Hey people,
So I am nineteen now. Yeah, my birthday was fucking horrible, but I did manage to get a CD player and speakers for my car, so at least I can enjoy the days after the fact.
But I need to figure out what's going on next year, so I know which path to take for the next part of my life. But at the moment I feel like I have so many options, I don't know where to go. So maybe some of y'all can help me out here so that I make the right choice. So this is what's going on...
I have created a poll with the choices that I will go further in-depth with, both their positives and negative sides, and from there give your most educated decision of where I should go on from here.
Go Back to the University of Montana and Major in Journalism:
Positives: Well this is where I wanted to go to school, got into the school, loved the people who went to the school and lived in the surrounding area, is the second best journalism school in the United States... Hell it sounds pretty damn good, not to mention the outdoor options there are incredible. It's so gorgeous... So, I'll be making quite a bit more money anywhere I work, simply because of the fact I'd have a college diploma, and it would make it much easier to get into any area of writing with the help of that certificate. The classes that I failed really were not that hard. If I had have done every assignment and test, I should have passed every class. Not to mention, attended every class. I'd have pretty lax hours for work in college as well as out of it. Oh, did I mention I'd be in college, home of parties every other night, horny single girls, and everyone my own age.
Negatives: $96,000. That is so fucking much money. It'll take me forever to pay that shit back. So whatever money I'll be making, a good-sized portion will go right back to that for who knows how long. It'll be like paying back a mortgage, which usually takes fifteen to twenty years for most people. So whatever other debts I have come into during that period will be added to the student loan payments, and thus I may never get out of debt until I retire. And I was put on academic probation after the first semester, and financial aid cut me off after I failed to reach my agreed GPA average. I'm really lazy and have poor self-discipline with aspects of my life that I don't have an immediate care about. Three more years (plus whatever summmer school I have to do to make up where I should be), is a long time. I didn't have the discipline then, and I don't know if I have it now. I'd probably be stoked to be there for the first month, and then my study habits would go to the shitter. The work I'd do as a journalist would involve many hours of sitting and writing arduous crap that I have no interest in until I can actually gain the liberty of writing what I'd like to. The parties were much harder to find than you'd think, and Missoula is known for it's partying in the Northwest. The only horny girls or girls I found period were never single. The people my own age pretty much lost interest in me and I in them.
USPTA Certificate:
Positives: The amusing thing is that half of the people who know me, don't even know that I played tennis competetively since the age of ten, and have been playing tennis since the age of three. The other half do know that I have been playing competetively for a long time and think I am quite a bit better than I truly am in reality. Well here's the gig: I'm a really good player compared to the average person, but I am not in any high echelon of players by any means. That being said, I could easily become USPTA (United States Professional Tennis Association) certified, with a lot of practice and playing to bring any tennis skills back to where they need to be. I have beaten several tennis professionals, my mother is even a highly trained professional. So competetive wise, you don't have to be that great of a tennis player so much as you really need to know the game well, be able to play at the ability of several different player's ratings, feed the ball easily and routinely, and be a good teacher. I've been around the game all of my life, from a student's perspective, a parent's perspective, a country club's perspective, a town operated perspective, a school team perspective, a competetive traveling team perspective, a college perspective, a tournament prospective (local to international), Arizona to Florida to Maine to Montana and plenty of places in-between. Experience and knowledge is not a problem. I tend to play down at people's levels on a competetive level in the first place, and manage to hit on par with other's who I have no business even coming close to beating. People have told me time and time again that I would make a great teacher, in tennis or otherwise. It would be outdoors, and if I worked at a country club, I would have the entire winter, late fall/early spring off. And at a country club, the money paid for a salary usually is very considerable. Working on your own, you get anywhere from $40-80 an hour for instruction. It's physical so I'd be tired at the end of the day, and keep in shape. Very liberal hours for work.
Negatives:
Teaching isn't exactly my forte. In fact I don't like teaching much. I don't like kids much. I don't like rich people much. I haven't played tennis since the spring, and I haven't played with anyone remotely near my level for a year and a half. I don't live in an area which is conducive to a good use of being certified by the USPTA, although I could easily move, provided with enough funds. I would definitely need to go to some sort of camp to brush up once again, which would cost an obscene amount of money. My backhand is a piece of shit, and needs to be totally reworked which could take forever to fix. I'll need to buy a stringer and learn how to use it, because I break far too many strings on a regular basis, which will add to the rising list of costs. It's a pain in the ass to find people who are willing to pay a good sum of money to work with you, over other more highly respected professionals who have been in the business for decades, who also have more accolades and credentials.
