Life’s Curveballs

To say the last couple of weeks have been tumultuous is an understatement. Since my last post I’ve had more crazy things happen to change my life and my perspectives on certain people than the last year.

Even more crazy than my divorce, and that’s saying a lot.

Perhaps, the biggest thing began with my job. For the last six and a half years, I worked for the Canutillo Independent School District. I say “worked” because I’m no longer with the district.

Yes, you read that correctly, I lost my job.

It’s odd how it happened really. I’ve always known I was an outsider in the small school district and in the community because I didn’t grow up in the area. There were challenges from day one. I tried not to get caught up in the politics because, well, I just wanted to do a good job and that was it. I wasn’t there to kiss ass and I just wanted to try and make a good thing better.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough as my boss was directed to let me go under the auspices of a re-organization in the district and my job being absorbed. It was a little tough to hear but the writing had been on the wall, at least from my perspective, and there was little I could do about it outside of applying for other jobs. For whatever reason, I knew it was coming and I had prepared myself mentally for it.

I’ll tell you what though; it still hurt to hear I was being let go and it was disappointing knowing it was politically motivated. It was almost as bad as being hit in the balls, and we all know how bad that can be (see my previous entry).

It’s hard to say there is a silver lining in all this but there is. The fact of the matter is I had not been happy about working there for a while. I wasn’t jumping out of bed in the morning to go to work with a pep in my step as I had done before. Instead, I dreaded going to work. I went to work to get my projects done as quickly as I could so I could get out of there when the whistle blew. I was so unhappy I was even debating how I could leave the district and just get out at the end of my contract, whether it would be ethical on my part to abandon ship. Thoughts of escape raced through my mind on a daily basis.

“Maybe I can play loony and just start throwing shit everywhere, yell obscenities while I run up and down the halls. I’ve always wanted to throw a chair through a window, so why not do it? What if I just started going to work in pajamas? Yeah Spider-Man! Or maybe, I could just continue to move my office without people knowing so that they forget about me and I have a windfall of money like Milton in Office Space. That would be awesome!”

And those are only the publishable thoughts.

At the same time, I knew I needed to get a job where I knew I would be challenged, where my mind would be thrown into the mode of puzzle solving and I would relish the notion of no two days being alike. Being let go took care of those problems for me and I have to say, I was a bit happy after the initial shock wore off.

Now that I don’t have a job, I can focus all my attention to finding a job that does just that.

And that is where the silver lining is. With my goal to improve my life with the #35Project list and trying to be a better person, it should not exclude the place I work. If anything, losing my job has given me the opportunity to really do something I enjoy and living somewhere completely different. Getting let go has pushed me to find the thing I love to do.

That’s a very good thing.

Right now, the thing I enjoy most is working as part of an alumni association. I really enjoy working as a volunteer with all of the alumni stuff, I think I’m a good people person and have a lot of energy but it’s time to get paid. While I know my end goal is to be the executive director of Notre Dame’s Alumni Association, I’m going to have to start somewhere and learn the ropes before getting that job. I’ve applied for jobs at ND in the past but have never been offered a job. Ironically, I applied for one job at football rival Stanford and had an interview, as they were impressed with all of my achievements working with the ND alumni club in El Paso.

It would be amazing if I landed a job there not only because it would be a foot in the door, but also because it’s a fantastic school. For all the trash I might talk during football season, I have a tremendous amount respect for the school and what it has to offer. More importantly, it would be a step in the direction towards my end goal. That’s never a bad thing.

On top of that, who wouldn’t want to live in California? Good weather, lots of culture, museums, events, and Lake Tahoe is a couple hours away in one direction and the beach an hour away in the other. It seems like a great idea, right?

That’s where part two of my major life changes come into play.

To me, moving to California does help with finding a good job and starting my journey towards the ND Alumni Association. That and I have nothing to lose. I’m rolling the dice and going to see what happens with the Bay Area. I’ve been told my résumé is impressive and I should be hearing back. I hope so because while I’m throwing caution to the wind by looking in California, there’s still a portion of me that freaks out.

For some reason he is an angry little Mexican voice too. Don’t ask me why.

“Hey pendejo, what the hell are you doing? You have no money coming in and you want to go to the most expensive state in the country, eh. Getting hit in the balls must have done more than you thought. Estupido.”

I don’t know what I’m doing exactly and that’s the best part of it. I’m still being realistic and looking for jobs in Texas and we’ll see what happens but I want to start somewhere completely new. California does that for me.

It has been a bit of a tough decision as I have had to step down from my ND Alumni Association regional director position and I’m going to be away from family. I’m okay with it and I know I’ll find another way to be involved with ND. The hardest decision has been moving away from my son and it tears me up but I was given some advice that helps make things easier.

If I’m ever going to be a great father for him, I have to be happy with my life and myself first before I can be the man he looks up to as he grows up. That’s more important than anything and I believe finding a new job and moving will help achieve that state of happiness.

It’s absolutely true and since being let go and looking for a new job I can get excited about, I’ve felt more energetic, more determined and more focused to just run with an idea or feeling.

So number one on the #35Project list is to get a new job, hopefully with Stanford. I have to pay the bills somehow!

More importantly, this is all about starting new and to have fun with the new experiences of the Bay Area.

Let the good times roll!