3 iPhones and an iPad mini

When I was waiting to be seated at the Cheesecake Factory the other day, I noticed four other kids waiting with their parents. There was a girl probably around 6 or 7 and three boys. The boys were probably about 10, 12, and 15. Two boys and one girl each had an iPhone and one of the 10 or 12 year old boys had an iPad mini while waiting to be seated for dinner. Are you kidding me? Two observations: 1. They were completely quiet which was good. 2. Maybe the little girl was borrowing her mom or dads iPhone. But seriously. I can't believe how spoiled some of these kids are! I bet they kept playing with the phones during dinner. The family wasn't talking to one another at all. These darn devices stop all face to face communication. Kids get phones younger and younger. Pretty soon, mothers will be given iPhones as a gift during the baby shower! I love technology, but kids don't need that much that young!

Shredding Paper

After my sophomore year of high school, I wanted to take all of my notes from that year and shred them. For whatever reason, it was a big thrill for me to shred all of that paper. Let me tell you, it was a lot of paper! I think I had two large garbage bags full of shredded paper. Today wasn't so fun. I have a large accordion file with tons of pay stubs, credit card statements, car insurance stuff, retirement info, etc. I decided to throw some of the stuff out that was from last year and before. I don't need pay stubs from 2012 since taxes are over with. I had to shred all of that stuff for safety. I didn't have nearly as much as I did in high school. Shredding paper isn't quite as fun as it seems.

Cheesecake

The Cheesecake Factory is going to have cheesecake for half off tomorrow because tomorrow is National Cheesecake Day. If you have Facebook, which practically everyone besides my dad and grandparents do, you could have liked the Cheesecake Factory page and gotten a coupon for half off a slice of cheesecake for today. That's exactly what I did. I haven't had a piece of cheesecake since last October or November. It cost way too much money and has enough calories for an entire day. I got the s'mores cheesecake today. The flavor just came out today. It was a chocolate piece with chocolate chunks, melted marshmallows on the side, and graham cracker crumbs all over it in addition to the large portion of whipped cream. It was amazing! I now have reached my allotted calorie intake until next Thursday. However, my family is coming up Saturday for a week. That means a week of nonstop eating, a week off, then my cruise, which is another week of nonstop eating! Oh the joys of an Italian family. We love our food!

Sandwiches

Here comes another very strange and random post. Yesterday morning during one of the many times I woke up in the middle of the night, I had a thought about doing a blog post about sandwiches. That's right, sandwiches. Don't ask me why that came to my mind at 5 in the morning because I have no idea! I've been eating turkey sandwiches forever. I love turkey, cheese, and honey mustard. Unfortunately, my mom only buys the fake Kraft American cheese that literally makes me almost puke every time I eat it. You have to have a turkey sandwich with either provolone or cheddar cheese. I pack myself a turkey and cheese sandwich every day I go to work. I did that when I went to school too. Another great sandwich is roast beef and cheddar. Sharp cheddar cheese is probably the best cheese ever. Bologna is the most disgusting meat in the world, besides pastrami. I also absolutely love pulled pork sandwiches. I throw pulled pork in the slow cooker overnight in a couple cans of ginger ale or other soda, drain it, throw in a ton of BBQ sauce for the last 5-6 hours, and taste the deliciousness. The meat is so moist and flavorful. That's my favorite dinner sandwich. I could eat sandwiches everyday as my meal and never get bored. What's your favorite sandwich?

Grown Ups 2

I just got back from seeing Grown Ups 2. Normally sequels are never as good as the original (besides my book of course). In this case, that saying is wrong. I can't remember a movie that I laughed pretty much every second from start to finish. I did that today. When you put Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, and David Spade together in a movie, you are going to get a ton of hilarious one liners. Unfortunately I don't remember many of them. If you haven't seen this movie yet, go see it. If you haven't seen Grown Ups, go see that first, then go spend a ridiculous $11.50 to go see Grown Ups 2. I guarantee you will be laughing the entire time, unless you don't have a sense of humor.

Wasting Time

What do you do to waste time? I can't tell you how many times today I planned on either reading a book or working on my book. Neither of those events occurred today. I was just about to read, then a family friend came over. Tonight, I was going to read again, instead I decided to watch The League on Netflix. I normally read in between watching the horse races. That didn't happen. I don't even remember what I did to waste time there. I need to stop wasting time and just do what I need to do! My book would be done quicker that way. I wish I had the problem of having a deadline to finish my book. That would mean I have a publisher that needs my book by a certain time. Needless to say, I don't have a publisher. Maybe tomorrow will be more productive. I doubt it...

