Two Weeks of Serious Indecisiveness

First off, I never heard back about the editing job. Oh well. Given that it was the first job for which I applied in this job search, I'm really not that surprised.

Second, I haven't written anything in the last two weeks because I haven't been able to decide on the topic for a post—that's how bad it is. Sure, I'm blessed to have the option of this indecision. I'm still being paid by my old job, I've got the support of my family if I need it, and I've got some money saved; however, it would be so nice to just wake up one morning and think, "I know! I'll be a ________!"

Recent jobs that I've considered are:
• pastry chef
I think I would really enjoy being a pastry chef or a baker, but that would involve going back to school. Then again, once I came out, I could probably find a job pretty darn easily. Everyday there are pastry chef positions being advertised on Craigslist.

• botanist
I'm really interested in plants, but how would I make this a viable career option? I do have a former botany professor on whom I could call, so if this keeps seeming like something I might want to do, I'll ask her for advice.

• museum docent/conservator
Living in San Francisco, there is no shortage of museums to attend. I have memberships to a number of them, and enjoy going as often as I can. I have bookmarked the job sites of all the museums at which I'd like to work, and will apply for anything for which I'm qualified.

• photo journalist
This because of an extremely interesting exhibit I saw at the Museum of Modern Art. It's called "The Americans" and it's a collection of all the photos used in a landmark book by photographer Robert Frank that was published exactly 50 years ago. Looking at all of his photos of ordinary Americans doing, by in large, very ordinary things, made me want to create my own study, but of San Francisco. Would someone want to pay me for this? I guess it's worth finding out.

I PASSED!

Even though I still need to find a job to start before the end of August (when I stop getting paychecks (and benefits) from my current job), I learned this morning that I passed the Foreign Service Officer Test! There are still more hoops to jump through, but I'm going to take them one at a time and do my best for each. If I make it all the way, I'll be super excited and ready for whatever they want to throw at me. If I don't, I'll find something else to do with my life.

Editing

As the daughter of two editors, you could say that editing is in my blood. I've worked on many newspapers, newsletters, and other publications over the years, but I never planned to go into journalism (as they did) or any other profession that would require me to be an editor as my primary job.

However, a job post on Craigslist made me reconsider this position. Today I'm applying for a job as a "publications assistant" at a science journal. I actually really want this job, so wish me luck!

I Like Maps

A lot. I always have. When I was a little kid and my friends were drawing puppies and kitties, I was sitting with my dad in front of an atlas copying national flags (to the best of my ability). When I got to middle school, I loved International Night and all the mapping activities we did to prepare for it; I also (unintentionally) tortured my French teacher by asking her to tell me the French name of every country in Europe. In seventh grade, I was the only one excited about the prospect of memorizing the location of every country in Africa and the only one who wasn't distressed when Zaire became The Democratic Republic of the Congo two days before the test. By high school I had learned to channel this interest into learning world history. A special topics course in South Asian History determined my college choices, as I decided that I needed to major in anthropology and minor in history at a school that had a study abroad program in Sri Lanka.

I've been searching for a way to apply this interest and knowledge for a long time. I thought the Foreign Service might be a way to channel it—and it may be—but it's going to be a few more weeks before I find out whether I even passed the test, let alone make it through all of the interviews and training to work abroad. Yesterday I decided to look through City College's course catalog and see what they had to offer in the way of geography. Sadly, the class I am most interested in taking is at exactly the same time as my weekly Musae rehearsal; however, there is an Introduction to GIS class at a much better time. I didn't know what GIS was, so I looked it up. It stands for Geographic Information Systems. Rather than ramble on about it here, check out the GIS website if you want to know more.

I did some further research to determine what careers could come from this training and found that GIS can be applied to just about anything. Perhaps I could combine my interests in demography and statistics with GIS…

Typeface-nerd seeks layout job

What does one do with a love of typefaces (fonts) and layout? I always wanted to design my own, but I'm not sure I have the creativity to make one on my own. Instead, I must content myself with those made by more talented people. I'm partial to serif typefaces, though I've come to realize that anything meant to be viewed online looks better in sans-serif. Really though, as long as I avoid Comic Sans and Helvetica, I'm fine. (Oh, and Papyrus too.)

I think I would enjoy working at a magazine or newspaper doing layout—as I used to do in school—but the newspaper industry is dying* and many magazines have their own troubles. A book publisher would be nice, but where does one begin to find a job laying out books? Would I need to go back to school in order to be deemed worthy of such a position?

Another thing to consider is the purpose of the magazine/book on which I might be working. As cool as it would be to have a job like this, I don't know if I could stomach working at Seventeen or Us Weekly. Would I eliminate too many potential positions if I had content standards for the material being published?

Classic Liberal Arts Grad

I'm the classic liberal arts college graduate: I've plenty of things in which I'm interested, but no idea which one I should pursue as a career. I majored in theatre (yes, I like to spell it the British way) and minored in anthropology, education, and history. I sang in Chorale and Chamber Singers and held three different positions on the school newspaper staff (copy-editor, news editor, and editor-in-chief). I worked in the theatre scene shop, the alumnae office, and the study abroad office.

In addition, I'm a geography nerd, I love board games, and I can't make it through the day without doing a crossword or some sort of Japanese logic puzzle. I took French for seven years (though I don't remember a whole lot of it, save the pronunciation) and Russian for one (I was bored the year after college).

So what am I to do with my life? I just spent the last two years as a second grade teacher and have determined that being a classroom teacher is not right for me. I took the Foreign Service Officer Test last week, but who knows if I'll pass (the test is really hard). I worked retail for a while right after college and that didn't fit my personality. All that I do know is that I'm interested in a wide variety of things and that there must be some job out there that would make me happy.

Starting tomorrow, I will be posting my job idea of the day. Some will be more practical than others. Some may be real jobs I've found on Craigslist. If you know of a job opening in San Francisco or have background information about any of the jobs I post, please let me know.