Link to original post: [drupal=2639]To be or not to be...[/drupal]
I hate making decisions. I rarely make them actually, well BIG ones, I make simple ones all the time, like most people, but huge decisions I usually let them, kinda make themselves, or rather I wait until the last possible minute perchance that someone else may make it for me. That way if something goes wrong, they can take the blame!
I know, a terrible way to live.
But now I -do- have a tough choice to make, and I can't let anyone else make it for me, and I can't wait, either.
Ok, so... I am recently unemployed. I quit a career in telecommunications six years strong. Why? Cause I just couldn't do it anymore. I was in customer service. It's like being on the *** end of an argument for 8 hours a day. It effected my health, my well being, and my general will to live. So I quit. I took a chance... The company had vested me so I have a nifty pension payout coming ('bout 7 grand) and another 2 grand from my 401K which I'm also cashing out. Almost 10k will last me, heh, normally 'bout 4 months, as that's about what I was taking home in pay, but I've subsequently moved out of my apartment and into my in-laws' place, have little to no expenses, and my wife is still employed, so... we're basically doing well for now. My ... plan was to get my pension, take a grand off the top to get my teachers' cert online (I hold a Bachelors in English, and given the current education system's high demand for teachers it's a shoe in), apply for a teaching job, and that'd be that. Could be I get a position teaching right away (there's almost always constant openings here in the deep south) could be I need to wait until the start of the new year in august. Depending on which it is, I'd take on a crap job in the meantime so as to have some extra cash, and not be sitting around on my butt all day getting dirty looks from my mother in law. Down side to this plan, there's no 100 percent guarantee I'd get a teaching job, although there's always openings, there's also tons of applicants, many of whom are just as qualified as me.
Or, option two! Which just presented itself 5 days ago. My brother in law is in good (15 years employed, supervisor, this kinda thing) at a very lucrative ship building company here on the coast. Excellent pay, benefits, and they'll send me to school to learn a trade, in this case, Marine Electrician. The down side to this... it's very hard work. Ten hour days, 100 degree temperatures, small confined work spaces, lots of heavy lifting, tons of walking, it's a physical job, it's the kinda job my dad prayed I'd never have to work and so he got a job (he's a master carpenter) at university that offered free education so I could go to school and enter White Collar heaven.
SO, do I take the seemingly easier road, or the seemingly harder road?
Well, I've thought about it, and I'm still not 100 percent sure what I'll do. There's a lot of pressure coming from my wife's family to do the apprenticeship, partly b/c my brother in law has made the phone calls, got the thing setup, basically the job's mine so long as I **** clean, which ... may be a problem, lol but we'll see. Or I can teach, a far less physical job, pays not quite as good, and there's no -in- for me there, so I'll have to take my chances like everyone else if I'm to actually get the job.
I'm almost 100 percent certain I'll take the apprenticeship. It's great pay and benefits, and now I can finally work outdoors, get a good amount of exercise, get back in shape, maybe even start to reverse some of the bad health problems I've developed, like metabolic syndrome, high bp, high col, and depression, all of which are currently being controlled by meds. I'd like to get off the meds, they're so expensive!
SO yeah. I guess this blog post is just me getting this choice out of my head and onto a readable format while simultaneously allowing for others to comment on which they might do and to also shed a bit more light on myself. My decision must be made quickly tho... if I'm to work as a tradesman I have to report Monday. If I'm to teach, well I can take all the time I want, but the longer I wait, the longer I have to stretch that $$$.
One last thing to consider in all this, my car broke down, lol So technically I won't have a way to get to work, any work, unless I take my wife's car, which she's offered to do, but I have the alternative of sitting on my butt until I get my pension money, then buying a new car with it, then starting the job hunt. This wouldn't be a good idea, but the fact my car's inoperable is forcing me to consider all alternatives.
I hate making decisions. I rarely make them actually, well BIG ones, I make simple ones all the time, like most people, but huge decisions I usually let them, kinda make themselves, or rather I wait until the last possible minute perchance that someone else may make it for me. That way if something goes wrong, they can take the blame!
I know, a terrible way to live.
But now I -do- have a tough choice to make, and I can't let anyone else make it for me, and I can't wait, either.
Ok, so... I am recently unemployed. I quit a career in telecommunications six years strong. Why? Cause I just couldn't do it anymore. I was in customer service. It's like being on the *** end of an argument for 8 hours a day. It effected my health, my well being, and my general will to live. So I quit. I took a chance... The company had vested me so I have a nifty pension payout coming ('bout 7 grand) and another 2 grand from my 401K which I'm also cashing out. Almost 10k will last me, heh, normally 'bout 4 months, as that's about what I was taking home in pay, but I've subsequently moved out of my apartment and into my in-laws' place, have little to no expenses, and my wife is still employed, so... we're basically doing well for now. My ... plan was to get my pension, take a grand off the top to get my teachers' cert online (I hold a Bachelors in English, and given the current education system's high demand for teachers it's a shoe in), apply for a teaching job, and that'd be that. Could be I get a position teaching right away (there's almost always constant openings here in the deep south) could be I need to wait until the start of the new year in august. Depending on which it is, I'd take on a crap job in the meantime so as to have some extra cash, and not be sitting around on my butt all day getting dirty looks from my mother in law. Down side to this plan, there's no 100 percent guarantee I'd get a teaching job, although there's always openings, there's also tons of applicants, many of whom are just as qualified as me.
Or, option two! Which just presented itself 5 days ago. My brother in law is in good (15 years employed, supervisor, this kinda thing) at a very lucrative ship building company here on the coast. Excellent pay, benefits, and they'll send me to school to learn a trade, in this case, Marine Electrician. The down side to this... it's very hard work. Ten hour days, 100 degree temperatures, small confined work spaces, lots of heavy lifting, tons of walking, it's a physical job, it's the kinda job my dad prayed I'd never have to work and so he got a job (he's a master carpenter) at university that offered free education so I could go to school and enter White Collar heaven.
SO, do I take the seemingly easier road, or the seemingly harder road?
Well, I've thought about it, and I'm still not 100 percent sure what I'll do. There's a lot of pressure coming from my wife's family to do the apprenticeship, partly b/c my brother in law has made the phone calls, got the thing setup, basically the job's mine so long as I **** clean, which ... may be a problem, lol but we'll see. Or I can teach, a far less physical job, pays not quite as good, and there's no -in- for me there, so I'll have to take my chances like everyone else if I'm to actually get the job.
I'm almost 100 percent certain I'll take the apprenticeship. It's great pay and benefits, and now I can finally work outdoors, get a good amount of exercise, get back in shape, maybe even start to reverse some of the bad health problems I've developed, like metabolic syndrome, high bp, high col, and depression, all of which are currently being controlled by meds. I'd like to get off the meds, they're so expensive!
SO yeah. I guess this blog post is just me getting this choice out of my head and onto a readable format while simultaneously allowing for others to comment on which they might do and to also shed a bit more light on myself. My decision must be made quickly tho... if I'm to work as a tradesman I have to report Monday. If I'm to teach, well I can take all the time I want, but the longer I wait, the longer I have to stretch that $$$.
One last thing to consider in all this, my car broke down, lol So technically I won't have a way to get to work, any work, unless I take my wife's car, which she's offered to do, but I have the alternative of sitting on my butt until I get my pension money, then buying a new car with it, then starting the job hunt. This wouldn't be a good idea, but the fact my car's inoperable is forcing me to consider all alternatives.
