Just for fun

So, what did I do this weekend?

I fell down a flight of stairs.

That's right, you heard me.  I. Fell. Down. A flight. Of stairs.  It was like something right ouf of a comic, like Tom & Jerry or Looney Toons.  The carpet on the second floor was wet from a shampoo-ing and the stairs are a nice slick wood.  So, as I stepped on the second step, both of my feet went flying forward and I landed on my backside and flopped-y flopped down the next few stairs to the landing.

Today I have an enormously ugly and not all that painless black and blue on my tush.  I'd post a picture, but that would be TMI.

Bookworm

Since I've been in MA, I've had a lot of time to go to the library and read a number of books.  The most recent book I read was Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, which is essentially a memoir chronicaling her life during the year after she divorced her husband and traveled to Italy, India and Indonesia to find herself.  While I was reading it (and sometimes remembering one of the other books I've read this month - The Geography of Love, yet another memoir about one woman's romantic love and it's loss to cancer), I realized that there is a reason why I generally don't like memoirs.  They feel incredibly self-indulgent and selfish to me, because the authors are generally saying, "This is my life.  And it's so interesting, or relate-able, that people are going to want to read about it."

Which of course, reminds me of all these things we do to keep in touch these days - Facebook, Twitter, and yes, even Blogger.  So many of us are so completely wrapped up in ourselves that we put our whole life and all it's intimate details online for just about anyone to see.  It's a delicate balance to use these powerful tools to keep in touch with family and friends (or to cultivate new ones), but to still keep a part of ourselves private, or to not sound like an egomaniac.

It is why many times my Blog is not really that personal.  I don't think the "internets" need all that private information about me and my loved ones.  I talk about what I do, but not generally about how I am feeling or what I am thinking.  I also try to keep the details of what is happening to my immediate family out of the picture entirely - I have no authority whatsoever to talk about their lives here.  And I know that is what separates me from real writers, who let it all hang out for everyone to see.

I also do what I can to keep my internet content from being easily found.  I am not really looking for an audience, but am hoping to keep in touch with the people I have come to know over the years and really care about.

I think that sometimes we all get carried away with our ability to communicate so effortlessly through the power of technology that we forget how important physical presence and privacy really are.  Writers like Elizabeth Gilbert show us that living in the moment, laughing, crying, eating abundantly, drinking wine with friends, etc., etc. - these are the necessities of life and make it worth living.  But where she fails to captivate me is by throwing it all out there, making her life and her emotional story the example for us to follow.  It must be exciting to be on that journey of self-discovery and growth, but it seems (yes, I'll say it) arrogant to think that everyone on earth should read about it and know her on such a personal level.

Of course, I am projecting my own discomfort onto her.  The book itself is quite lovely; it has been translated into so many languages and purchased millions of times so there should be no question about the validity and captivation of her story.  BUT.  I find it a really interesting psychological case study, I suppose.  Essentially, she is making money by selling stories about her most intimate experiences in life.  In the end, she and I are very different people, with different ideas of growth and privacy.

Unseasonable

About a week ago, we got our first snow of the season here in MA, which is kind of ridiculous since then it was still a few weeks until Halloween.  Even more ridiculous when you consider the fact that I arrived in MA at the end of September to mid-seventies temperatures and only weeks later it was snowing.  And even more ridiculous when you know that the fall leaves are still on the trees.

All that being said, it is nice to remember the snow, since right now it is raining buckets and buckets, with strong winds blowing the leaves to the high heavens.

Just sayin'

My security interview is this morning.  Wish me luck!

Better yet, wish me the fastest security clearance ever (average time for pre-employment FSOs seems to be 3 months these days)...

Getting my ass handed to me

As part of the pre-employment process for becoming a Foreign Service Officer with the State Department, one has to go through a rigorous physical exam in order to obtain a worldwide medical clearance. During this process, it came as a shock to me that since my last physical (which was in February), my cholesterol levels have skyrocketed. Now that I'm thinking about it, it may have something to do with the fact that in Lima we buy real butter and whole milk - 2 huge culprits when you're working on closing down some arteries and developing heart disease.

No matter, my cholesterol score lit a fire under my butt in terms of eating healthy and exercising - something I generally do, but have been a little lax on lately. So, even though I'm only in MA for a short period of time, I joined the local gym.

