Fear Me and my Adsense

Okay, so I'm thinking this online passive income thing might work for me. In a... I might get a new camera before the end of the year after I write twenty hundred hubs kind of way... Or, I could put my Hetalia fanfiction up and adsense the hell out of it >:) But so far, I've earned $8 from hubpages. That's almost a dollar a day from people clicking ads. Plus I have minions, I mean followers! Yeah, followers. Who aren't throwing marriage proposals at me, wheee.

Hmm, other than that, I tried my first pawpaw today. Pretty good. Everyone kept saying it tastes like bananas. It does not taste like a banana. It tastes like a mix between a mango and a avocado. I liked it but the rocks (seeds) were kind of annoying to eat around. I might throw them in the backyard and see if a pawpaw tree grows...

The pawpaw came from the Farmer's market aka "dog park" in Fayetteville. Let me say that those people love their dogs. There was a dane, boxers, an Australian terrier, a king charles cavalier spaniel, an Irish wolfhound, poms, a westie, labs, Australian shepards, border collies, and mutts. Dogs aside, there were stalls everywhere filled with fruits, veggies, hot peppers, eggplants, lamb, eggs, flowers... it was pretty cool.

What was I doing after purchasing the pawpaws? Chasing butterflies. I'm such a social creature.

Then on the way home I insisted we follow a set of tire tracks by the golf course. Why? Because I wanted to know why people were going off road and if it went down to the creek. Sure enough, it went right down to Big Sugar Creek, which is low. I saw shiners and minnows and sculpins and sunfish, and darters, oh my! We're going to go back down and splash around sometime in the future.

And... here's some photos jacked off mom's camera while she's sleeping (the wasp and moth came off my camera):

At Big Sugar Creek in Bellavista:




Bugs! There are lots of bugs here (hey, Sheila... I saw a praying mantis the size of my palm! I know you LOVE them so much... I have a picture on Cara's phone):






Farmers Market (with the purple beans!):




And the old one:

The Aftermath

First off, I have too damn many accounts, and too many passwords. Your password must lock up Fort Knox, so please make sure it's 352,352 characters long with at least 10 symbols and 5.5 numbers.

So, after some discussion and websearching, I decided against Thailand. Aside from the cons I put up, I did forget to list one more: political unrest. Forget North Korea, let's go prancing into a potential civil war zone!

Which leaves me where I am now: Northwest Arkansas, also known to most people as the middle of nowhere. Let me tell you, we are not in the middle of nowhere. There is a McDonalds, Dollar General, and Sonic within walking distance... all the essentials (oh, and a grocery store and gas station, but who needs those?). Just because there are cows, horses, and chickens on my walking route (not the one through the cemetery but the one down the gravel road) does not mean that Pea Ridge isn't still 25 minutes away from three decent towns and a city.

My favorite thing about Arkansas? Average speed limit is 45 mph. If they didn't want me going 60 mph around sharp curves, then why do they set the speed limit at 55 mph? And 540 is 70 mph, meaning it takes about 10 minutes to get to Rogers or Bella Vista once I hope on (after passing all the horse farms).

But I've decided there's three things to watch out for on AR roads (and none of them are surprisingly roadkill). Know your hazards! 1. Old people. They are everywhere. They thrive in this area like no other and they all drive old people cars. Easy to spot and get out of the way because they drive 20 mph under the speed limit and make crazy turns. 2. Disabled people. See that handy little blue sticker? Back up and give them some space. They are prone to coming to a dead stop in the middle of the road to make a turn. Halfway through the turn is when they decide to put on their blinker. 3. Methheads tweaking. These guys are pretty easy to spot. That would be the big, ugly truck swerving wildly and weaving in and out of traffic. Less common than the other two hazards, these are the most dangerous of all, especially if you're in a little Subaru. Avoid them and hope they don't intend to play monster truck.

Okay, enough joking around. Once I decided, I leapt into action... well, as much leaping and jumping as I'm prone to. Okay, I messed around on Facebook and went to the United Way website, but I'm going!

So far I've filled out a few applications, made a few inquires, and have an interview on Monday at 10 am for volunteer tutoring with the area's Boys and Girls Club. Still looking into substitute teaching (stop laughing Rob!) but I'd rather have a solid job even if it's only part time after school care. I haven't applied to PetSmart or PetCo yet because I'm hoping to only do that on the weekends if at all. There's enough churches around here that it might be better to work at a church school for 2 or 3 hours and make $20-30 and have my Saturdays free.

