Confession of love...for a city.

So work has been going well.  I had some car problems last week but now everything is good and the car is driving better than ever.

With October already here I've been looking to the future a lot lately.  Right now I am at my dream job.  Every day I realize that almost everything I have ever wanted I have. While that feeling is one of amazement and pure joy there is also a nagging 'now what' that keeps tugging at my thoughts. My teaching contract expires in December and as of right now I have absolutely no idea where the future is taking me.

I've been toying around with the idea of going back to school. I am placing my hope that the economy rebounds sooner than later, but I did that same move in 2008 and ended up in a dead end job at a bankrupt company.  That move is what caused me to realize it was time to get my M.A.  So the same move again has me worried.

All in all though I am much more optimistic about the local economy than many other people seem to be.  Orlando is building itself up to be able to weather these economic storms much stronger than it did before and the next year will be one of massive job creation in the region.  With the Lake Nona Medical City finally coming online and the pre-recession hotel occupancy already back I am sure that 2012 will be a year of steady growth for the City Beautiful.

My concern though stems from finding where I fit into all this. I love Orlando.  I use love only because there isn't a stronger word than that to describe my infatuation with this region. Some people find it odd that I am actually a fanboy of a city.  But why not?  There are plenty of trekkies, star wars has the 501st Legion, and this weeks Apple news only shows the obsession that many people have with this company.  So if people can be fanboys of corporations and movies why not of cities?

Of course this lends itself to some difficulties in life. When one is obsessed with a city how does one look for career opportunities that are not within that region? As of right now the city I love seems to be giving not as much love back and that means even though I love it I may have to leave it.

Now one thing about obsessions though is that when someone has one they quickly become an expert on that topic.  Just as a trekkie could be able to tell you all the planets visited in the original series I too am able to quickly reference numerous projects around the Central Florida region. This knowledge lends itself to a certain depth of understanding that I struggle to find in many others.  And those that I do find it in seem to be as optimistic about Orlando as I am.  Now this may be all of us denying the realities of the economy or may be that we truly see something deeper, something more powerful than what shows up on the radar of economist and politicians.

I don't know what the future holds but I am hopeful that in the end my optimistic, albeit possibly childish, beliefs in Orlando economic rebound beyond that of what any economist would openly discuss lends itself to allowing me to fall more deeply in love with this beautiful city, the City Beautiful.