Manual Labor Jobs:
Positives: You've got to love manual labor jobs, or at least I do. Almost constantly outdoors, great wages, and physical all day long. Making me pass out at the end of the day from exhaustion (this truly is a good thing people). There is a certain comraderie that comes with working with a group of people to construct and create whatever has been assigned of you to create. Once you have completed a long project, it will be there for years to come, and you can have the satisfaction of contributing it to society. You'll be able to see what you have done is actually of use, instead of at some menial desk job where you file many papers and sort random data on your computer with little to know idea where the facts or hours of work go. You can wear basically anything you want, so you'll always be comfortable. The work goes by much faster than you expect almost always. The career ladder offers very large wages.
Negatives:
A lot of people who work at these jobs aren't the sharpest tools in the shed, nor are they the friendliest critters. They are generally disgruntled about something about the job and have some sort of ache or pain that is giving them enough grief to make them spread the grief to others. Perhaps it's a part of commiseration, or merely a way of complaining and getting out of certain jobs, making others who aren't complaining have to do those jobs. The machinery you use, generally you'll need much experience with it, otherwise you should expect to destroy/ruin several projects along the way which isn't the best of things for relationships between you and your employer or fellow workers. Not exactly intellectually stimulating either. Having this as your career path will make you prone to several injuries and not much variation. The real money comes when you start becoming a contractor and doing the behind the scenes work, that involves little if any labor. Which is what I would be trying to stray from by getting into the labor industry in the first place.
Southern Maine Community College and get Associate's in Masonry
Postives:
This is a step up from having to work your way up through manual labor occupations. With an associate's and an apprenticeship, I'll be paying off whatever I have to pay for my tuition (about $2,400 a year), which is a tenth of what it would cost to go to the University of Montana per year. This would be a skilled labor, which would mean I'd have a job in any state of the country if someone was hiring for a stone mason, or any country for that matter, provided I had enough experience. I'd get hired by corporations to go to other countries to work and construct hospitals and homes for other people all across the world. Good experience, broaden my horizons, and get to travel the world like I've always wanted to do. The best part of this job, is that I can live wherever I want and always be guaranteed to have a job. I am a restless individual so this constant changing up of locations and projects would be excellent for me. The projected amount of masons needed in the economy in five years is steadily going up.
Negatives:
Okay... Masonry... What the fuck? Where in the hell did I get the idea of being a mason? I am not artistic at all, and a lot of masonry involves articulate and precise carvings. A lot of math is involved too, although it is considerably less than most skilled labor jobs, such as general wood construction, plumbing, and so on. You really can't get hired for any jobs until you have five years of experience, so you must find someone who will give you a considerably lengthy apprenticeship. I'd like to get it from Southern Maine Community College, but they haven't even replied to me, or sent me any info that I have requested nearly a month ago. So who knows if I'll even have the option of going this coming winter and spring.
Fuck it... Move to California
Positives:
Why in the hell not? It's gorgeous out there, and the people are all so laid back. The ocean is amazing out there, and anywhere you live you're close to outstanding mountains for hiking or snowboarding. The beaches are made for skimboarding. The women are unbelievable. Southern California or Northern California are both amazing in their own way. There are an endless amount of jobs out there, considering they have their own economy, they need to keep it running with their own infrastructure. It may as well be another country. Many of the towns out there are very progressive, despite the state being Republican overall. There are countless suburbs of major cities, which range from the most upper-class to ghetto's. Which means I can easily get an apartment out there, with limited crime and a reasonable rate, close to the city. I'd take a long-ass road-trip to see the U.S. while I was at it, going through Montana and wherever else I had enough initiative to see. Basically, it would be a move to live life and see where it took me.