On a completely unrelated note, one of my stories I post online has over 1,000 readers. Another story has over 600 readers. I think that's pretty impressive personally. Considering my mom called the story a "soap opera" and asked why I wasn't writing professional soaps. Total, I've had over 2, 000 visitors to my fanfiction. Now if only I could get that kind of traffic going on my Hubpages account. I might get more than $.73 from Google for my writing.

I miss my rat Twister a lot but Shadow is thrilled that I'm with her all. day. long. She's such a funny dog. She gallops around the house at full speed and crashes into things at least once a day (usually in the evenings). I took her to Petsmart with me the other day and the cashier gave her some liver treats. Mmm, gross. She liked them a lot though, so I guess I need to invest in some liver treats.

Well, I think that's enough for a blog, right? Sorry no pictures of BFN because the camera only takes pictures of fish (no, really, it only does macro shots-- the motor is broken).

A Difficult Choice

Okay, when I said I like Northwest Arkansas, I really didn’t mean I want to stay here for four months.

Ideally, if this was a perfect world and Kansas’ government was competent, I would be in Korea right now. Probably writing about the food and culture shock. However, due to late paperwork submission, I was regaled to the waiting list, where there was a 99% chance I’d get a placement.

Hmm, well, I doubted it was 99%, but I figured chances were still pretty high, so I waited on. I hate waiting, do you know that? It’s not a matter of patience; it is the fact that I like to have a job and I like to have money and I like to leave the house. I’d been waiting all summer to go, getting ready, being excited…

And then I am told I might consider going to Thailand and reapplying to EPIK in February. Okay, so this might work in my favor, was my initial thought. So began the rounds of calling and talking and discussion. Thailand had originally been one of my choice countries, but I couldn’t quite remember why I didn’t want to go there in the first place. I mean, fish! They have huge tropical fish farms and the best Siamese Fighting fish in the world! And it would be in the southern tip, so beaches and snorkeling. Plus, I actually enjoy Thai food.

But after doing a little research, I remembered why I dismissed Thailand originally.

First of all, since it’s tropical there are a lot of diseases, parasites, and vaccinations involved. Being there for four months would mean I would need to be vaccinated against Hep A, Hep B, Japanese Encephalitis, Typhoid, Yellow Fever, and rabies? Well, maybe pass on the rabies, since it’s pretty useless anyway, just stay away from big bats. But almost every single one of these vaccines are in a series and need to be started NOW. Oh, and they’re expensive, and cost is per shot.

Second, while the salary is 3x that of the native Thai teacher, it’s not much. Thai Baht is approximately .03 on the US dollar… that means 30, 000 Baht a month is approximately $1,000 month. True, the cost of living is dirt cheap there, I wouldn’t be spending a lot to live ($100 on lodging, $100 on food, etc.), but I can live in the States and work at PetSmart and make $1,500/month.

Pros: low cost of living, easy going culture, fish, food, the ability to teach private class, working for the government

Cons: vaccines, parasites, not reimbursed for the plane ticket, have to get a work permit and do possible visa runs to Laos, slow or non-existent internet access (hard to pull up worksheets and lesson plans without the net, let alone Skype and post my writing on my blog, hubs, and fanfiction)

But here’s the flip side. If I don’t go to Thailand or Korea, then I need to go through the hassle of staying in North West Arkansas. This means that my sister Cara can’t have my car, which causes problems (it’s good I decided to pay for the insurance already). It also messes up my winter vacation plans with my friend Dori, who is currently in Japan. And it means that my cousin Alex, if she so chooses, will have to go to Thailand alone.

Pros: no plane ticket, no vaccinations (unless there’s one against Southern and hick?), my fish tanks and the local fish club, can earn as much as Thailand for the same amount of cost

Cons: no friends, have to find a job, have to change my license, might have to change banks or make the trip to Joplin every once in awhile

So I have a pretty ugly choice before me. A third option would be apply to a private school in Korea instead of going through EPIK. This would mean I’d have to go through the paperwork again and the interview and go visit Chicago for a visa.

In the meanwhile, I will continue working on my class and my freelance writing. I am looking into becoming a substitute for the local school districts. I may apply to the PetCo on Walnut and 40^th. Or I might go find a job out of the pet industry. Who knows.