My big news is I got my paperwork in the mail today, and I am officially divorced. That whole process was very difficult, so this comes as a huge relief. Of course, I'm a little sad, too, but mostly I'm glad. My legal name is now back to my maiden name, which is so nice. It's funny, how much my name means to me, how having my maiden name back means a new sense of my identity, and how my married name carries with it a sense of everything that went with being married. I'm glad it's behind me.
So today really feels like the first day of the rest of my life.
It helps that we're almost of of this financial wasteland we're been hiking through since May.
Sean's getting on with the next phase of his life, too. This semester he's taking a bunch of music classes at the local community college and writing his thesis. I'm also going to try to finish my thesis this semester... it may take until the end of spring semester, we'll see. Either way by the end of this school year I should finish my MA.
After that, in fall 2007, Sean is going to enroll in a second bachelors in music. He's hoping the cc classes will help get him really well prepared for that so he can shave off some of the beginning classes and get through a little quicker. Many places have it set up so that even though he doesn't have to do any general ed classes he's still stuck doing four or more years, because of their prerequisites and required classes. He plans to get a teaching credential in music. The nice thing is once he has that credential he just has to take a test to add on another, so he will probably add on a math or English credential so he'll be more marketable. He's also interested in doing a PE credential--he's always been into sports and athletics.
Jeff's sister showed me a credentialing program that would allow me to work as a full-time teacher and be paid for that work while I earn it, which is exactly the sort of thing I'm interested in doing. I've resisted getting a credential this long because university credentialing programs in California all require a year of unpaid "student teaching" which I see as the worst kind of racket. You go into debt because you're working full time (unpaid) and you have to live on student loans--it's terrible. I can't think of a quicker way to get burnt out. But this is a legitimate program--basically I'd get a job teaching in a low income neighborhood, take credentialling classes on the weekend, and in two years I'd have an official credential, the same as if I'd done a university program. The downside is that the program only exists in three locations. In one, I'd likely be teaching in a school in Oakland, and in another in Richmond (it's in the northern Bay Area). Both are notorious ghettos with very bad crime and gang violence. The third is in Sacramento, and definitely the most attractive of the three, but this is the least attractive place for Sean's music program options, since Sac State's program is the longest. So we're going to have to consider everything carefully. The program is called Project Pipeline and has information sessions, so I'm going to go to one of those as soon as I can.
In the meantime this year I plan to register as a substitute teacher at the schools here in Shasta. That should be interesting. I'm hoping I'll get some longer term work, if one of their teachers has to take a leave or something, so I don't have to deal with doing one day here and there. I figure all the typical pranking mostly happens to short term subs. But we'll see. I've got a pretty good handle on discipline so it should be okay either way.
As for the tutoring center, I've put the idea on hold. I like the idea but it intimidates me. I'd like to do it perhaps once Sean and I have settled in a place and also perhaps if I can get to know some people who would got into it with me in some capacity. If I do Project Pipeline and get a good career going as a high school teacher in a place like Sacramento, maybe a few years down the line I'll know enough about the area and all to be able to seriously consider the tutoring center.
I've put in my two weeks notice at the gift shop where I've been working. I originally wanted to work there for the entire time we'd be here. Unfortunately, some of the people I work with, notably the owner and her daughter, have created some unpleasantness which is a real disappointment. I wish people could just be mature and profession in work environments but I guess that's just not possible for some, unfortunately. Why the owner thinks it's a good idea for her 19-yr-old daughter to be a supervisor is beyond me, as well as one of the florists who is a total flake, but apparently she likes to put people in charge who she has a personal relationship with, rather than people who actually know what they are doing. With the school years starting and my financial aid check getting here, I've decided I'd rather rely on that and the subbing jobs than a $7/hr job where I'm ordered off one job to do another constantly and blamed for problems created by other people. It's a pity because it started out as such a fun place to work.
Sean will continue to work at the gym where he's been for most of the summer. He likes it there most of the time and he's happy that he gets a free membership out of it. I will also get a discount once I sign up (when the financial aid gets here) and so I'm looking forward to taking some yoga classes and going in to work out with him.
And I'll probably also sign up for a class or two at the cc. I'm hoping I'll be able to get into a creative writing class, and then there's a choral class I may take with Sean. And maybe Tai Chi, maybe yoga, depending on what I'll do at the gym, etc.
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