The "F" Word

Meaning the future, or course.
It's out there,looming,whether we like it or not. Even if we'd rather just ignore it and watch another downloaded, stellar episode of "the Wire." Or maybe just make some mandu for a snack, or just keep playing Scrabulous on-line...Or maybe just call...but, I digress.
Some thirtysomethings have this future planning thing down. They have five year plans, or ten year plans, or until their kids die of old age plans. I noticed in my twenties that Higher powers, The National Weather Service, and the IRS tended to mock the plans that I made. So, I have been sticking to the immediate future mostly. When I have the guts. Now, what was I trying to focus on? Oh, yeah, the future. The Future. Specifically, my future. Yep, it's churning towards me at a rapid rate. So, what am I doing about it?
Well: I know that there are FOUR THINGS I want in my future, in no particular order:
1. Writing. I've been doing it since I was eight years old and hopefully (:) ) I've improved a little bit with time. At least I've deleted all the unicorns and friendship pins. Currently, I am editing up some of my work and getting it out there to people who can shape, publish, or promote it. This, as any aspiring scribe knows, is an on-going process. On it goes.
2. My love. My boyfriend and I had one of those long, question-packed conversations about the future. Like your average American guy, conversations about the future make him look like he wants to throw up. (But before any bitter American men who fled the American woman in search of a better (milder?) model leave me harsh comments about women wanting to much...) I note, for the record, that no ultimatums were used by either party. It was not an argument. It was a conversation. I've grown up a little, learned a little, and chosen my partner better since the last time I tried to have one of those romantic "future" oriented discussions.
3. An English speaking country. I work at a great school, but it's just time. My new, adorable co-worker, six months out of teaching school, is so sweet and tries so very hard to communicate with me. And I have no idea what she is saying-ever! The fault in this is of course half mine, but the start of English in her classroom is a funny time. She tries very hard to make encouraging or helpful remarks to the students about English. Or she comes to me to borrow a stapler, and my Korean is so poor it takes me ten minutes to understand-oops! On the other extreme, even in my good little school, I work with the one older, male teacher who still thinks it's appropriate to make fun of "foreigners" in general (and we have two at my school now) in the English office. (Dude, if you're going to make those kind of "jokes" at least move it out of our assigned work space! :) ). Many people here are very patient with foreigners like myself in our pathetic attempts to butcher, I mean learn, their very different language. Unfortunately, today I had to co-exist the one guy who treats my language difficulties as an indication that I'm stupid. I won't miss his type.
4. Adopting a dog. The crazy, yappy puppy I adopted last year was a little high-maintenance, but getting a nice older dog from a shelter or teacher going over-sees sounds great to me. It does to my boyfriend, too. :) So, it's not exactly a blue print, but it's a start. I can start looking for jobs where I can do more writing.I can work with my boyfriend on making housing decisions in North America. I'll get there in time.