Almost Perfect

So my parents arrived in Istanbul today and I couldn't see them because I'm more ill than I've been in a while. Running a fever and got a nose not worth breathing out of, not to mention the constant headache - I'll blame the collapse of my writing style on that. I was supposed to have some hot new pictures for you all, with Mom and Dad and I hanging out around some of the most beautiful sights Istanbul has to offer, but that's going to have to wait until next week probably (I can't see how I'll be healthy enough to take the bus into town tomorrow). This totally sucks.

Oh, and in Turkey they don't really believe in sick days, so I'm definitely going in on Monday unless I'm in the hospital. How I'll be able to talk to the kids is another question altogether.

However, there is good news. The San Francisco Giants made it into the playoffs, just so I couldn't watch the games! I'm not much of a baseball fan, but I'd definitely watch if I were in the Bay, and it's always fun to see a city revved up for their team. Perhaps that's the biggest problem with Istanbul: There are 3 soccer teams and their supporters tend to hate each other's guts. Not so good for fan unity.

Still, the Giants were able to work their way into my lessons, since we just so happened to be covering sports and activities. Hopefully they can get over the extra-innings loss yesterday and get on with demolishing that silly team from Atlanta.

In other news, I officially am in love with the Bahçeşehir Pazar that happens every Saturday and Tuesday. Where else could you buy 4 onions, 4 potatoes, 4 apples, 15 eggs, and a freakin' huge half loaf of bread for less than 10 Turkish lira?

Jeeze, I hope I didn't get ripped off. If eating that food is why I'm ill right now I'll be heartbroken.

And the last bit of news of late: Dad sent me word of a writing competition called "30 Below," a writing contest for young 'uns like myself (under age 30, surprise surprise), no entry fee, tons of money to win. So if you've got anything floating around, why not use it now? There's no harm. The magazine is called Narrative, and the deadline is sometime later this month. I'm thinking of submitting Cliche Central. Let's show the world that we young people can write like monsters! Whatever that means.

I better not submit anything until my head's in a better place.

Also check out the 6 word story competition. Sounds like fun to me, and probably harder than it looks.

I've talked enough and slept too little. Time to change that.