Purpose

PCV Max is taking the LSAT tomorrow afternoon. He will be the sole test-taker. The exam will be proctored by our APCD, Fata. According to Max, this will be the first time the LSAT has been administered in Samoa. Usually volunteers go to American Samoa or to New Zealand to take standardized tests like the LSAT or the GMAT. I believe Fata has proctored GREs in the past. Jordan is studying for the GMAT; one of his GMAT study books was prominently displayed the first time I went to his house. I have an LSAT book on my cinderblock shelf, but I haven’t opened it.

I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. I never did. It was one of those questions that I never could answer, and adults would always tell me, “It’s all right. You’ve still got a while.” Well, a while has come and gone, and I still have no answer. It was the same with choosing a major in college. I was still officially undeclared until halfway through my junior year of college. I fell into political science, in part out of convenience.

My problem is that I am mildly interested in everything and very interested in nothing. I like watching Jeopardy! where there’s 6 categories per round. Jeopardy! would suck if there was only one category and it was the same every day. I have an LSAT book. Before I came to Samoa, I attended an info session for UC Berkeley’s pre-med/post-bacc program. In the past I’ve looked into graduate programs for international studies and piano (Yeah. Piano. Really.). And Liam and I used to talk about how we’re really just engineers that got lost somewhere along the way.

While I was hating life at eCivis, I consulted the USC Career Center for guidance. They made me take a Myers-Briggs test and gave me some literature based on my score. My CNET severance package included some sessions with a career counselor, but they were more focused on re-writing my resume and improving my interview skills. It was certainly helpful, but my problem is a little broader than that.

I’ve read Who Moved My Cheese? and I just finished The Alchemist, but I’ve always found stuff like that to be a little too perfect and a little too vague. There are a lot of layers in my convoluted brain, and I realize that I’m supposed to see through all that and listen to my heart, but my heart seems ambivalent. During training it surfaced that Koa and I are big time reactivists; we’re loathe to make decisions, we’d rather just flow with the tao.

It was freshman year of high school when I knew that I wanted to join the Peace Corps. When I didn’t go in 2004, there was still something inside me that wanted to come. It’s the closest I’ve ever felt to having a calling. And I always figured that once I was here, I would know what to do next, or at least I would have time to figure it out.

So with that in mind (and being that grad school would theoretically begin in Fall 2011, which means applying in Fall 2010, which means taking standardized test(s) in Spring 2010, which means studying for standardized test(s) in Fall 2009), I’m giving myself this next school term, term 2, to put together a tentative plan for what’s after the Peace Corps. I’m not sure what the process will entail; I guess I’ll figure it out as I go along.

I hope you’re watching Jeopardy!. Pictures below.
















Erin's birthday party was last night.
















Phil and Berkeley MPH candidate Sheila showing off Peace Corps gang signs.
















Erin taking a picture of me taking a picture of her. Also left to right: Dan, AJ, Chris (obstructed), Joey.
















Erin doing a taupo dance. Random stranger is the manaia.