I just got an email that says I have a job waiting for me, pending some paperwork, in Rockford, IL. I'll be working on regional jets, doing maintenance, which is a huge opportunity for a guy who is trying to break out of the single-engine and light-twin rut that comes with being a fresh A&P that hasn't had much experience. The A&P world is measured in years of experience on specific aircraft, not grades (mine were good) or ability or even years of experience in general.
So don't get me wrong, it's a good job.
But it also means moving to another new city, another new state, making a new list of friends at another new church. It means, once again, going somewhere new and starting all over again. Rockford will be the fourth city I've lived in four years, and IL will be the fourth state at the same time.
So don't get me wrong, it's a good job.
But it also means moving to another new city, another new state, making a new list of friends at another new church. It means, once again, going somewhere new and starting all over again. Rockford will be the fourth city I've lived in four years, and IL will be the fourth state at the same time.
And Illinois, well, it's not exactly a friendly place for practitioners of the shooting arts. "Felony Possession of Ammunition" is actually a thing there, I'll have to clean my car just to make sure that a spare and lost .22LR round doesn't land me in prison. Taking my rifles is out of the question, and I can't even take just my reloading gear to make ammo in my spare time.
I was told at Orientation that I'm too independent and too strong-willed, and need to work on getting along with others in order to be a good missionary. It seems that the events of the past few years of my life have made me a certain kind of person, and I'm not sure if that was something that I could have avoided if I even wanted to.
I mean, you don't learn to work well with authority when you get thrown out of a school for getting sick and making someone several thousand miles away suspicious that you may do something.
You don't learn to depend on other people when you have to move 700 miles past everyone you've ever met to live with strangers, especially when those strangers turn out to be insane.
You don't learn to be (whatever the "good" opposite of strong-willed is) when a hard life forces you to buckle down and keep going no matter how much you want to find a safe place and hide in it until the storm passes.
I'm not worried about surviving in Rockford, I'm a tough, independent, and strong-willed man that will do whatever it takes to survive. However, I'm worried that by the time I'm done being a nomad and can finally return to HQ for my technical evaluation, I'll have only become more strong-willed, more independent, and tougher. And I'm not even sure why those are bad things.
BUT...
The way to live life is to do what needs to be done now, now, and worry about tomorrow's problems later. Right now I need a job, and this is a job. It's not ideal, but nothing is, and nothing ever will be.
It's just not a particularly fun thing to look forward to. I'm not real quick at making good friends, and this job is only a contract gig, so I'll be there for six months, at which point I'll almost certainly move again. It will be a very great challenge to reach out to folks and make connections, knowing that not only will I leave at some point, but I'll be gone by Summer.
I was told at Orientation that I'm too independent and too strong-willed, and need to work on getting along with others in order to be a good missionary. It seems that the events of the past few years of my life have made me a certain kind of person, and I'm not sure if that was something that I could have avoided if I even wanted to.
I mean, you don't learn to work well with authority when you get thrown out of a school for getting sick and making someone several thousand miles away suspicious that you may do something.
You don't learn to depend on other people when you have to move 700 miles past everyone you've ever met to live with strangers, especially when those strangers turn out to be insane.
You don't learn to be (whatever the "good" opposite of strong-willed is) when a hard life forces you to buckle down and keep going no matter how much you want to find a safe place and hide in it until the storm passes.
I'm not worried about surviving in Rockford, I'm a tough, independent, and strong-willed man that will do whatever it takes to survive. However, I'm worried that by the time I'm done being a nomad and can finally return to HQ for my technical evaluation, I'll have only become more strong-willed, more independent, and tougher. And I'm not even sure why those are bad things.
BUT...
The way to live life is to do what needs to be done now, now, and worry about tomorrow's problems later. Right now I need a job, and this is a job. It's not ideal, but nothing is, and nothing ever will be.
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