I'm not even sure that this is a very good idea, but seeing that I'm just as mouthy and opinionated as anyone, I may as well get on with it.

It's been a strange few months for me. After a truly tedious series of interviews, phone conversations, and school visits, I haven't found a job that wouldn't be a daily misery. I suppose it's my own fault, being a Latin teacher isn't exactly a growth field. I had an offer that I thought I was going to take: Brockton, MA, but when I went to see the school I'd be teaching in, everything about it made me want to cry. I just couldn't sign the papers.

Now I'm mired in studying for the MTEL, which I'm probably going to fail. I wouldn't be so upset if the damn thing wasn't so expensive; I don't know if I can afford a re-take. Everyone I've spoken to about the Latin test says that it's absurdly specific: if you haven't read the particular selections from the particular authors, you're in trouble. Good people fail it all the time. So between reading selections of Vergil, Cicero, Horace, Catullus, and Pliny the Younger which I have no idea are even the right ones, I have to try to remember the entire Greek language. I haven't even looked at Greek as more than a curiosity in the past three years.

As bad as it might seem, I've got some ideas for so-called "employment." I've seen quilts, little ones, selling for almost a hundered dollars. I know I could whip those out pretty quick. I've also looked into teaching Latin to homeschoolers and tutoring. There's always substitute teaching, too. I think I could be a "professional project finisher" for lazy knitters if I improved my skills a bit. I can do (or figure out quickly) everything but cables.

So, there are some bright spots. I do wonder if I'm just being really idiotic about all this, though. I guess we'll find out.