Facial Expressions

A lot can be said by looking at someone's facial expressions. When I am in a normal mood, my face looks like I am angry. I have had parents at school tell me to smile and stop looking so miserable. I am sorry, most of the time (besides the last two weeks) I am not miserable. My face just looks angry. If you know me, you know if I am angry about something. I don't hide that very well. When I am happy or excited about something, you will see that too. I remember when I was in a poker tournament with three people left in Atlantic City. One guy told me to stop being so serious. He said my face looked like one of pure determination. Well, he read me like a book at that point. Yes, I was determined. Guess what? I won that tournament. I don't lighten up when big money is at stake. "Hello, you play to win the game. You don't play to just play it." Bonus points if you can name who said that famous quote. The whole point of this post is that you can't judge a book by its cover (unless you are judging my books, my covers are awesome and so are my books). I know a lot of people that have a face that makes them look miserable but they really aren't. Don't assume because you know what happens if you assume, right? Think about it, I'm not going to explain it.

Writer's Block Gone, or is it?

My writer's block for my 3rd "The Teacher That..." book is gone. I finished outlining the book yesterday. However, I have writer's block for this blog. I have a few titles I wrote down on my iPhone for this blog. I don't want to break them out yet though. When and if the time is right, I will do that. Until then, I will just write some fluff so that I can say I wrote a blog post today. My first book was 21 chapters. My second book was 27 chapters. As of now, I have 33 chapters outlined for the 3rd book. Apparently I like adding 6 chapters to each new book. That means the next book will be 39 chapters (if I did my math correctly). Maybe I should only worry about writing this book before I worry about book 4!

Connecting

I've been spending my Tuesday nights on Twitter the last few weeks. Every Tuesday from 9-10PM, they have #indiechat. It's a chat among independent (self-published) authors. We discuss a wide variety of topics. To follow all of the tweets, you just need to check out the hashtag #indiechat. To add something insightful, just tweet what you want to say then add #indiechat at the end of your tweet. I have learned a lot of great information by doing this. I also get to interact with a ton of authors. We have so many people in the #indiechat that it trends on Twitter every week. I will continue to join this chat every Tuesday and gain some more knowledge!

Bon Jovi Concert

I went to my first Bon Jovi concert tonight. I gotta tell ya, it might be my last. I was far from impressed. He only played for two hours, including the encore. No other band opened for him, so he could have played longer. He also played a ton of cover songs. I didn't go to a Bon Jovi concert to hear him play music that other artists created. I wanted to hear his music. The very large crowd seemed to be restless too. I noticed a lot of people left early. You don't typically see that at a concert. We left after the second encore song because he said he was done. He started to play a third one as we were walking away. Of course it was a song I had never heard. I don't know if he played anymore songs after that. I'm interested to see a review in the paper to see if they agreed with me or not.

Writer's Block

I have outlined 24 chapters to the 3rd book in "The Teacher That..." series. I have now hit the not so amazing writer's block. I posted on Twitter asking for suggestions on how to unblock this. One person told me to write in the first person, have my main character go to the kitchen and describe everything they see and that will end my block. That seems very strange to me. I've asked a few people about this. They said that it's a way to describe everything you see creatively and that it could spark some ideas. I'm not too optimistic about it. I just finished reading A Time to Kill by John Grisham. Now that I'm done with the book, I hope to work on my book tomorrow to try to get rid of my block!

Another Theme Song for my Life at This Time

I found another theme song that fits this time in my life precisely. Of course not every lyric fits exactly, but close enough. I heard the song on the radio today and immediately thought of it as another theme song. The song is called "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" by U2. I equate it to looking for a teaching job. I've been looking and looking and looking but still haven't found what I'm looking for. Of course U2 meant the lyrics to be finding a woman, not me, it's all about finding a job. I plan to find what I'm looking for soon!

