The big announcement finally.

I have learned in funny ways this week that a lot more people read my blog than I know of. For one, I had a message on my answering machine from my friend KK, needing to know what my big announcement is. I introduced that I had an announcement to make and then I never made it.

Well, my announcement is that I am going back to school. I have been thinking of going back for a really long time but the 'what' part kept stumping me. I didn't know what to take. I'd like to get my degree but I also want something that is going to be useful and employable and a degree isn't necessarily that. I would love to go into creative writing but don't want to find myself in another unstable, uncertain career. I love interpreting. I just don't get enough work. I don't want to stop interpreting, just find a second career to do part time while I also interpret part time.

I could go into every minute detail of why interpreting doesn't quite cut it as a full time career but the list is long and boring. It's not fair to just give you the teaser though so I'll mention a few things. No benefits, no taxes taken off, no work for three months out of the year, loads of commuting, no understanding of what it is that we do by half of the people we do it for (the hearing ones), unstable schedules, every December, April and August stressfully spent trying to find enough work for the next semester.

I am single and I live alone so mine is the only income coming in (ok, income coming in is redundant and funny) and I can't have any sort of life because I am just trying to make ends meet.

That's the end of that rant.

I don't want to just make ends meet. I don't want to even just be comfortable. I want to be rich. And I am going to be.

So back to the back to school thing... I knew I wanted to go back years ago but I really had no idea of what to go in to. I like to write, draw, paint, sing, dance etc. I love all things creative and much of my spare time is spent doing one of these things. I just can't think of a stable career in a creative capacity. I also love lists and numbers and order. I just spend less time nurturing that aspect of my personality.

One day last February, I was chilling out, surfing Wikipedia for anything fun and came across the Rockstar Supernova page. As I scrolled down the page, I got more and more excited. It was list after list. Of the contestants, of the songs they sang, who sang them originally, if they were in the bottom three, the top three, what they sang as an encore or to save themselves, and then at the very bottom a graph of the whole thing.

The thing was, that next to me, in a drawer, was a notebook with all of the exact same information in similar lists and even a graph (seriously). I had made my own Rock Star graph. This is where I confess to the world at large that I make lists while I watch reality tv. Reality tv is more fun for me, if I can make a list and a graph of what is going on on the show. If I watch Survivor I keep track of who is on what team, who wins who loses, what the prize is, what the punishment is and who gets voted off. Amazing Race - same thing. America's Next Top Model - you bet. American Idol - of course. I actually think I watch these shows as an excuse to make the lists and graphs.

So sitting there scrolling down the Wikipedia page drooling and exited, I realized that I would be happiest if I could get paid to make lists and graphs and charts and spreadsheets. Give me piles of paperwork and I will put it all in order by date, by number, by alphabet, by size. I will file it, shred it, staple it, paperclip it, photocopy it and trim it. And I will love every moment of it. My personal paperwork is in immaculate order. I invent reasons to create spreadsheets. I write lists daily, of anything I can think of to put in a list.

I decided then and there that I would go back to school and become proficient in all the computer programs that have to do with these things. Windows, exel, word, works, powerpoint, access, spreadsheet. I found a program at BCIT that was exactly what I needed. I could start in May.

May came and went and I didn't register for school. I talked about it. I was excited about it but I didn't register. I decided to put it off until September. I had some reasons but they were all just excuses really.

Along came Jack Canfield and the Success Principles and an unexpected lunch with a friend who I rarely see. LM contacted me over Facebook and said let's do lunch. We made a plan and met a week later. Over lunch, I told her about going back to school and the whole Wikipedia story of how I discovered what I wanted to do. After I finished she said to me "You know what you want to do, is be a bookkeeper".

"Oh, no, no, not at all." I said. "I don't want to have to figure things out, I just want to list and chart and graph them."

"Tell me again exactly what it is that you want to do and why." She said to me.
I explained my passions for lists and order and charts and graphs and paperwork. And she said "Yeah, I'm pretty sure you want to be a bookkeeper."

I figured I hadn't really explained myself very well and let it go. We finished lunch and I drove away not really giving it a second thought.

Weeks later, I was on the Internet, thinking about school and wondering if I could put off going back until January and wondering why if I felt so excited about it, was I continually putting it off. My conversation with LM came back to me and I decided to see why she seemed to think I'd like bookkeeping. I started to do some research into it and it did look like it would be up my alley.

It was this day that I took the IQ test online and got back that I was a visual mathematician. It all fell into place (like tetris) and all of a sudden it seemed so obvious. I called JM, who just got his CGA and is a genius and knows me like the back of his hand. "I'm thinking of going into bookkeeping. Whaddaya think?"

He paused for half a second and then said "I can't believe that we didn't come up with that sooner for you. I think it's the perfect match." He helped me research what the job market is like in Vancouver for Bookkeepers. It's good. He helped me figure out the different programs and classes and which school is best.

Within days I was registered and I start September 15th. I have 4 years to complete the program but I am hoping to be done by Christmas next year.

I also just booked full time work for this semester and got a huge raise. I am on my way! Look at me go!