I think your old man and my old man should get together and go bowling.

It's a fried pickle night.

Our collective future at the photo lab continues to look bleak. We're doing really well for Christmas, but as Cinema Mark and I agree, almost no amount of kicking ass is going to both make up for the past (the debt the store has) and cover the tumbleweeds of January. Mark is counting on leaving after the holiday, which he can somewhat comfortably do and focus more on cinematography work.

I've put it off as long as humanly possible but I've started looking for other jobs. My first stop was a site for jobs at the numerous federal agencies here in DFW, one of which was very similar to a job (I'm told) in DC for which I made the final cut but was hopelessly defeated by two veterans (damn veterans). It was a public relations position, for which I have nearly zero qualifications--and in this DC job I qualified at an alarmingly high grade--and I figured hey, who's stopping me. However, this one seems to be linked directly to the field of education. Let's stop a moment and review my background in educational studies.

Back in 2000 when I minored in political science, I took a class that was 1/3 poli sci, 1/3 education and 1/3 law. It was a really interesting class, and while it was infact open to undergrads, it was mostly a grad studies class (I know now) for education majors. Apparently those degree plan counseling sessions might not have been such a bad idea. Anyhoo, I learned shitloads and shitloads, but I was also so painfully out of place. One key example...during the law part, we read different court cases and discussed whether we agreed with the Court's opinion, any dissenting Judge's opinions, etc. Well, we got to Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972), and to sum up and steal from wiki and about.com:

"Wisconsin v. Yoder is the case in which the United States Supreme Court found that Amish children could not be placed under compulsory education past 8th grade, as it violated their fundamental right to freedom of religion."

The significance:

"The decision prohibited state governments from claiming any absolute right to institute compulsive high school education and intrude into the way in which families raise children.

It would set a bad precedent to tell the Amish that they can’t raise their children the way they wish; at the same time, it would be a grievous error to assume that families can do anything they wish in the name of their religion. At some point, the interests of the children must take precedence and the problem with this decision is that the line between parental rights and children’s rights is not adequately addressed."

In the end, only one Judge (Douglas) had recognized this and was the sole dissenter. But the point is that when the professor asked everyone if they agreed with the Court's decision, I was the only one to raise my hand. And he fucking smiled, like it was cute or something. I argued my side, the whole time feeling like we were studying geology and I had raised my hand to say something like, "Yes, I absolutely believe the government planted those 'dinosaur' bones in the ground!"

I can still see either side of the debate (the Amish case, not whether or not dinosaurs are real), which probably makes my dad roll his eyes even now...

The point is, I don't have a lot of background in education. A third of a class might not count for much. And I doubt I could even very eloquently describe what a magnet or charter school is anymore...I certainly won't try it here.

So I kept filling out this (multiple choice) application telling myself I was honest in my answers...and then we got to the show-stopping fill-in-the-blank "Please state your views on (some education-related current event I couldn't bullshit my way out of if my life depended on it)." Yeah, I closed the window and admitted defeat.

So the search continues. There is a fallback plan (working full-time at the new Studio Movie Grill in Arlington as a projectionist) but I'm trying so hard for that not to happen. But that's another entry...