A New Decade, An About Face

Why so serious?

As mentioned in my previous post, the Photos family has made a few changes in the early days of the new year, but I thought that I could elaborate somewhat for those of you who do not live inside my head.

For starters, I am suddenly, currently unemployed. Yes, while the financial sector is taking a beating and laying off workers at an alarming rate, I voluntarily left a job. Without going into the details here, suffice it to say that there was a disagreement, one that I viewed as symptomatic of a larger (and ongoing) problem, and while I think the situation could have ended differently I was just as glad to give up my salary in order to have my self-respect.* In light of the incident, I decided to use my newfound freedom as an opportunity to change directions, and the immediate choice was school.

As many of you know, I have tinkered with the idea of changing careers for some time. Firefighter, Public School Teacher, Zoo Keeper, Professional Chess Player, Professional Poker Player, Carpenter, Organic Farmer. But for one reason or another, these just didn't seem practical. It was only after looking into a Paramedic program that I thought about Nursing.

At first I was discouraged because I believed it would be 4 more years of schooling since I took nary a science course during the previous 6 years (thanks a lot, art school), but after speaking with some advisors and my Uncle Jay (a professional nurse) I learned that I could complete a Nursing degree in only 4 semesters. Well, I went out and purchased some white clogs that very day.

Classes began last week. I was able to test out of the prerequisite courses and launch directly into the advanced science classes, of which there are 2 semesters. After that I can apply to the Nursing program, for which there is a waiting list. So, you can see that this is a protracted process, but one that I believe will be very fulfilling and provide me with a lifelong career that I can be proud of. Wish me luck.

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P.S. - I apologize for the serious tone of this post. It was meant to be informative and factual. For those of you who expect to be entertained, I will try to do better next time. In the meantime, check out this person's excellently weird nurse drawings. You have to scroll down somewhat.

* It was only after I quit that I realized that my self-respect had long ago become the property of a girl I liked in high school. Bygones.