New Job

No, for the record, I don't have one yet!

I'm going to admit here and now that I've actually kind of...enjoyed...having a year off of teaching. I mean, I miss having a larger income with health benefits, and I certainly do not love telling people, "Yeah, I'm unemployed," but having a year to reevaluate and do some hard thinking has only strengthened my resolve to stay in education. Let's face it: education in this country stinks right now, and big changes need to be made to the system. I can either run screaming from the low pay, and the difficult working conditions (crowded classrooms; classrooms with no A/C on 100-degree California days; lack of support for special needs children--and every child is special needs in some way, whether they're gifted and talented, abused at home, spoiled rotten, low-scoring, black, white, brown, yellow, purple...you get it--every child; lack of supplies; the list goes on and on and...) or I can be a catalyst for change. I want to help fight for education, and to do that, I need to be on the front lines. Plus, I like kids. I like getting paid to teach music. I like summer vacations and two weeks at Christmas and not sitting at a desk all day. I like literally singing for my supper and watching the light bulb come on over a child's head.

So good. I know what I want to do, and I even know how to go about getting back into a classroom for the 2011-2012 school year. I just...haven't been doing it.

It's easy to make excuses. Right now we are in the lead-up to March 15, which is the date that districts must inform teachers if they are in danger of losing their job. Pink Slip Season is upon us, and I can tell you, both from past experience and from checking Ed-join regularly, there are very few teaching jobs being posted right now. After March, they'll start to trickle in, and I'll be there, with my new resume (finally upgraded to a snazzier version) and my current Letter of Interest, and even, possibly some letters of reference from people who have seen me in all of my volunteer glory this year.

Anyway, since New Year's, I've been lazy. Procrastinating. I did my resume, sure, but I haven't really done the other things I wanted to do: applying for teaching jobs with the Department of Defense, asking for those references and letters, etc. I've also been seriously lax about listing things in my Etsy shop (I've made a gazillion cards, now I need to sell them!) and doing some other business that needs to be attended to.

I've fallen into some terrible habits--staying up late playing on the computer and then reading, waking up at 8:00, having a long, lazy breakfast session while sitting at the computer reading Facebook, Twitter, my blog reader, Tumblr, and every other fun social networking thing I can find on the World Wide Weird, eventually dragging myself off for a half-assed workout and then spending a few hours every afternoon on the couch eating a lunch/dinner hybrid meal (I'm proud to say I've maintained--mostly--my healthy eating habits) and watching a movie. This model ensures my productivity hovers around 10%, and honestly, I should be fired for this.

So I am adopting a new mindset: I have a job. My job is to get a job. Even with unemployment extensions, I do not want another school year of uncertainty and living in what I wryly refer to as "genteel poverty" (stolen shamelessly from Jane Austen, that). I'd like to move out of this apartment before my neighbors send me into a nervous breakdown. So I have a job. And because of this, I have to get up every weekday morning at 6:00. I can have a nice leisurely breakfast, and I can work out in the mornings, but by 10:30, I need to be working.

I also have a dress code. I have a closet full of clothes and what have I been wearing the last few months? Pajamas. Work out gear. From now on, I get dressed every day. At any given moment, if I need to go to the post office, all I have to do is put on shoes. So today, I blog from my home computer, NOT wearing pajamas or sweaty workout gear, but jeans and a cotton top. I wouldn't wear this outfit to go teach, but it's acceptable for my job as job-seeker, Etsy seller, eBay Goddess, and non-procrastinator. Wearing jeans does not encourage a long, lazy afternoon on the couch.

So there you have it. From now on, I have a job. That job is job-seeking, card-selling, junk-shipping. I can use the bathroom when needed and I can have all the tea and baby carrots (snack du jour) I want on hand. I can even keep Facebook open, or stop to write a quick blog post now and again while I work. But I must work, and I must accomplish.

My new routine is starting off very well. Even though today is a holiday, I woke up at 6:00, thanks to placing my cell phone (which doubles as an alarm clock) across the bedroom so that I'd have to get out of bed to turn it off, and one text from Maayan (she's three hours ahead, so texting me at 9:00 her time is not a problem). I had my nice, leisurely breakfast and morning social networking session. At 8:00, I was off to the gym. I was home by 9:30. Since then, I've showered and dressed, listed a ton of items on Etsy, readied an eBay item for shipping, and done a few necessary things around my "office," which is, really, whole apartment.

Already, I'm feeling more organized, more productive, more purposeful.