Bradley Woodrum Bradley Woodrum Bradley Woodrum

Up to what has Bradley Woodrum been? An excellent question, Brad. Among other things, I have been engaged whole-heartedly in a campaign of Passion, a journey of Excellence, and noble pursuit of Americanism: I have been trying to get a million cat/kitten images to appear in a Google image search (GIS) for "Bradley Woodrum" and "Brad Woodrum."

Step one of this devious plan is to, you guessed it, write "Bradley Woodrum" or "Brad Woodrum" in blog-posts featuring cats slash kittens.

My less-noble, more-boring, recent pursuits include:

1) Teaching my ESL classes in Chinatown. Helping out at Cornerstone.
2) Doing some freelance editing for McGraw-Hill.
3) Finishing up my last few RU classes.
4) Writing for DRaysBay, where they treat me like, eh, maybe the son of a demi-god? Yeah, not great or anything, but they at least recognize me and say stuff like, "I think I kind of like your writing."
5) Polishing up a short story for a writing contest.
6) Learning how to write the word "meow" in Chinese. 咪.

My ESL Classes
I feel very fortunate to say I love the place I'm in right now. I really like teacher -- even though it can be a real strain sometimes -- and I suspect I'm decent at it. I can easily picture myself teaching for a while. And, with the possibility of decent income coming my way via freelance writing/editing, I should be able to work at the Pui Tak Center and still put noodles on the table.

Jamie and I have also taken leadership roles at Cornerstone (the church that formed out of our old church in Chinatown). We really love Cornerstone! It's a collection of great friends and genuine, God-fearing and God-loving people. Jamie has started helping with Hospitality and Greeting, and I'm currently serving the Children's Ministry and Worship Ministry (they want me to learn more keyboard, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!).

I really have a burden for the Youth Ministry, though, but unfortunately we don't have any youths. So, since half the church is under age 13, the plan is to help with and learn from the Children's Ministry while we wait for the kids to get older, which can take any unknown amount of time. I'm told children age at different rates, but they don't seem to be aging at all. Go figure.

Freelance Writing
Hey you there! Yes, you in the boxer briefs, scratching your tummy! Boy have I got a proposal for you! Do you like sitting? Of course you do! Look at those sitting muscles you have! Do you like moving only your fingers for hours on end? Why, me too! And how do you feel about being completely sealed off from humanity, an entity nearly merged with it's computing console and only vaguely aware of reality? Why, I can tell by the greasy smile on your bearded face that I've got just the job for you: Freelance writing and editing!

That's right! Earn literally thousands of dollars every year while wearing nothing but the hair on your back! Watch your beard grow scraggly and luxurious as you tap your keyboard for hours stacked on hours! Too much work? Well, go ahead, crawl under your desk and take a nap -- because, friend, you're still at home! That's right, all this and you can do it in the privacy of your very own place!

My Last Three Roosevelt Classes
this is about how much effort ive been putting into my last three roos

Writing for DRaysBay
In 2005, I started rooting for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (they since changed their name to just the Rays). In 2007, I stumbled upon the website DRaysBay, a blog that featured the writings of fellow Rays fans. In particular, I liked the writing of a Mr. R.J. Anderson. Reejus, as they call him, helped illuminate the world of advanced baseball statistics to me. Because of R.J., I found the most enveloping and enjoyable hobby ever: Economics applied to baseball.

After learning about sabermetrics and reading Moneyball for the first time, I decided I wanted to work in baseball and sabermetrics. Of course, it's easier to get sneak into NASA than get a job in baseball as an "outsider" (a non-former pro).

Anyway, in 2009, I became friends with (the white) Will Smith, and he and I founded Cubs Stats. As a direct result of my work with Cubs Stats, I ended up getting a writing gig with DRaysBay about a month or two ago. This is really huge for me. Consider:

A) DRaysBay is my favorite website of all time.
B) DRaysBay gets, literally, thousands of readers a week. Today alone (a slow day), we had over 1,700 unique visitors and over 5,000 page views!
C) Most DRaysBay writers go on to work for Fangraphs or other highly respected, paid writing gigs!
D) I GOT TO TALK TO R.J. ON GMAIL CHAT! He is pretty awesome.

Polishing a Short Story
It's called "Outsourcing," though I may change that. I wrote it a year or two ago while in an expository writing class. It's a creative nonfiction story about my first trip to a Chinese factory. I think we're going to transition the 3rd bedroom into proper office so I can have an asylum to focus on my writing.

Chinese Lesson
The word for cat in Chinese is 猫 (mao). It's second tone, so you sort of sing it -- like when someone asks you: "Hey, what do you think of this?" and you answer, "Eh," in a high pitch. Although, for the lighter in spirit and more effeminate at heart, you can say 小猫咪 (xiao maomi) or "little kitty cat." Mao and mi are both second tone, so sing them. Xiao is fourth tone, so it's the angry-sounding, descending tone. Stomp your foot and then say "xiao." (To us English speakers, the word actually sounds kind of like sshao-mao-mee, but not exactly.)

Conclusion
I love you guys! I'm excited about seeing you all this December! I'm especially excited about Daniel's wedding and seeing all the cats! I've been doing P90X for about a month and a half, so I'm hoping I will appear much fitter and leaner the next time you guys see me! :)

-Brad