| THIS IS A READ-ONLY ARCHIVE FROM THE SORABJI.COM MESSAGE BOARDS (1995-2016). |
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1. I have an AB (bachelor's) degree in Psychology from Bryn Mawr College 2. I have 3 years' experience working in sales/customer service of a company in the library science and information field 3. I have 1 year's paid experience working in the acquisitions dept. of a college library, and volunteer experience in the A/V dept. of a public library 4. I (believe it or not) write very well in the formal style A. I'm introverted and would rather not work with the public or with lots of new people every day. (I can deal with a couple of new people.) B. I hate telephones. I do not want to do any work that involves a telephone. C. I'd like a job that calls on me to be creative and inventive, and provides a mental challenge or at least keeps me stimulated. I. I'd like to live in the Northwest or Northeast part of the country. II. I've lived in medium-sized towns (~25,000 people) and on the outskirts of big cities, and this is where I'm most comfortable. I could live in a tiny community if it was within driving distance of a larger city. III. I'd like to live in an area with a decent cost of living. Let's say, right now, average price of gas should be less than $1.47/gallon and average rent for a one-bedroom apt. should be less than $650. So. What should I do with my life? |
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. Based on my own extremely limited and flawed research, Arizona has the best cost-of-living. Find a job there in acquisitions for a Library. . Move to the outskirts of Las Vegas and get a random city job. Cost of living is low and city/state jobs pay well. Mucho gambling taxes. . Work for Bill of Gates and use your position to destroy Microsoft from the inside. Sabotage is very creatively stimulating. . Work at home stuffing envelopes and make millions! |
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perhaps you could get work copy editing. perhaps writing for a small town paper. starting small and working your way up. writing for a living would satisfy everything on your list I believe. |
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Las Vegas is out. Much of my family lives there, I spent most of the summers of my childhood there...I know for a fact that I don't want to live there. Though it would be nice to be around my family... Though I would really miss fall, winter, and spring... ARGH. I have to remind myself to take comfort in the fact that it's better to have too many options than not enough, as a coworker told me. This coworker also suggested trying the American Library Association's website for library positions, but when I do, I see only want-ads for real librarians, not for assistants. I don't think I want an MLS -- I don't want to make a career out of the library until I've worked in one full-time for at least a couple of years to make sure that it's an environment I could see myself in for a long time. Besides, my current company would pay up to 75% of my tuition if I went for my MLS, and I don't want to stay here long enough to get the degree. And I would hate to get the degree after turning down the financial assistance. If anything, I'll get a degree in history or theology. More reflection is required. |
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Las Vegas poisons my love for mankind. Seriously, every time I go there, I feel compelled to mention to *somebody* that Stephen King put Hell in Las Vegas in "The Stand." |
. Not that I'd want to live there. . Ever been to Cour de Elaine, ID? Pretty town. |
And, thats all I know about it. Oh, That and the fact that certain schools there mark the ends of class periods not with a bell but the music "The Stripper". I got a real kick hereing about that one. |
There really is no culture to speak of. If you want to do anything remotely mentally/spiritually enriching (or hell, fun, even, if you're not into gambling), you have to leave the city. Red Rock Canyon is right outside of town and a nice area to hike around. Valley of Fire isn't too far. There are some ghost towns close by you can visit. Cedar City, UT has a very nice theatre festival every summer, and it's only 3 hours away. |
For me anything farther than an hour and a half is almost to far. But, then I have more than one reason for that sentiment. |
On Saturday the 23rd go Donwy Ocean. We might bump into each other. It's time for my annual mad dash for sanity. My wife is under orders not to fall down or anything else on that day. |
I need to take a road trip from Seattle to Missoula, and then down into Colorado. |
3 hours sounds like a lot to somebody from the East Coast, but Las Vegas really is in the middle of nowhere, so you just get used to having to drive when you're out there. It's straight high-way driving, too -- no traffic. Bring sandwiches, CDs, and your favorite cousins, and you've got a nice roadtrip. |
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Donwy Ocean means Ocean City. I wish MPT would bring back CRABS, you could do with a refresher on Balt-e-morion. |
I'm not really a beach person...I'm more of a mountain person. Beaches are nice when they're empty, but the Beach Scene of Ocean City isn't my bag. |
Check out these http://beehivehon.home.att.net/bawlmer_vocablary.htm http://www.c4vct.com/kym/humor/baltese.htm http://www.baltimorehon.com Of course you could always rent any or all John Waters movies. |
Here's a neat article on the Philly accent. I'm lucky in that I have a light one. It's funny -- I think the Philly accent is one of the ugliest in the country, but it fascinates me. I'd say it's third ugliest -- Chicago, then Baltimore, then Philadelphia. |
I don't consider any ugly. Just different. By the way, Bawlmorese is only really heavily spoken in the hard core blue collar areas of Baltimore city. Neighborhoods of Hamptden (I don't think I spelled that right) and Pig Town come to mind. Here is a goody for you. How do you pronounce Towson? Do you say To son as in tow? Or do you say tou son as in cow? The correct pronunciation per us natives is tou son. It's an old family name. I just love it when the local TV stations get a new reporter from some mid-west state and they mispronounce that one. They all do it for at least a week. |
I can say with pride "I survived the Schuylkill Expressway". I think that is almost the worst highway on the east coast. I haven't driven on any others like it. But, I'll give the rest of the East Coast the benefit of the doubt. I'm sure somebody could have designed a worse one somewhere. |
