This is going to be wordy...proceed with caution.

I have wanted to be an architect since I was about 9 years old.  I always built houses out of my Legos, drew floor plans on my graph paper, and explored the newly constructed houses in my neighborhood. I have loved buildings for as long as I remember. September 2009 started me on a path toward that goal after years of unsuccessful tries.  September 2010 happened sort of like a train wreck.  I registered for classes on 18 August 2010.  I had to jump through some hoops because my required forms had been misplaced (they told me I sent in the wrong ones, but we all know that's not possible).  I registered on time and for all the classes I had planned to take.  Check, check, check. Everything was going according to plan.

Week one of school happened as expected.  The teachers were fine and the workload unsurprising. Week two was the shocker.  Almost out of nowhere I realized that I don't really want to be an architect. I watched my classmates get so excited about their designs and studio projects and all I could think about was how on earth I would be able to endure such classes for 4 more years only to graduate, maybe get a peon job for $35,000 a year and sit in an office getting dumber for the rest of my life. I spent most of the summer looking for peon jobs and there are few to be had. I couldn't get an architects office to believe I was qualified for an admin assistant job.  (I can file, answer phones and make photocopies like no one's business). My prospects looked grim and the more I thought of continuing on my architecture path, the more tired I got. I tell you it came out of nowhere, but it came on fierce.  I wanted to drop out. I spoke with one of my instructors and my mom, who were both very honest with me. Decision confirmed.

The main problem was that I had already paid tuition.  They have a silly policy of not giving you back your money if you attend classes for the first week. Being the pragmatist that I am, I decided to finish out the semester. I dropped the studio course and picked up a preservation course (it was online and I never submitted an assignment.  we all saw that coming). I stayed in the other two classes (history and structures) for about 2 months.  I have always liked history and my structures teacher, a structural engineer, had a way of straight talking and hating on architects that I found very amusing.  About the end of October, with only half hearted attempts at passing those classes, I decided that my "I care" was damaged beyond repair. My friend John reminded me that the monetary investment was already lost, but the time investment didn't have to be. So I dropped out.

I just got back from a couple of weeks in Utah with my family. My brother and sister-in-law just had a baby, so I got some quality time. Now I'm back in Boston and wondering what's next. This is already a really long, and possibly boring, post, so the short answer is [drum roll please] I'm going back to teaching. Yes I am fickle, and perhaps crazy, but I miss it. I miss the kids, the slang, the math, the income, the vacation. Pretty much everything except the bureaucracy. I'm taking steps to get my MA teaching license. In the meantime I'm looking for private school gigs (which don't require the MA license) and I interviewed for a Boston Public Schools sub position. That's as far as we've gotten so far. So now you know what I know.

On a brighter note, it's autumn in New England!

Me and Dani Wani

Meghan and me on top of Washington Tower

Try to forget it's a cemetery