Negatives:
Well, there are plenty. First I would have no infrastructure of my own to work around in order to start living. I would be completely lost out there, with little guidance, no friends, and no social networks. State tax is in the double digits, and everything else is jacked up to ridiculous rates, unless you are living in northern California, close to Oregon. M.T.V. ruined one of my biggest destinations to go to... Laguna Beach. So now even though I wanted to move there long before the shitty reality T.V. show, I can no longer mention the name of the town without it being associated with M.T.V., for the next five years. Moving all of my shit (even though I have next to none), would still be a huge task considering I'd be driving out in a small car (no, I wouldn't make the trip in the sketch-box I am driving right now). Migrant workers would probably take a lot of the lower level jobs, including any labor work, so I don't know if I'd be able to get a job doing that so easily either. With no skilled trade, or degree/diploma I'd have a tough time finding a job.
Move to Another Country
Positives:
I suppose this would be the most extreme choice. However, it would be so damn kickass. I really do love the United States, but there are so many other places I'd love to live for awhile, to see if this truly is the best country to live in (which our government seems to demand). I don't believe it is, and I can think of plenty of other countries I'd really like to try living in for awhile. Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, Finland, New Zealand, and Sweden, are probably the ones I'd like to try living in the most. Costa Rica, Finland, and Sweden would probably be the more difficult ones to live in, simply because I don't know there language whatsoever, even if there is a high percentage of people who understand English in each of those countries. I'm not sure how hard it would be to gain a passport and the ability to live in those countries, but what would it hurt to try? It would certainly broaden my horizons.
Negatives:
That whole language thing, and also gaining the ability to live there, so I'm not an illegal alien. Canada probably wouldn't be hard whatsoever, but it's basically America Jr. so it doesn't really count. There would be a ton of things to get used to, and it would cost a fortune to move my shit out there, and figure things out. Once again that whole social thing would be difficult at first, but really it's not like I hang out with anyone here, except for the rare time I get to see Stuart. It may be better to find a way to another country through an internship or job by way of Masonry, or Habitat for Humanity, or even a host family or another University through Montana. Again though, if I were to attend a university in Sweden or Finland or Costa Rica, it would be hard as hell to follow along with what the professor would be teaching. And we all know how great I am in school in the first place.
Bang Sarah Often
Positives:
Well, when you attempt to conduct a poll, and horny females give you there vote, this is what they put as there choice for your future. So, I have added it to the list. Immediate positives would be the fact that my membership to the V-club would no longer be valid and I'd have to join a new one. Any sexual frustrations would become void, and I'd probably become even more agreeable than I already am (although my dad seems to be convinced I am a complete asshole). I'd actually have a relationship with someone, and perhaps be happy with that. She wants my ass extremely bad, and I have a hard time believing that she'd ever cheat on me. Like Tupac said, and I've always agreed with this philosophy, "I want to marry the girl who loves me more than I love her." No, no, no, I'm not saying I'd want to marry this girl, I'm saying that it's always best to have a relationship with someone who likes or loves you more than you them, that way you never have to worry about losing them, and you're the one in control of the relationship.
Negatives:
I have no feelings for this girl at all. She would love to have a relationship with me, even friends wise, but she isn't even my type for that. She's only a Junior, barely sixteen, and frankly most people in high school are on a completely different wave-length from me. Which is highly irritating, because the fact of the matter is, having a relationship with a girl out of high school, is pretty damn slim. The only girls I've managed to find, are ones in high school still. Oh and she lives a few hours away now, which we all know is a horrible way to do relationships. Or it seems far too little of people know that long-distance relationships are almost guaranteed to fail. I cannot see any female in my life (I don't even have any female friends in my life right now, now that I think about it), that I could actually have a relationship with.
Okay, those are my current ideas for where to go on with my life. I realize this is a helluva long synopsis, but I thought it was needed so that each subject was justly treated, so that if you didn't know about a few things in my life, I could fill in the blanks a little. I have a feeling as to where most will lean to in voting, but I could be surprised. Then again, maybe no one will really vote, see how long this frickin' synopsis is, and just screw the whole thing, because they have to get up in the morning for work or school or because they have a life. In any of the cases, please vote!
........
Angelfire has now become even more of a little bitch, and will now no longer let me do a poll through HTMLgear. Thus, I am stuck with having no poll, except for the one that is already in place on this site. So... Anyone reading this has my screenname in the first place, and will probably comment on this entry anyway to me, so just tell me what you think I should do. And if none of these options sounds good, tell me so as well, so that I know I really have no fucking clue as to what to do with my life. I'll keep a good old-fashioned tally and I'll keep you all updated on the results. Until then...
-Dan, d.h.cookson@gmail.com (Note the new address)
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