I have climbed highest mountain
I have run through the fields
Only to be with you   (Change to..."only to get a job")
Only to be with you

I have run
I have crawled
I have scaled these city walls
These city walls
Only to be with you

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for

I have kissed honey lips  (I haven't done this)
Felt the healing in her fingertips (or this)
It burned like fire
This burning desire

I have spoke with the tongue of angels
I have held the hand of a devil
It was warm in the night
I was cold as a stone

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for

I believe in the kingdom come
Then all the colors will bleed into one
Bleed into one
Well yes I'm still running

You broke the bonds and you
Loosed the chains
Carried the cross
Of my shame
Of my shame
You know I believed it

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for...

48 Years

My dad's liquor store has been open for 48 years. That's incredible! My grandpa opened the store sometime in 1965. It moved to its current location in 1980. My grandpa sold the store to my dad in I think 1999. I have absolutely no interest in taking over the business. I've been hearing a lot about family businesses closing because of tough economic times. My family is very lucky that my dad's store is not one of them. He has a large group of regular customers that keep him in business. Unfortunately, they are all older and eventually die off. Because it's a wine and liquor business, people flock to it more in tough economic times. I have no money, let me drink! That's oddly what happens. My mom suggested to my dad that he should do something special for the 50th anniversary in 2015. I think that would be a cool thing to do. 50 years is an incredibly run for a small business!

Opening Day

Tomorrow is opening day of horse racing at Saratoga. They will be celebrating 150 years of racing this year! Anyone who knows me well will be shocked to read the next sentence. I do not think they should have racing tomorrow. You read that correctly, I think racing should be canceled tomorrow. It's going to be 95° and humid all day. That's not a safe environment for horses or the 30,000 fans that will be there tomorrow. I walk in this weather and sweat like crazy. How do you expect horses to run 3/4 of a mile up to 1-1/8 in this weather without getting injured? I know they are adding lots of water and ice and veterinarians to make sure everything runs smoothly. I also know that if they closed tomorrow, Saratoga would lose out on a ton of money. That's the main reason racing comes to the capital region. Money. Everything is about money. They would be upsetting everyone if they cancel tomorrow. I know thousands of people make plans to come on opening day. You also have to consider the safety of everyone and animals involved. People go to the race track and drink alcohol. That's the worst thing people can do in this weather. I know track officials can't control that. My wallet wouldn't mind if the track was closed tomorrow either. They have already said they aren't going to cancel the races tomorrow. I hope everyone and all of the horses come back tomorrow healthy and without any injuries!

Central Air

I wish my house had central air. I went to an apartment and a house today that both had central air. It's incredibly comfortable throughout the entire house! Only two rooms in my house have air conditioning. The game room, where I sleep in this weather, and my parents room both have air conditioning. We don't turn it on until late afternoon. My mom is all about saving energy and money. The other rooms in the house are unbearably hot. The fans in there don't do anything but move air around. If I ever move out of the house, I am making sure my apartment has central air, unless I move to Alaska.

Millons of Dollars Worth of Cars

My mind often wanders off, especially during long car rides. On my way to Turning Stone a week ago, we passed a few car dealerships. It's crazy to think about the millions of dollars that is just sitting in a parking lot. We also passed a dealership with large RV's. They are even more expensive. All of the cars driving on the thruway add up to millions. The cars sitting in the Turning Stone parking lot add up to millions. It's crazy to think about how much money is just sitting unattended in a parking lot. People could easily go up to the cars and key them or kick them or do whatever they want to vandalize them. I'm sure there are cameras somewhere watching these slime balls do it, but still. If they wanted to they could. Be careful with your very expensive cars (or your cheap ones). You don't know what could happen to it while it sits there!

Embarrassing Anniversary

On July 15, 2003, I started working at the grocery store. That's right, I've officially been working there for a decade. That's 10 long, painful, dreadful years doing the same job. The only reason I know the exact date I started working there is because on my pay stub every week it says hire date: 7/15/03. I remember minimum wage in 2003 was $5.15. That's how much money I expected to make. I was very excited when I learned I would make $6 an hour. I quickly learned that that wasn't a lot of money. I continue to work there only because it's my pocket money for the week. When I get a teacher job that pays a lot better than what I'm making now, I will quit in a heartbeat. Until then, I will continue to lose my soul at the grocery store. I am one step closer to being a lifer there. It better not come to that!

