the promise of 2008?

[ziadel]

well, here I am, in eastern Montana sitting in a of about 400 people contemplating exactly what my time on the injured list haas taught me. I think in the month or so I have been sitting on my ass I have discovered that I'm not content to spend the rest of my life as a welder, I find it to be a noble, challenging and interesting profession, however my work environment consists of people blah'ing about tits and beer all day, in short the environment is stagnating. I have a desire to go back to school and learn, but honestly, I have no idea hwow I would REALLY do in an academic environment, my last stint of community college did'nt go all that swimmingly, but I can't help but wonder if perhaps that was because I did'nt have a goal. I'm really kinda loss as to what to do.. I'm 25, I know people have done it at 35 and even 45, but shit, stress is not something I'm partial to.

I really dunno, theres all sorts of other crap floating around in my head too, but I still have this draw to go back and learn some more.

I'm selling myself short if I stay where I am.

[Wilkerson]

Aunt Edith went back to college and graduated at 65. You have plenty of time to go and get that degree. Maybe the last run at college wasn't working out because you weren't ready yet. At the age of 25, many people are still in that stage of life of endlessly exploring all ideas and options. If nothing has particularly grabbed your interest yet then go for a liberal arts course of study for a year or two, Sit yourself down and ask yourself where your heaviest interests are. Is it science? History? Philosohy? Religion? Interacting with people? Are you good with words and ideas and interested in world events or newsworthy events in general? Try journalism.

Lots of ideas and possibilities out there, all you need to do is step forward and grab right ahold of them.

[host]

ziadel, the advice Wilerson gave you IMO, is just as relevant if you decide to explore other options besides college.

I read your general entries and a few of your posts in an attempt to get some sense of who you are before I post any advice, if that is even what you are asking for. I searched your username with "travel", "city", "military", and "enlist" to attempt to find if you've included those words in your past posts.

I've got nearly 30 years on you....and by the way....the preoccupation with death, in my experience, faded to indifference, with the years....life becomes habit forming, I guess.

If I woke up tomorrow and I was 25 again, I wouldn't go near a college classroom unless I had a clear goal that made spending time in one, a prerequisite. If you set your sights on becoming an inhalation therapist, an architect, a brain surgeon, or a nurse-anesthetist, then....by all means...enroll in a college program.

I'm assuming that you don't have the responsibilities that come with a wife and children, if you do, you know that you don't have the "luxury" of going to college to find yourself. If you are unattached, IMO, there are better ways.

If you haven't spent much time outside of Montana, use your current job to raise funds for travel, or for a startup business. You could put the same attention that you would put towards becoming determined to pursue a vague program of college study, or a specific program....toward coming up with an idea for a business and then try to get it going.

If you decide to travel out of Montana....spend sometime in a place where people your own age, go to pursue an opportunity of a lifetime....Manhattan or LA are probably the best risk vs. reward destinations. If you need the security, financial or emotional, try finding employment in one of those places before you make your move.

Above all...L-I-V-E !!!! Pursue the feeling of sky diving, every ordinary day.
The memories that I revisit most are of things that I did before I was 30 and became a husband and a parent.....that cross country trip, the time that I spent in Europe....

My best job memories are when I liked what I was doing at work so much, that I resented the interruptions of weekends and holidays. The 16 years that I spent working for corporations in the kind of jobs that a general arts and sciences, BA or BS degree will qualify you for, are among the least memorable, most stagnating periods in my life.

I've been a business owner with employees, and it's rewarding and fulfilling, but it is lonely at the "top". I found that I had too much at stake to fraternize with people who worked for me, and the business had to come first. There is a lot that you can't share when you have the pressure and responsibility of running a business, but it beats, hands down, working for a corporation in an "office".

You seem to have a flare for writing.....do more of it. You will always find your "day job" more tolerable if you have something that excites you, that you can build on, going on, on the side. You can go to college, anytime. Events and your own POV have kept you from doing it so far, do all of the things that being unattached allow you to do now....and you won't be giving anything up when the time comes to make commitments that will make travel or quick job and lifestyle changes more difficult.

You probably won't be doing much soul searching 30 years from now, if you postpone college, or don't go at all. You will probably focus your soul searching on wondering why you didn't see more of the world and try to find what you were truly meant to be doing, when you had the opportunity to do so. The influences and experience that can be shared by getting to know women in other places, cannot be underestimated. If you decide to try travel or life in some other locale, I suggest that you make some contacts using a site/service like match.com before you get there.

[Lasereth]

How much money are you making welding? I hate to be a trivial money-focused type of person, but I have my college degree from a university and it's not helping me get into the job field at all. If you're making college-level money, I'd hate to see you quit the job and find yourself screwed when you're done.

[ziadel]

right now, not as much as I'd like, just 15 bucks an hour, I should be making at least 20, if I had my own equipment I could be making 45 an hour.

I dunno, it's not like I will forget how to weld, but honestly at this point stopping for a few years would make continuing my welding career easier, as a lot of employers have a hard time believing I can do what I say I can do. Welding is a bit more complicated than most people think, even people who know how to weld. It's not easy to produce x-ray quality welds on demand.


but, to make things more interesting, montana workers comp has decided to deny my claim. so now I have to sue them. yay.



oh, host, I grew up in New York, I aint going back