Every once in a while, I get an urge to run - to just keep driving and see where I end up. I've only given in once, and I made it to the other side of the world.

Today was a beautiful day in Georgia. I'm having a hard time typing because the fingertips on my left hand are quite sore. I sat in Piedmont Park and played guitar for about an hour while Kerry, David, and Ben tossed a football over my head. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and I was singing. I even tossed the ball around for a little bit. I got progressively better at it as time went along.

Before we hit the part, we went over to Hand in Hand in the Highlands for cheap beer and pub food. Their fish and chips is really good - almost as good as Hooley's in Guangzhou. I introduced them to the Skittle game where you ask a yes/no question and let three colors of Skittles decide the answer. I've not met anyone who doesn't like that game.

I really can't get over how gorgeous it was outside! The nice temperature and breeze were perfect. The kites in the park were so nice. There were also lots of cute children there that entertained us.

Last night was Jennifer's birthday party. I went to her place around noon and helped cook. She let me do all the fun jobs while she did all the hard ones. We made so much food. I assembled the dirt cake and helped make cream puffs. The food was really good and I think everyone had a good time. I know that I did, especially after the red wine.

Here's a picture of me, Kerry, Jesse, Brad, and Jennifer. I'm trying to make a disgusted look at the state of Jesse's hair, but I couldn't stop smiling.

I have been inundated recently with funny things from YouTube. It makes me very happy. The funniest thing, by far, is "The 'Yes' Dance". It's quite vulgar, but there's a certain part of it that is incredible.



I'm trying to teach Eli the "Let's Do the Fork in the Garbage Disposal".

Also, this week, I stumbled across the comedian Tim Minchin. He sings really funny songs. The first one I saw is called "Taboo"



If you rearrange the first three letters of the word he's singing about, it takes it to a whole new level.

I watched pretty much every video on YouTube that had his name in it. He's very talented. One of my favorite songs in the world is "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen and he does a version that has become my favorite. It's absolutely breathtaking.

And now, for the most amazing story.

I have to say that it's honestly better in person, and if you want me to tell it to you in person, just ask, because it's hilarious. And some of you may have heard it, but here it is again in case you wanted to tell your friends and needed the cliff notes.

As many of you should know, I got back from China in early December after nearly 11 months. Since then, I'm been working on taking the GRE, getting into grad school, and trying to find a job. Job searching right now isn't the greatest thing in the world. Let's face it - the economy is le sucky and people just aren't hiring. They especially aren't hiring red-haired Tech graduates who've worked in China.

So Friday, January 25, I'm doing my daily Craigslist.org check of what people have posted. I've sent in dozens of resumes and cover letters and I've almost gotten it down to a science. I find a listing for an executive assistant for a company that sells "ear candles". I had no idea what ear candles were, but I check their website and I do a quick send off of my resume and a little bit about me. On Saturday, they sent me a questionnaire asking all sorts of strange questions like:

"We are looking for a mature individual to work with our current team and our goals. How do you believe a leader should lead?"

and

"What is your opinion of holistic health care? Do you have any experiences with it? If so, please share."

and

"What is your opinion of home schooling?"

I found some of the questions a little strange, but I need a job, so Monday I filled out all the answers and send it back to them. Tuesday afternoon, a lady calls me and sets up an interview for the following morning. Being a good job-seeker, I spent a good part of the afternoon checking into them. I come upon this little treasure:

"We are not just selling a product we are living a lifestyle!

Remember, Earth is ours to take care of. We have obligations and responsibilities to fulfill to the Earth. We homeschool, we birth our children at home, we do not vaccinate, we garden organically, we recycle, we do not watch t.v., we believe in the natural lifestyles of living. We are true to ourselves."

I was like, "THEY DON'T VACCINATE??!!? THEY BIRTH THEIR KIDS AT HOME?!?"

But again, I really need a job. So, I get the directions to their office, make sure Kevin has a copy and make him promise to come with his pistol if I don't come home by 2PM.

