Hypocrite with a Cushy Job

Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress was hilarious. I seriously recommend picking it up at your local library. (Here I'm being hypocritical--I haven't even set foot in the Suji dosagwan, and it's right across the street from my apartment building.)

I've been putting some thought into the kind of work I might hope to start when I'm through with my contract in August. So far, I see three clear options:

1. Food service. I loved catering, so that might be a good option. Though I doubt any job will ever be as cake as that one was. I've also been thinking about how important it is to me to learn how to cook more varied dishes... I might look for a job in the kitchen of some vegetarian restaurant.

2. Customer service. I'm incredibly patient, I have a wide vocabulary of subservience, and I love being behind-the-scenes.

3. Tutoring. Frankly, I'm kind of hoping to pick up some tutoring work no matter what other work I do.

The big issue is balancing my wish to live in Buffalo with my wish to support myself. Are there jobs in Buffalo? For what am I qualified? What can I get that I won't just quit after a few days?

The second biggest issue is my desire not to own a car. It would be a serious conflict of my general life philosophy if I started guzzling gas. Particularly since I think the best way to cut a lot of the impetus for war in the Middle East would be to severely reduce our dependency on gasoline.

Reducing My Footprint

Because I hate plastic, I bought a Dunkin Donuts travel mug. (I include a link because I love their Korean advertisement, which you can watch on their site.)

I also took tupperware to the kimbop lunch place for the first time.

I have yet to figure out how to tell Paris Baguette not to wrap my pre-made, pre-wrapped sandwich. I can't really imagine cutting them out of my life. Paris Baguette is the best thing about South Korea.

Finally, I've been considering unplugging my fridge, because that's the number one electricity consumer in the average household. The only thing that wouldn't like it is the eggs. Besides which my fridge is built in and possibly impossible to unplug.

Hmm. If you have any ideas, they're welcome.

See...oh, two?

For some reason or another, the planet has always seemed kinda important to me. Maybe it's just the way I was raised, though I like to believe that even if I hadn't had a new-age mother, I would still have arrived at the conclusion that we need to take care of our only home.

Maybe it's the science fiction I read constantly growing up, a consistent reminder that there is a future to look to. Kids who will need a place to grow up. Of course, in those stories, the kids were often growing up on new worlds, but it's become clear to me (and hopefully everyone) that we're not starting off-planet manifest destiny any time soon.

That's why I like people like Leah Ingram and her new Green Boot Camp, giving a new idea every week of ways to improve our treatment of our planet.

I made a New Year's resolution to buy things for friends. Would carbon offset credits be a lame gift? I can't decide. It might be what my brother calls a Homer Simpson Bowling Ball--a gift I buy for someone else so that I can get the benefit.

Then again, we're all on this planet, right? So preserving it ought to benefit all of us.

Hmm..