Possibilities

Well, I have narrowed it down at last to 3 possible careers that I could pursue. They may not be mutually exclusive, there may be one 40-hour gig and a second lucrative hobby to focus on, so I may just end up choosing 2 to work hard at and see what I can make happen. If all that one of them currently requires is a Saturday class, that is very doable, worth starting just to be certain of moving towards something definite, an end to the temping and a due date for an adult/professional income. I could just start putting time in on them and see what happens, all three require training. The Real estate is on hold due to lack of reserves. The singing is solidly in hobby status. The writing is just not happening due to preoccupation and focus on more pressing matters. I regret it, I just need to take care of some things first. The most important thing I have been coaching lately is the way my Dad lived. He had nailed down a career, a good paying job, and the reward for that was leisure time. He put in the office time, and the rest was essentially free time. As for me, I am at the point where money is now a problem that has to be resolved, basically because my goals require that stored up energy and measure of security. The money issue has to be resolved as soon as possible, yet without doing something soul-killing or insanely difficult.  We rule out the extremes- the MBA/lawyer/techie/ACS jobs are out. Also the temping is out. Anything that pays less than temping is out. The two job thing doesn’t work, I don’t have the energy for it. It’s the elusive middle ground I need to find- a doable job that I have some interest in, that pays more than temping and is not going to require insane amounts of overtime or stressful city agency bureaucracy. It doesn’t seem too tough. The three are: Martial Arts Instructor/Manager, Librarian, Piano Teacher/Accompanist. Once the income problem is solved, then its time to invest. I think its only a matter of time at this point, I see the light at the end of the tunnel and the road is clear ahead.

They Got Me

I just applied to graduate school in Library Science/Information Science. There seem to be quite a few positive reasons for doing so. I think I have quite a bit of aptitude for it as I consider myself pretty good with people and really passionate about books and learning. In my application, the word I used was ‘biblioholic’. I think the final destination I am going for is reference librarian at a University, that would be ideal. My main reason is that it seems to be a good thing to put my time and effort into, and it turns out that the pay is good, entry-level professional, a good bit more than entry-level teaching. It also pays more than helpdesking and more than ACS not including overtime, which apparently is not necessary in this field. Sweet. I am also hoping to cure the serious brain damage I have incurred from doing clerical work for too long. Such as it is, I think I will be able to pay my student loans off quickly and still invest: average starting salary is 46K, not too shabby for someone without a car and almost no debt right now. I should be able to get in the Real Estate game quickly and start doing deals very soon, which will accelerate the process of getting to my number. That’s for another post. It is entirely possible, with diligence and focus, that we could retire well before fifty and downshift to part-time work well before that, yet still work in a bit of skiing here and there. I just need to stay focused.