2003-03-17 - 1:50 p.m.
Oooh, I've left the "most desirable" TV-watching age bracket

Been awhile since I posted last ... a couple of months, looks like. I don't want d-land to delete this account, but these days fanfic is filling my need to write, and there's not much of interest to report, anyway. I have such a boring life!

I turned 25 a week ago today. Still too young compared to most of the people I work with, but old compared to the college crowd. And all my already-married friends.

Yeah, I'm bemoaning that again. I really do hate being single. It's just that I'm not about to do the bar thing, or the online dating thing, and I have less than no money, so ... *shrug* Maybe I do need to start going to church again, much as I hate the whole church-youth mindset. But as I'm a practicing Republican with mostly Democratic ideals and an overly high IQ, I find it excruciatingly difficult to hold a conversation with the average young Christian man.

Forget young Christian men, I find it difficult to talk with most Christians, period, even though I am one. I tend to respect those with quiet faith, you know, the witness-through-your-actions type, rather than the ones who go around blurting their testimony and beliefs in everyone's faces. (I am glad for them that their belief is so strong, but they alienate more people than they reach). And then there's the tendency to Bible-thump when you talk about hot-button issues. They see things in black and white, with no shades of grey.

Nevertheless, I'm not going to marry, or even date, outside my faith. I've seen what happens in a dual-faith marriage; it's even more difficult than a multi-cultural marriage, which is also hard to hold together. I'm all for members of different backgrounds finding love together, but you have to be aware of the differences in beliefs and the barriers they can create in your life. If the barriers are likely to be insurmountable, why set yourself up for the pain?

But I didn't intend to get into a belief-argument here today. Let's see, what else do I have to update?

I'm going "back to college", I guess you could say. Actually, I'll be taking one telecourse from the local community college, but it's still strangely exciting to have a course schedule with my name on it again. It's a basic course in Cultural Anthropology. I have high hopes for it. If it suits as much as I think it will, I'll be piling up a bunch more classes on my schedule next year, as many as I can afford. I really, really want to get my master's degree, but I don't want to use either of my bachelors' degrees as a foundation (Computer Science and Writing/Lit).

Anthropology strikes me sort of as history on the hoof, and history has always been a favorite. (As has observing people). Plus, the jobs at the end of an anthropology degree are pretty much guaranteed to be more interesting than what I'm doing now. Even if I'm stuck behind a desk at a museum or teaching or being an HR type instead of actively studying people, it's better than being an "administrative assistant". It also promises more flexibility than most of my current career options, which appeals to my AD/HD nature, and is much more in tune with my INFJ personality than what I've done up to this point.

Want some advice? No? I'm giving it anyway: Never, ever, ever allow anyone to nudge you in a career or educational direction that you don't feel is right for you. I'm not a Catholic, and in fact have problems with many of their teachings, but I do believe in their concept of vocation; there's an occupation out there that's right for you, and no other job will ever make you happy. Your perfect occupation may of course change for you over time, but at any given moment it *is* there. The simple fact that "most people hate their jobs" doesn't mean you should listen to people when they tell you to suck it up and be practical!

Sorry, ranting again and getting off course. It's been awhile since I got a chance to vent to anybody likeminded.

The job I'm at finally went permanent, so I'm on course to get benefits again sometime in May or June. Whee. Not that I really care, but if I were to break my arm or something it would become rather important. Oh, and I'm being paid $14.00 an hour now. I think the best I ever made before was $12.00 here as a temp, and before that $10.44 at my prevous admin assistant job, and before that $10.15 as the database manager at university. It's still not very impressive, but theoretically if I were to pay off my credit cards I could now afford an apartment of my own.

Which I want. Very, very much. My brother's great, but living in his presence 24-7 can be an enormous trial, as we have wildly varying tastes in television shows, food, preferred computer games, and volume. Especially volume; my ears are more sensitive than his. For the sake of our future friendship, we need separate living quarters.

Of course, there's a fresh new hurdle in that brighter financial picture; the lower hinge on the driver's side door of my car just gave out. It still opens and shuts, but with difficulty; I can no longer get it to secure from the inside. This leads to me climbing in and out of the passenger side door, over the console, no matter whether I'm wearing skirts or pants, and wishing I had a Dukes of Hazzard style car so I could just use the window instead. Hopefully, Dad can get it fixed sometime in the next week or two, but I'm going to have to pay the costs for parts and whatever else.

What I need is a new car. But a new car would mean no apartment this year, or next, or whenever unless I get a better job or a husband, and neither looks likely in the near future. Alas.

Bored yet? Sorry. Like I said, there's not much going on in my life.

Anyway, I better sign off for now. I'll try to post a little more often again, but I can't promise anything.

Blessings, all.