A Resumption of Posting

Howdy, y'all. It has been almost a year since I've written anything on this blog. I had a blog about my study abroad experience but that was also scarcely updated. I don't know why I haven't written other than that I haven't had much inspiration for writing something long and I have written about other thing instead. Anyway, I'm giving myself a goal. I want to write a blog post every day in March. Or at least write a blog post for every day in March. So have 31 blogs posts written in March that more or less come daily or within 24 hours increments. Who knows if I'll actually do this but hopefully this completely non-binding commitment motivates me.

So what has happened in the last 11 months that I haven't been writing about? Here are the main bits:

I apparently wrote about getting a new job last time but now I've actually worked there. It is a lot better than Target was for a few reasons. Part of it is that I only work for 6 months of the year (which is also bad because money but it's not impossible to work around). Part of it is that I get weekends off when the Mariners aren't in town which was a rarity at Target. I also know a lot about the stuff we sell. That wasn't always the case before and I looked like a dipshit a lot of the time because I wasn't able to remember all 10,000 or whatever items we sold. The main reason it's nice is that a lot of the time I get paid to watch baseball. A lot of times it's slow during the game because people are watching or no one is there because Mariners so I can pretty much stand there and watch the game or watch it while looking busy with other things.

There are downsides though. Like I can't really ask for time off when the Mariners are in town. This usually isn't a problem but sometimes things happen that conflict with work. But that's the reality of having a job. I have become a worse fan at times because often I root for the game to end more than I root for the Mariners to win. At the end of a long homestand, I often just want to go home and it's often more likely that they lose before the game goes into multiple extra innings than that they win in extra innings. I feel guilty for this and in the long run the game going longer means more money for me but I there are only so many times I can organize the clearance hat bins before I start to get restless. Moral of the story: Win quickly Mariners. Or shop during the game fans.

Outside of work, Model UN has become a major part of my life. Being president of the school's club is more work than I had anticipated. It's good to be busy and have an extra curricular activity that I'm a major part of. I learn a lot from the club and have met a lot of great people through it. It will be nice to take a break after the conference I'm going to in LA in April though. I thought I would have more to say about this. Oh well, moving on.

I went to Spain over the summer, as you may have gleaned from my Facebook page or from the fact that I mentioned it in the first paragraph of what you are reading now. Or were you not paying attention? Commit to what you choose to read, guys! Anyway that was a great experience. Having to speak Spanish wherever you go (besides among the other Americans studying with you) definitely helped me learn Spanish more quickly out of necessity. While I still wasn't excellent at speaking or understanding, I was a ton better in September than I was in June. My skills have atrophied quite a bit since I haven't taken Spanish in a couple of months but I still like knowing most of a language and feel like I could still converse with people in Spanish if need be.

If your stereotype of Americans studying abroad is a lot of drinking and not a lot of school work, you are for the most part correct. Overall, my Spanish classes were much easier than any class I've taken in college besides maybe college writing. Except for the literature class which was brutal at times. Looking back on that whole trip it was amazing how much more drinking I did there and how much later I stayed out than I do here. Which makes sense because that's the culture there. I miss certain aspects of the country. The Scuba Steve walk signs. The cheaper drinks. Having mostly delicious meals made for me. Having a summer weather wise. Realizing the camaraderie I have with Americans when I go abroad (and also the shame I have for some). My blog about that experience is here. Well sort of.

Academically I feel comfortable with the direction I'm heading. Fall quarter was pretty brutal, mainly because of intermediate microeconomics, but I made it through getting good grades. I'm really excited for the Econ classes I'm going to be taking from now on and am happy with the major I've chosen. I for the most part like the classes I'm taking now, if not some of the professors. I'm still mildly terrified for what I'm going to do after school as far as work but I will cross that bridge when I come to it.

Anyway, that's a catch up on me for people who care. The posts won't be about me for the most part from now on but this seemed like a good start.