I Was So Close To My Dream Of Living 3 Blocks From A Taco Bell

If I was going to be trapped on a deserted island and could only bring one thing with me to live out my days in solitude, I would bring a Taco Bell. A franchise is opening near my apartment and it's been in the works for months. How long could it possibly take to melt all of those yellow bricks and mash up the garbage plucked from trash bins outside of Hardees in Mexico? By my calculations, they should have been open a month ago. Although, if that happened, I'd probably be dead now.

If I eat overly processed foods, which I was raised on, I get fairly sick. Last night, I was having a rough time thanks to this latest miracle of science:

I haven't actually turned the oven on yet, but the dough is half gone. And I threw most of that up. I don't have time to cook it because I still don't have a place to live June 1 and that's a lot of work. I should probably get some boxes and stuff too, maybe pack a few things. I've also been really busy exchanging rejection correspondence this week with someone holding the keys to my career success: intern2.

I quit my job teaching ESL to Saudis, too. Oh yeah, I took this horrible job teaching English to students from Saudi Arabia who are doing pre-college prep. It was a very difficult job, and they let me know they hated me. When students stopped participating in class and a shaky little Abdullah raised his hand and asked "Teacher? What does boycott mean?" I knew that I had to keep reminding myself that I'd still get paid even if they didn't learn any English. When I told them I was leaving, they shocked me by bringing these in:

I mean, they really nailed that future tense here. We struggled with that as a class. Do you think they had help? Most of the students were fabulous and I'm glad I got to know a people/culture that I hadn't had much previous experience with. Particularly since women can't drive or travel around Saudi Arabia, so there is slim to zero chance I'll ever get to visit. Still, the Saudis are mostly cool. Tomorrow is my brother's 37th birthday, can you believe it? He is our family all-star: