The future

As people know, I am not a big into newsletters, or posting on-line. But enough people are asking how my future plans are going that I thought that it might be useful to sum it all up.

My current job is due to end at the end of January so come the new year I will be searching for something new to do. Of course there is always nannying to fall back on, but I really do want to move on to something else. As a result it has been a very busy fall.

It started last Spring when Kathy and the kids sent me to see a career councillor and I found out what I want to be when I grow up, now I just have to see if I can make it happen. The job I fell in love with is that of a conservation and restoration technician. Unbelievably a job that would call on most of my skills and interests from the angles that most fascinate me! If I do manage to get the required training and find a job in the field, it is my belief that I wouldn’t be going to work every day, but to play. Yes, it might often be slow, laborious and perhaps even frustrating; but it would always fascinating, and, I think, fun. Not knowing where to start, I went to the ROM and talked briefly to someone who worked in the conservation department there. She pointed me towards Flemming College in Peterborough, the only place with a Collections Conservation and Management Course in the country. It was interesting that unlike anything else I might have been interested in re-training for, it is only a 16 month course; rather than three years.

I decided to try for it, as I have nothing to lose in the attempt and if I don’t try then I’ve already failed. The main stumbling block was that I would need Grade 12 Chemistry before I could apply.

I’ve been attending a nearby Toronto High School to get the Chem. It’s a night course that takes place two evenings a week for three hours with no break. It is a very intense and fast paced course that has proven to be quite challenging. I have been enjoying it though, maybe because it gives the old grey cells and good work out. It has also been a fascinating window onto the world around us. I have often found that it gives me a deeper level (or perhaps just another layer) of understanding of things mentioned in conversation or on T.V.. There is also a whole slew of things I’m going to be following up after the course is over. I don’t think I’ve done too badly for plunging back into learning a single, isolated subject so far from my own highschool days with the supporting subjects of science, biology and math twenty-five years behind me. I’m currently pulling just under an 80% average and expect to pass the course, even if I don’t have the most spectacular grade ever. Studying has been taking up most of my free time, when I wasn’t looking (unsuccessfully) for a local, part-time job. I have even been known to turn up at social events and spend a good portion of them working in a corner.

I addition I am also studying for my citizenship test that is scheduled for next week . The other thing I had to do in the fall was put in my application for the course.

The start of 2009 is going to be most interesting. Jan 6th - Citizenship Test, Jan 19th - Final Exam, Mid to late Jan - get results from first two, Jan 31st - out of work, Feb 2nd - find out if I’ve been accepted on the course, Jan - Feb - hope to find a new job, Feb 11th - get tonsils removed.

Hopefully March and the run up to FKO, will be much more relaxing and soothing on the nerves; after all; I’m only the Con Chair! After the con.... If I didn’t get into Flemming I will need to find new digs. I think that’s about it. I’ll keep people posted.