Next morning, I get up early, get dressed, and leave in plenty of time to get there. I'm on all these dirt roads in the middle of nowhere and I can't find it. I call Kevin, get him to guide me using satellite imagery, get lost a little more, the interviewer ends up calling me and I finally get there - 30 minutes late. Luckily everyone gets lost on their way to the compound (as I like to call it), so they were very understanding.

I go in, I'm talking to her - "Doc Harmony", and let me tell you, I turned on the charm. I mean it's "A"-game central, and you know what that means. She's so nice and interesting and has a very unique background, well-traveled - everything. On my resume it says that I've worked in ministry before and at one point she says something to the effect of "you know, we have a lot of respect for Jesus, and Muslims, and Mormons. . ." So I asked her, "Well, what are you and your husband?" She responds, "We're very spiritual and we practice a lot of Wiccan traditions." In my head, I'm like "Great - they're witches. Where are the broomsticks?"

She goes on to explain a little bit about Wiccans and she assures me that they do not impose their beliefs on their workers, so that made me feel better.

I go around and meet everyone in the office. They're all so nice and friendly and personable. They ask me questions and show me everything that they do. I get over to accounts payable and I'm talking to the lady and she mentions that they do all their transactions in cash. I thought that strange for a business that pulls in almost $7,000 a day. But whatever.

I get done meeting with everyone and I go back into Harmony's office (her real name is Michelle, I found out later that "Harmony" is sort of a stage name). She's talking to me, saying how much they like me and everything, and she says, "You probably realized that we do things little differently around here." I nod my head. She says, "Yeah, we pay our employees in GOLD AND SILVER." (emphasis mine) She even shows me some pieces of gold and silver. I thank her for the interview and then take my leave.

My dear reader, you might be thinking that I've lost my mind and that I'm making this up. Gold and silver?!? I assure you, I couldnt've made this up. I'm just not that creative.

Apparently it's a constitutional right to pay your debts in gold and silver. They're one of the three companies in the US that do this. It's a weird way to get around paying your taxes. You only have to pay on the face value of the monetary note that you pay your employees. So, for instance, paying with one silver dollar is like paying someone $10. But gold and silver?!?

I had a second interview with the company - this time with Harmony's husband, Kevin, was just as strange. He was very kind and quirky. He informed me about how he could move his hands in a certain pattern and speak in a certain rhythm and, in doing so, hypnotize me.

I hope you don't think that I'm taking the piss out of them. Because I'm not. I cannot stress how friendly these people were. I would have actually enjoyed working for them. I wanted the job. But they decided to hire someone within their office to do the job. They had even asked for me to contact them after two weeks (two weeks later is today) and ask how the person that they've hired are doing.

Harmony wrote back that the new girl was doing well and she ended by saying, "I really am glad you emailed us. Please keep us informed of your progress as things evolve in your life. We will be excited to see where life takes you."

Like I said, really nice people.

Today I'm home with Eli and I'm making brownies for someone I love. I have an interview tomorrow in Duluth to teach ESL and dinner plans with Jennifer.

Did I mention that I'm happy? I'll talk about that later.

So I hope you've enjoyed my tale and all it's craziness.

When you spend all day with a 2-year-old, sometimes you forget how to communicate with adults. When I'm around people who are over the age of 10, I forget words, I tell them "NO!" in a loud voice, I make them hold my hand in parking lots - but people are being very patient with me and this problem I have. For that, I'm grateful.

After Wednesday, I'll post about the two job interviews I had with a natural healing company set way back in the woods of Carroll County. It's pretty priceless. Today I interviewed at Transition House, Inc. on Joseph E. Lowery Boulevard. It's the current job of my dreams. They run about eighteen 3/4-way houses in Atlanta. They take homeless people with drug and alcohol abuse problems and help them back on their feet. This is part of what I will be doing as a rehabilitation counselor in two and a half years. The lady working in the office today was Ms. Johnson. She has been in one of the houses for a year, yesterday. She was very kind and she was looking forward to watching her grand-nieces, nephews, and grandchildren for Valentine's day.

