Maybe this year will be better than the last.

So now it's 2011 and I'm still looking for work. I wonder if I screwed myself over by changing my mind about what I wanted to do because of my PC experience. I must have applied for over 70 jobs by now, but nothing's getting picked up.

I want to go into research. So I'm applying for research assistant positions of various sorts, mostly with think tanks and non-profits.

(There are a lot of "foundations" here in Marfa, inspired by the Judd Foundation and the Chinati Foundation. Others include the Pizza Foundation and the Foundation for Non-Prophets.)

When I was in college, I expected to apply for grad school and get a Master of Social Work as soon as I got out of the Peace Corps. Then I realized that it drains me too much to do that kind of work, and what I really enjoy is working with facts & numbers and figuring out how to improve things based on evaluations and sitting quietly and being right.

So with my degree in Sociology I decided to continue research in social science areas. I have several interests in it, including labor force, sexuality & gender issues, public health, education, and poverty reduction. My strongest interest is still in mental health. But the thing is, other than my senior thesis paper (45 pages long plus appendix and works cited) and the Barrier Analysis Volunteerism project I worked on in the Peace Corps (collaborated and initiated the 9ish page report), I don't have any works in the area.

Perhaps I can work on a project independently, though without affiliation to any institutions or even any decently sized public libraries around, it will be a challenge.

But I need to start working. Soon. Otherwise I'll have to renew my Texas drivers license with Marfa as my permanent residence.