Command Dilemma

Aboard the Battlestar Steven Francis Murphy BSG-71
Location: Russell Anchorage, Maternal Support Command
Mission: Trying to Plot the Future

This morning in my e-mail account I found a job posting from my part time employer of last summer. The security company I worked for was a good one and I was assigned to a great account but at the end of the day working third shift on Friday and Saturday was just too damned depressing. It was taking energy away from my teaching efforts and it seriously hampered my efforts to get anything done.

I left.

And this morning I see the posting for an Account Manager position. It pays $32K to $33K a year, full time with benefits. Chances are that a combination of my experience, teaching and military service would probably give me a solid crack at the job. I could probably secure my interim future with this position, begin to pay off the student debt, restore some level of freedom to my life which I presently do not have, have not had since I left the Army National Guard in 1995.

The fiscally responsible thing to do, of course, is apply for the job. That would be the fiscally responsible thing to do. Never mind what I actually WANT to do for the rest of my life. Never mind what I would HATE spending the rest of my life doing. It is all about the Benjamins, right?

I’m sure some will rationalize, “Well, you can still teach in the evenings, Steven. Account Managers work Monday to Friday for the most part. That is more money in the bank and that is what you want, right?”

This assumes I can lock down a night class per semester, no guarantee there. Part of why I have been able to gain all of this teaching experience in the last two years is because I have been available for whatever my boss gives me. This includes opportunities to substitute teach, cover eight week classes, and the like. I am building a teaching portfolio that I can use later on to apply for a full time position. If not as a college instructor then perhaps in some other related field such as with the National Parks Service.

I am loathe to shut off the spigot after waiting six fucking years to get the degree I earned to produce something. My pay isn’t great but it is better than what it was prior to teaching. Job security is a bit dicey but then it is dicey for everyone.

Needless to say, I’ve not even mentioned what this might do to the writing endeavor. Probably destroy it is my guess.

So, for the most part my course is already set. But my father doesn’t agree with the decision in the least. He keeps saying I should go work for the Veteran’s Administration (I don’t even like the fucking VA, why would I work for them?).

The nature of my existence. Sigh.

Research Project Number – 04

I’m looking over photographs and satellite maps.

Later kids.

Respects,
Steven Francis Murphy
Author of The Limb Knitter and Tearing Down Tuesday