Boom-de-ah-da, boom-de-ah-da, I love my life

My current angst, now that I know I'll have no problems finishing my dual English and Design-visual communication Bachelors, is WHAT AM I GOING TO DO AFTER? The majority of the verbal freaking out and physical panic has receded to a deep-seated dread and uncertainty: what if my decision turns out to be the WRONG ONE? As such, I've been bothering all my relatives, professors, friends, people who I end up talking to in line at grocery stores for advice, opinions, and their personal experiences post-college.

I have two major routes to choose from: should I teach English abroad for a year, or move back home and look for work as a graphic designer? Note that I'll be doing the latter no matter when--teaching abroad will only be a year.

See, the issue at hand is that I did not realize that there was an Education minor until too late to actually take it and my grades aren't pure enough to enter grad school for the Master's in it. Also, illogical children baffle me for all their cuteness and I had no illusions about myself as a teenager, so a teacher for life I am not.

Why, you might ask, would I consider teaching abroad then?

It'll only be a year, including a 6 week summer break, and I'm torn between South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, China and Hong Kong. I'm wondering if my inability to interact with children extends to ALL of them and if cultural backgrounds really make any difference.

I've also never been outside of the States, and a week-long vacation isn't the kind of experience I'm yearning for. I want to experience another country in all its aspects, which means interacting with people beyond the level of a tourist asking for help, and I want to be able to take as long as I'd like. I want to experience life as how a native of the country might, which means a job and all the little things about daily life that no one truly pays attention to until they undergo it themselves.

Teaching will not be my life's vocation, so in my free time, I'll still be working on my portfolio, maybe try to freelance work overseas, or see if the language barrier will be an immovable obstacle for design work in which ever country I end up. Of course, no matter where I am, I always observe color, form, and function. If I go to Seoul or Taiwan, I would go with a designer's perspective of the environment. What influence might a foreign culture's design work have on my own?

Or would it be better to immediately begin job searching for designer positions after school, when my connections with professors and friends are still fresh? Especially as I'm not the most social creature?

Teaching abroad means another year of job security as I'll be applying through Teach Away Inc, with estimated salaries of approximately 2k a month. In this economy, that's a truly lovely thing. But after that year, will the job scarcity have improved any? Or would I just be an out-of-touch graduate competing with recent design students just as desperate for work? Would my foreign experience count for anything?

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If I DON'T teach abroad, I'll be moving back home and looking for design work in the Bay Area. Or else, since my mother has not stopped urging me, attending a master's program of some sort for graphic design. If I apply and am accepted.

I'm twenty-one, and I don't feel like an adult at all. Ninety percent of my life has consisted of schooling and I've never been independent from my family. Would teaching for a year in another country be away for me to grow up? Should I force myself out of my comfort zone... For a whole year?

Roommate left for a weekend in Reno with her boyfriend and his mother. I don't know whether to envy her or sympathize. My aunt called me to thank me for the free song, but had to end the call half way. No one picked up their phone today at work. I think I found my stolen bike--the tires, gears, and seat are completely shot.

Cool thing this weekend at work--one of the old alumni works for the USAF! I totally wigged at the really different voicemail message and almost hung up too late.

Another work story today: one of the other callers fudged up an area code and somehow called 911 instead. A cop actually came. XD Everyone had a good laugh over the sheepish boy, but he's one of the best, so the supervisors didn't give him any grief.

Also, due to my fiction writing classes, I'm lugging around my laptop on campus three days a week. I have a Li-something battery and I've been getting all sorts of different instructions on how to drain and charge it to best extend its life. Anyone got a definite answer? I got this Toshiba Satellite in July I think, so it's not that old.

Tomorrow, I begin my first day as an undergrad junior! Just Spanish and my Victorian English class, but English upper div after a whole summer of studio design classes! And lvl 3 Spanish after a whole summer of wholly English language!

*panics*

1. Starting the telemarketing job at the Annual Fund Oct 6, by which I need my SSN card. Which is at home, a 2.5 hour drive away. Parents gave me much grief for not thinking I might need it.

2. Cell phone not working due to old SIM being deactivated and new one not to be activated until Mom gets out of work and take a nap tomorrow.

3. Have to look for internship and choose English or Design, though I am totally leaning towards the latter.

4. Crossing fingers in hopes of getting into 2-unit freshmen seminar in which I will be reading and writing contemporary short stories. Waitlisted as #2 out of 15 capacity with one opening. Hopefully, a freshman will think the work too much and drop!

5. Should I go to my friend's birthday celeb this weekend? She and her boyfriend will be going with a whole bunch of other engineering friends. Essentially, I'll be in a group of people in which I only know two. But it's her 21st. Argh.

Current song obsession: Leona Lewis's Misses Glass and I CANNOT find a free download of it ANYWHERE. I swear, I go to sleep hearing it in my head. XD

Woke up, began emptying fridge, removing shelves, and washed half of them. Leaving the wet pieces on the front lawn, my dad, sister, and I headed out for a typical Saturday morning-- Costco for a lunch of Polish dogs and pizza, then a trip to the library.

At the library, I met one of the librarians who's been my volunteering supervisor the eight years I've been volunteering at the library. Asked him if I could use him as a reference for future jobs, and to my relief, he agreed and gave me his business card. I haven't seen him in more than year, so it's awesome N remembered me!

Interestingly enough, the Internet works when I'm on my roommate's computer, but not on mine. I'm just glad that I can use her laptop while she's away.

Also, I am simultaneously racing to finish two books at once--Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway and Flann O'Brien's At-Swim-Two-Birds. Both are very strange and amusing.

Tomorrow, I go to interview for a telemarketing position. Handling rejection pays pretty well should I get it!

On a fannish note, I've converted, along with 50 percent of my flist, to the love of jianto from torchwood. By myself, I've revived my Roy/Ed love.