The person hiring for the job is having people come in for a day to work for her next week. I'll be getting a call on Monday about which day I'll be working. I really hope it works out as it would look incredible on any internship applications that I will be doing in grad school.

Last night I irresponsibly treated myself to a movie, "He's Just Not That Into You". I read the book ages ago - before it was popular. The author, Greg Behrendt, had a special on HBO called "Mantastic" where he talked about this beautiful toaster that he had. He also was a writer for "Sex and the City". He had a cameo in the movie as the minister who married Jennifer Aniston's sister. I thought the movie was great, and in light of it:



This weekend does promise some fun, though. Tonight I'm meeting up with the lovely Monica, Julie, and Hattie for the first Chinese food since my return. Then I'm off to Jennifer's for cookies and valentines with an evening-ender at Melissa's house. Tomorrow I'm getting my hair cut and ironed for a night-out with Kerry, Lauryn and whoever else wants to come where our only plan is to get into as much trouble as possible. Kevin said that he was heating up the baptistery at church so he could dunk me when I get back.

Just a little short story from Wednesday night church.

At Southern Hills on Tuesday night, they started a new series last week where they go through the book of Acts week by week. This week was chapter 2, the story of Pentecost and the Holy Spirit. It gets to a point toward the middle of the chapter and people are speaking in tongues. Some people don't believe it and say that those people are just drunk. Peter tells them that there's no way that they're drunk, it's only nine in the morning.

Someone in the congregation yelled out, "It's five o'clock somewhere."

It was great.

In other news, being back in America is great. I forgot how much I love Atlanta. I took the GRE on Monday and that should pretty much get me into grad school in the fall. I'm applying for jobs all over the place and trying to figure out what to do. There's a career fair tomorrow that I'm going to grace with my presence. I'm hoping something will come out of that.

Walking into the Jarrett house on Friday afternoon was like a walking past St. Peter and into heaven. I seriously felt like the weight of the world lifted off my shoulders as soon as I set eyes on Kari Jarrett holding Eli. Then Ethan came up and hugged me. It was then I knew that nothing is really wrong with the universe.

I did about six loads of laundry on Friday, went to Cracker Barrel with the family, and then came back and rested and relaxed. Saturday was also quite nice as I got up and went into Kevin and Kari's room, sat on the floor, and had Ethan and Eli crawl all over me as we watched a little kid-friendly TV.

Saturday night I had the pleasure of attending two holiday parties. Jennifer had quite the spread and it was really nice to sit and talk with Jesse. When I say talk "with" Jesse, it pretty much entailed me talking at him for an extended amount of time about why I came home from China. I have been so fortunate to be able to spend time with him since I've been home and he's like a breath of fresh air. He's a boy, and he's my friend, and he acts like it. He's kind and thoughtful and considerate. I told Kelly that if I didn't think he and I would be miserable together, I would totally go after him like he's never been pursued in his life.

From Jennifer's, I went over to Kelly, Jenn and Joanna's. I got to see Alli and Tyler - two people who I hadn't seen in nearly a year. Being around Tyler is probably one of my favorite things in the world. There's just something about that kid. I also saw Audrey, Leslie, Nelson, and Alysson, which was very nice as well. We played a game around midnight called "Zoom". It's supposed to be a drinking game, but I was driving home, so if you messed up, you had to stand up and say something positive about 2009. It was really nice.

Sunday was just a beautiful day. I got up. We went to church - a church that I really like and fully intend on becoming a member of within the next month. We came home. We ate lunch. I sat on the couch with KJ and got lost in the internet while he read. Eli slept, Ethan played. I cooked some dinner. We sat around as a family and watched TV. Eli walked around in my Crocs. I read to Ethan, scratched his back, lotioned him, and he went to sleep. Then there was tea and Criminal Minds. I ended my lovely Sunday by talking to Jesse on the phone.

I know it sounds kind of mundane, but I loved it. There was nothing that could have been added to make it better. It was normal and beautiful and wonderful.

Now it's time to get down to finding a job.