Mastering My Fears Of The Future...And Future Master's Degrees

So I have a baccalaureate. And am apparently just as woefully unready for the real world as I was at the and of my associate's. So, master's degree, HO-OOOOOOOO! Pack those bags, buff up that self-motivation, and get a Trapper Keeper titanium-reinforced for post-graduate coursework. I'm poised, I'm ready to get me some of that edu-ma-cation.

But I have no idea in what.

The Candidates:

 

Anthropological Note:

It would not look like this

I don't want to do ethnographic fieldwork in a foreign country, and that's required of a Master's in Anthropology. You have to be sponsored by reasonably wealthy government of private company, so your topic and people get chosen for you if you don't feel like being beggared by the costs. (That's if you have any money to start with. I'm pre-beggared.) And you end being like a spy, incapable of helping these people with what they really need/want to do so that you can gather the data those fat cats were looking for. So if my bachelor's major is out, what do I do? I studied the structures and natures of humanity's societies - I should be prepped for almost everything, because I will most likely be working within a human society. But that's not really how that works, is it? : /  -1

I have no love for sociology. It's the "other" social science, so I'd be most qualified for it according to The Man, but NO WAY. Sociology is Anthropology's retarded younger cousin. They get more attention at the family reunions because they're still a baby, and they're good at math. No one else seems to notice that they run into door frames a lot; you can't trust a science that claims to be able to quantitatively account for and predict humanity. Pretend you can do that if you like, but don't put "-ology" on the end of something if you're not actually going to study the subject. They seek only to explain or classify, not learn or actually understand other peoples - they don't even account for cultural differences. That's just glorified past-data analysis. It should be called something like Societal Statistical Analysis. >: (  -5

Kana's *interpretation*

of the Deafness Hierarchy

I like American Sign Language, but to take so many more years of schooling in both language and culture only to be considered the lowest-ranking scum of a society isn't the most appealing thing I've ever dreamed up. But I could probably get lots of work for it, especially with my cultural-brokering training from Anth. Phone-in translating for hospitals or other public venues could enable me to work from home, in which to work on my art and stories. : ) +1

I used to run art therapy sessions at two tutoring centers back home. It was nice to help kids weak language skills really express themselves, to help train them towards introspection and self-awareness, and of course it was nice to be the best part of the poor things' day at tutoring. It's important to find a job where people are happy to see you, or you'll commit karoshi suicide from stress. But I was so young when I last did that, and am now such a different person from that girl, that I don't know how relevant this type of work still is to me. Also, there doesn't seem to be as obvious a venue for art therapy as there is for physical therapy; and being a self-employed do-gooder only works if the boss is competent and the company's heart is tirelessly good. As both aforementioned prospective boss and company in one, I don't know if I'm right for that. Plus kids can be real brats : P   +1
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Summary:

The status quo is really comfy -- I have a nice stable job with flexible hours and great pay, doing reasonable work and slacking off. I like the people, and I know how to navigate the socialscape. Why would I mess with that? It funds a beautiful home, saving money and spending money. But I'm only even employed because of my student nature...I have no employable skills yet. I'm unformed, incomplete. I need a Master's so I can be a coveted worker instead of a deadbeat who covets work. BUT IN WHAT???

It's Called "Transfering" Not "Touring" For A Reason

As my Auntie N has been so good as to remind me, I've spent four winters up here so far, and still haven't seen the Northern Lights.

Well, technically I have seen our student newspaper by the same name, but it's not what I moved here for, no offense guys.

Also no polar bears, beluga whales, or the Hawaii humpbacks that come up here for summer feeding. I suck at travel, I guess. Instead I've squandered my time with things like new social circles, jobs, and getting another degree. What's up with that?

Big Beach, from the Medium Cliff that

divides Big Beach from Little Beach.

At home I've seen almost every sightseeing destination at least once, and regularly visit many of them. I know all about my island's highlights, and know the place exactly as well as the back of my hand -- mostly familiar, but occasionally forced to reexamine to ascertain freckle-vs-dirt status -- so I guess all I need to do is stay here another 16 years to really get a feel for the place.

*Pffft* SNORT Wahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaa. Ahhh, good one. Seriously, I can't wait to move. I've done Eternal Summer, and I've done the Ice Queen's Winter Wonderland...I'm ready for some additional seasons.

Graduation, OR: I Deserve A Parade

Welp, there's another notch on the ol' degree belt, eeyup, and yes there is such a thing ...university bureaucracies are 0 for 2 with Kana-wanas.

RESPECT IT; MIGHTY SLAYER OF CAPSTONE COURSES AM I.

But what are my plans now? Where am I going to get/what is my Master's degree? Well, as an over-educated pampered middle-class American graduate success story might well be expected to answer,

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...
 Um...I dunno...stuff?

Because that's what we call a 'life choice,' and there is no human way to be quote-unquote "ready" for that malarky. Committing to another huge segment of unknowable trials over several years, and spending thousands of dollars, only to become totally specialized at...I dunno, SOMETHING that I'm not clear on...that will render me unfit for anything outside my specialty? What happened to "potential"? When we were kids we were so nascent, so unformed, that we could be anything; and the teachers, the counselors, the aunties and the parents were so pleased to say it. We could be anything we wanted to be.

Well.

NO WE CAN'T.

We can choose to specialize and become "important," or try to stay undefined and label-free, which gets redirected to "failed," or get lost in the unremarkable middle ground of half-assed attempts to fall into the first category, where it was found to be hard.

I am certainly not obsessed by any one thing enough to want to be in it forevers and evers...but mediocrity tastes like McDonald's milkshakes, and I can't be having with that.

My mom won't rest 'til I have a Master's, but she doesn't seem to know who she's dealing with here. She's lucky my school didn't offer Dutch as a language option, I'd be so far into the Darkest Netherlands that capitalism would never find me. Living off bland cheese and bread, doing nothing in particular and doodling on lined paper, succeeding by my own lights, not my country's or my family's.

Can you get a Master's in Dutch? Nah, nevermind -- I don't care that much about it.