Not to jinx the recently birthed genius that is Bit by Bit Tutoring or anything, but I have to say that we have had a lot of luck recently.

Tonight, I struck out and was able to tutor a kid near where I live. Just a bit north of my neighbourhood is a large Italian community (mostly Italian I should say, since there are a lot of people from India there as well) that is quickly growing, so-much-so that a new high school recently opened up which means there are a lot of kids in the neighbourhood.

I found my student through Armin who has built quite a niche for himself in the area since he apparently owns an 'entire street', meaning, he tutors most of the kids in that street. One of his students is dyslexic so Armin recommended me in hopes that I could help him, because apparently ESL and dyslexia have enough similarities (kidding).

I think I surprised his parents at first though, since they didn't expect me to be Asian. They were like, "So, you tutor English? Like, that's what you went to school for?"

Me: "Pretty much."

The kid - or teenager actually, since he's in gr.10, but I call everyone younger than me kid - was actually pretty cool. If his parents didn't tell me that he was dyslexic I would have never known. The result of this experience is that I now have a side tutoring gig, since his parents wants me to help him once a week for the entire summer! Is this not the biggest blessing or what?

So anyway, this entire Bit by Bit experience made me realize that there's a big market out there for tutors, especially in the summer, which is contrary to popular belief. Parents are willing pay money for their kids education and sending them off to a tutor is like going to camp, only instead of being outdoors they spend their time indoors with their faces buried in books. I have to take advantage of this and get as many kids as possible, that way all my friends will be employed through Bit by Bit, mwahaha.

Currently though, I feel like I've bitten off more than I can chew. Though I love volunteering, I'm looking forward to June when I'll be done so I can spend my time sleeping all day instead, zzz.

The conclusions of tonight's dinner with my mom and grandparents were that (a) marriage leads to nothing but bad endings (b) marriage right after you graduate is just another form of suicide that will give you ever lasting pain but never provide death (c) never marry a cheap person.

I'll expand on point c. Their view on 'cheap' is someone who mooches off of other people for a free meal, sits outside the bathroom with a time-watch while you shower, makes sure that you eat every crumb on your plate, counts every penny they spend on you, and someone who will never ever buy you an anniversary gift.

Unfortunately, I'm a renowned penny pincher to my family. When I came back from Disney World with nothing but magnets for my grandparents they laughed at me. Ok, I admit, I should have at least gotten them a t-shirt, but I seriously could not have imagined them wearing Mickey Mouse shirts. Plus I got them four magnets! That's two each!

So I guess I'm that cheap person people should never marry. I do think they're mislabeling me as a cheap person though, since I prefer the term overly-concious-about-my-hard-earned-loonies, that's all.

Anyway, it also seems like my mom and grandparents think that marriage equals instant babies. They're like, "So-and-so got married - and look! Babies!" Or "I got married and had to take care of the babies right away." Also: "You're going to get married right after you graduate? What are you going to do about the babies? What a waste!"

Sigh. I want my Disney magic back. Cinderella and those other princesses never had to endure such grim reality as this.

Moving on: Today at work I decided to make grammar fun by making a chart of their progress - which looks very similar to the charts at church that keeps track of who memorized their Bible verses - to see who the best is.

I'd be like: "Look! So-and-so did better than you, tsk tsk tsk, what shame ..."

This always works because then they instantly try harder.

They're like: "Gimme more grammar worksheets! I will read and finish them all! I will have impervious syntax! Rawr!"

Ok, so I made their response up. If I can't have dreams of happy ever after-alls with marriage I can at least still dream about a world where people have proper use of grammar.

My adventures in Disney World has been so deeply engraved in my mind that I will forever remember it, but since I've been talking non-stop about Disney World ever since I've gotten back, I've gotten sick of the subject. All I have to say is that:

1) Every business in the world should be run the way Disney World runs their business.
2) You're never too old to dream.
3) It was all started by a mouse.
4) Walt Disney is my new hero, along with the brilliant minds of J.K. Rowling and Shakespeare.

With that said, on to more grave matters: Marriage is Scary.

It's a scary decision and an even scarier commitment. It's scary because divorce is the biggest failure you can have in your life, and it's scary because marriage is a testimony of God's love. It's scary to have to live with someone, talk to that same person, raise your kids with that person, breathe, eat, share everything with that person - for the REST of your life.

And what if you made a mistake? What if giving acts of love to that person gets tiring and tedious and you decide you no longer want to do it?

Not to make light of the subject or anything, but my parents are getting divorced. I decided there's nothing wrong with blogging about it since it's a decision that will have a big impact on my life, and if I can't talk about it here, my blog will be rendered useless. Truth be told, I was probably sad about it for a day, then got over it, since well, it was a long time coming.

I remember going to school one day in grade six balling my eyes out and causing a fuss with my friends because I told them my parents were getting divorced. I don't even know why I was crying then, but I guess when you're a 12 year old girl you're bound to cry about everything. I was emotionally detached to the subject then because divorce was just another fact of life people go through, plus I figured they deserved it if they no longer loved each other.

Anyway, that was 11 years ago (how did time pass by so quickly?) so the subject has been numbed in my head now. I don't need pity or whatever else it is people give to other people when their parents get a divorce, since life goes on.

Last week, Tabitha and I came up with the brilliant idea of creating our own tutoring business. I've been toying with the thought of starting my own editing business for a while now, much like my good friend Peter, but it always seemed like a lot of work. First, I'd have to make sure I knew grammar syntax inside and out, which I'm sure I don't since everything I know about grammar I've learned from my 'Grammar for Dummies Book' and whatever else I've learned from teaching my students (I've never taken any formal classes).

Plus, more people would benefit from tutoring and I'd have a team of awesome people to work with. So  last week, Tabi and I established 'Bit by Bit Tutoring' (the name Step by Step was taken). We started posting online on Kajiji and Craigslist and other tutoring websites to get our name out there. So far, I've gotten 2 phone calls (whoohoo!) and ran into someone looking for ESL classes last week at Church (I'm offering him free classes though, since I would feel bad charging him).

So that's it. I made cheesy posters like, "Keep Calm and Get a Tutor" and "E=mc2 getting you down? We can help!" That we'll be putting up next week at various community centers. Amy Tang promised to make me buttons, which we'll be handing out at the Asian Night market (we'll be appealing to the high achieving Asian parents).  

I'm also working with Lilian and Armin as well, and if Owen wasn't going to China for two months, I would have made him work too. This way, we have everything covered: math, science, ESL, English, and psychology.

I'm very optimistic about Bit by Bit, which is a good thing because if it wasn't for Bit by Bit taking up space in my head I'd probably be more depressed about the future, so I'm thanking God for this opportunity.

Tabitha, Emily, and I are currently at the Pearson Airport waiting for our flight at 6:30 a.m. We got here at 11:30 p.m., only because the TTC stops running around 1a.m. and we have no other way of getting here. Plus, we had high hopes for the airport chairs, hoping they'd be comfy and convenient for sleeping, which they aren't.