The thing that changed everything was this: our April jobs were pulled out from under us. I won’t go into the details; suffice it to say that one day we had the jobs, and the next day we did not. Now we have to find something new, and hopefully something better. We applied to a few universities, and should one take us it certainly WOULD be a better job – 2 months paid vacation, health benefits, housing, paid plane ticket and a one-month salary bonus upon completion of our contracts. On top of that, most universities require only 15-20 hours of class time. Of course, we would still have to have office hours and do grading and stuff, but I have no issue with that. I don’t mind doing work if I don’t have to talk to anybody, or if I only have to talk to one person! I have always enjoyed solitary jobs best (or rather, jobs where there is no need to rely on others to get my work done… that’s what I mean). If I am going to be a teacher, this is the sort of teaching job I would prefer.

We have had a response from one university, which is already more than I hoped for. The only bad thing is that the positions start in March, which means there will be very little time to plan a DC wedding party – something we have wanted to do since we first got engaged – and it will cut Dave’s time with his friends and family very short. It will also mean that I will not be in the US during interviews for the Foreign Service. This part is especially sad to me, since I have had my eye on a Foreign Service job for a while. Even so, this is a good enough deal that we have both decided we are willing to go a little early. Now the biggest issue is communication: they want to interview us, but we seem to be having trouble getting in contact. Suddenly the interviewer’s email box is full and isn’t receiving messages, and there is no way to leave her a phone message. So, we must simply wait until she gets our messages, and possibly try to call again on Monday.

We have tried to relax and enjoy our visiting time while all this has been going on. We went to Florida to visit Dave’s grandparents, and it was really lovely. Before we left we were given a grave image of them – depressed, frail, dependent – which turned out to be completely false. We arrived to two spry, chipper, independent nonagenarians, full of jokes and smiles. Grandpa was generally quiet, but any words out of his mouth were either a joke or a setup for a joke, and he was quite capable of handling himself. Grandma was in the hospital recovering from a fall, but she was very positive about it and was certain that after her therapy, she would come out of that place better than ever. They were confident and upbeat, and it was great to see. We brought home a blindingly beautiful report to their worried children.

While we were there, we also went on a 3 day cruise to the Bahamas! We ate like kings (my favorite part of a cruise), danced the night away, and partook in a few libations. The boat stopped on an island that was owned by the cruise company (very fake) and then stopped in Nassau the next day. We bypassed a lot of the shops and tourist crap, opting instead to go on a long walk along the coast. It was lovely.

Pardon this very mechanical post, but I wanted to catch up on what has happened in the last few weeks. I promise more themed and interesting posts in the future! Wish us luck on our job search!

My last post was so long ago that I am almost embarrassed to be writing a new one. A break that long should have meant that I had started a new blog somewhere without telling everyone, but the truth is that I have been lazy in my writing and busy in everything else.

Until about a month ago (not even that!), Dave and I were still living in Los Angeles. Dave was trying desperately to finish his movie while also working at my work place a few days a week for some extra money. I was working with him and then also at a rare bookstore on the weekends – by far the best job I’ve ever had. On top of all these things, we had decided to go to Korea again, because saving money just wasn’t happening in LA. We decided to leave in December in order to visit our families before once again quitting the country, so we had to do all the moving things – getting rid of stuff, giving the right things to the right friends, selling stuff, cleaning, turning off utilities, fixing things that were broken so we could get our deposit back (not much of this to do, happily) and packing all the crap we couldn’t part with into bags and boxes to take far away with us. This is quite enough to think about, don’t you think?

WELL, we added one more huge thing to the list.

On November 11th, 2011, I was sick with a deathbug and had to leave work early. Several people I knew had the deathbug and it was one of those that give you a fever headache, nausea, and a sore-ish throat that never actually itches, it just feels like it is going to swell up and cut off your air supply. I barely trusted myself to get home; I was ready to lie down in the first patch of grass I saw, even a poopy one. Luckily, I made it home and was even able to put on my pajamas before conking out in bed for a few hours. When I woke up I felt better but decided to stay in bed, so I turned on crappy TV (I think I was watching a Die Hard movie) and managed to finish knitting Dave’s socks. Go me! Productive even on the brink of a coma.