I read somewhere that the Truckers Association of America rated the roads around Philadelphia as the worst in the country. The Northeast Extension north of Philly is a nightmare, because the road is bordered by walls, and there are no merging lanes from the on-ramps. You just have to pray that no one is next to you when you merge, I guess. The Schuylkill Expressway is another nightmare, also because of the walls and no shoulders. Maybe ten years ago, a truck overturned and blocked all lanes going out of the city...people were stuck on the road for hours waiting for helicopters to come and lift the truck back onto its wheels. This was in the summer, too. Horrible! |
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Now, he and his brother are from Reading, but they went to school at Pitt. So it was a homecomings of sorts. he's been in CA for nearly 20 years though. Now, he's a production manager for Elimidate. Maybe you've seen it. Anyway, they film on location, bars, pubs, restaurants etc. Now if there ever was a drinking town, so im told, its Pittsburgh. A bar every 10 feet. Everyone is drunk. All the time. Every day. He tells me about the bar specials, buckets of those mini beers, beer blasts etc etc. Sam said this one bar...i forget the name, had a dwarf on the payroll. He was dressed as sponge bob. everytime someone spent $10 or something like that on a drink order, a bell rang and the dwarf came out ontop of the bar, in his sponge bob get up and served shots of "midget juice". how fucking bizarre is that? anyway...during filming, he was completely overwhelmed with the fact that every camero, cutlas or dodge that drove buy had to yell out at his crew, which was in town for 15 days (so they became a regular scene), "Wahooooooooo" "fuck youuuuuuuuuuuuuu" and on and on and on. He said, granted, when i was 20, that would have been me sticking my ass out the window, but still....i forgot so much and of course our sound guy was having a nightmare of a time. he made use of the term yinsers. "thats a yinser bar". ive never been, and from all the wacky stories these two tell me, PA has turned into some what of a myth to me. |
I've never had a problem with them. But, they are about half as long as the ones in Maryland. Spider, since you live in the DC area, who do you think are the absolute worst drivers? I think the drivers from New York are the worst. But, Virginia drivers come in a very close second. |
VA drivers, in general, are more aggressive and drive faster. DC drivers...couldn't tell ya. Diplomat plates...just get as far away from them as you can. NJ drivers suck, plain and simple. |
And, the state troopers pass you like you were standing still. And they aren't even answering a call - no lights and no siren. Of course thats normal days. When the state needs money or they haven't made their quota they ticket everybody. |
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or was that-wanted? anyway. i always thought that you were born to profess in a really small and intimate program at a prestigious school. where it rains a lot. so a little more school- then that. |
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i like heather's suggestion the best. |
BTW, check out what one of our sales reps wrote to me when he found out I was thinking of moving out West: **** We lived in Laramie - SE corner....We made up to Yellowstone a few times and through central Wyoming, but we never made it to Devil's Tower. Wish we had. We loved the West. If the opportunity ever came up where we could move back -- we would in an instant. We found the people to be very friendly. We love outdoor activities and there sure is a lot of outdoors to see! **** I like that "we would in an instant." Half of me is terrified to leave the security of my job, and the other half tells the first half, "You HAVE to leave! You will die here!" I'm very afraid of the possibility of not finding a good (rewarding, challenging, fun) job. I see myself moving blind and ending up bagging groceries. Please, God, help me. |
. Have the regional Sorabji ambassador scope jobs for you. |
If anyone has any job suggestions, lob them my way. I know searching for a job sucks, and searching for a job for someone else must suck, uh, harder. (Hehe...when my mom moved to Boston, she met a woman who helped her search for an apartment...this lady *likes* searching for apartments for other people. Crazy! I need to find me one of those...) |
check this out http://www.bcplonline.org/jobads/ |
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Agatha, did you ever say what you are studying exactly? I may have missed that. |
I should be shot in the head for that. Oh and despite my funding, I still have to take out loans for living expenses. I didn't in Ohio because it was so much cheaper to live there. |
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housing is rather high priced ($650 is somewhere about average for a one-bedroom) but if you go further up in st john's (beautiful hidden corner of the city that feels like a small non-touristy river town) or out in deep southeast it should be lower but deep southeast is scary(er than the rest of portland.... i don't go there so i can't tell you how bad it actually is). or go live in missoula and give me more of an excuse to go visit. |
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I love Portland. I can see Spider living there, when I envision her in that way that I do. |
Baaaaaaaa! |
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The two-bedroom I'm moving out of is $565. And it was freshly remodeled when we moved in. |
. Moonit's got me beat. The three-bedroom I was in a couple years ago was $700. |
I've already doing post-master's work...sort of. That is, I am in a PhD program, but the "work" I am doing is not any different from what I was doing for my MA because none of my MA credits count and I have to do all the coursework requirements for this program too. I am going to be in school for a LONG time--at least four more years. Add on to that the fact that I've never done archival work before...this year I am starting to learn. My one-bedroom is $625. |
The whole Northwest is open to exploration. |
*Based on a non-scientific "study" of aquaintances Really, the cheap way to live here is to rent a house and get roommates (granted, you do want them to be cool people and that's always a gamble). I have a bedroom and share other living space, but it's only $175. Which is almost absurdly low, one of my roommates has a mortgage on this place so he pays most of it. A friend of mine lives in a one bedroom house for only $450. |