People Staring at Car Accidents

On my way home from Turning Stone last Sunday, there was a car that was smashed against a tree. The traffic buildup wasn't terrible at that point. However, it was slowing down. It was obvious that people were staring at the scene. It reminded me of another time I was stuck in traffic. A summer or two ago, a visited a friend. She lives an hour and 50 minutes south. It took me over three hours to get there. Why? There was an accident on the opposite side of the road! The accident happened heading north on the thruway while I was going south. I obviously didn't know this until I passed the crash. There was a bus pulled over on the side of the road. People were staring at it. Once we passed that mess, we were fine! Are you kidding me? If you stare at an accident, you could cause another one yourself. I live in New York state. People are always in a hurry here. Therefore they shouldn't have time to stop to look at accidents. I can't believe I was delayed an hour one day because people stopped to stare at an accident on the other side of the road. Unreal. People need to pay attention to the road and not stare at other accidents so that they do not cause any themselves!

Numbers in my Head

It's amazing how many numbers I have memorized in my life. Sometimes I can look at a long number one time and memorize it. I try not to, but that's the way my mind works unfortunately. I have memorized my social security number. That number is... just kidding. Did you really think I was going to tell you that? I also memorized my two bank account numbers (I don't plan on telling you those numbers either). I know many of the produce codes at my grocery store for the fruits and veggies. I have even memorized many 10 digit bar codes at the store because some products never scan. When I was talking to the insurance companies the other day, I was able to spit off my 9 digit NYS license number without looking. I never tried to memorize that one. Again, it just happened. I wish I could put my memorization of numbers to good use. The only good use it plays is that customers come through my line very quickly because I type all of the codes in the blink of an eye. Maybe one day something good will come from this odd ability I have.

Talking on the Phone

This past Monday, my birthday, I think I talked on the phone more than I did in the past year combined. No, it wasn't me talking to people that were wishing me a happy birthday. I called several different insurance companies to look for a better deal on my car insurance. I probably made about 20 calls because I had to call companies back multiple times to ask various questions. Naturally they didn't answer every time. I think I'm getting better at talking on the phone. I know no one besides secretaries actually talk on the phone anymore. Leaving messages is always fun too. Some insurance agents asked me why I was shopping for insurance on my birthday. I told them that I was business during the day and had my fun at night. I know, I'm strange. How many times in my 400 plus blog posts have I said that? I ended up leaving Nationwide Insurance even though they are on my side. I got exactly the same plan with Progressive for $300 a year less. I got to talk to Flo herself. She hooked me up with a good deal. Okay, maybe it wasn't Flo. Sometimes it takes a lot of talking on the phone to get what you want. I guarantee you texting wouldn't get me a huge savings in car insurance, especially if I was caught texting while driving!

Nintendo 64

I went over to my friends house today to hang out. We busted out the Nintendo 64! For those of you that are not 20 or older, let me explain the awesomeness that is the n64. I got my first n64 when I was in 6th grade. That's right, it was in 1999. The games are not discs. You have to blow on them to make them work! It brought back some good memories. We played two of my favorite games: Cruisin World and NFL Blitz. I still have an n64 but I don't have the cables to make it work. I know, I'm sad too. I can't tell you the last time I played video games. I wish I still had all of the pieces to my n64 because then I'd play it all of the time and use it as another tool to distract me from working on my next book.

Birthday Giveaways

It's amazing what restaurants give to people on their birthday. In my area, there are at least a dozen places that I can think of that give away free drinks on your birthday. They aren't small drinks either. I went to two places on my birthday. One place gave me a 64 ounce beer and my age in wings. The wings weren't small either. This place now charges for the beer, but it's still a good price for the amount they give you. I got a 64 ounce beer and 26 wings for $6.75. I can handle that. Then I went to another place that gave me a 60 ounce beer for free. There's a place that has a large boot shaped glass filled with beer for free. One place gives you a gargantuan tea cup filled with a mixed drink for free. Another place gives you a huge margarita for free. I'm sure the reason these places do this is because they know you will be bringing your friends and your friends will be spending plenty of money there. It's also great advertisement for their bar or restaurant. It's impossible to go to every place in the area for free drinks because there are so many of them. I only took advantage of two this year. Maybe next year I will go to more.

