Whatchu doin'?

Denise left this weekend for Canada and returned yesterday, and I'm sure she'll write all about it soon enough. For me, I obviously missed her, and her absence made me stop for a minute and ask: what the fuck am I doing on this island?

I thought I might answer this question, though less in the philosophical sense and more in the literal sense. My plate is starting to fill up. Here's what the fuck I'm up to these days:

1. Working at Island Thrift two or three times a week - I'm enjoying this quite a lot; it's nice to get paid and read at the same time.

2. Volunteering at the Prep School twice a week - This is really the only way to eventually get a position as a teacher there, once one of the current teachers leaves the island or croaks. Despite this, I'm actually really enjoying being in an educational environment. In all the stress of the time and money invested in an education degree, and the pressure to start a career, it's easy to forget that I'm in love with learning.

3. Working at the Day Care once or twice a week - This is pretty recent and is still in the works, but it looks like I'll be working a couple hours a day at the after school care of the prep school. We do arts and crafts, homework, and board games, but generally it seems my job will be to tell kids to stop hitting each other.

4. President-elect of the Ross Spouse Organization - It looks as if my dream is coming close to being a reality. I apparently have an opponent who hasn't been seen in a month, and Thursday afternoon is decision time for the next presidency. I'm really hoping this other guy shows up, and I can challenge him to a debate right then and there. I'll be holding a victory rally after the swearing in ceremony. Drinks will be provided.

5. Standardized Patient, couple of hours a week - This is actually pretty cool. The school pays me pretty good money (15 US an hour - here that's ridiculous) to pretend to be sick with a mysterious ailment as students try to figure it out. Denise is annoyed that I won't tell her what disease mine is. Right now I'm training, but I should be starting the actual work in a couple of weeks.

6. Doing Spouse-y stuff - I'm slowly learning all the little tricks of this place. I've discovered that there's a free trip to Roseau (the capital) every Saturday, which is a nice way to save a good 30-40 US, and it's a much more exciting place than Portsmouth (plus they have a better Saturday Market). There's a secret room on campus with a decent selection of books, and Denise was very tempted to get The Other Boleyn Girl. Poor woman has to study and stuff. From time to time I go on one of the spouse trips around the island, although it usually conflicts with whatever I'm doing that day. As President I'll just send one of my advisors in my place.


So...I guess that's what the fuck I'm doing on this island. Oh, and a shout out to Kelly! Numero nueve!