cola town

I've been writing all week and it feels really good! It feels like I'm moving towards something, making something happen, which I am. It makes me feel like I should be a writer, and I really think I should.

I am staying with my BFF Amanda (AKA Panda) this week in Columbia, South Carolina. It's a really cool city with some really cool people. A nice place to visit--but according to inside sources--not a place you want to live.

I have a job for sure, but as with all things for an immigrant, it's more complicated than that. I'm now waiting to get my Certificate of Eligibility in the mail so that I can get my work visa through the Japanese Consulate in Atlanta. I'm leaving for Japan in a little over a month (March 23), so now I'm just playing the waiting game...and praying that it all works out.

I might accompany Panda to her Japanese class this week. I'm a little nervous to be around those students. I don't want people to judge me for being in Japan for six months and still barely knowing the language. I really want to get serious about learning Japanese this year. I'm hoping to enroll in a class once I'm working full time and can actually afford it.

The search for the Dress continues. I'm not letting it consume my thoughts as much, though. My quest will continue this week as I scour the consignment shops and thrift stores of Columbia. I guess I just want a dress that reflects what I see in our relationship: a good fit, not too complicated, and uniquely beautiful. I swear that someone injected me with Bride Serum or something. It really goes straight to the brain.

I'm looking forward to a week of relaxation, reading, writing, and partying at Art Bar. And of course, hanging out with my BFF since eighth grade.

I found a book called The Eleventh Draft: Craft and the Writing Life from the Iowa Writers' Workshop in the library the other day. It's really amazing; it has essays by Barry Hannah and a lot of other talented people. It makes me feel closer to Peter Christopher somehow. I really want to make him proud one day.

I am itching to get a tattoo. It's been at least 3 years since my last one. I would really love for my whole back to be covered by tattoos by the time I'm "old," whatever that means. Not by pointless images, but by images that help explain who I am and what I love. My next one will be fairly simple: the words "All thrive" curving around the Truffula trees. I don't know how easy or expensive it is to get a tattoo in Japan...I know I'd have to go to a city at least as big as Matsumoto to find a place. Can you register for a tattoo?

My grains of wisdom for the week: The truth will set you free. And a library is a terrible thing to waste.