Radio Contest

A local radio station is doing a huge giveaway. They take caller 25 three times every week day to guess a number between 0000 and 9999. If you guess the correct number, it opens a vault. When you make a guess, a machine tells you if the guess was too high or too low or correct. You have to keep track of each guess so that you at least guess between the range. Once the vault is opened, you get to choose an envelope number 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5. Each one has a $4,000 gift card to a certain place. The five prizes are: $4,000 to a pool and spa place, $4,000 to a sports store, $4,000 to a furniture store, $4,000 to a grocery store (in that grocery store, they sell many gift cards to dozens of other stores), and $4,000 to a mall. I have been trying to call for about a week now. Every time the line is busy. I have gotten through I think once and I was only caller 11 or something close to that. Today at 5PM, after dialing the number for the 7th time, it was ringing. I expected one of 2 things: 1. It would keep ringing and no one would pick up or 2. he would pick up and say I was caller 20 or anything lower than 25. I was wrong on both accounts. He picked up and said, "Hi, who is this?" At that point I knew I was caller 25! The numbers were narrowed down to the low being 8254 and the high being 8288. I decided to guess 8267 and unfortunately I was too low. At least I guessed within the correct range. Listeners understandably get extremely annoyed when a caller doesn't guess within the range. Just for calling I won 2 free lawn seats to the Bon Jovi concert! However, I already bought tickets! Luckily, I have a friend who wants the tickets. I can't imagine how excited I would have been if I unlocked the vault! I would have been happy with any of those prizes besides the Spa because I don't need a pool or spa. So close, yet so far! I'm thrilled with my consolation prize though!

Quarter of a Century Plus 1

Today I enter the 26th year of my life. What did I accomplish at 25? I wrote and self-published 2 books, I started newspaper club at my school. I applied to many teaching jobs (more aggressive with my searching), I went on a cruise, I went to Atlantic City and did very well, I booked another cruise that I take next month, I joined a different gym and went fairly consistently, and that's really all of the major life events I can think of. As always, I have one goal that I need to obtain this year at 26. I need to get a teaching job. I continue to fight every day to reach my goal. I also hope to write and publish my 3rd book in "The Teacher That..." series. What will the next year of my life bring? I can answer that in two very simple words: who knows?

Long Car Rides

I used to love taking long car rides. I have no idea why. That all came to a screeching halt once I made the 3 and a half hour trip numerous times to and from Potsdam through mountains and towns where people go to die. When we were kids, my mom would give us each $10 worth of quarters during a long car ride on vacation. If we misbehaved, we had to give her a quarter. Whatever we had left by the time we got there (which was normally not a lot) we could use in an arcade or anything we wanted really. That was her creative way to try to get us to behave on a boring ride. The longest car ride of my life was to Cedar Point and back. That was between 9 and 10 hours each way. Ugh. Today I took the hour and 40 minute drive to Turning Stone to make my donation to the Indians. That ride is nothing compared to Potsdam. It's an hour and 40, like I said, all on the thruway. Once you get off the exit, you take a left and it's a left at the first light. Not even I can get lost going there. I'm the type of person that can't sit still for very long. That's probably why I don't like long car rides.

Roget's Thesaurus

If you're a writer, you need to get Roget's International Thesaurus 7th edition by Barbara Ann Kipfer. This book only has 325,000 words and phrases to choose from. I bought this thesaurus because an author that came to my school to talk about his books recommended it to me. I need a good thesaurus because I often use the same words all of the time. That's one thing I struggle with in my writing. I repeat myself too often. Looking through a 1,282 page book will definitely slow my writing down. However, if I use it correctly, it will greatly improve my writing. As I work on the 3rd book in "The Teacher That..." series, we will see how beneficial the thesaurus really is for me.

Is that your fat Man Towel?

When it's hot and humid like it has been the last two weeks, I sweat by breathing. No matter how little I do, I sweat. I can't help it. I was carrying around a little towel today to wipe off the sweat from my face and body. My mom saw me and said, "Is that your fat man towel?" Thanks, mom. I appreciate your odd way of expressing that you love me. That's the thing with my mom. She always tells it like it is. As Kevin James says in his comedy act, "When you're fat, you don't need a reason to sweat. A friend could come in and see you sweating and say, 'Whoa, man! Did you just work out in the attic?' No, I peeled an orange...........about an hour ago, why what's up?" That's how it is with me. I showered two times today and sweat immediately after the showers. Both showers were pretty pointless. Tomorrow will be more of the same. I will probably have to have my "fat man towel" with me all day again.

