In late July, I was hired (by a colleague of a friend) for a part-time job at the City Colleges of Chicago. The woman I worked for is a fabulous woman in her own right. Unfortunately, the funding for my position ran out in December. But this woman is still working diligently to help me find another position within or outside of the City Colleges.

In September, I was hired for an additional part-time job that will go down in my “herstory” as the most FUN job I ever had! I was hired as a Segway Tour guide. I learned to master the skill of riding the thing and to teach others to ride it, before taking them on a riding tour along our magnificent lakefront! As a life-long Chicagoan, I never get tired of bragging and boasting about the city and its treasures. And what a fabulous way for me to do it – riding one of the coolest forms of transportation on the planet! Even after the season ended due to cold weather, I got to “perform” on a Segway at two high-brow charity events – events that I could not afford to attend even if I had a full-time job and paycheck!

Though my employment hiatus continues, I continue to pursue other adventures in self-fulfillment. The freedom from full-time employment has allowed me to explore my love of creative writing. I was also inspired by winning a contest in December for an essay I wrote about my “Queendom in the Sky”. The prize was $500 dollars! Coincidentally, I was notified of this windfall just a few days after my job at City Colleges was terminated, and only a few weeks before Christmas!

My most recent adventure is another volunteer job – audio recording of textbooks for the blind and dyslexic. I just started the training by listening to a recording of a geography/history textbook. I can already see that this job will be quite an educational experience for me (learning/relearning subjects from my forgotten high school and college days), learning how to make digital recordings, learning how to accurately describe a painting or a map or a chart, for someone who cannot see.

Though quitting my job without notice (and without another job to go to) was a hard decision to make, I have had absolutely no regrets. It was a very empowering experience that has opened doors to adventures that I would never have had, and to others that are just beginning!