As much as what I claimed to want the other day, I DON'T want:

• To be the object of some little "Would you or wouldn't you," parlor game, similar in nature to that surrounding the movie "Indecent Proposal." (remember that one?) If you're young and inspired, intelligent and flexible, and this kind of thing really interests you, then by all means, DO IT! Hell, I'll give you contacts, provided you meet the qualifications of the job! Just make sure you're up to it first.
• To be a comparative. The first person I overhear telling their spouse, or significant other, "why can't you be more like him?!" is gonna get the verbal a*s-whuppin of the new millenium. Once again, to my purposes, I did all this so as not to become a dinosaur before my time. Do I myself live to be different? Yeah, there's probably something to that, or I wouldn't have done a LOT of the things I have in life, come to think of it. But I'm not anyone else, and I do have my flaws. I just live as big as I can.
• Any pig male asking me what the Korean women were like, or any other such nonsense that presumes that some aspect of this was to "ride some strange," or however the hell you care to visualize it. It ain't like that, it never has been, and I can recall getting aggravated as hell with another Roush employee when I was working in Marion, OH, who asked if Martha came down frequently because we loved each other, or because she didn't trust me. I was on my Adderall and I wanted to deck him.
• Anyone thinking that as a result of seeing the world, such as I have, that my political zealotry has multiplied in some fashion, or that I think Asian culture is any better at this point. I don't, clearly. At dinner the other night, one of the other teachers, who had spent some time in Japan, talked about the fact that the ATMs in Japan close at 7:00 p.m.! Literally close! You can't get money out! Apparently, the notion of ATMs in Japan has more to do with catering to customers who'd prefer not to do their banking in the presence of another human being, as opposed to any convenience factor. Which is stupid. Cure your friggin neuroses, and get on with life! As it is, the ATMs in Korea usually close at 11:00 p.m., or 11:30, which is almost as witless.

In any event, the rest of humanity now knows the drill in terms of me, and this whole venture, it's clear, and I need not say any more on the subject, right? Right. I needed something out of life that literally worked for me--college would have been different, and probably will be, for the simple reason that you pay for it. It's easier to change your life, but if you don't have the up-front money to pay, that's when you really DO have to be creative, and ambitious, and all those things I have attempted to be before now. I'm not ashamed, I was there, and now I am who I am, climbing the mountain one step at a time. On another subject, it is interesting to think that to the list of monikers I have been referred to by over the years, I can now add "Peter Teacher," and "American Pete," as one of my Scottish ESL buddies referred to me the other day. Not quite as colorful as being the Croatian Gangsta (look in the first posts for the explanation of that,) or "Uni," as I was referred to in my heavily bearded phase, for my apparent resemblance to the Unabomber, (thank God I saw fit to shave, then, huh?) but I'll take 'em just the same.