When I returned here to San Diego this past January, I came back for the proximity to an airport, the chance at better job opportunities, and the 100% Internet connectivity via my Verizon v-card. And although I've enjoyed my time and have been pretty comfortable here at the Sun Harbor Marina on San Diego Bay - Shelter Island, the job situation hasn't worked out so well, as the Internet search has been nearly worthless and the in-person and local-contact search has netted two interviews in total (in my field), and of course, rather than restaurants hiring (I seriously considered it and even went to my old college employer to check it out), they're actually shutting their doors.
What went wrong with the interviews? I felt I was definitely qualified for both positions - quite a bit overqualified for one of them - but I think given my history these last few years I'm not coming off as much of a long-term committed employee. And with my blabbermouth, even the mention in passing of my boys half a continent away would sorta make me feel emotional about missing them, and I'm sure I didn't hide that too well.... Bottom line: I think they saw my thin level of commitment to San Diego and that I'd have a hard time sticking around for more than a year or much longer than it took to get back on my feet. There are too many other qualified candidates out there for them to go with, I suppose.So... in the interest of not paying crazy marina + liveaboard fees anymore, and getting the boat somewhere more financially reasonable where I can keep her while I see the boys and then seek work wherever it may be after that, I'm going to sail Chemistry back to San Carlos / Guaymas, lock her down tight, and then go be with my boys.A good friend, a very reasonable and conservative friend (G), said to me before I bought Chemistry: "Maybe you should rent a boat. Can you just test it out to see if you really like that life and everything?" And he was spot-on with the conservatism (fiscally - we all know he's wrong about his social conservatism), but what happened is that I absolutely loved the "cruising life" and the people I've met so far in it... what didn't pan out so well, and has made his concern almost Nostradamus-esque, was the economic downturn that caused my startup's funding angel to walk away and leave the company to shrivel as we just tried to keep the thing breathing with no salaries, no more passion, and very little hope.So yeah, it would have been better if I'd never signed on that line to buy this boat, but I probably would have continued to sink my entire 401k into my vacant house anyway, just because of a need to do the right thing - to pay the debt I owed the heartless mortgage company. But more importantly, I wouldn't have experienced the amazing time I've had in Mexico (or the amazing time sailing down from Seattle, for that matter). And as I watch the trash compactor walls close in around me and my boat (I'm Han Solo and Chemistry is my faithful Chewbacca), I keep reaching for the pole that will slow the walls just a bit longer, and right now that helpful pole is getting the boat back where $100 is a month's worth of a mooring ball in a safe harbor. I've had my R2D2 friends and family, tapping into the Death Star's systems to help with life-sustaining loans, but those loans have been helpful for much more than the boat and my "keeping the dream alive" - they've enabled me to stay almost but not quite current on my responsibilities as a dad - the school and child care stability that keeps my boys from feeling the pain of this economy and this situation.So what next? After getting the boat back to cheaper digs, I'll get almost a whole month with the boys while R goes on travel. I'll get amazing little kid hugs from a two-month absence, and I won't want to let them go. They'll have grown so big since I last saw them in February, but I know also they'll be happy and content, as R & I do our exceptional job of navigating through this process of divorce, relocation, life change.... And at the end of June I'll travel somewhere, anywhere in the world that could use me. Or, maybe lightning will strike, and one of my projects will hit just the right chord with an investor, or my writing will find its way to Oprah's desk. TT
