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.

The opportunities of new paths only revealed by the quiet moments of boredom

I have two job interviews this week.  One was yesterday, it is for a small part time position but gives me the chance to make the money I need and provides numerous opportunities to grow with the company if fate keeps me at this job longer than I am planning to be at it.  I have another interview later this week, this one is for a job I am no longer really interested in but I will still give it all I have in case this is the position I was meant to have. 

In the meantime I have found myself with much more time than I am used to.  I went straight from high school to my undergrad, after graduating I usually had at least two jobs at all times till the time I started grad school, I was also in a serious relationship through most of this time going into my first year of grad school, while in grad school I took summer classes and also worked through most of it.  This past semester has by far been the most open due to the lack of work in the lab but with school I always had something to do.  The past two weeks though I have worked in the lab but thats about it.  
I apply to at least 7 jobs a day usually with more a few days a week (I found that Tuesdays and Thursdays are usually the busiest for companies to post job openings so those days I usually find more jobs to apply to) but overall I have little to do.  Its actually been really tough to wake up and have nothing planned.  I have never experienced this before.  

While I do portray an ambiance of relaxation and a party like lifestyle those closest to me know that I actually keep busy with a simple rule of doing at least one thing a day, every day no matter where I am or what I'm doing.  I also try to find a balance between work, self-improvement, and community involvement.  The main community involvement I have found lately is taking the summer off and I just finished talking about my career search.  That leaves self-improvement.  I do have at least half a bookshelf of books that I have been collecting over the past few years to read once I had the time, well now is the time.  I just began a book about ideas that help shape the future and how people have convinced the masses in the past to accept new ideas.   I strongly believe that I need to keep up on the level of information I have received while in college, the only difference being now I can do it on my own following whatever rabbit trail of interests I may find. 

This free time has helped me keep grounded some of the post-graduation dreams I did have.  I originally wanted to graduate, get the perfect career, the huge rental home that would quickly become my first home to buy, find a good dog, and start my life.  While each of these things is still important I am now seeing a more financially sound plan in place that allows each of these things, in time, but also allows them in a much more secure way.  I now plan to stay at my current apartment which in all truthfulness is one of Central Florida's best neighborhoods, work two part time jobs till I find my career, even then attempting to keep at least one of these part time jobs, pay off some bills, put a little money away in savings.  And then in a few years I will have the chance to go directly into buying a house instead of a endless plan of rentals. 

There are no reasons to bring about an expensive life right now, for the past two years I have learned how to live cheaply cutting back dramatically on every bill in my life.  I cut my cell phone bill in almost half (thank you T-Mobile!), my rent is now the cheapest I've ever had, my food budget is a quarter of what it used to be.  This mixed with the opportunities my parents have helped me achieve a life that many 26 year olds only dream of.  I have no credit card debit, no car payments, none of the debt that many of my friends are now facing.  I do have school loans and the bills that you can't just easily pay off such as car insurance (which is actually very cheap now that I have no points on my license, live in a very very safe neighborhood, and turned 26). 


The opportunities to stop and evaluate life that have been given to me with this free time has helped me see new paths that provide more of the financial security that I have been given in the past.  I now must keep to this path, keep grounded, keep on the hunt, and in the end I will go further than I even imagined just a few weeks ago.  I cant wait to see where this takes me! 

Seen in the bathroom at Banana's Diner on Mills Ave (and no I didn't write that!)