I need to write, let’s see if I say anything worth hearing.

At 26, I’m doing all the things you’re supposed to do before you’re thirty, in the wild, youthful sense.

I am living such a comical bachelor existence that I really didn’t know people lived like this. (I dare you to guess the last time I made myself a real meal. I’m not proud of it, but it just works.) When I don’t feel like going to work, I wait to the last minute and spring an extra buck or two for a long-distance bus, or even a cab. I sleep pretty much when I want to, as long as it’s not between 2 pm and 9:30 pm or so. I have a trip to Japan on tap that is such a potential nightmare that I’m embarrassed to give the interweb all the details. I’ll wait until after the fact. I have no doubts I will have a blast, but I’m sure that someone slightly older and “wiser” might second-guess me.

Otherwise, work is becoming not-insane. I have no reason to believe anyone is dissatisfied with my performance as a teacher at the moment. I will now go into why things may get better at work shortly.

Currently, my employer uses North American elementary school reading books in ESL classes. I suspect that mothers push for this on some sort of hype they’ve been fed. However, the needs of someone learning to read English who already speaks English are dramatically different than those of someone who barely knows the Latin alphabet and needs strict reinforcement in speaking of Subject Verb Object sentence order. But, Korean mothers need to feel that their kids are in “advanced” or something classes, so we continue with the books, slowly but surely. I effectively develop my own “curriculum” since there really is nothing existing to teach. I need to create my own circumstances to get kids to talk. My approach entails adapting the story material to the interests of my students, with slightly-varying (mostly negative) results. About the most success I’ve had is arguing the merits of different First-Person Shooter computer games with the class full of Christmas-themed names. A high school kid once told me where to find find the cheapest “pc room” (hourly computer facility) in my neighborhood, and otherwise simply confirms or denies that he understands the material in various ways, when directly addressed.

I’ve tried just about everything with every class. It’s as if once they are no longer naive and excited enough to just get a kick out of things that sound funny or whatnot, they just don’t give a damn about anything. This is all obviously much better than the sandwich-making before I got here, but it’s not remotely inspiring or terribly fulfilling.

I’m mentally exhausted and really don’t care that much about anything I want to blog about. I’m going to go read. There are patchouli smells and “Eh?”s that perk me up, and otherwise my uncooperative washing machine and hot water occupy most of my idle thoughts.

I had Cincinnati chili this weekend – one coney, one four-way. It was comforting like you would not believe.