Finishing Things

I just took the test that I been waiting on for a year (nailed it) . If it wasn't for my remarkably poor performance on the Fall 2008 AME 404 midterm, things would be very different right now. For one, I wouldn't have an extra set of loans to pay. I also would not be making a long commute into a city I really don't care for.

I am making the best of the situation in the mean time. I going to do my open water dives at Catalina this weekend, completing my SCUBA certification course. I have been fishing regularly. I have been learning to do real BBQ in a smoker. I also will be teaching another Family Science course with Iridescent Learning in a couple weeks. You can see some shots of me in action in the following video.



That is all great, but I am finding that I am always anxious for the next step. For example, summer was great, but I am ready for some fall weather. Same thing with part-time school and part-time work; I am ready to start supporting myself. I want to be an engineer.

After a month and a half of time away from the job search, I am ready to start up again. I learned a lot this summer about finding jobs in a tough economy and I am ready to see how things go now.

Ghetto Scarecrow

I am always on guard as I walk to my car through the area west of campus. From my experience, this neighborhood has less students and more graffiti than the area north of campus where I used to live. I try to keep the words of Cesar Millan, The Dog Whisperer, in my head as stay "Calm and Assertive" walking by the apparent junk yard with a gnarly pitbull. Sometime I wonder what would happen if the dog could escape and get to me. It is best to not even think about it.

Sometimes, I am surprised as I walk by this house:



That figure on the porch is a dummy wearing a terrorist mask. Almost every other day, this Ghetto Scarecrow doubles my heart rate in a matter of milliseconds as I catch it in the corner of my eye.

I doubt it is even intended to keep hoodlums away. That is what the barbed-wire on a spike fence is for. It may just be an ironic use of a mannequin wearing USC and Disney gear. Either way I don't like it at all.

Short Term Future Planning

I came up to USC today to do some work and start figuring out my short term future plans. Today's tasks include financial aid, design work to build marketable skills, and finding a job.

I already found out that I need to come back tomorrow for financial aid.

I am about to start weighing the different options that may or may not be available to me in upcoming weeks/months. This includes living at home, living at school, living wherever a good job takes me, getting a job on campus, getting a labor job, or getting a real engineering job, taking my class in person, or taking my class online.

3 things are important right now.

1. I need to finish my last class.
2. I need a place to live.
3. I need a job.

I am gonna start brainstorming creative housing situations and job styles. I need to come up with a game plan to start charging on right away, but have plenty of fallbacks in place, just in case.