Dave walked in at about 11 with chicken soup and flowers for me. What a sweetheart!! I announced that I had a surprise for him too, and I handed him his beautiful new socks. He was very happy and put them on immediately. We sat down on the couch and he started to fidget, which made me think perhaps the socks were too small… and then he told me a story.

“When I was little,” he explained, “I used to make a wish when all the numbers were the same – 2:22, 3:33, et cetera. BUT, when the clock hit 11:11, I would wish for the whole minute. It’s almost 11:11. Let’s make a wish.”

Super cute! Yes, of course, let’s make a wish. I closed my eyes for a millisecond or two, and then peeked to see if he was really wishing or if he was going to surprise me with tickling or something else (tickling is my least favorite surprise). He had his back turned, and when he turned back I tried to close my eyes in time so he didn’t see that I had been looking. When I opened them again, he was on one knee in front of our couch with a box the size of a half-dollar, and in the box there was a big fat diamond ring. He was nervous and I was flabbergasted. He asked if I would be his wife, and I said rather stupidly, “Well, of course,” as if he had asked if I had eaten dinner or something. I was surprised that I wasn’t crying or yelling or jumping up and down, because I had wanted to be married for a while. I think being sick kept me from reacting a lot. All I could do was smile, but it wasn’t your average smile – this was an ear-to-ear, face-muscle-spasming permagrin smile. He had one on as well. There were few people in the world as happy as us in that moment.

“Well, I have to go,” he said suddenly.

It turns out he was still on the clock at work! He was a delivery driver at the time, and there had been a last minute delivery call before he left. The company car was outside, and the food was getting cold! I couldn’t believe it! It was brilliant.

“I had a plan,” he explained. “I wasn’t going to let something like THAT ruin my plan.”

As he was leaving and the door was closing, he turned around and stopped the door.

“We’re engaged.”

THAT was the moment it hit me, like a ton of bricks. I felt a rush of happiness.

“WE’RE ENGAGED!” I screamed at 11 at night out into the hall of our apartment building.

So that begin a new slew of things to do. We decided to have our wedding in Indiana because a few of my relatives were unable to travel, but we were only going to be there for 2 weeks so we had to plan a speed wedding. My mom booked a last minute ticket (and got last-minute permission to leave work) for about 5 days in Indiana, and Dave’s parents, siblings and various other friends and relatives threw down the money to be present. My sister more or less put everything together and did an amazing job, and what she didn’t do my cousin Sissie and new sister-in-law Becky did. I miraculously fit into my aunt’s 47-year-old wedding dress and Dave lengthened Rich’s brother’s tux and we made a fine pair. We rented the Moose lodge and made it look charming, we had a big fancy dinner spread and an open bar, and I ordered too much cake and went home with one still intact. A great time was had by all. Now we’re married and have been for about 2 weeks. I tell you people, a speed wedding is the way to go.

January third finds us in Washington DC, after a great visit with my family in Indiana. We spent New Year’s Eve with Becky at the Passenger, one of DC’s best bars, and we had a rollicking good time. Now we are getting ready for government offices to open, for today we plan to start working on getting our paperwork in order for Korea.

There are further adventures in the works before we head out, though – a trip to Florida on the 12th to visit Dave’s grandparents and take a mini-cruise to the Bahamas (I’ve never been!), then back to DC for a few days to get my passport changed and then head to Geneva to visit my mom, THEN back to DC for another wedding party, THEN to Korea in April! I’ll try to keep everyone in the loop. Welcome back to our whirlwind existence!

It isn’t finished yet but it wants to be… you can help finish it by pledging a few bucks if you can spare them! Help us make Dave’s dream a reality – a finished film!