So, I entertained a nomadic lifestyle for a few months after returning from Japan, traveling between friends' houses in Iowa City and home every week. Daily, I changed my definition of "home" while I watched the Dorale kids, did house/yard/handy work at Stevie's and Judith's houses and made/sold crafts and jewelry at home. By December I realized the inadequacy of my income if I had any hope of establishing my own residence this decade, so I called up Monsanto, and in late January started working in the corn lab (the same company I worked for in 2005,6,&7, but now working indoors and doing significantly more dull work).
I directed a solo acting skit at Valley High School from October until this past weekend. The girl I dirrected got excellent marks at IHSSA District competitions and went on to State where she got great marks again and made it to All State as a non-performer. I went along for the weekend in Ames to chaperone the All State competition and was delighted when the group acting performance that my girl was in won the All State banner! Out of the 26,000 people that started out at the district level, my girl got the banner. I'm still pretty proud.
I've also been doing Big Brothers Big Sisters with a girl who goes to the same elementary school as I did; in fact, she has the same second grade teacher as I did! That has been heaps of fun too. Last week I got to help chaperone her class on a field trip to the police station - what a riot eight-year-olds are!
Well, I suppose that is a summary of my life since I last reported. I hope everyone is well, and I hope I have something worthy of reporting soon!
