The Job Has Come Upon Me!

Those familiar with The Pixies will appreciate my most recent of titles. A title that is humorously true in my life. All of a sudden the job has come upon me. "Marcus! Put away those t-shirts! Take up business casual," says life while I sit in an interview for an administrative position. "A little straight-laced for you, isn't it?" says a professor, being honest with a teaspoon of tact. They force my hand and my song. I must sing back in great frankblackfrancis tone, "THE JOB HAS COME UPON ME!"

What happened to the day when people congratulated you for just getting a job? I have appreciated all of the, "What about luthiery?" questions. Those questions show that people were interested in what I wanted to pursue. Something has got to give, however. When credit card, school, utilities, rent and all other bills start screaming, "Pay me!" I must concede. Like a writer or an artist accepting a position as an instructor, I accept this position at TIU. Dreams are good to have, but they are dreams, and sometimes we have to take care of reality first. Not a fun fact for us to learn in America, a land of opportunity (or a land of forgotten middle-class, but that's a rant for another time).

I have other dreams besides occupational dreams. I have dreams that Adrienne and I can travel, see places while we are young, and hopefully when we are old. I have dreams of being out of debt, free and clear, which is connected to a dream of being able to volunteer my time in ministry. I have dreams of having a place to call my own. All of these other dreams require something of my occupation that luthiery can not provide at this moment. There are no shops for me to join, one downfall of Chicago area, and opening my own requires a significant amount of money and time. Only one of those variables (time) do I have.

The job has come upon me and I am ready. I am excited for a different opportunity (more of a sober excitement than an ebullient excitement). I am excited to grow. I am excited about nights off and weekends off. I am excited about benefits and being paid on time, something I currently do not have. Thank you to some of you that have showed concern, but I'll be more than fine (Listen to Fiona Apple's song entitled "Waltz (Better Than Fine)" as a good reference). Adrienne and I are excited about this stage in our life and we hope others can celebrate with us.

On a real quick NPR blurb, it has been reported by NPR that Citigroup Inc. will be committing $50 billion to environmental projects over the next decade. This commitment goes down as one of the biggest Wall Street commitments to address climate change. We can all start clapping a little, clapping requires no fossil fuels.