I've been waiting for something momentous to happen.

Depending on whether you trust my homenode or the information under my user search, this is either my 1999th or 2000th node. I had been hoping to get to this milestone in May, five years after I became an M-Noder. Unfortunately, my desire to write didn't match an artificial goal I gave myself. I was then hoping to time number 2000 to a big announcement, but again, the upcoming news has not meshed with my artificial goal.

In 2013, I briefly taught community college, a job that I left because there was not enough enrollment. Since that time, I have been looking into getting a similar job, although hopefully one with more stability. To that end, I had a spreadsheet with every institution of higher education in five states, and I would regularly check their job offerings, and I made two dozen applications over the course of a year. Out of those applications, I got three possible acceptances. Two weeks ago, I had a job interview for one. It was 700 miles away, 9 hours a week, and since they interviewed me two weeks ago, I have twice been told that they were about to come to a decision. If they do offer me the job, I will have less than four weeks to move. It does not seem like a very sustainable or realistic situation. After a year of trying, I've decided that my employment plans have to change. The adjunct faculty system just doesn't seem to be doable.

So as a piece of strategic transcendence, I am planning on doing something totally different. I have not been out of the extended Pacific Northwest region since 2005. I have become myopic, stuck in a triangle between Portland, Seattle and Montana. I've recently realized that while travel does tend to be expensive, it isn't as expensive as some other things I've done, and the expense is certainly not too much when I consider that seeing as much as the United States as I can is a major life goal for me. For around 650 dollars, I can ride Amtrak as much as I want for 30 days (some restrictions may apply). Although I don't know the specifics, I am thinking that my next plan is to tour the country via train and expand my mental list of choices available to me.

Oh, and continue to work on the third millennium of noding.