Oh what's the use!

I have not posted in a long time, perhaps because I have been busy with other things, like finishing a thesis, reading other books for entertainment, and following the Britney Spears saga to an embarrassing degree. The rest of my life has been continuing though. I enjoy my job, but there are times when I get frustrated. We are expecting a lot of Iraqis this year, and while the numbers are not as high as many had hoped, only part of the reason lies in the admissions process - another part has to do with Iraqis not convinced that they want to come to the United States once they learn how hard life can be here. And those that are here are finding that things they had expected, like free education for as long as they need, does not work out the way they think it should. They are rather jarred by the fact that we expect them to get jobs even though they are not fluent in English. They also don't like that they are expected to do just about any job, not just the ones they think are best suited for them. I'm not impressed. I had one fellow tell me he wished he had not come here. I was thrilled.

But there are only a few days when I am frustrated by that. Today was only one of them. Tomorrow I expect will be better.

I spent a lot of time online talking to an old friend, and it got me thinking about people I have lost touch with, some intentionally, others not. There is a temptation to look these people up online, though I'm not sure what would come of that. I mean, what would I say? I think I want a chance to prove that I have changed, but I fear that I would only find out that I really haven't changed as much as I had thought. Life has turned out much different from what I had thought, but I think it is better than what I had envisioned. I thought I would have a lot of conflict in my personal life, but really that has become a quite dependable and nice thing. I have a nice place to live which always surprises me...I'm not sure why I have this temptation to find people from the past. Seems crazy, don't you think?