Career Options: Resolved

I’ve been spending the last few weeks getting enrolled at Morrisville State College in an online program called “Office Technology”. Once I complete this program, I hope to find work as an Administrative Assistant or a Bookkeeper. This hopefully solves the question, “What will I do for a living?”

The big challenge now is going to be balancing my class work with working on this project. I’m working on finishing catching up on my courses (I started the program a week late). I’m glad I’m doing this, but the courses can sometimes be overwhelming and time-consuming. But I’ll pull through. Soon, I hope to start approaching people I want to work with.

Now for the obligatory YouTube music link. Here’s an oldie but a goodie, from Boards of Canada, featuring 1980s UK commercial advertisements:

Career Options, Part 2

The last time I was on unemployment, I didn’t own a car. Last summer, shortly after I got hired at my last job, my 92 year old grandmother fell ill, and could no longer drive. I came into her car. I pay for the car insurance and gas. Recently, I was stiffed with a $276 bill to replace the brake pads and rotors. Ouch! Even though I make $55 more a week than I did the last time I was on unemployment, a lot of it gets eaten up by the car and other regular expenses, like my credit card bill. In order for me to do certain goals, I may need to go back to work sooner rather than later.

I’ve been looking for ways to make some money either to 1.) extend unemployment or 2.) Get off unemployment completely. I’ve been looking for work as required of my unemployment, but I fear that I’ll have to do another customer service job. I would like a job where I can make more money and is more fulfilling for me personally. I’d like to do Administrative Assistant work, and I’ve even had interviews for this position. I know I’m capable of handling the job, but I wonder if people are willing to take a chance on me in this economy. So I’m starting to look at other options. I’m going to post the options I’ve been exploring as installments, so that you, the reader, won’t get bored. First option after the jump.

Career Options

Ted Hope recently tweeted that his most read post since moving his blog over to IndieWire was a post titled, “A ‘Career’ In Indie Film? Better Have That Second Job Lined Up…“. The crux of the post is basically this: whereas once you could sustain a living as an independent filmmaker, you now need to have a “day job”.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I got laid off back in February. One of the ups of being laid off was that my co-workers and I were approved for Trade Act Funding. One of our trainers at my last job busted his ass to have us all approved for this. Thus, the progress of this project has been delayed by thoughts of, “Where do I go from here?” At the risk of being self-indulgent, I really don’t want to be working at just above minimum wage for the rest of my life. It would be nice to have something to fall back on that would allow me to support myself, be independent, and be able to continue on this lovely path of making movies.