Goals

Still chuggin' along. I submitted my application to a teaching program so we'll see what happens. I spoke to my friend who attended the same program a few years ago, and he had encouraging things to say. In the meantime, I'm trying to work on myself. I'm trying to really nail down what my major life goals are, because for a while I was feeling completely passionless and I did not like it. I want to want something. One thing I do know I want is a balanced life. I don't want my life to be completely dominated by my career. I also want to make sure to devote time to my personal interests.

One interest I've always had is creativity. I used to love creative writing as a kid. I would also put on puppet and magic shows for my parents and make little movies on my computer (this awesome software called 3D Movie Maker . . . so fun!) That craving for creative expression never went away, though it was submerged at times. In recent years it has come out in several ways. I resumed creative writing 2 years ago (still haven't finished the story, I still need to do that). I occasionally attempt to compose music (mostly just coming up with riffs on the guitar, and sometimes a bass line to go with it). I've even tried my hand at writing song lyrics, something that I never thought I could do before. I think it would be fun to take a class in acting or improv. I also take great pleasure in the creative pursuits of others, whether it be in the form of movies, TV shows, video games, music, YouTube videos, websites, etc.

As fascinated as I've always been with creativity, I don't think I would want to try to make a career out of it. When I was a kid, I wanted to be an author. Now that I'm an adult and know more about what a career as an author would actually be like, I'm content to keep writing as a hobby. Still, it's important to me that I continue to find time for creative pursuits, so there's a goal. Hopefully teaching will provide me with the kind of balance that will allow for that. I know it can be a pretty consuming profession the first couple of years, but hopefully once I get the hang of it I will be able to have the balance I desire.

Not to say that by choosing teaching I am compromising my true interests. Teaching has also been something I've long thought about, and education is something else I would call a passion.

I am a bit nervous about the prospect of being a teacher and having a gay relationship, should that be the way I go. But I do tend to get ahead of myself. First thing's first, after all. I really am going to have to test the waters, and soon. I don't feel like I have much of a sex drive, but I'll never be able to know for sure unless I actually go and interact with people. Yes, I know, I've said this before.

So maybe that can be another goal . . . go to some (nonlocal) gay bar or club. At least once.

"Ace" of hearts

One more quick post . . . it didn't quite fit with the year in review, haha.

My most recent explorations into the topic of sexuality have led me to read a bit more about asexuality. I find myself relating to that more than any other orientation lately, especially since learning that they can prefer one sex over another when it comes to nonsexual attractions (physical, romantic, etc.) When it all comes down to it I really can't think of any times that I've experienced what I would call sexual attraction, and even if I had, it definitely doesn't have the level of importance for me that it seems to have for most people. My attraction to guys leads me to like to look at them . . . and perhaps want to talk to them . . . and that's about it.

An ironic thought occurred to me today. If the "Exotic Becomes Erotic" theory is true, then the reason why I have a physical attraction to handsome/fit guys is because I felt different from them growing up. What if the reason I felt different was my lack of sex drive? What if, paradoxically, my lack of sexual attraction caused my same sex physical attraction? Who knows, I just thought it was a pretty funny idea.

I still have some sort of attraction to girls, I think. It's not sexual. The physical element is not as strong as for guys. I guess maybe romantic/emotional, as I've guessed before. So still not sure whether a relationship with a guy would be right (especially since they tend to have higher sex drives). It seems asexuals in the area have had meet ups before. I might have to look into that.

Year in review

Today is 1/11/11. Crazy.

Know what else was crazy? 2010. Talk about a roller coaster.

Started out fun, if nerve-racking. January and February were all about interview weekends for PhD programs. Seeing cities I'd never seen before like Philadelphia and Houston, and meeting more people in a short span of time since freshman year of college. Overall, great experiences.

March and April: My plans to attend UCLA are shattered with an unexpected rejection. My realization: as much as I should want to go to Philly to see this PhD thing through, I really don't want to. I've lost confidence in a PhD being what I want to do, and moving to the east coast for something that I don't feel passionate about doesn't seem like the thing to do. Since I can't do a close-to-home trial period anymore, suddenly the costs seem to outweigh the benefits. I decide to defer. I research pharmacy careers.

