Open Letter to My Students: No, You Cannot be a Professor

Open Letter to My Students: No, You Cannot be a Professor

This open letter pretty much sums up all of the reasons that I left graduate school for good and didn't apply for a program elsewhere. This is why i joined the business world full time and teach as an adjunct part time. It is fun influencing young minds and interacting with students, yes. But the pay is terrible and I am just not committed to living like a student up until I start collecting social security (If social security even exists once I hit that age). So I get to have my bi-weekly intellectual stimuli and work hard like the rest of the world to make a living like a real capitalist. =)

More Fall Buys

For the past several months by blogging habit has fallen by the wayside but my shopping habit has been in full swing. Here are some recent buys from this season.

Royal Blue Top

H&M Chicago

Purple Ruffle Wrap Dress

Rust Half Length Dress

H&M Atlanta

International Concepts-Macy's

New Orleans

Bucket List

The Bucket List is a very inspiring movie. I find it to be very challenging emotionally because it always compels me to write my own bucket list. I have had this on my mind for years, but yet I cannot seem to bring myself to write that list.

Perhaps it is easier for those who are close to the end of their lives, rather than a young person like me who still sees the world as an oyster of opportunities.

Most of the time when I contemplate writing a bucket list, it sounds more like a Yahoo flash story of "top ten places to see before you die" rather than something sincere and meaningful. But perhaps this just points to the fact that I am a traveler by nature. Ever since I was a small child I have loved the open road, checking into new hotels and seeing new places. When I was about 8 years old I invented a
"hotel survivor kit" filled with little sample shampoos, soaps, and samples that you get at hotels. Even back then a traveler was born.

I definitely want to see India, China, Jamaica, Japan, South Africa, Argentina and a variety of other countries before I die. But since I have already traveled to more places in my 29 years than many have been to in their whole lives, it feels almost selfish to write a longer list of things that I want to see and most likely will at some point.

But again, I dance around the deeper issue of the bucket list without really getting at what my actual problem is. I think that anyone could draw a list of places they would like to go. But my problem is that I have no idea what I want to do when I am at home. When I am not running off on constant adventures and pursuing my wanderlust to the absolute fullest.

Could it be that I have done pretty much everything that I wanted to do and that I have no idea what I want next? I don't know if I am the kind of woman who wants a family, husband, children, etc. But I also don't want to get to the point that it is too late to make that kind of decision and feel like I missed out on experiences that are essential to the human condition. And so the conflict stands...

Without tooting my own proverbial horn, I have lived a pretty unusual and interesting life. I have been very blessed to be able to meet wonderful people, travel extensively, attend some of the best universities in the country and maintain my freedom. I have lived in 4 major US cities and spent long periods in others. I have traveled with work, been on numerous adventures on my own time, and gotten to know people from all social stratas. But somehow, the domestic type of life seems as though it would mean trading what has made my life interesting to begin with. I have escaped the grind that most people my age experience on a daily basis. Now that I am out of school I am freelancing and am fortunate enough to not have to punch a time clock everyday and be chained to a desk 40 hours a week. Although I spend plenty of hours working, I do it on my own terms and schedule.

So that brings me back to the bucket list again. Could it be that I really have no idea what I want to do before I die other than continue what I have already been doing since my late teens? Does that make me some kind of indecisive Peter Pan type with two MA degrees a set of belongings so scant that it can all fit in the back of my little Ford Escape? These are the kinds of questions that I frequently battle with as I face the 30 year mark a little less than a month from now.

On the 7th Day He Created H&M

The most significant drawback to living in New Orleans is the lack of H&M stores. Forget living below sea level, the high crime rate, government corruption and low grade public education. H&M is the one thing that New Orleans really needs. I sometimes wonder if non-profit organizations could collaborate to bring a store here, it would be a serious public service to the citizens of southern Louisiana.

The best thing about having a job that allows me to travel is that I get to be reunited with my favorite store. It is almost as exciting as seeing my old friends when I go to places like Atlanta and Chicago.

I have been to two H&Ms in the past 3 weeks, one in Chicago and the other in Atlanta. I had butterflies in my tummy like a school girl crush.

Here are a few things I recently purchased at H&M:

Fall Thus far

Time sure passes by quickly when you are having fun.
I just realized that it has been two months since I last updated my blog. I think it is starting to feel like an orphan webpage that no one writes or reads anymore. So in the interest of my blog's feelings and my creative impulses, I will bring it up to date with news, juicy gossip, photos and of course, travel stories.

After I started teaching sociology early in the fall, I landed two other jobs. The one I am most excited about is a contract ethnographer. The work is very interesting, I get to interview people in their homes and videotape our interviews. What is even better about the position is that I get the opportunity to travel. I have been to Atlanta, Washington DC and Chicago in the past three weeks.

The best thing about being a gypsy spirit like me is that I seem to have friends in every major US city. I got the chance to meet up with 5 of my old friends when I was in Atlanta, see my asshole brother and my BFF Stephanie in DC, and hang out with my old friend Mitch in Chicago.

Mitchie Poo

Chicago Beach

In addition to having the best job on planet earth, I have also lost 9 lbs recently. I liberated myself from four years of low carb turmoil and jumped on the low calorie high exercise bandwagon. I have been working out in some form or fashion 5-6 times per week. A major accomplishment in spite of my pack a day smoking habit.

Some additional points of excitement:
I am heading to Las Vegas for my big 30 in December

I bought a pool table
I love teaching sociology
I have transitioned from unemployed to self-employed
My shopping addiction is still in full swing--see next post for images
Life is good