everywhere you want to be

I have been on the job hunt. I feel like Ahab pursuing Moby Dick. I am becoming grumpier and grumpier as the days wear on. I have heard back from jobs but I will have no sigh of relief or rest until I have inked a contract. I firmly believe that once I have a new job and only have to work one job that I will be a much happier person. I also know enough about my profession to realize that I had better get a new job before I finish this master’s degree or I will never find another job. I am getting ready for going to graduate school this summer. My preparations include buying vacation clothes from Old Navy – not because I like their clothes, because I like the price and because I have achieved ‘medium’ status in clothing.

I am not worried about tuition this year because my birth mother is one the faculty of the University. There is a rumor going around that my undergraduate advisor abandoned a child so she could pursue her career. I am adamantly claiming to that child. She would have been eight or nine when I was born, but that makes the story more interesting.

The only real preparation I have made is to secure housing, I was going to live on campus, but I decided against that as living in a dorm is ridiculous. First, the places are filthier than hospitals. It is like lying down in a gutter, albeit one that is air-conditioned. The argument for the dormitory is that someone else cleans it, ostensibly. If I live off campus then I will need to clean where I staying myself, I say “bully!” at least I know it will have been done. If it is not done at least I do not have to wonder about whose filth I am showering in – as I would in the dorm – since I would know whose filth it was by process of elimination.

The other major reason not to live in the dorm is that I am an adult and if you live in the dorm they limit your activities. You cannot drink. You cannot have sex. You cannot have a microwave oven. You are, however, an adult responsible for yourself. While I do not drink, have sex or use microwave ovens I am annoyed to no end that they think that I am not responsible enough to make those choices on my own – I really am not – and resent that I am restricted from doing things I am not doing anyway.

The final factor is price. The university shows a lot of chutzpah charging almost three hundred dollars a week for a closet of a dorm room. This does not include any kind of amenity like high-speed internet or cable television, or even television. I could stay with my friend for a month, perhaps even the summer for the price I would pay for a week in the dorms.

Perhaps I should buy my books, finish applying for a student loan, or have my car worked on so it can reach Nebraska. Those are tasks best completely by uncomplicated, responsible adults.

The American Express Meme

Childhood Ambition: Submariner, Author
Fondest Memory: My audience with Pope John Paul II, at the Vatican
Soundtrack: silly songs sung by my impish students
Retreat: my part time job
Wildest Dream: Living in Rome, writing novels and essays
Proudest Moment: Being disemboweled by Sarah Brill
Alarm Clock: Iran with nuclear weapons
Perfect Day: Hiking in the mountains and/or bouldering with my best friend
First Job: Supervising janitors for the United States Army
Indulgence: Canasta
Last Purchase: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke, as a gift
Favorite Movie: The Empire Strikes Back
Inspiration: The Gospel according to Saint Luke
My life: is about serving others
My card: is seriously overdrawn

Comments

[Margaret]

You really had me going on the birth mother thing, you beast!! Where and what are you applying for?