Wednesday, June 24, 2009

The Future

20 years:
I will be 47. I will have worked as the public relations director for a prominent arts organization in Chicago, such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. I will have earned my PhD and will have been teaching part time at the college level. By the time I'm 47, I plan to have left my job as a P.R. director and will be teaching full time. I will sit on boards for various non-profits to keep my connection to that world.

James and I will have lived in Chicago for quite awhile at this point, with a brief time away from there years ago while I was working on my PhD. Our kids will be entering their teens and a lot of personal time will be focused on them.

10 years:
By this time I will have received my PhD in strategic communication. I want to start having kids (adoption, surrogacy, however) around 35 and at 37 I think we would be ready for a second. While I have career goals, I want a job that is flexible enough for me to be a major part in raising my children and possibly work from home while they are younger. I'm not sure how, but I want to make this happen.

We'll be moving back to Chicago sometime around now, having moved to possibly Boston while I worked on a PhD. Balancing my career goals with having a family will be the most difficult part I think at this time. In my early 30s we will be getting married. Whether that means in Canada, in one of the states here that allows it, or hopefully it won't be a legal issue any more and we can get married anywhere and have it legally recognized wherever we are living.

Four of these years will have been in Chicago, working in the arts and furthering myself both in this field and in my public relations experiences.

1 year:
Just having graduated with my masters in strategic communication, I will hopefully have a job lined up either here in the OKC area or if necessary in Chicago. James has a job lined up through his scholarship that he wants to stay in for at least a year. This may mean that I end up moving ahead of him for that year, or I find a temporary job in the area for that year. I can see myself teaching at one of the smaller universities in the area.

My goals are a mix of my desire to teach and my desire to be a strong advocate for the arts by using my professional abilities.

A friend of mine actually started me on making what he calls an "Über List". Here is mine, with ones crossed off that I've achieved. I haven't added to this list in a couple of years and I think that some adding may be called for.

  1. Live in Chicago and/or New York.
  2. Be nominated for an Addy.
  3. Win an Addy.
  4. Go puddle jumping
  5. Go snowboarding
  6. Learn how to surf
  7. Travel throughout France.
  8. Sing in Notre Dame de Paris
  9. See the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace
  10. Get married, legally!
  11. Take a long road trip with friends
  12. Buy a home
  13. Raise children
  14. Learn to speak German
  15. Speak French more often
  16. Learn how to make a podcast
  17. Start my own advertising & design company
  18. Write for a national magazine
  19. See 199 pounds again
  20. Learn to ride a motorcycle
  21. Run a half marathon
  22. Run a full marathon
  23. Continually make a budget
  24. Pay all bills ON TIME
  25. Completely unpack
  26. Call my friends more often
  27. Be more spontaneous
  28. Cook more often
  29. Write Christmas cards
  30. Meet people I know but have never met
  31. Pay off credit cards
  32. Buy a bicycle
  33. Visit the Fred Jones MoA
  34. Visit the OKC MoA
  35. See at least 2 Lyric shows in each season
  36. Work out 5x a week for at least a month
  37. Take a yoga class
  38. Take the GRE
  39. Eat out less than 3x a week
  40. Be supportive of my friends
  41. Judge less
  42. Sing more often
  43. Keep my house clean and organized
  44. Get my APR from PRSA (a PR certification)
  45. Continue to make goals

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