Not All Fun & Games

I’m sure many people think Peace Corps is easy. Hell, before I flew to Detroit my friend said, “Why don’t you get real job Brian?”

What my friend, who doesn’t know my real name, and doubtlessly many others fail to get is that Peace Corps is friggin’¹ hard. To prove this I will share a true story from my time in country so far.

I love movies. So naturally I was thrilled to learn about 8 in 1s. For those who don’t know already, 8 in 1s are 2.666666 times better than 3 in 1s and those things are friggin’ good.

Over the last few months I have garnered a solid understanding of the pirated movie scene in my province, as well as a familiarity with many of the compilations.

Lord knows I have vacillated quite a bit on one particular 8 in 1, Nicholas Cage. I tried putting it to my test, 3 very good, 1 good, and a wildcard, but he just doesn’t fit in the rubric. Look at the titles: Wild at Heart, Leaving Las Vegas, The Cotton Club, Matchstick Men, The Weather Man, and Captain Corelli’s Mandolin (a double). In my mind that’s 1 very good, Matchstick Men, 1 good, Leaving Las Vegas, 4 wildcards and Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. So the question is, does 3 wildcards equal 2 very goods? I think not even Robert Deniro could answer that.

I won’t tell you if I bought the DVD because that’s not the point of this article, and I want to come off as mysterious. The point is that just because we PCVs may not have jobs or personal relationships, does not mean we don’t face tough choices.

PS. Anyone who wishes to discuss either my rubric or how the Nicholas Cage 8 in 1 fared on it is invited to engage me is such debate.

1- When I was 13 my father explained to me that friggin means to finger a woman and it turns out he was right as I looked it up in the dictionary last weekend. You have to read between the lines a bit, but its there.