Happy Groundhog Day

Grab your ankles and kiss your azz goodbye - Phil the groundhog saw his shadow. Who saw that coming? Apparently the last time he didn't see his shadow was in 1999. Good year.

I now have more posts on this blog than on my previous blog, Oggi! Today! If you weren't around then to read it, then you're a sad sack. It was good. But this is better.

Tonight I walked into town all by myself to go to a symphony concert that never happened (and a couple hours later, I actually got on a tram to go home. AND I got a seat.). My friend's ticket said the 7th, but she thought it was the 2nd. Instead, we found a Guiness hall and she had Guiness and I had white wine. Sour white wine with just a hint of tin. I'm glad I only had one because it was a bit strong. I'm a light-weight. Which means when I don't have to drive, I can drink a lot and people laugh at me because I say some silly things. But tonight, I was not silly. I was hot - literally and figuratively. I rarely take my coat off so the smoke absorbs my jacket and not my clothing. And I put on the gold and the copper eye shadow, so I was smokin'. We knew we were in a bar that frequently plays host to English speakers because when I tried out my limited Bosnian and said we wanted to pay, which is "Zelimo platiti," the waiter looked at me and said, "You want to pay?" Um, yes. And I even said it right, and didn't slur my words - no I didn't! Don't tell me I did! I was there - not you!

While drinking tonight, I got lots of helpful advice: don't worry about Wiley's students; worry about his colleagues. The women will be barracudas and will try to make me feel small because I don't have a phD. I informed her that Wiley already had some people he knew that were like that, and so far, I've been just fine and been able to hold more than my own. So bring it, you so-called smarties! I'm up for the challenge.

She also gave me a really good idea: I'm a psychology person by nature. I love watching things unfold, figuring people out...mechanical I'm not, but I am pretty good at reading people and I'm always interested in taking apart relationships to see how they work...kinda mechanical, but with people instead of gadgets. So she said that perhaps I would be best suited getting a master's in Human Resources while Wiley is still in school himself and then that should open more doors for me down the road. The ultimate goal, I think, is to be something like a career or life coach, or even a therapist....I'm still researching the difference between the two and figuring out which might be better for me, but I'm interested in how psychology works in the workplace - industrial/organizational psychology...and HR would be quite good for that. So I will look into that while I'm moving my azz from Missouri to Indiana.

So I beg the question, Dear Reader, if you have any contacts in the Bloomington or Indianapolis area, I would be interested in talking to them; not merely for job information, but because I'm going to be damn lonely living in a place where I know perhaps three people, and none of them women. I need to start the networking gig...and I will likely have a new blog to go with my new city. Seems to be a theme that works well. But this blog will be here to stay, no shutting down. For one, Wiley will still be here, and for another, the links to the pictures are valuable.

Oh, so about Gradacac...Wiley had a great time and got more info for his dissertation, I had a nice time, we got to eat dinner with the mayor at a restaurant I would have loved to have liked, but unfortunately had a small issue with the raw chicken I was served in the company of a cockroach clinging to the wall. I actually ended up going to this restaurant twice...not my idea, but supposedly the best restaurant in town. Ok, fine, but I found a pizzeria that puts that place to shame. I probably wouldn't choose to live there, but it was a lovely little town to visit. The people were really nice.

And that's the nice thing about Bosnia - the people, when you actually talk to them, are very nice. They can be quiet, and they can stare at you because you don't look like them, but if you speak to them in their language, then they're very open. I like that. We should learn from that.

We should also learn to be more trusting, as in, if I'm at a mall and I'm shoe-shopping, it should be ok for the owner of the shoe store to call the local Starbucks and have them bring a couple cups of coffee. Coffee is merely a phone call away here. They don't worry about getting their cups back. They know where they are. But you go to a burek shop, and they don't have coffee - just burek. But if you want coffee, they'll call someone and have it delivered to the shop. How nice is that? Imagine if we did that...perhaps we'd be friendlier and more neighborly in the States. Who's with me?