I’m back from Argentina, which I will talk about in greater detail soon, but in the meantime please check out THIS ARTICLE that I wrote for AssociatedContent.com. AC, as the cool kids call it, collects stories from all around and pays its writers based on page views, so check it out, I says. This particular story netted me $1 upfront (woo!), and I hope to make a tiny bit more as people read it. Other than that I’ve apparently made 26¢ from page views, which is 26¢ more than I’ve made from the Santiago Times, though mostly what’s up there are my articles from the ST.
Speaking of which, I quit my job, basically. I’ve been having differences with the publisher, which I went into some detail about in a previous post. I told them I’ll still try to write a little about the election, but I’m basically over it. I told him it was because school is too time-consuming, which is partially true, but I’d rather just have the time to travel and do other writing, either for this blog or for other places more likely to turn into money, or my new favorite activity: reading in the park.
I know I complain a fair amount, but I’m actually having a great time, particularly unscheduled wanderings. I’m actually planning a blog about Why I Love Santiago, so stay tuned. I’m currently working my way through Sara Wheeler’s Travels In a Thin Country, which is a travel book about Chile. It’s pretty good, and I’m hoping it’ll give me some inspiration about places to visit in Chile. I’ve been on the hunt for books everywhere, and I don’t have a next one lined up, so I’m open to suggestions.
I’m uploading some photos from Mendoza to my new Photobucket account, and I’m going to try to finagle my blog to show some photos on the side, though I’m not sure how well that’ll work. Mendoza was beautiful, and I hope my photos demonstrate that in some way.
I had two minor revelations in Mendoza, one each from two brothers from Colorado I got to know in our hostel. The first is relatively obvious. We had just gone to a massive buffet, and the younger brother, an 18-year old high school senior named Jordan, told me that though he ate like a maniac, he normally eats much more wisely, ever since he “learned how to eat.” That is, only eat when you’re hungry, and only eat until you’re not hungry. My mystery weight loss has disappeared as quickly as quickly and quixotically as it appeared, so I’m going to try it.
The second was from the older brother, Scott, who just graduated from law school and was traveling for a few months before going back to a lush corporate job. I asked him what he thought of law school, and he said that he loved it, but stressed that anybody who goes to law school “for the money” is going to hate it, whereas he went for the intellectual exercise, and as a result did really well and had a great time. He wrote what he described as a “Marxist critique” of law school and the admissions process, and said that he’s sent it to several friends who were considering going (2 decided to go after reading, 3 decided not to), and I’ve asked him to send it to me too. Still, I’m even more excited to go after talking to him, so that’s good. I’ve literally always wanted to be a lawyer, as much for the intellectual exercise as for the money, so it sounds even more like something I’d like to do. A friend of mine that’s considering coming down here to backpack with me is doing the post-undergrad GRE studying, so I’m going to try to do a lot of GRE and LSAT study on my trip.
Okay, I’m getting kicked out of this café, so I’ll finish later. Ciao!
Re: books. I sent you several in the package I mailed out last week. You should have it this week. Let me know when it arrives.