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01/23/2007: "not from working in Toronto"
It's over, but it's not. It's a relief, yet a disappointment. I'm talking, of course, about the job I was hoping to land in Toronto. This morning I got notice that they will be going with two other, more experienced candidates. So I won't be commuting to Toronto anytime soon. However, they did say that they'd like to stay in contact with me, which makes me believe that they see potential in me for a future role, one where I can become a contributing member more quickly than I would have been able to in this particular position.
In a way, I am actually very relieved. Disappointed, but still relieved.
Yesterday while driving home from work I thought of nothing but how I would cope with working 90 minutes away from home. I could leave early, avoid the rush hours, and possibly minimize my commute to 3 hours a day. (UGH! THREE freaking hours a day?!? Am I NUTS??) Of course, if I do commute, I am doing nothing but paying attention to the road for all that time - time I can't do anything else with. So, the thought was to take the bus, and the subway. The bus takes just a bit longer to get to downtown Toronto, and then I'd have a 10-minute subway ride (if even that) to get right into the building. Oh, and that would also eliminate the parking fees I'd have to otherwise pay (my not-quite 2-hour interview cost me a dear $13 in parking). The problem there is that I can't just walk to the bus station, and taking the city bus to the bus station would add at least another 30-45 minutes each way on my commute time. So maybe we move downtown close to the bus terminal. But if we're going to move, why not make a bigger difference? We could move closer to the 401, and shave the 30 minutes off my drive that is just getting out of the city. But again, is that worth a move to only save 1 out of the 3 hours I'd be commuting? The logical conclusion would be to move as close to work as possible and simply use public transit.
What about the cohousing group? We've just started, but we're a group that is gelling very nicely. I want my cohousing development! But if we move, that goes out the window entirely. Poof! Suddenly we have to start over again. We might get lucky and find another forming group, but...
Moving to Toronto. Wow. I just so do NOT want to do that. Toronto is problematic. Yes, there are a lot of good jobs in Toronto. However, I'm not metropolitan enough to enjoy Toronto. I like cities a magnitude smaller than a million inhabitants. I like green space and less cars. Plus, Toronto is close enough to home that it's tempting to simply commute to it, but far away enough to be an awful burden to have to do that. In many ways it would simply be easier if the job were in Vancouver or Ottawa - OK, the job is there, let's pack up and move. But Toronto? So close, yet so very far away.
SNAP!
OK, I'm out of it now. But you can see where my mind was going all over the place. And now I don't have to think about it anymore. I still have my contract work, I still have my cohousing group, and although I still have to figure out what my career is doing, I can try to do that locally. Heck, there's even another company locally that does the same kind of work that is hiring - you can be sure they'll be getting my resume sometime soon. Onward and upward.
