15 Day Blogger Challenge ~ Getting to Know the Blogger ~ Day 9

15 Day Blogger Challenge - Getting to Know the Blogger

This challenge is open to any and everyone who wants to get to know each other a little better in the blogosphere. I encourage you all to make this challenge your own. There is no special format to follow or rules on posting. Do your challenge in 1 day by answering all the questions at once or do it in 90 days. Just have fun!  

Challenge Questions:

9. What are your goals? What are your hobbies?

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Goals and Hobbies

I have very few goals and a lot of hobbies. I used to be full of goals for my future. Now, whether it is age or just reality setting in, my goals seem to be fewer and more realistic. I wanted to help children, particularly those with disabilities. I went to school to be a special education teacher in high school math and English. The low pay rate for teachers in Texas ($27,000/year) has helped me realize that I would never be able to support my family and pay my student loans at the same time. My student loans are over $700/month. This would only leave me with $18,600/year to support my family of four on. This is far below the poverty level in the United States. I have been looking more out of my degree for employment, but I am not qualified for much. I realize now that school was just a waste of time and money. The job market is so bad here, that the only thing available is going back to work with Child Protective Services. However, that job almost ripped my family apart. My new goal is to get whatever job I can aside from CPS. I do think about continuing my education in the hopes of being able to find adequate employment, but I am too afraid it too will be a waste of time and money like my Bachelor's degree was. I know that I would be a damn good autism specialists, and that is really what I want to do. I'm just unsure that's a goal I should shooting for at my age.

Now, my hobbies, as I said, are many. I love to read, and I do not limit myself to just reading for pleasure. I also love to read to learn. If I do not understand something, I will research it in order to learn more about it. I particularly love to read about neurobiological disorders, mental health issues, and mental disabilities. My original major was psychology. My favorite pleasure genre is horror, and I sway more toward zombie stories than any others. I changed my major when I could not agree with my professor about alcoholism and drug addiction, but that, my dears, is another story. I love to write. Though I seldom write something note worthy, writing is my vent. I keep a dream journal, write poetry, and write prose. I guess I am decent, but it's nothing to brag about. I love art and have always been able to draw and paint. I enjoy photography and had, at one time, endeavored to become a professional photographer and have a gallery of my own some day. Now, I am more realistic and just take pictures of whatever. I do crafts and scrap booking. I am pretty decent at anything artistic I set my mind to, but nothing is extraordinary. I love to do math for fun. Yes, you read right. I do trigonometry for fun. I break out my college calculus, algebra, and trigonometry text books when I get bored and keep my math skills up. For what? I don't know. I also love to play Sudoku. I did work as a computer programmer in my past, and I love working with computers. I really should have gone into that vocation, but you know what they say about hind sight. Had I known that I would have so much difficulty finding work, I would have swayed more toward computers. I was just one of those people that didn't want to make my hobby my career. If only...