Sunday, August 16, 2009

In the beginning

How cliche. I just saw Julie and Julia and I was inspired to, you guessed it, write a blog. "Jobless in Seattle" I'll call it, I thought. Never mind that I'm the third "Jobless in Seattle" out there.. so much for originality. But nevertheless, here we go. Everyone knows that this "economic climate" is one of the "worst of our times." Blah, blah, blah. Perhaps I should have paid a bit more attention to those NY Times headlines before voluntarily quitting my job in Colorado, uprooting and moving to Seattle with no job, no money, and no plan. All I had was my parents spare bedroom-cum-"basement" to waste my summer in, sending my resume to dozens of job postings for which I was grossly under or over qualified.

How did this happen? My brain at this point is worth some obscene untold sum of money far surpassing my lifetime earnings to date, and here I am back in the PNW with not a job prospect in sight. I have a teaching credential and have taught English in a private school for four years, but thanks to No Child Left Behind, I'm not actually qualified to teach English in a public school. Not to mention all districts seem to have a hiring freeze. Cross that off the list. I have some experience with non-profits and am willing to work for measly pay. But I'm overqualified to be an assistant and too inexperienced to do anything of substance. Scratch that one off too. Maybe I could tutor! Made myself a webpage and everything before realizing I'm not sure I actually like working with kids one-on-one. I love the energy that comes from the classroom, group projects, front of the room lessons, kids getting each other excited. So... maybe not. Freelance writer? Too lazy. Barista? Not looking for impoverished. Sous-chef? Too stressful.

So that brings me to this blog. The chronicles of my job search, city exploration, and anything that strikes me as interesting.