Once again, here I am contemplating moving again. I moved up here to beautiful north Jersey to be closer to a job I no longer have. When my time at that organization ended, I realized there is absolutely no reason for me to continue living up here, so I told my roommate I’d be out by the end of January. At the time, I thought I would have heard a word about the teaching job in south Jersey by now. As it turns out, more items needed to be submitted for my application, which I couldn’t do while in Arizona, and when I returned the district decided to take a holiday vacation and won’t be back in the office until next week.
Today I went to the town to search out apartments close to the school, and I found some good candidates. However, my first dilemma is whether I should be looking for a one-bedroom place or a two-bedroom place. I’m not sure if I can afford a one-bedroom. If I don’t get the job, it’s almost certain I won’t be able to afford to live by myself unless I happen to come across another job that pays a decent amount.
To live in a two-bedroom apartment would make more sense financially, but there is the issue of finding a roommate. My only two options are some dude from Italy who is in the military, or a friend who living with could be a tense situation.
One of a couple of things can happen with this teaching job. The first is that the current band director stays at the high school and a position is opened for an assistant with which he can share the workload. This would be the ideal situation for him, the students, as well as me. The second option is that the director’s supervisor gets his way and moves the current teacher to the elementary school, leaving an opening at the high school for all of the current director’s workload. Since the director has been trying to get an assistant for ten years, and they really need to keep adding more music programs in the high school because of the new standards, this would be an unfavorable position for anyone looking to take over, and even much less favorable for someone stepping in as a first-time full-time music teacher. If this is the case, I don’t think I would want the job anyway.
So, do I move to the location now with the hopes that the first scenario will play out and that I am the one to get the job? If I move and don’t get the job, or it isn’t the job I want, I could be stuck there for a while.
There is, however, a third possibility which I haven’t even counted on. Maybe I should move to an entirely new place (say the Baltimore area) and just start from scratch. Maybe I’d teach, maybe I wouldn’t. I feel I have many skills, but I feel I am pretty unfocused with them. This brings me to my fourth possibility.
Go back to school and get another degree. But in what area of study? Music? Information technology? Linguistics?
you are way too indecisive…..
my thoughts are:
a) i wouldn’t make any life altering decisions that would be bad if you don’t get this job.
b) what would getting another degree do for you, other than prolong making a decision and spending more money??? (not that i’m against grad degrees…. i just find that if you aren’t already focused when you get there they can be a waste of time!)
I’m with Stacy here. Don’t count your chickens before they hatch. Don’t put your eggs all in one basket. ::insert other bird-related cliches here::
I’m pretty sure that you don’t have the luxury financially to be making haphazard plans at the moment. Job first, then move. Makes it ever so much less stressful.