I'm chasing the dream, SIR!
It has now been two weeks since I joined the ranks of the unemployed. I finished filing my EI claims yesterday, so now, on that score, it's a matter of waiting to see if it's accepted. I understand that I'm supposed to also file regular reports on the job-hunt situation.
To be perfectly honest, I don't really want to go back into full-time, 9-to-5 work. I want to spend a few years following the dream of full-time writing ... and then, if it doesn't pan out, maybe start looking again.
And then on Monday I was suddenly hit with a brainwave: why not join the Army Reserves? The part-time reserves are set up to fit (relatively) unobtrusively around a full-time career, which means that I would still be left with all the time I want to chase the dream. Every little bit of extra cash means that much more time that I can spend chasing the dream before I absolutely have to do something ... and the way I budget, for all I know, the part-time pay might be totally sufficient to keep me chasing the dream for the rest of my life.
I went to the recruiting centre on Tuesday to get more information. The recruiter seemed to get quite interested when I mentioned that I'd been trained as a signaller back in my NS days. It seems that comms personnel are currently in demand. He said that with my university degree, I might consider getting a commission, even. I don't think it would be a good idea, though: in the first place, I don't think I'm officer material; and in the second place, officers need French and, even with the promised French language training that the Army will happily give any officer who needs it, I have zero confidence in my ability to reach any sort of fluency in a second language.
I'd probably have to go through basic training again, though. Could I do that, at my age? Maybe five years ago, I could. Five years ago, I was in even better shape than I was twenty years ago. But now I'm on the cusp of 40, and my right knee feels funny sometimes, and nothing is quite what it used to be. Also, basic training was the single suckiest thing about NS that I can remember.
I spoke to LeGuen about the idea, since he was once a reservist. He came to the conclusion that, at our age, enlisting would be a Bad Idea, though his reasons were all things I think I'd be okay with. (I suspect that there are more than just one or two Terrible Things In Life that I'm actually okay with.)
Right now, I go to bed in the evenings thinking that this is absolutely something I should do; and I should go for a run in the morning to see if I can still make 2.4km in the allotted time. And I wake up in the mornings thinking that I must be crazy to even consider it, and there's no way this could be a good idea, and going for a run would be pointless.
I have yet to make that morning 2.4km run.
To be perfectly honest, I don't really want to go back into full-time, 9-to-5 work. I want to spend a few years following the dream of full-time writing ... and then, if it doesn't pan out, maybe start looking again.
And then on Monday I was suddenly hit with a brainwave: why not join the Army Reserves? The part-time reserves are set up to fit (relatively) unobtrusively around a full-time career, which means that I would still be left with all the time I want to chase the dream. Every little bit of extra cash means that much more time that I can spend chasing the dream before I absolutely have to do something ... and the way I budget, for all I know, the part-time pay might be totally sufficient to keep me chasing the dream for the rest of my life.
I went to the recruiting centre on Tuesday to get more information. The recruiter seemed to get quite interested when I mentioned that I'd been trained as a signaller back in my NS days. It seems that comms personnel are currently in demand. He said that with my university degree, I might consider getting a commission, even. I don't think it would be a good idea, though: in the first place, I don't think I'm officer material; and in the second place, officers need French and, even with the promised French language training that the Army will happily give any officer who needs it, I have zero confidence in my ability to reach any sort of fluency in a second language.
I'd probably have to go through basic training again, though. Could I do that, at my age? Maybe five years ago, I could. Five years ago, I was in even better shape than I was twenty years ago. But now I'm on the cusp of 40, and my right knee feels funny sometimes, and nothing is quite what it used to be. Also, basic training was the single suckiest thing about NS that I can remember.
I spoke to LeGuen about the idea, since he was once a reservist. He came to the conclusion that, at our age, enlisting would be a Bad Idea, though his reasons were all things I think I'd be okay with. (I suspect that there are more than just one or two Terrible Things In Life that I'm actually okay with.)
Right now, I go to bed in the evenings thinking that this is absolutely something I should do; and I should go for a run in the morning to see if I can still make 2.4km in the allotted time. And I wake up in the mornings thinking that I must be crazy to even consider it, and there's no way this could be a good idea, and going for a run would be pointless.
I have yet to make that morning 2.4km run.