Hot Dog Eating Contest

The best part about the 4th of July isn't the fireworks or the BBQ's. It's definitely the hot dog eating contest that they have every year at Coney Island. They actually have competitive eating contests all over the nation with ranked eaters as if it were a sport. Contestants get 10 minutes to eat as many hot dogs as they can. The winner this year ate 69. 69! I don't think I've had 69 hot dogs in my life! He did it in 10 minutes. That's over 18,000 calories in 10 minutes. Most people eat that amount of calories in about 9 days. If your me, probably about 4 days, or just today. I felt like I ate at least that many calories today if not more. I don't know what draws me to watching people shove hot dogs down their throats every 4th of July. Yet I do it anyway. It's a tradition like none other.

Country Flags

One of my "homework assignments" is to study all of our countries flags. Almost every Wednesday at trivia, they show a picture of a country flag and we are told to write down the answer. We almost never get it right. I took a brief look at the flags today. They are incredibly hard to memorize! We only have over 190 countries! I can tell you what the U. S. flag looks like. We are also set if they show us Japan, Canada, Brazil, Germany, Russia, China, and that's about all I can think of right now. Let's see if they ask us a flag tonight.

Maggots

Last night, my dad told me to take the garbage cans to the street to be picked up this morning. He warned me about the maggots. He came with me with a few bowls of water. The maggots were covering the outside of the garbage can! He dunked water on them to get them off so that we could lift the lid and put the last bag in. My dad said that this morning, there were no maggots covering the lid. I had the ridiculously awesome job of cleaning the garbage can after the garbage was picked up. I only saw a handful of maggots because most of them were thrown away when the trash was picked up. Maggots are like worms, they magically show up when it's hot and humid outside where as worms show up after it rains. There had to have been several hundred maggots surrounding the garbage can last night. It was repulsing. I would love to never see a maggot again. Unfortunately I know I'll probably seeing hundreds all over the garbage can again next week.

We're Halfway There

Whenever we were halfway through a set in swim practice, we would start singing, "livin' on a prayer" (We're halfway there) by Bon Jovi. By the way, I'm seeing him perfrom at SPAC three weeks from tonight! Anyway, we are already halfway through 2013! Let's take a look at how I'm doing with my New Years Resolutions.

-I will publish book #3 by continuing to work on it more often than I did last year.

I published book 3 at the end of February. I started to come up with characters for book 3 in "The Teacher That..." series, but haven't done anything since then. Shame on me.

-I will get a teaching job by applying, applying, applying, and more applying.

Still no teaching job. However, I have applied to more jobs than ever. I have probably applied to over 40 jobs all over the place in the past month. I also revised my resume and cover letter several times.

-I will eat smaller portions at dinner and fewer desserts at night by exercising serious will power and having less junk in the house. 

Yeah... This one is not happening. I still eat large portions and plenty of dessert because I have no will power.

-I will be more productive at night after work by reading and writing more instead of sitting at the computer and/or watching TV.

I have my moments of productivity. I also have more lazy moments. I have read 3 books in the past week, which is practically a world record for me.

-I will go to the gym more than two times a week.  No more excuses!

I did really well with this until June. Then I started playing tennis instead of going to the gym. However, now its raining everyday so I can't play tennis. I finally went to the gym today for the first time in several weeks.

-I will be more positive about my future and stop saying, “I’ll have a teaching job 10 years from now” sarcastically.

I'm getting better at this. I still have moments of relapse and desperation.

-I will go on all three vacations I have in mind and not worry about how much they will cost.  I will worry about how much fun they will be!

I unfortunately didn't go to Cedar Point like I planned. I went to visit my friend instead. I still have my cruise coming up at the end of August!

-I will put X dollars into my retirement fund by budgeting the money I make. 

I put that money into retirement already!

-I will find a publisher to take my book(s) by continuing to send out query letters.

I sent out many query letters during my April break. I haven't done anything since then. Ironically one agent responded today with a rejection. Shocking, I know...

-I will pay it forward to less fortunate people instead of buying myself something I do not need.

I started off the year pretty well with this, and then haven't done much.

 

Overall, I'm doing fairly well on my resolutions. As always, there's room for improvement. I actually watched the movie New Years Eve last night where the lady tried to take care of all of her resolutions on the last day of the year. I have certainly put in much more effort into getting a teaching job than I previously have. Now I need it to happen. We will see what the next 6 months bring!