Yesterday I go downstairs an hour and a half before I have to go to work and I discover that the laundry/storage room is flooded nearly ankle deep, and see that the water heater is spitting out water like crazy, so I call up the plumber and he comes over in an astonishing ten minutes and tells me that the water heater is rusted out on the bottom and he's never seen a bigger hole/deluge. The people who were supposed to deliver the new water heater this morning never showed up, even though the plumber was told that they had come. So now I take cold showers. The remarkable thing about this experience is that it doesn't bother me in the least. I mean, even when I was spending the full hour before I had to go to work sweeping water out the door, sweeping to the very last minute, I couldn't help but not give one shit. When the garage door got smashed (the day snow retaliated), it was stressful because, while the elements were partly to blame, my stupidity had to be figured in there somewhere, too. But time and rust were the culprits here, it had nothing to do with me, so I could just sit back and just appreciate the wackiness of it all.
Something a little more stressful is the fact that I'm reconsidering graduate school and a life thereafter as a teacher. I'm starting to think that maybe I don't really want to be a teacher. I'm considering it strongly. When I get back to SF, I'm thinking of just gettting a job and continuing what I've been doing, since it was a pretty good life that left me time to pursue other things (you know, like my hobbies and such). The more I hear from teachers and the more I read about a teacher's day to day life and the more I deal with the fucking kids that teachers have to deal with twice as long as I do (and then grade papers for several more hours), the more I realize it's not for me. I think I saw graduate school as an escape from reality (back to the good old days) but I think now that's an illusion, and while I'm saddened by the knowledge that i won't be going back to learning more supercool things about literature, I think it would be little more than a luxury for me at this point.
Erica and Nuala, teach on! I didn't mean to piss on teaching. I know Erica's an amazing teacher and I'm sure Nuala is too, I just don't think I would be.
Posted by jason at March 25, 2003 08:51 PMi always figured you would be a writer and teach on the side until your novels started making enough money to support me.
Posted by: didofoot at March 26, 2003 08:12 AMSupport you! I can hardly lift you!
See, I'd be wasted in the classroom.
Posted by: jason at March 26, 2003 08:50 AMare you calling me fat, because i take umbrage at that. i take ALL the umbrage. and i eat it. because i am monolithic and my appetite is the appetite of kings.
Posted by: didofoot at March 26, 2003 09:40 AMno offense taken. it takes a special kind of crazy to enjoy spending your days with midgets, and spending your nights analyzing them. and i, my friend, am that special kind of crazy. as for you, do you mean you want to keep doing aide positions and such, or diverge from the kid stuff all together?
Posted by: erica at March 26, 2003 10:10 AMI know we just talked about this at length, but I want to reitterate that you should follow your instincts. If your gut is telling you that teaching ain't the life for you, than it's good to listen to it now, before your trapped in a life you don't want. And if your gut tells you to gobble up umbrage, like Kristen's, well... I guess it's meant to between the two of you. =P
Posted by: Jolie at March 26, 2003 10:15 AMwoah, apparently Erica and I are posting simultaneoiusly.
Posted by: Jolie at March 26, 2003 10:16 AMI think I would still enjoy educating little ones, I just don't want to have to take the job home. When I get back I'm planning on looking at tutoring or something, try the Sylvan Learning Center again. But I'll try other lines of work, too--it's just that education is easier to get a job in, seems to me.
I'm actually not opposed to working 6o hours per week, it just has to be the right thing. (Don't ask me what that is).
Posted by: jason at March 26, 2003 10:19 AM