Answer Part 1 to Questions #2

The reason I said 'besides money', is that pretty much the stock answer is money....many people seem to think that financial security, or excess of that would make their own personal world perfect. I am pretty much financially secure....and yet as the months & years go by....I keep looking at my life and wishing it was something else. I guess the 2 areas my life can been divided into are personal (relationships with friends, family & lovers) and professional (education and career). For now, I'll try to keep this post geared towards what I'd like my professional life to be like. 1. Ideally, I'd like to go to San Francisco State University and work my way through their Human Sexuality degree programs (BA then MA) http://hmsx.sfsu.edu/ Once I finish with all that, I'd like to either have some sort of career as a sex educator (maybe even therapist....I used to want that years ago, and I keep going back & forth on the idea) or I want to open my bookstore. "The Forbidden Word" 1/2 the store would be any & all types of erotic fiction (romances, horror, sci-fi/fantasy, mysteries, 1-hand reading), the other 1/2 would be all non-fiction.....how-to, why, self-help, whatever.....and of course I would have a 'back room' with toys & videos. I'd really like to have at least 25% of my stock to come from local vendors, authors, toy-makers & the like. I'd also like to have classes/seminars on a regular basis, again, given by local educators. 2. Barring all that.....I am good at what I do, and I do like it. What I don't like is my commute & the type of place that I work for. I want to work for a place where queers, freaks & the like are welcome and judged by their level of competence.....not by what they look like or how they lead their lives outside of work. I want to work for a place where diversity is more than a buzz word (usually meaning women & racial minorities). I want to work for a place that actually values its' employees as people, and doesn't just look at them and say "How can I get more work for less $$$ out of these people?" What keeps me from accomplishing #1 - the stock answer....money. If I go back to school, I want to go full-time, and not work. I got my 1st degree in 5 years, working 24-40 hours a week the whole time, on top of taking at least 9 course units every quarter. I don't want to do that again. I want to maintain my social life and outside activities too....and sleep....I like sleeping at least 6 hours a night. :) What keeps me from accomplishing #2 - Mostly...lack of knowledge.....are there companies that fit my 'ideal'? Or am I just being overly Pollyanna-ish? I can say, it is better than 65% likely that I'll start looking for a new job towards the end of June. "Why wait?" you may ask.....well, simply put, I just don't have the time to look now. If I look for a new job, my focus will be Oakland to San Jose, and the peninsula....maybe SF too providing it's BARTable....and since I currently work in Concord.....getting to & from interviews and still work part of the day.....it's really not possible.....and taking time off isn't feasible, as I am a really bad liar (You can only be sick & have appointments so often)..... What I'm hoping to manage is to submit resumes at the end of June-beginning of July, and have interviews during my vacation, which is in the middle of July. Once I get my thoughts organized as to how I'd like my personal life to be....I'll make another post. :)