May: I decide to un-defer. I can't let fear and indecision rule my life, and it's a great opportunity! I travel to Philly, pick out a place to live, and come home. I still feel bad. It gets worse. I get very depressed. This cannot be the sign of a right decision.

June: I decide to re-defer. I arrange to sign on to stay at my job for another year and cancel the place in Philly. I am troubled by guilt for inconveniencing so many people, but I feel I need time to look into other career options.

July: I am (thankfully) able to go through with my Eurotrip. The best month of my life. Wow, which of these months is not like the others? :-)

August-September: Back home. Research dentistry careers. Realize that the fact that I never showed any interest in health care the first time around was probably justified. Turn my sights to secondary teaching, which I have long had in the back of my mind but didn't have the guts to seriously consider. Try to adjust to my parents no longer living nearby.

October-November: Research high school teaching as best as I can. Visit my parents in the Midwest, which reminds me how much I miss them. Tentatively start going forward with plans to apply to a teaching program.

December: Ramp up my application to the teaching program. Begin to wonder whether I shouldn't just do the PhD and then do high school teaching after. Decide against it. Turn down the PhD program. Have an existential dilemma, fearing that I am guilty of selfishness for going for a "safer" option than academia. Enjoy a much needed road trip with my parents and visit with my cousins, uncles, and aunts.

Throughout the year: Whenever I'm not struggling with career issues, I still try to figure out sexuality issues. I spend most of the year presuming I am mostly gay, but with a low sex drive. My attempts to keep in contact with my gay roommate from one of the interview weekends are largely unsuccessful. I make the huge step of "coming out" (as questioning/asexual/sorta gay) to my youngest cousin, who is also my closest confidant. I meet up with a fellow blogger. I continue to periodically see the counselor, though mostly about the career issues.

Anyways . . . bottom line is . . . I am in a completely different place than I was a year ago. Still, I survived. I learned new things about myself (good and bad). I've learned important life lessons and had some amazing experiences that I will cherish forever. I've had some emotional lows that, though unpleasant to experience, I learned from. Heck, I feel like my whole world view, my philosophy of life has shifted. It's a work in progress, I'm still trying to sort things out. But now I realize, more than ever, that life is a journey. There are no "right" or "wrong" paths. Everyone's different, just because you perceive that "most people" might choose one thing doesn't make it right for you, and what's most important in the end is that you remain true to what's important to you.

Thanks to all you guys out there for bearing with me!

Feeling a tad better

Hey y'all,

Great responses to the last entry! Yep, all those kinds of things (success, etc.) are very subjective. Ever notice how people are always trying to inject objectivity into things that are totally subjective? I think of that every time I see one of those aggravating "Best Careers" lists. I was looking at one today, with an extremely complicated methodology involving assigning point values to various job characteristics, stresses, etc. It's so arbitrary, and totally disregards the whole personal interest factor, which at least for me is huge. I'm not even sure what use such a list would serve for anybody. Oh well. Lists of rankings like that won't go away any time soon. We wouldn't want those journalists at the US News & World Report to be out of work.

I had dinner with my parents tonight. It's the last time I'll see them before they drive back across the country. My mom made a comment about how I sounded depressed when I answered the phone earlier in the day (yikes, is it that obvious??) Talking to them did make me feel better, though. They told me what I already know, that it's pointless to keep obsessing about a decision that's already been made, that I did have valid reasons for making that decision, and that I need to move forward. It helps to hear it from others, sometimes I believe them more than myself, ha ha.

I will move forward.

New Year

Happy New Year! But is it "two thousand eleven" or "twenty eleven"? Personally I prefer the latter. After all, one hundred years ago is referred to as "nineteen eleven," not "one thousand, nine hundred eleven."

Someone asked me if I have a new year's resolution the other day. I could probably think of a couple, but the first thing that popped into my head was basically "Feel good about the decisions I make and don't continue to obsess over them after I've made them." It will take some work, haha.

I keep coming back to the same existential questions . . . what should I be living for? What should I accomplish in life? What does it mean to me to be successful? Is it wrong for me to prefer to stay in California, near friends and family, at least for the time being? Is it a weakness? Is it overly selfish? Is it holding me back from my true potential? Certainly if I had a family of my own, a partner and/or kids, it would make more sense. But it's just me. The only attachments I have to this location are psychological. I don't even really see family and friends THAT often, at least not lately. I have a relatively small family, so with my parents across the country it's just my two sisters and their families. I expect two of my cousins (who are my best friends in the world) to be moving to So Cal in the near future though.

