Crumpled straw hat with feather (man's?)

There's nothing to make you appreciate a Saturday (or any day off), like working during the 5 days before. When I am not working, I find Saturdays very depressing, unless I do something fun. But today, I'm really enjoying it.

Ray and I went to the Green Life Expo at the Classic Center, saw a lot of people we knew, and actually were encouraged by some of the exhibits there! I volunteered at the WUGA booth, where they were selling used CDs (and some DVD's and videotapes) to raise money for the radio. It is also, of course, a form of recycling. I won't tell you how much we spent, but we found a lot of great buys! Books on tape, music for my parents, even a copy of An Affair to Remember... The most fun was a free pedicab ride to Harry Bissett's, where we met Captain & Vanessa for a very good lunch, including free desserts.

Our waitress turned out to be from Alaska, a full-blooded Shawnee. This is the kind of thing my father finds out by asking (sometimes embarrassing) questions. She is studying wildlife biology at UGA and hopes to work at Denali. Needless to say, she dislikes the summers here intensely. She also was not very complimentary about the Inuit... Interestingly, she did not look at all Native American to me. Maybe a little more cheekbone than some people. But she had a really unusual accent. To me, she sounded a little bit Irish, and maybe a little bit like Sarah Palin or someone from Minnesota. She said it is because she learned English in school. When she is home she speaks Algonquin. I love the idea of a Shawnee from Alaska working in a Cajun restaurant in Athens.

Yesterday I found out the good news (I will be getting paid $.65 an essay, as an "experienced" rater) and the bad news (well, sort of). The project after this one is from March 11-April 9. So, if I finish this one successfully and if they ask me to work for the next one and if I pass the test to qualify (all very likely), then I have to decide if I want to ask to miss any days to go to the beach. And then be willing to accept it if they say no. I am really glad to have this work and have to make what I earn go as far as possible. It's just too bad that this is happening when I actually have work to do, instead of all the times I could go for as long as I wanted! But I am lucky to be able to go to the beach for even two or three nights.

I was turning over the idea of a book that compares and contrasts Casey in Japan and Molli in Mexico...and the larger thought about the future of the world when so many more "children" are making connections in other countries...a good think, I am convinced. But hard for them in some ways. I don't know if it would be non-fiction (requiring research work?) or fiction (requiring creativity??).