My Life on Hold

My graduation, 2008

I graduated from Eastern Illinois University in December 2008 with a bachelor's degree in sociology. I was happy to get it a degree in something that might enable me to work for the state or federal government in some kind of social work. Originally, I'd wanted to go on to earn my master's in that field and teach sociology at the college level. However, when the opportunity to serve at my student job as a graduate assistant came up, I jumped on it.

Me, creating a video at EIU

I loved the job; I loved the people there. It was my opportunity to use my associate's in radio-TV broadcasting to do something creative that helped the university achieve its goals. Unfortunately for me, there's no graduate degree in sociology at my local university. I thought I could be happy with political science, but not only was I not a good fit, I had some of the worst extenuating circumstances I've ever had to face. The week that I decided to pull out of the program — which meant giving up my student-only job — the Illinois government announced hundreds of layoffs and a hiring freeze.

I'd just gotten married, had a wife and step-daughter to care for and quickly found myself working as a janitor: the same kind of job I worked when I got out of high school. For a while, it was just what I needed. It allowed me to work alone, independently, without anyone to tell me how to change it or interrupting me. All of these things had been a problem for me for about eight months. I did my work, I listened to podcasts of news services, and I recharged. I'm done recharging.

A couple of weeks ago, I was thinking about the impact of state funding and how services where I would normally find employment are laying off workers even if they're not run by the state. That's when I checked on the men's restroom and found fecal matter on the floor. (Follow this link to the audio of my rant.) I need a vacation. I didn't think I necessarily needed one before then, but I do now. It's not so much that I think I deserve a better job, it's just that this employment situation is not what I expected.

I'm looking forward to spending some time with my family and getting away. We're headed for South Dakota. I'll write about it here. Wish me luck.