Having such a fun-filled November is already taking a toll on me. I’ve been exhausted all week. It doesn’t help that I had a little extra stress in my life because Peace Corps called me at school and told us it was time to test our emergency calling tree using land lines. Jeramie and I took care of it, but it wasn’t easy. Fortunately for me, she offered to do the calling and I just had to take care of the note taking process and serve her the phone numbers to dial into her rotary phone. Life here is weird sometimes.

Today’s task for my 30 Days to a Better Man challenge is to find a mentor. Sadly, this one is the first task I feel I’m unable to complete due to my current living situation. Granted, I could find myself a Ukrainian man I’d like to mentor me but he’d have to speak English otherwise I don’t think I’d learn anything. That narrows my list down a bit but doesn’t leave me with anyone who I’d really want as a mentor. You’re supposed to find someone who has things figured out better than you in some aspect of life (or all) and I don’t think it applies to the Ukrainians I have in mind.

I didn’t ignore this task altogether. I spent the day deciding who my top three choices for my mentor would be. It wasn’t nearly as difficult as I thought it would be to choose–all three of them came to me within five minutes of thinking about it and they stuck with me throughout the day. Each one has something different to offer and I’d be happy having all three as my mentors now. The list, however, is as follows (without explanation):

• My father (I worried that the mentor requirements would tell me that I couldn’t choose my father, I probably would have anyway)
• Fr. Thomas Suriano
• Mike Gordy

Maybe, in a little over a year, when I’m back in the States I’ll be able to take one on as my mentor. But now it’s nice knowing who I’d choose and why because it got me thinking about the things I could be better at in life.

Push ups and sit ups are still coming on schedule. I’m wearing my Superman shirt at the moment and I have 25 push ups left to do today and I’m leaving the shirt on.

I wrote nearly 2,000 words today. I really got in the zone at one point. Today I sat down and wrote nearly all it in one sitting (partly because my schedule didn’t allow for small bursts throughout the day today). I’m finally moving into the part of the story I’m excited to tell and I think that’s why it’s been moving along so well. The NaNoWriMo website tells me that I’m on pace to finish the 50,000 word minimum November 26th. I’m shooting for earlier. Maybe this weekend I’ll get a lot written. Or maybe I’ll watch a bunch of TV and movies (including V for Vendetta).

The mustache is as sad as ever, and it’s about time I shave again. I have my 72-hour shadow going. Come the end of the month, I’ll have the most disgusting stubble on my upper lip. Support my cause and give by clicking the link in the blue box above (you can also support my other cause by clicking the link in the green box above).