I’ve never been afraid of jumping into new jobs or living situations, but I didn’t anticipate having such a radical lifestyle change in my late 20’s. A few years ago, I was running a live action role playing company, singing and playing key board for a traveling gothic-industrial band, and modeling for a punk-rock talent agency called Candy Scandals. Today, I’m an air traffic controller for the United States Marine Corps. Retracing my steps, I can pin point two events that changed my course drastically.
The first catalyst was the infamous housing market crash. The “fixer upper” I bought in 2005 was worth almost $400,000 at the time of purchase. After the crash, it appraised for only $98,000. During this same time, my live action role playing company lost about 50% of its customer base. Due to the housing market crash and a slump in the economy, many customers could no longer afford hobbies, and were forced to move or work multiple jobs to stay in the area. I had no choice but to foreclose on my house. Along with years of mortgage payments and taxes, I lost the $30,000 I …show more content…
I was hired as a security officer, which gave me the idea to start a career in law enforcement. I devoted over a year to the application process. I applied for 14 perspective police departments, and took full days off work to travel for interviews. I took written, physical, psychological, and poly graph tests, and filled out thousands of pages for applications and back ground checks. The process was arduous. I finally made it into the last stage of hiring for Virginia State Troopers. I had an academy entrance essay due by June 23rd. The photo copied calendar I was sent home with was distorted and appeared to read, “June 28th”. When I realized on the 28th that the date may have been misread, it was too late. I had been dropped as a recruit for missing the deadline and was marked un-eligible for Virginia State
The first catalyst was the infamous housing market crash. The “fixer upper” I bought in 2005 was worth almost $400,000 at the time of purchase. After the crash, it appraised for only $98,000. During this same time, my live action role playing company lost about 50% of its customer base. Due to the housing market crash and a slump in the economy, many customers could no longer afford hobbies, and were forced to move or work multiple jobs to stay in the area. I had no choice but to foreclose on my house. Along with years of mortgage payments and taxes, I lost the $30,000 I …show more content…
I was hired as a security officer, which gave me the idea to start a career in law enforcement. I devoted over a year to the application process. I applied for 14 perspective police departments, and took full days off work to travel for interviews. I took written, physical, psychological, and poly graph tests, and filled out thousands of pages for applications and back ground checks. The process was arduous. I finally made it into the last stage of hiring for Virginia State Troopers. I had an academy entrance essay due by June 23rd. The photo copied calendar I was sent home with was distorted and appeared to read, “June 28th”. When I realized on the 28th that the date may have been misread, it was too late. I had been dropped as a recruit for missing the deadline and was marked un-eligible for Virginia State