a brand new day

I've been negligent both in blogging and cartooning this whole month. Needless to say, Obama's inauguration and all its surrounding afterglow have really brightened the big picture. It really seems like he's done more good in the past four days than Bush did in eight years.

Barbara is trying to arrange me to go to Honduras with her sometime this spring, most likely in March, all expenses paid. I really really hope this works out and she can convince them I have an excuse to go. I'd be involved in a new project: re-drawing and digitizing the sculptural portion of the hieroglyphic stairway. I need to practice my Spanish and get some travel gear together!

Then there are other open avenues. Matt and I have applied for year-long English teaching jobs in Taiwan beginning in July. They had exactly two positions open at this preschool, which has a sister school in Cambridge, and they specifically said that knowledge of Chinese was not required or even expected. They pay $1800 a month and include room and daily lunches. In our applications, we mentioned that we would be willing to share housing to reduce the school's expenses. It would be really exciting for both of us, and because of our teaching and travel experiences, I think we have a shot.

It's kind of scary not knowing where I'm going to be even six months from now, but it's also liberating. By contrast, Lauren and Nawa just took the written part of general exams. The orals are on Tuesday. Oddly enough, they took it on the computers in the Meso Lab where I work, and it felt so strange to realize that I could have/should have been there with them. No regrets here.

Bodies in Flight has reached the point where I think I'm overworking it, except for the final act. I'm going to make the first 150 pages available for critique soon, and continue to work on the last 50, which aren't even roughly finished. I'm still planning to send it to Leapfrog by May.

In short, 2009 promises to be a year of expanding possibilities. With that, I resolve to blog more and keep you all posted.