When I was doing my tutorial on Charles Dickens at Oxford, I finally realized that the reason that I liked his novels- and eventually got sick of them- is that they present an idealistic and unrealistic view of professional success. Every single protagonist is good-natured and kind, and for those reasons alone they are rewarded with love and money. They never have to struggle! Until I saw that commonality in his books, I never thought the good fortune of the main characters to be out of place. Why shouldn't Pip receive an anonymous inheritance? And obviously Tiny Tim deserves the turkey and new grandfather-figure. I honestly believed in the karma of kindness.

Well I'm not completely cynical (yet), but I'm beginning to understand that my life is not going to be such smooth sailing as I once anticipated. I'm currently sitting in my apartment waiting for the mail to come because it will hopefully contain a check from my parents which can cover the overdraft charges on my bank account. If I'm lucky, it will also cover my licensure fees ($87) which I need to pay to get my teaching license. Which, in turn, I need to get any sort of teaching job. However, getting a job is unlikely (it seems) because I have no experience. I have met with numerous principals and administrators and so far only one person was impressed by "B.A. from Washington University." I told my dad yesterday "Thank you so much for the $150,000, but it turns out that it really doesn't make a difference." Haha...he thought that was really funny;)

So I'm waiting. I need to move out by August 31st, but currently have no other place to live (and without a job, I can't really afford anything). So the plan is (feel free to pause and laugh at any time):
1. Get a job, this week (today or tomorrow) if possible.
2. Call all 1-bedroom apartments in area and visit. Choose 1.
3. Pack everything in my apartment (OMG).
4. Move somewhere.
5. Start teaching in September (after planning my curriculum, which shouldn't take long;)

No problem, right?:) Unfortunately, none of my prospective employers care that I went to Wash U, U of M, or that I try my best to be nice. I think that I'm drawn to this chaos though: does anyone remember my scramble to get into graduate school? I got my acceptance letter on the day I graduated from college, so there is hope that something good will happen at the last minute.