Edmonton: Infinite Possibilities

I promise I'll talk about my experiences in Victoria and Vegas soon--there's plenty to tell/boast about. But for now, my focus is on the present and future. As I return from sabbatical and vacation, I find myself in the position of rebuilding myself in Edmonton. The rest of my life is ahead of me, and my actions in the next few weeks will have a disproportionate impact on what the future looks like.

To that end, I'm starting to go through all the junk in my condo to decide what to keep, I'm figuring out what I'm going to do for income, and I'm investigating school and careers for the future. To succeed at all these things, I have to follow all the lessons I picked up in Victoria, which mainly means I should enjoy these responsibilities.

Anyone who has seen this kitchen recently should 

be impressed by the lack of clutter.

Enjoying the junk-out is easy. There's something wonderful and unburdening about getting rid of stuff. I've already cleared out the space above the cupboards, except for one tin of hot chocolate mix and one large cooking pot because they don't yet fit anywhere else. I've also cleared off a small shelf in my living room and made two brave assaults on the Paper Monster (all those unsorted sheafs of paper from old bills or old creative scribbles).

Figuring out an income for the short term is trickier. I'm going to try my hand at freelance editing work, which could result in far too little work and money, far too much work, or, if I'm lucky, a Goldilocks-zone of just enough work to keep me happily fed without eating too much of my time. Only time will tell. To supplement this, I'll need to look into other possibilities, one of which might be doing gardening for the summer, which would fit nicely with my fitness plans.

Figuring out school and careers for the future is also tricky, but at least easy to enjoy. I'm still interested in the kinesiology, but I'm also considering fields like psychology and urban planning so that I can learn about human health on all scales, from diet and exercise for individuals to designing healthy cities on the macro. All of these things sound fascinating. The trick will be designing them into a single degree.

I'm still worried, in the back of my mind, that kinesiology isn't quite the right direction for me to go, despite how naturally it fits with my kung fu and yoga hobbies. So I asked at MacEwan University's career counselling if they had career advice. It turns out that non-students can sign up for two $60 tests (students play only $20 a piece) to determine aptitudes and interests. I'll admit I was surprised by the high cost, given that these are just a couple of quick tests, one of which is even taken online.

So, being an able user of the internet, I found the same resources online for free.

According to the Myers-Briggs test I found, I'm an INFJ personality type, which basically is a complex mixture of dreamer plus doer. I guess I dreamed of saving $60 on a test and made that happen, so there's a good start. The description does feel reasonably accurate, actually, bearing in mind that it may simply succeed the same way that horoscopes do, by being vague enough to apply to nearly anyone.

I was also able to find something called a Career Cluster Interest Survey, which suggested I either go into Human Services, which is all about helping people meet their needs, or else Arts, A/V Technology, and Communications, which sums up my Communications degree nicely. Also testing strongly were Business, Education, and Health Science.

Again, some vague responses, but all of these line up with the kinds of careers I've been considering.

There's a lot more investigation to be done in all of these areas, so I'll have lots of fodder for the post this Friday.