May 31, 2018
Hi Heather:
Checking in and all seems okay here. I didn't know you were planning to attend Pima. Tell me more when you have time.
Have a good one.
Love, GB
Yeah,
I think I made that decision a couple weeks ago when I decided I didn't
want to spend the next 1/5 of my life struggling to work full time and
go to school for a bachelors degree to teach. All of my "advisors"
(therapists, lawyer, etc) tell me I have a good 30 years left of my
working life. Getting a bachelors degree while working full time will
take AT LEAST 6 years. So, I said, "FUCK IT" and decided to do something
else on my list of possible jobs that were good fits for me. I took 3
tests back in December or so to decide what career would be good for me.
Teaching, medical and graphic design were on the list.
All of the medical degrees were competitive and I could end up on a waiting list and I didn't want the extra stress.
So,
after thinking about it, I made the decision that I was staying in the
school district to work so I can have the same time off as the kids. I'm
worried about the kids being alone during extended school breaks.
Christmas break was when one of Kat's friends killed himself. My kids
are too emotional to be left alone for long periods of time. And
besides, I really like working with the kids.
I need at least 30 hours in Amphi and that gets me medical and dental coverage. And they have a GREAT retirement program.
So,
I can go to school part time and learn how to design web pages,
business cards, etc. I can do that on the side when I feel like it. I
can also incorporate my photography and I want to learn how to fix my
own computer. I'll still be working with Jay as much as I can and the
first thing I'm going to do is fix his stupid web page.
Once
Kat graduates, I can either stay at what I'm doing, increase my hours
at the school or just find a job doing graphic design and I'll already
have experience.
My
other idea was to make some new kid friendly books or videos. Having
been in preschool this year, I've noticed some strange themes in
Children's stories. There is always some old lady eating things she's
not supposed to. You know, "I know an old lady that swallowed a fly. I
don't know why she swallowed the fly. Perhaps she'll die. I know an old
lady that swallowed a spider. She swallowed the spider to catch the
fly...." etc. They're ALWAYS old ladies and there are several stories
and her diet changes depending on the time of year.
There
is also that damn story, "If you give a mouse a cookie". I'm sure you
know that story. Well, that damn mouse has ADHD and can NEVER finish a
damn project. They make short movies based on that story and they drive
me nuts. I just want to scream, "FINISH YOUR DAMN PROJECT BEFORE YOU
MOVE ON TO HELP MR. MOOSE. MR. MOOSE CAN WAIT". And then he never
finishes Mr. Moose because some other idiot comes up and needs help and
so he leaves Mr. Moose and goes to help someone else and it just keeps
going and going until he makes a big ass mess. I can't stand it.
There
is also the story about the kid that wants his grandmother to knit him
some mittens. When she asks what color, he says, "white". Well of course
the grandmother tells him he's going to lose the mittens in the snow
but the little shit insists and she makes him white mittens. Well, guess
what happens? He loses one of those damn mittens just like he was
warned and THEN a bunch of animals find it and start living in it. The
story is completely unrealistic because we have a mouse living in there
with a bunch of other carnivores.
I
say that the story is about the desperation of homelessness but
everyone else always says that it's about working together and living in
harmony. We had to just agree to disagree on that one.
There
is also a few stories where working men fuck everything up and who has
to come to their rescue? Their wives. Their wives are the ones that have
to fix the big messes that their husbands make. I suppose that is one
of the more realistic stories.
There
is also an animated movie that the kids love where the characters are
in a jungle playing with dangerous animals. It's called Animal Boogie
Oogie Woogie or something like that. The characters all have oversized,
very wrinkled clothing and they play with animals like cobras, vultures
(in fact, the one that plays with a giant oversized vulture is a child
in a wheel chair. The way that vulture eyes her is scary because he
knows she can't run away) and some sort of tiger or something. Their
depiction of the tiger is not even real. It looks more like a saber
tooth tiger with it's giant fangs hanging 6 inches out of its mouth.
At
the end of the movie, I always have to say, "Never play with wild
animals" because I'm afraid the kids are going to come across a snake
somewhere and try to ride it like they do in the movie.
So, that's my story. :)
Enjoy your day.
Love,
Thank you for the long letter telling me about all the decisions you've make lately. For what it's worth, I think you've made some good ones and, obviously, thought it all out well. Your photo ability should not go to waste. Working the same hours as the kids are in school makes sense. Just don't wear yourself out. Get lots of sleep!
