Yesterday I drove to Davis, took a campus tour, met with an advisor, snagged as much literature as possible, and walked around downtown to get a feel for the place. I'm thinking of going to grad school. Today I will be working my caretaking job for an elderly neighbor. I have, by now, decided I don't want to use my undergrad sociology degree to go into gerentology, so the job as an experiment has become rather obsolete, but now we have become friends and I cannot leave her to water the plants and fix her breakfast alone. Tonight I will tutor a Mexican lady in English (another experiment: is this my calling?), next week I meet with a friend of a friend to discuss her work with a non-profit (should I be a do-gooder?), I'll be volunteering doing some translating over the weekend (is linguistics the way to go?), and beginning my first volunteer grant writing job. In the midst of phone calls, meetings, and hours at the library using my laptop to conduct job searches, I realize that I have made a career out of searching for a career.
It is not difficult. One must be organized, a self-starter, punctual and responsible. Of course, it can be frustrating, but so can any career when goals are not within easy grasp. But a perk is that I get to make my own hours, and choose my own colleagues. There is, unfortunatly, no health or life or boat insurance included, but freelance careers rarely have these types of benies.
Actually, the more I live this life, the less I like the idea of going to an office, or any type of building, and actually working for 8 hours a day, 5 days per week. Screw the one week paid vacation. I could take a month off and support myself writing travel articles and waiting tables in Costa Rica. Or find a job on a cruise ship.
People change careers every 7 to 10 years anyway, so it seems hardly worth it to go to school, get in debt, start out as the office bitch until finally you reach the top only to realize you are bored with it all and want to go back to school again.
On the other hand, it would be nice to have a steady salary, insurance, and the occasional sick day. I wouldn't mind having someone give me a deadline now and then, or look over my work and proclaim my genius to the always-attentive secretary. I think I might go back to school after all, graduate with a business degree, and find myself a nice ladder to climb up into a nice corner office and paid vacation. And while I'm on vacation maybe I will have the time to do some freelance writing...
