Where I've Been, What I'm Doing

Well, I am finally over the bronchitis I've had for the past week and a half. Also, today I turned in my grades for my students, so I am done done done with the Fall semester. This week is full of rehearsals for Saturday's play that I'm in, but other than that, I can sit back and enjoy a couple of weeks of December before going back to work in January, both at the university and also as a blogger for an Ohio website, which I'll say more about when I begin that work. Working as a part time instructor and a freelance writer can sometimes be nerve-wracking, particularly when it comes to paying rent and bills and trying to maintain a certain amount of enjoyable activities in one's life. There's no secure paycheck coming every two weeks, and sometimes not even every month. But I can arrange my work week based mostly on my own scheduling preferences, and there's a freedom in that which my personality type apparently requires from living. Hopefully a day will come when I don't have to plan my budget as strictly. For now, though, I'm doing decent enough, and definitely doing better than I was a few years ago, so I can't complain too much. :-)

Youngstown is all Christmased up, and looking rather shiny. I came across this article in the New York Times from several days ago, which I missed when it first appeared (thanks for the lead, Brookey) and was pleased to see my little rust belt city making news outside of its own newspapers once again. And this time not a negative image of the city so much, but a hopeful one, so what I've seen happening since coming home from Japan has been confirmed. I hope more and more light will shine down on this forgotten valley of America in the days to come.

Now, in yet another attempt to ignore the waning amount of shopping days left before Christmas, I have a date with several dvds and a large chocolate bar, so I'm off.