spent last weekend in Wenatchee, helping out with another Citizenship Day.  It made for a delightful trip with Muang and Laura and some schmoozing with attorneys over margaritas.  I have to say that as delicious as all of the Vietnamese and Chinese food is here, I have been longing for more variety.  As Wenatchee has a very large migrant worker population, they have some pretty bomb Mexican food.  I had forgotten that when I signed up to volunteer, I put down that I speak Spanish.  The thing is, they don't allow for any level of degrees.  Either you are fluent or you don't speak it.  Well, if those are the only options, then I don't speak Spanish.  At first they had me listed as a translator.  First of all, translation is not my strong suit anyway.  Second, this was specialized vocabulary.  Third, it was the legal interpretation which is supposed to be verbatim because any variation, however slight, can be seen as the provision of legal counsel.  Suffice it to say, I didn't end up translating.  I was doing intake and talking to people with my own words in Spanish.  I was a lot stronger and more comfortable with that.  I also had my safety net, known to her friends as Georgina.  She's a paralegal at the firm of the one the ringleaders for the day.  The drive back was gorgeous.  We went through the Cascades.  I took some pictures but none of them turned out spectacularly well.

My gym buddy and her gorgeous partner in crime have found greener pastures.  Their last day will be Thursday.  In celebration of their success, we went out for Happy Hour tonight.  It was delightful.  I really love to see certain work folks out of their normal habitat.  Rhonda (Amy's PIC) will be a program manager at another nonprofit in Seattle, working with homeless people.  This means she is a good lady to stay connected with for future hirings.  Looking to the future, I might be going to Olympia this weekend to participate in fun and funky parade called the Procession of the Species.  Look it up.  :)

Rack 'Em Up

I am now at 16 students who have successfully naturalized.  One of the most recent batch was particularly hard-fought.  It's kind of a great story and she was so grateful for the help and support that we have provided through the process.  She had her first interview and failed for a few reasons.  In the two months between her first and second interview, she worked so hard and came in for mock interviews every chance that she got.  Tonight, she took Xiangping, Louis and I out to dinner.  It was yummy but she foisted a lot of food on us.  I still hit the gym afterward, only an hour but it was better than nothing.