The Future (and Past)

Bought a Roth IRA on Tuesday. I have to admit, it felt a little silly planning for retirement when I don't even have what could credibly be described as a career yet. Then again, it's a good fund, tax-free, and I can raid it to buy a home later on. (Of course, I'll also need a spare $200,000 to get started in SF, but a man can dream can't he?)

In other news, for those of you unaware, I'm starting another new job in a week and a half. This time I'll be a writer at a marketing firm up in Sausalito, which should provide me with some hands-on writing training as well as a challenging bike ride to and from work. Thinking back the other night, I calculated that I will have held an astouding 10 jobs since college. A stroll down memory lane anyone?

1. US Peace Corps volunteer in Guyana-started two weeks after graduation. I was an IT educator in a place without computers or classes, or much of a plan. Very nice people in Guyana (and very evil people), but I'm not an IT guy. I did have some extremely meaningful mements teaching kids about HIV/AIDS (Guyana has the second-highest infection rate in the western hemisphere) and I made some excellent friends here.

2. Delivered flowers for Valentine's Day in Seattle. Learned Seattle geography, that roses break easily, that all flower sellers use the same distributors, and that some cheapasses out there have flowers sent to their significant other on February 13 to save a few bucks.

3. Data entry and receptionist at Carpenter's Trust of Western Washington in Seattle. Amazing how many nice people work at evil insurance companies.

4. "Office Assistant" at the Neurosurgery clinic at Harborview Medical Center. I surfed the net a WHOLE lot at this one. One particularly sucky neurosurgeon used to call me to see if I'd put him on hold or not (and in my defense, what else can I do when the phone is ringing off the hook? Hold is better than not answering, right?). The catch: he was under federal indictment for screwing Medicare! Not the first crook I'd work for...

5. Worked for the Washington State Democrats putting together some fundraisers, including the historic 2002 Washington State Democratic Convention (featuring my old pal, Chris Dodd (D-CT). I learned that working cheap to stuff envelopes, even in politics, sucks the fat one. However, lots of free beer at this job - nothing wrong with that!

6. Office Manager/Research Assistant - Bonora D'Andrea Trial Consultants. I learned a lot about law here with two razor sharp experts, and also learned that I never want to file something for someone else ever again. I outgrew this one, and figured out that law school isn't for me. I can't overstate how important that was.

7. Freelancer for SF Weekly. Hell, I'm still with this one! (Big feature to hit newsstands in April/May 2005.)

8. Creative Writer, Storytime Pictures. I have to give credit to a guy I don't particularly like - he said that when he found out I'd been hired as a full-time screenwriter, he had some serious questions about the organization. Not that I don't have a lot of promise as a screenwriter, of course, but I had zero experience and didn't particularly like animation. (That, to some extent, has changed. Anybody ever seen The Emperor's New Groove? Hysterical!) Still, it's hard to believe investor funding is on the way when one's boss is a liar and a criminal. Resolved: research a company more thoroughly before believing them.

9. Editor, Onstream Media. Loved covering the NFL and Booknotes, but did you read that part back up in #1? I'm not an IT guy! However, working in "digital asset management" made for amusing acronym usage.

10. Stay tuned - the journey continues in Sausalito on March 21.