And yesterday, the ladies who run the Group Power class at Ciccone Family Fitness Center totally handed me my ass. After about 1 million chest presses, lunges, curls and crunches, they even made me pretend I still had the strength to do push-ups. Yesterday wasn't so bad - despite my gasps for air, my jello legs, and my racing heart - but today my quads are basically giving me the finger.

And as a final "eff u," the classes I'm taking start at 5. As in the morning. Seriously, what the heck is my problem?

Still on the road to employment

Some of you may be wondering why you haven't heard anything more yet about my quest to become a Foreign Service Officer. That is mostly because I'm still stuck in pre-employment paperwork hell. Just because you cruise through the year-long (more or less) Foreign Service exam process, that doesn't mean that you can't spend the next 2 years waiting on case adjudication. Luckily, I'm not quite in that purgatory yet, but there's hope.

Right now I am still trying to get all my medical paperwork filled out. When I arrived in MA on September 25th, my first order of business was setting up a doctor's appointment. When you no longer live in MA, your general practitioner is in DC, and all your medical files are in Peru and you're living out of a suitcase, this becomes a really fun scenario. Needless to say, after some legwork I found a doctor's office that accepts my health insurance, is accepting new patients, and had an appointment open sometime in this century. Last Thursday I met with a nurse practitioner to begin the onslaught of examinations, x-rays, and embarrassing conversations about my medical history. This morning was my second visit, for the TB shot. With any amount of luck, my Thursday visit for a gyn exam will be my last (but I'm not incredibly hopeful).

Although that should round out all that is required on the medical checklist, I am 99.9% confident that they will ask me for follow-up information. The State Department always has in the past, and even with the Peace Corps I staid in medical clearance limbo for a year and a half.
But hey, I may get lucky and have this process go smoothly.

I joined a Yahoo group for people who have passed the FS exam, and anecdotal evidence leads me to believe that a medical clearance can take anywhere from a week to 2 months for a person with no real issues.

This Yahoo group also indicates that it takes 2-4 months for a security clearance - again, if there are no real issues. As far as I know, the security clearance process hasn't yet begun for me, but those of you who are reading this page should be aware that you may be contacted by a Diplomatic Security agent about me within the next 1-3 months. I actually don't remember whose names I used for references (mostly, they ask for contact information of people who knew you when you lived at a particular address), so just be prepared.

Otherwise, things are going swimmingly.

In the "Yippee! We're going to Mexico!" arena, Anthony and I are still in flux on that issue, too. Anthony had to take a Spanish language exam so they know his scores before submitting a language waiver for him to fulfill the post in Nogales. (Yes. It makes no sense, but that is what is required, so dammit!, that HR rep is going to hold him to it.) The exam scores have not been related to Anthony yet, but we hope to hear in the next week or so from the job assignment panel. At this point, we think we might be in Mexico in time for Thanksgiving, but we are unsure. As with all things in the government, it depends.

So we're dealing with a lot of uncertainty these days. The good news is that Maggie is becoming more social and will be less likely to bite you when you come visit in Nogales.

More random happenings

The next cab I took in DC started off really well. The driver was friendly and engaged in a small amount of chit-chat before we settled into a comfortable silence.

The silence lasted for all of five minutes before he opened with,"Are you prepared for the coming of Jesus?"

After which I started looking for a church with a sign out front declaring that statement, thinking the question was a joke. When I couldn't find a church in our immediate vicinity, I started to get confused. Could this guy be serious?

Was he ever.

"Are you born again?" is how he began his lecture on how Jesus loves me and wants a relationship with me; I apparently only need to believe. Otherwise, I was going to hell and my cab driver was really hopeful that he would see me in heaven.

My driver gave me all kinds of advice - from how to get into heaven to where to buy the latest Christian books, right down the street address of the Christian bookstore where he buys all his reading materials.

After far too many minutes of my sitting in uncomfortable, stunned silence and him chattering away about Jesus, we arrived at Jeff and Liz's house. His parting comment was, "I pray you believe in Jesus because I really hope to see you in heaven."

WOW. I know I'm going straight to hell just for laughing at this, but my mom told me that I should have told him off. She said that even my (Catholic) Nonnie would have told him to go f*&% himself.

I almost wish I did.

(If it weren't for this pesky feeling of respect and propriety I feel towards strangers...)