Update
Haven't posted anything on here in ages, but figured it was time for an update...
Big news right now is that I've broken down my schedule for school and it's looking like I'll be graduating about this time next year. With that whoooooo! celebration comes more questions, like what'm I gonna do with a bachelor's in psychology, lol? Market research is pretty sure that I'll be doing exactly what I'm doing now: working in food service.
My mom has been in and out of the college system for pretty much as long as I've been alive, from getting her master's in nursing to being a department head at numerous colleges, and she's been telling me some scary statistics. The unemployment rates for white men ages twenty-two to thirty-five are the highest they've been in America's history, including the Great Depression. I'm part of a massive group that's graduating college with no work experience and pretty much just our hopes and dreams to go on.
With that somewhat frightening information, I've been allowing myself to be courted by the United States Armed Services. I allowed them to talk me into going and taking the ASVAB, the military's placement test, recently and out of a maximum score of 99, I got a 96. To be arrogant for a minute, my bad, I missed a couple. :P To quote my recruiter, I am qualified to apply for every entry-level position currently offered by the United States Armed Forces, including Intelligence work.
With that in mind, I've done some shopping around and have found a couple positions in the army that sound pretty cool; currently going back and forth between Human Intelligence Collector (interrogations, briefings, debriefings, translating basically spy conversations) and Psychological Operations Specialist (I google your country, find your values, and then figure out how to warp your set of societal values into I LUUUURVE 'MERICA!). While being a part of PSYOPS sounds cool ('cause, really, psyops? That just sounds badass. "What do you do for a living?" "All I'm allowed to tell you is that I'm part of PSYOPS." :D), Human Intelligence Collector is currently in the lead 'cause I think... Well, it just seems to fit. It's something I've been good at my whole life.
My biggest fear about joining the military is that I'm going to be driven insane being some idiot's bitch. With that fear in mind, and with my bachelor's degree in hand, after twelve months of being in the military, I'll be qualified to apply to OCS -- Officer Candidacy School. Provided I make it through OCS, I'll then be either a Second or First Lieutenant, depending upon performance and a couple of other factors.
There are a bunch of other cool benefits (read: they pay up to $65k of student loans and I can get my Master's FOR FREE while I'm in), but job security is looking pretty sweet right now. Pay's good. My job would mean something. I've scored high enough to apply to a job that I think I would like, which's important to me. If I can make it twenty years in the military, I could retire at the ripe age of 44. The benefits are awesome. I get trained to be a badass.
So... yeah. Plan right now is bust ass getting into shape, graduate college with my lol degree, and go be a spook.
There are some downsides. I could, y'know, die. That's not really as big a one as I guess it should be. I've always been of the opinion that anyone can die at any moment -- car crash, brain aneurysm, mugging gone wrong, OMFGWTFBBQMETEOR, whatevs. It happens.
In a more immediate sense, my recruiter is kind of a hassle, lol. She sent me a text message the other day talking about how I needed to get some paperwork to her soon because "all the good jobs will be gone soon." Come on, now. Don't lie to me. YOU'RE THE MILITARY. We've talked about this: I'll wait as long as it takes to get me the job that I want. I refuse to be the storm-the-beaches guy in the army. I've seen Saving Private Ryan, I'm not gonna be a grunt. Fuck that noise. I've adopted the stance towards my recruiter as that of a celebrity with his agent: Get me what I want or I'll fire you and find someone else who will. With a score of a 96 on your placement test and soon to have my bachelor's degree... The thought process at the time was: "She's trying to fuck me like a slut. I'm not a slut, I'm a pretty, pretty princess. Date me like a pretty, pretty princess, and we'll have a long, happy marriage. Try and fuck me like a slut again and we are done."
So yeah... That's where I'm at right now. :)
Big news right now is that I've broken down my schedule for school and it's looking like I'll be graduating about this time next year. With that whoooooo! celebration comes more questions, like what'm I gonna do with a bachelor's in psychology, lol? Market research is pretty sure that I'll be doing exactly what I'm doing now: working in food service.
My mom has been in and out of the college system for pretty much as long as I've been alive, from getting her master's in nursing to being a department head at numerous colleges, and she's been telling me some scary statistics. The unemployment rates for white men ages twenty-two to thirty-five are the highest they've been in America's history, including the Great Depression. I'm part of a massive group that's graduating college with no work experience and pretty much just our hopes and dreams to go on.
With that somewhat frightening information, I've been allowing myself to be courted by the United States Armed Services. I allowed them to talk me into going and taking the ASVAB, the military's placement test, recently and out of a maximum score of 99, I got a 96. To be arrogant for a minute, my bad, I missed a couple. :P To quote my recruiter, I am qualified to apply for every entry-level position currently offered by the United States Armed Forces, including Intelligence work.
With that in mind, I've done some shopping around and have found a couple positions in the army that sound pretty cool; currently going back and forth between Human Intelligence Collector (interrogations, briefings, debriefings, translating basically spy conversations) and Psychological Operations Specialist (I google your country, find your values, and then figure out how to warp your set of societal values into I LUUUURVE 'MERICA!). While being a part of PSYOPS sounds cool ('cause, really, psyops? That just sounds badass. "What do you do for a living?" "All I'm allowed to tell you is that I'm part of PSYOPS." :D), Human Intelligence Collector is currently in the lead 'cause I think... Well, it just seems to fit. It's something I've been good at my whole life.
My biggest fear about joining the military is that I'm going to be driven insane being some idiot's bitch. With that fear in mind, and with my bachelor's degree in hand, after twelve months of being in the military, I'll be qualified to apply to OCS -- Officer Candidacy School. Provided I make it through OCS, I'll then be either a Second or First Lieutenant, depending upon performance and a couple of other factors.
There are a bunch of other cool benefits (read: they pay up to $65k of student loans and I can get my Master's FOR FREE while I'm in), but job security is looking pretty sweet right now. Pay's good. My job would mean something. I've scored high enough to apply to a job that I think I would like, which's important to me. If I can make it twenty years in the military, I could retire at the ripe age of 44. The benefits are awesome. I get trained to be a badass.
So... yeah. Plan right now is bust ass getting into shape, graduate college with my lol degree, and go be a spook.
There are some downsides. I could, y'know, die. That's not really as big a one as I guess it should be. I've always been of the opinion that anyone can die at any moment -- car crash, brain aneurysm, mugging gone wrong, OMFGWTFBBQMETEOR, whatevs. It happens.
In a more immediate sense, my recruiter is kind of a hassle, lol. She sent me a text message the other day talking about how I needed to get some paperwork to her soon because "all the good jobs will be gone soon." Come on, now. Don't lie to me. YOU'RE THE MILITARY. We've talked about this: I'll wait as long as it takes to get me the job that I want. I refuse to be the storm-the-beaches guy in the army. I've seen Saving Private Ryan, I'm not gonna be a grunt. Fuck that noise. I've adopted the stance towards my recruiter as that of a celebrity with his agent: Get me what I want or I'll fire you and find someone else who will. With a score of a 96 on your placement test and soon to have my bachelor's degree... The thought process at the time was: "She's trying to fuck me like a slut. I'm not a slut, I'm a pretty, pretty princess. Date me like a pretty, pretty princess, and we'll have a long, happy marriage. Try and fuck me like a slut again and we are done."
So yeah... That's where I'm at right now. :)