Just keep swimmin’

Yes. I do like "Finding Nemo." I think Ellen DeGeneres is hysterical. That has nothing to do with this post.

I'm going to stop putting the "next time I'll write about" bits on the ends of these posts. It never works out how I want it to, but that's how it goes when anything has something to do with my career.

So you know how I talked earlier about lowering my expectations for a career? Well, I'm finally going to do it. I had a meltdown last night about how being English major means I'm competing with a bajillion other English majors for a job and how I'm not guaranteed to get any kind of job that offers a living wage. I want to write, but I don't think I'm very good at it. But I found a job that will let me write a few months out of the year.

That's right, teaching. I'm going to finish up my BA in English, then go into the Masters in Education program at Rockhurst university. The program is pretty neat; students only go to night classes and there are four terms per year—fall, spring, summer I and summer II. All told, I can most likely finish my masters in about 2 years of night classes. For right now, I'm going to apply for jobs in education. I've been looking at support staff positions at public schools all around the metro and I'm going to apply like mad. This means, I'll finish out my BA the next two semesters part-time, BUT I'd be working full-time and pulling in about 15k/year. I wouldn't even work for two months with that salary … not bad.

What brought this on? My fiancée pointed out that I always go into something gung-ho and then back off the minute anything goes wrong.

"Just pick something and then go through with it! Through hell or high water, just do it."

Sage advice. And it's what I'm doing. Come hell or high water, I'm getting my M.Ed. in elementary education (and try to get certified to teach in middle school after that). Nothing will stop me. I believe it will be a 70/30 happy/unhappy job. I mean really, I like kids. Being a teacher at that level lets you have more fun with your lesson plans. And if I have a masters I'll get paid more. What's not to like?