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Today I went back to school. Well, actually, today I went to a different school. On Friday, I finished work at Savannah College of Art and Design. When I say finished I mean finished; I turned in my grades, my ID, my parking sticker and my keys. Goodbye ESL, hello...

Today (monday) I started school at the Atlanta School of Massage. Zip, Zap, Zam. It was a quick vacation. This has actually been in the plans for quite sometime. (Yes, for those of you who know me, MY plans; I do occasionally think things through, mull over them, delay them and finally execute, as opposed to the usual "Hey, It's Friday! Maybe I'll move to Asia tomorrow" type of plans that I'm noted for.)

Long story short: Left Taipei, moved home to Georgia, USA. Decided "Hmmm, I became an English teacher so I could travel. Now, I'm back. I'm not traveling so why the hell am I still teaching?" So, next came "What do I really want to do?" Followed by "I want to eat these donuts." Followed by "No, really." Followed by "Hey I want to travel." Ok, Ok, I know it's a circle and the logic (like the donuts) is full of holes but it happened (no donuts in Taiwan--at least not REAL donuts). So I decided to look into travel industry jobs. What could be better. After all, its a great industry to work for. (That's pre 9-11 thinking for you)

I researched, did everything right for once: pondered, weighed, calculated, looked at salary, evaluated and decided that being a flight attendant in Asia would be ideal. After all, I speak Chinese. I applied, tested, interviewed and was top of my interview group (actually second from the top). Yipee! My future was bright: one or two trips to Hong Kong or Beijing per month, per diem while on the ground for a few days, travel, excitement, Wow! All I had to do was get through training.

Turned out all I had to do was get TO training. Seems that something happened around 2000 where some planes hit a building or something. Remember that? My job went down in flames with them. (Of course, since that's all I lost I had a great day, unlike some...)

Well, as usual my backup plan was not so simple. Here's an example of "I'm moving to Asia in a week." Seriously. I did--back to Taiwan where I had lived and taught for five and a half years.

I was there for about a year and a half and then back to the states, to Savannah (to be with my patient partner), and to a job at Savannah College of Art and Design. All this time pondering what to do next to take me forward in my little life journey.

It was hard to really go there. After all, the one serious well-planned decision went from great to grisley in a matter of hours. Anyway, I did and massage school was it.

Then came the planning and saving and today it all came together. It's interesting: the first step on a journey that I've been walking for quite some time.

Actually, one of my classmates said something applicable today. (and I do her a disservice by chopping it up, throwing in some of my own nonsense and sewing it back together Frankenstein-like.) Life isn't making a scarf where each knit has it's pearl (that's my part), it's making a quilt (that's hers). We have all these scraps of material, all of these rags, these things we do and have done that don't seem to fit; but somehow they all come together as a whole.

Believe it or not, my quilt is finally comeing together. And I'm having a hell of a time sewing...