(no subject)
Feb. 23rd, 2005 12:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
liptonrm_backupI've officially hit the 'too damn bored' portion of my week. So, just for that, I'm going to sit here and ramble. Ya'll can read further at your own peril.
I haven't told a whole bunch of people about this yet, mostly because I have an superstitious fear of jinxing things, but I'm taking the Foreign Service exam in April. I'm all registered and everything. This is both an exciting and completely nerve-wracking decision, as any life-changing event tends to be. I'm really hoping I do well on the exam.
I have always, in the back of my mind, wanted to be a diplomat. I've always felt that my talents lie in that area. I studied history not because I have a love of the past but rather because I have a love of understanding people and society and the differences and similarities between the lot of us. Understanding where a people comes from is fundamental in understanding who they are. I love language for the same reason. Once I finally heard about the Foreign Service and researched what it entailed everything seemed to fall into place.
Cause, if I have to spend much more time stuck in a world of administrative bullshit I think I'll go crazy. I was the same way in school. When it was a subject that I cared about and that challenged me intellectually I tended to get high marks, but if it was a subject that I just couldn't be arsed enough to take seriously I would, in the worlds of Peter Gibbons, only do enough to not get fired.
Yeah, a change is definitely needed. If I can't live in fandom I might as well do the next best thing, go out there and try and save the world. When I was a missionary I worked hard and I loved it because I felt like what I was doing mattered, that I was helping people and making their worlds better, if only a tiny bit. I want to feel that again, as if what I'm doing matters, that I'm doing more then sitting on my ass earning money.
Wow, looking back at all of that it's kind of ... whiny. Sorry about that. Really, I am very excited about my new prospects. Just think about it, living in another country helping to foster communication and peace. It's all very shiny and bouncy.
Word Origin of the Day: Patrol-Soldiers are fond of griping about the unpleasant conditions encountered while doing their routine tasks, including going on "patrol." This action, in fact, gets its name from unpleasant conditions. It began as the Old French verb patouiller, referring to "slogging or paddling around in the mud."
I haven't told a whole bunch of people about this yet, mostly because I have an superstitious fear of jinxing things, but I'm taking the Foreign Service exam in April. I'm all registered and everything. This is both an exciting and completely nerve-wracking decision, as any life-changing event tends to be. I'm really hoping I do well on the exam.
I have always, in the back of my mind, wanted to be a diplomat. I've always felt that my talents lie in that area. I studied history not because I have a love of the past but rather because I have a love of understanding people and society and the differences and similarities between the lot of us. Understanding where a people comes from is fundamental in understanding who they are. I love language for the same reason. Once I finally heard about the Foreign Service and researched what it entailed everything seemed to fall into place.
Cause, if I have to spend much more time stuck in a world of administrative bullshit I think I'll go crazy. I was the same way in school. When it was a subject that I cared about and that challenged me intellectually I tended to get high marks, but if it was a subject that I just couldn't be arsed enough to take seriously I would, in the worlds of Peter Gibbons, only do enough to not get fired.
Yeah, a change is definitely needed. If I can't live in fandom I might as well do the next best thing, go out there and try and save the world. When I was a missionary I worked hard and I loved it because I felt like what I was doing mattered, that I was helping people and making their worlds better, if only a tiny bit. I want to feel that again, as if what I'm doing matters, that I'm doing more then sitting on my ass earning money.
Wow, looking back at all of that it's kind of ... whiny. Sorry about that. Really, I am very excited about my new prospects. Just think about it, living in another country helping to foster communication and peace. It's all very shiny and bouncy.
Word Origin of the Day: Patrol-Soldiers are fond of griping about the unpleasant conditions encountered while doing their routine tasks, including going on "patrol." This action, in fact, gets its name from unpleasant conditions. It began as the Old French verb patouiller, referring to "slogging or paddling around in the mud."
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no subject
Date: 2005-02-23 06:15 pm (UTC)Not long to go. Study hard :-)
no subject
Date: 2005-02-23 06:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-23 07:29 pm (UTC)And I do have to study. Oy, ze testing, she is never done.
i'm so proud...
Date: 2005-02-24 06:20 am (UTC)*sniff*
so proud :)
no subject
Date: 2005-02-24 04:58 pm (UTC)The Foreign Service is ... well the people who work in it are generally embassy people, whether it be the person who stamps the visas or the people who interface between one government and the other. I'd pretty much be a diplomat, or, at the very least, a diplomat-in-training.
Or course, it's all in order to further my heretofore secret plans of world domination;-).
no subject
Date: 2005-02-24 06:19 pm (UTC)I can't say I'm all that surprised about this really. Good luck to you! I was actually expecting you to look into joining the Peace Corps. If this falls through, maybe you'd look into that? One of Becky's best friends from college went into it, and met her current husband that way. She teaches in a school in Africa, and she loves it there.
I do understand about wanting to make a difference/save the world though. That's why I'm becoming a teacher. I don't think there are many professions more noble than educating our future doctors, lawyers, diplomats, scientists, politicians, and Nobel prize winners! School is where everyone starts. Teachers really deserve a lot more respect and admiration than they get, you know? Nurses too. And secretaries, admin. assistants, and all the little people- the cogs of the wheel!
Anyway, good luck to you... but I'll be sad to see you go :(