I guess a lot of it is because I'm still in the awkward place between the path that I was on and the new one. Two weeks ago I emailed the graduate program and basically told them thanks but no thanks. I'm still (still!) struggling over whether that was the right thing to do. I just hope that once I'm solidly on a different path such feelings will fade.

Another reason might be the people I'm surrounded by at work. When everyone around you is on the research track, it's kind of hard to be the one who ultimately decided against it. I keep reminding myself that it wasn't just the moving around thing that turned me off, but that's definitely the most emotionally prominent reason.

Of course, practically my whole life thus far has been about academics = success. Maybe it's time I changed my definition. How do you define success?

Still around, and all over the place

Hey y'all,

It's been a while. I've been going through another stressful period as I've been struggling (again) to come to a decision. It's approaching the time when I need to apply to the teaching credential programs if it's what I want to do. I talked to a guy that I've known since elementary school a little while ago. He's in his first year as a teacher at a school in the district we went through, and he's loving it. He told me about his experiences in his credential program, and how he was placed in a pretty tough school with difficult students. He did really well and enjoyed it. I'm not sure I'd be the same way in such difficult circumstances, and I guess that's the major source of my apprehension. What if I couldn't get a job in a good school? What if I'm not good at classroom management? Teaching seems to be a very polarizing profession (some love it, some hate it). What if I end up on the wrong side of the divide?

There's some things that appeal to me about teaching at that level, though. I like the idea of being the first (and possibly only) person to introduce kids to various science concepts. I like the idea of trying to improve science literacy, even in people who won't go on to take another science class in their life. I like the idea of possibly being the one to first interest someone in science. In response to Aek's comment at the end of the last entry: yeah, teaching undergrads has it's definite benefits. More depth, for one. And I was always saying before, I'd rather teach people who actually want to be there. But the reality is, the university level job market is so ridiculously saturated that the chances of getting a faculty position are extremely small. And even if you're one of the lucky ones, you have to be willing to pack up and move wherever. I'm realizing that it's important to me to be able to live near my friends and family (at least those that don't move away themselves, cough, Mom and Dad, cough), and that's okay.

Though I am still worried that high school teaching will prove too stressful for me, I've talked to enough people that love it to be encouraged. And I know that if I didn't like it, it's not the end of the world. I'll just try something else. I admit, in the past week my mind has been all over the place. Doing the PhD after all (no, I haven't turned them down yet, argh), doing something in health care like optometry, applying to a different field for grad school like clinical psychology, becoming a school psychologist, all of these things have gone through my mind. This has gone on far too long. I just need to PICK something and live with the consequences of my choice, hoping for the best. If it doesn't work out, then I'll take it from there. Being in this state of mind is not good. I admit, on the morning of the CBEST test (for teaching credential), part of me was hoping my car would break down so I'd miss the test and be forced to wait another year, thus giving me more time to think. It's always more time that I want. More time. Oh, if I only had more time, I could look into this career, or that career! I've read my career books and taken personality assessments, trying to get something other than myself to make the decision for me (I'm a Myers-Briggs INFJ, by the way, at least I think so). Maybe I should change the title of my blog to "Introspection Only Gets You So Far" since it seems to be becoming a recurring theme.

Phew, venting done. So even though my mind has been in many directions lately, currently I'm planning on going through with the teaching thing. It seems to be most in line with what I value (science, education, family).

Following up

Thanks guys for your comments on the last entry. I was second guessing myself after posting that but decided it was how I felt, so it needed to be said. It's pretty crazy how one's mindset can change. Some days I am almost to the point of declaring myself gay, other days (like the last couple) the doubts come back and paralyze me. It doesn't make it easier that I'm going back and forth between dealing with this and my career issue. The difference there: that issue I can actually openly talk to people about. I spoke to some coworkers today about my high school teaching idea, and the lingering doubts about whether turning away from academia was the right move. They agreed with my assessment: it's more important to do what you WANT than what you think you "should" do when it comes to choosing your career. The time pressure on that one is more intense though. I've signed up to take the CBEST in December. I'll need to ask for letters of rec very soon. So it looks like time might just make that decision for me, haha.

Anyways, it's all a work in progress.