Money Times

Money has been on my mind a lot lately. I've decided that I love it AND I hate it. I love that it has the potential to buy services I need, such as my car, the gas required to operate my car, and my tuition. On the other hand, I hate just how many cash monies these objects require! I've been spending a lot of mental energies on this problem lately and have come to a few different conclusions.

1. I could lead a much more fulfilling life I think if I didn't have to worry about money.

2. I need to find activities to engage in that are more filling to my life's energy.

3. If only I could find an occupation that would not only restore my will to live, but also fill my bank account I could kill two birds with one stone.

I'm happy with my career choice to be a high school teacher. I think it covers all these bases (for the most part...) It obviously isn't going to bring home vast amounts of monetary rewards, but where it lacks in dollar signs it makes up with satisfaction points.

I spent a year as a teaching assistant in the Special Education department at Hillcrest the year after I graduated. Working with the kids was without question the best "feel good" job I've ever had, but at the same time, one of the most emotionally draining. I would go home exhausted every single day.

The immediate obstacle I have to overcome is finishing college. This week I worked up a calendar with every class up until graduation. I compiled the calendar twice; the first one under the assumption that I'd only be able to take 9 credit hours a semester and the second taking 15 credit hours a semester. On the first calendar I'm set to graduate Fall of 2014, on the second I'm done Spring of 2011. 3.5 years of being in my career instead of working simply for a pay check... That would be the sweetness. Unfortunately funding my other expenses as listed above don't allow me the luxury of going to school full time. Scott Barnes would tell me (as he often does) that the answer is to take out student loans and focus solely on school. Although wonderful in theory, how in the world do you pay of tens of thousands of dollars of student loan debt on a high school teacher’s salary?

I'm open to suggestions...

P.S. Rich Patterson often leaves a song he's digging at the end of each of his blogs. I love this practice and am going to adopt it. I know I'm not being original, but I'm not so prideful that I'll turn my back on a good idea. (Okay, I am that prideful most of the time! That just shows you how much I really really really like the idea, right?)

These are the guys that opened for Bishop Allen and unfortunately for Bishop Allen, I fear this band played the better set:

Miniature Tigers - Dino Damage