State of the Union address
Jan. 3rd, 2004 10:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
judecorpSo one of my best oldest friends in the whole wide world (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
volumeat11, whom I met in Grade 7) has been really antsy and excited about the fact that Jennifer and I are discussing a move to Massachusetts. I told him we've been doing a lot of forward-thinking discussion, and he said I should update on that. So, umm, here it is. :)
When Jennifer and I learned that the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that denying marriage licenses to same-sex couples was unConstitutional, it seemed to "seal the deal" and decide where we were going to move after leaving Ohio. Because neither one of us was particularly thrilled with our jobs (understatement), and because Jennifer was especially miserable, we decided that we would move some time in the upcoming summer, come hell or high water. I estimated that this would take approximately $8000 (first, last, and deposit on a new apartment; moving costs; etc.), and have been agonizing about how to come up with that level of cash on short notice. We currently have $1000. I could fill in the rest with my house-buying money if needed, and that is likely what would happen, because we could probably only put aside $400/month, and that's with no extraneous spending.
Jennifer has been doing a lot of thinking about what she wants to do as a career and how she wants to accomplish that. Now that the whole thesis mess is behind us, she has decided that she is ready to make a conscious choice to find creative work. This means that she needs to develop a portfolio, and she's given herself six months to do so. when the portfolio is completed, she's going to start sending it out to companies and apply for jobs. One of the companies she'd like to try to get into is Disney. I think she'd also be very successful with some of the video game companies, since she's talented with scenic design and modelling. (Then again, I think she's great at everything!)
If she was able to land a creative job that she was happy with that also paid her a significant amount of money, I would pretty much go anywhere she needed to go. As a social worker, my career options are pretty flexible, and though I'd love a Big Gay JobTM again, I primarily want a Big Gay Family, so I have to go where The Girl is. I'm sure that as long as we ended up in a major metropolitan area, I could get a decent social work job. Since another thing we've discussed is when to have children, that would end up shifting all of the career/job stuff anyway. We want to start working on having a family in two years. The one thing Jennifer really wants before starting a family is a house, or (at the very least) to be living in a place we think we're going to want to stay. If she finds a creative job she's happy with, we're going to hope that the job is in a place we'd want to stay!
Of course, if she doesn't find anything creative right away, it probably makes more sense for us to stay in Columbus, because a) we already have jobs here, b) it's TEH CHEEP, and c) it doesn't make sense to spend a ton of money to move, and then maybe have to move again if she /does/ get a good creative job. This is going to break my father's heart, I'm afraid, because ever since I mentioned the possibility of us moving back East, he's been going bonkers. Aah well. It's just so damned expensive to move, and I don't want Jennifer to take some sales job she hates just because it will help us move East. She's struggled so much with what she wants to do with her life and how she wants to do it, and now that she's decided something and given herself an ultimatum I'd rather not stop it.
Now if I could find a Big Gay JobTM in the same place that she finds a creative job, /and/ we're able to score a house and a family, well shoot, I'd say we got it. So that's where it stands right now.
volumeat11, whom I met in Grade 7) has been really antsy and excited about the fact that Jennifer and I are discussing a move to Massachusetts. I told him we've been doing a lot of forward-thinking discussion, and he said I should update on that. So, umm, here it is. :)When Jennifer and I learned that the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that denying marriage licenses to same-sex couples was unConstitutional, it seemed to "seal the deal" and decide where we were going to move after leaving Ohio. Because neither one of us was particularly thrilled with our jobs (understatement), and because Jennifer was especially miserable, we decided that we would move some time in the upcoming summer, come hell or high water. I estimated that this would take approximately $8000 (first, last, and deposit on a new apartment; moving costs; etc.), and have been agonizing about how to come up with that level of cash on short notice. We currently have $1000. I could fill in the rest with my house-buying money if needed, and that is likely what would happen, because we could probably only put aside $400/month, and that's with no extraneous spending.
Jennifer has been doing a lot of thinking about what she wants to do as a career and how she wants to accomplish that. Now that the whole thesis mess is behind us, she has decided that she is ready to make a conscious choice to find creative work. This means that she needs to develop a portfolio, and she's given herself six months to do so. when the portfolio is completed, she's going to start sending it out to companies and apply for jobs. One of the companies she'd like to try to get into is Disney. I think she'd also be very successful with some of the video game companies, since she's talented with scenic design and modelling. (Then again, I think she's great at everything!)
If she was able to land a creative job that she was happy with that also paid her a significant amount of money, I would pretty much go anywhere she needed to go. As a social worker, my career options are pretty flexible, and though I'd love a Big Gay JobTM again, I primarily want a Big Gay Family, so I have to go where The Girl is. I'm sure that as long as we ended up in a major metropolitan area, I could get a decent social work job. Since another thing we've discussed is when to have children, that would end up shifting all of the career/job stuff anyway. We want to start working on having a family in two years. The one thing Jennifer really wants before starting a family is a house, or (at the very least) to be living in a place we think we're going to want to stay. If she finds a creative job she's happy with, we're going to hope that the job is in a place we'd want to stay!
Of course, if she doesn't find anything creative right away, it probably makes more sense for us to stay in Columbus, because a) we already have jobs here, b) it's TEH CHEEP, and c) it doesn't make sense to spend a ton of money to move, and then maybe have to move again if she /does/ get a good creative job. This is going to break my father's heart, I'm afraid, because ever since I mentioned the possibility of us moving back East, he's been going bonkers. Aah well. It's just so damned expensive to move, and I don't want Jennifer to take some sales job she hates just because it will help us move East. She's struggled so much with what she wants to do with her life and how she wants to do it, and now that she's decided something and given herself an ultimatum I'd rather not stop it.
Now if I could find a Big Gay JobTM in the same place that she finds a creative job, /and/ we're able to score a house and a family, well shoot, I'd say we got it. So that's where it stands right now.
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no subject
Date: 2004-01-03 07:58 am (UTC)done indeed
Date: 2004-01-03 09:18 am (UTC)Pity what you want usually comes down to money. I'll see if I can conjur (sp) a winning lottery ticket, and the four of us can doowhatchalike. I'll keep you posted...and no, it won't be Powerball.
Good luck, thanks for the info, and lemme know if y'all need anything -- a place to crash for a while, restaurant ideas, a screwdriver, whatever...
no subject
Date: 2004-01-03 10:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-03 10:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-03 01:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-03 01:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-03 01:23 pm (UTC)Re: done indeed
Date: 2004-01-03 01:25 pm (UTC)We'll just come and hole up camp in you and Melis's guest room. WHEE! Permaguests!
no subject
Date: 2004-01-03 01:28 pm (UTC)HOWEVER, western Mass wins on the "could afford a house" factor.
We're both Libras.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-03 01:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-03 01:57 pm (UTC)I have always wanted to adopt at least one child since I was a kid. Jen would like to have a biological child. So we'll probably do both, though I'm not sure which one will come first (probably her biological child).
You can be nosy all you want. We love you! :)
no subject
Date: 2004-01-03 05:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-04 08:23 am (UTC)Sides I'm living in the Mission this go around. No communes there.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-04 03:12 pm (UTC)(Of course, smoochie says she won't live in the Mission...)
no subject
Date: 2004-01-05 06:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-05 09:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-05 11:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-05 12:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-05 07:07 pm (UTC)syntax error
Date: 2004-01-08 04:00 am (UTC)And, yes, you two are allowed to hole up in our guest bedroom. Just promise to be cute and occasionally get a pizza.
Re: syntax error
Date: 2004-01-08 07:15 am (UTC)And as for cute and pizza, I think we've got them both covered. :)