More bits & pieces

What a week this last one was!


There was the election -- "There was an election?" you ask. "My goodness, I had no idea. Why didn't someone tell me?!?"


I thought about "My week so far", published just three days ago -- seems like last year! --, which included the fact that I hadn't gotten a very good night's sleep the night before due to a lot of extraneous noises.

I'm hoping that this will not become a common occurrence -- that of going to bed and then waking up somewhere between one and three hours later. Alas, such was the case again last night.

However, I will make every attempt possible to make this a coherent post.


No Charles Osgood recap this morning. I tried to stay awake to watch his program, but was unable to do so, and I have no earthly idea what it was all about. Sorry!


Have some interesting (and surprising) news to report in re the status of my passport application. Remember how I went on and on about the whole ridiculous process in this post?

Well, a couple of days ago I received in the mail a very official-looking envelope (only a 'teeny tiny touch' bulky) bearing the notice "OFFICIAL BUSINESS".

I thought, "OK, he alerted me to the possibility that I might have to do some research and provide more detailed explanations to some of the questions he asked. Go ahead, Goldenrod. Open it, and find out the worst."

And so I did. I opened it. Inside was my original (notarized) birth certificate, along with a card that said, "Your passport application has been approved & your passport has been issued."

I ****** near fainted, and I am not the fainting type!


Anyway, I now have a valid passport and nowhere to go. Is that 'wild' or what?!?


In this post I first told all of you of my interest in going to Korea to teach English in their 4-week winter program. I was pretty excited about the possibility, as a matter of fact!

I am SO qualified for this. I made my first inquiry online* -- BTW, my confidence in online applications has been greatly diminished!!!!! -- October 3rd ... followed up with the Korean embassy here in Houston a few days later (think I reported that contact in a blogpost) ... sent another e-mail directly this past week (and yes, they are still advertising for teachers!!??!!) ... tried their direct phone line (no answer).


There are only three reasons I can think of why I haven't heard back from them, even though their ad promises that 'someone will contact you within three days' ... ... 1) Applications/e-mails were never received. (NONE of them?!?) 2) I didn't include my 'resume'. (*DD tells me that one must include a separate resume even tho all of the info has already been included in the application itself. Makes no sense to me, folks!) 3) I am too old to be considered for the position. (Well, there's not one thing I can do to alter my age. Not a single thing. If age were to be a consideration, I think that should have been mentioned in their ad.)


I'll probably make another attempt this coming week. However, I am feeling more and more like I am (perhaps) being saved 'from a fate worse than death' here. I don't know what else to say about it. I really don't.


PS. Forgot to mention (at least, I don't think I did!) that I've never had a passport, never applied for one before, etc. Remember those two photos I moaned and groaned about not that long back? Well, the photo that appears in my just-issued passport actually is kind of 'age-forgiving' and I look like someone has just told me a good joke, but I'm trying not to guffaw. I wonder what it might have looked like if the pic had been taken by a 'professional' -- Craig, for example? (Probably would have been "too hot to handle".) lol

BTW, whatever happened to the second one I had to give them??