Plans

Today I am searching for my own answers. Perhaps the name of this journal will be prophetic, and I can discover something new.

I have been attempting to get out of foodservice and into 'real work', labors in which I excel and to which I feel dedicated. Vocation. This has been ongoing since I first arrived in New Orleans. Indeed, back when I was hoping to travel to England this was the plan. In December I again took up my flag, my CV, and heard a few responses. The most promising was as a counselor for Loyola's Admissions department. It would have been a job I enjoyed thoroughly, and felt a strong vocational commitment to. It also fit with other life plans well, and I thought it was a sure thing. Two good interviews later, I have been passed over. Lame.

For those of us keeping score, I have not been able to land a big-boy job. Period. Several attempts, several rejections, but all of the others had apparent explanations besides my incapacity: I was out of the country and they were unwilling to sponsor me; I was grossly underqualified; I had bad timing; the position was filled from within more easily/cheaply. Today I have been rejected for none of these reasons, but because I am less good than two other people. Yay for third place.

Pity party aside, what can I do next? There is still an option for the DRE job in Mississippi, about an hour from New Orleans. They have not started interviewing yet, and will contact me. But their office seems super flaky, and it is rather rare that they would take that sort of risk on a newcomer to the community, and a young person. Not to mention the fact that it is far away, further away from New Orleans than either Quinn or I want to live. An hour commute is better than a 12 hour plane, but it would still suck to be living apart. I doubt we could really afford to, anyway. Besides, New Orleans seems to be a pretty dry well for Archaeology jobs, so she would really be here for me anyway. So lame times two.

I could stay here and wait for something else to open up in New Orleans. But why here? Quinn doesn't have much opportunity here, and unless I have a great 'in' (which I thought I did today), I don't see it happening. Besides, nothing is going to open up until much closer to the summer.

I could try to predict Quinn's job market and find work there. For example, San Francisco has a vibrant and progressive Catholic community where I may be able to find some work, and that region has brilliant museums and archeological societies both private and government. But can I get a job without first moving there? Can I afford the travel expenses to interview, etc? Could I afford to live there at all? I love the place, and we have some friends, but I am certainly not familiar with it; do I have the strength for another blind move?

We could wait for Quinn to find a place, and try there. But her professors do not want to talk about that until late summer at the earliest, which, as I learned this year, is way too late for great jobs for me. I could take my Brennan's experience over there and wait tables, playing this game for another year (but with her, this time). That sounds pretty OK.

I think I will start by diving in all ways at once. First, I will be patient and wait until my job market surfaces again. I will continue with the interview in Mississippi (if they haven't lost my number. again), with the hope that I have totally misjudged that community and its awesome and we totally have to live there, prejudice aside. I will keep my ear to the ground closer to home; maybe the Holy Cross situation will improve and I will rock as an adjunct faculty in the fall. I will start watching Bay Area options, and if something perfect shows up I will jump on it.

I am in the same zone as everyone else my age. Being engaged and graduated does not make me terribly special. Blah. Time for some brownies and ice cream.

-Andy