ALASKA! AND FUTURE THOUGHTS!

I have had a lot of time to think about the future. Let's start with undergrad University. I am not sure if I want to do the double major or not. Maybe I will just minor in Italian if I can get pretty darned close to fluent from it and focus on Biochemistry for a major & spend less time in sucky school. It is really language fluency I really want to show off on my dental school application anyway.I need to review French and learn Spanish, and the time I wouldn't be doing a double major I can work towards acing my DAT. As far as dental school, I may or may not specailise in orthodontics. I may just do general dentistry. I want to provide for my family someday, but I can make plenty of money in general dentistry, and the less time in school is more time to spend with them! I could also still do teeth whitening and veneers as a general dentist as well as set up an area in my office for children to do work for them. It is all a possibility.
Another crazy thought I have had is Alaska! I don't know if I will practise my career here, but I might. I will have to ask my husband about it after dental school. Chad and I have talked about it now. Alaska has a lot of major bonuses... Firstly Alaska has a major need for dentists. In the lower 48 states most dentists make around $143K a year. In parts of Alaska however, you can make from $800K to a MILLION dollars a year! Not that money is my focus, but Chad also wants to run an animal rescue preserve. In Alaska he would have plenty of land that we could buy him at a low cost (cheaper than in the lower 48) so he could run it and use some of my extra money from dentistry to help maintain it. Also the cost of living is lower in parts of Alaska. Huge homes that cost millions in the lower 48 states are less than 400K in Alaska. As the economy suffers in a variety of jobs in the lower 48, Alaska is doing well. So what if it gets cold? Growing up in Vermont I expirenced similar temperatures, so it shouldn't be awful! Still no idea where I actually want to practise, but its possible... Today I bought the uber cool new jacket by North Face I always wanted! Still looking & applying for new jobs so wish me luck :)

RAYE

January is almost Over...

Its insane to think we are 75% done with January 2010 already!! Whats new with Raye?!? Still looking for a job!! How unpleasent!! :( Yesterday I got the good news though that I had made it through to level two on the dental assisting job, so today I took a series of exams which felt like I was sitting the SAT's or the GSCE's all over again... especially in the last part with all the writing, grammar, maths etc lessons. But I think I did well (on the last exam anyway I believe I only missed one question if any). If I do well enough I will pass to level 3 where I get a phone interview, & then level 4 where I will get an office interview & shadow someone on the job. I really want this job because the more I think about it the more I would love to go into dentistry... Maybe work as an NHS dentist someday?!? Who Knows!! I am still applying elsewhere though in case and if not, I hope to become a dental assistant in the future as a stepping stone to a dentist. Jobs are so hard to find around here... most jobs in America seam to want you to speak Spanish these days... I have to learn Spanish... I only know French and Italian...

Other than job stuff I have been working on a couple projects... I got a puzzle from WalMart of London that I put together & want to glue and frame for when I get my own place... the 500 piece puzzle only took about 3 1/2 hours to put together... Thats what the picture is of on the blog. I have been thinking about England a lot lately and how I wish I could just up and be there right now sometimes (but being away from Chad would be too difficult)... A group of my M8's just got back from London & Cambridge... I told them all how next time they are taking me hahaha.

I have also been working on finishing Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell. I still plan to post a blog on my thoughts and some commentary on the book when I finish it so look out for that... :) I have also been continuing to work on my Stepping Up by Beth Moore Bible study book in order to draw closer to God... When I finish that I may also post a few thoughts on that if I find I have stuff to say... I did learn something cool though that I feel like saying now... Did anyone else know that Jerusalem actually translates to "City of Peace"?!? I thought that as pretty cool. Dispite the violence I would still love to visit Israel someday... :) Heck I would love to go about ANYWHERE... but right now, I would just like a job, to pay my bills, have a place of my own to stay, & live comfortably!!

Today I also got my birthday cards together for February... I am going kind of crazy that I still have not been able to send off my Christmas cards or my January birthday cards... Hopefully SOON!!!! I Will hopefully be able to move into my on place soon!! :)

Well I am back to applying for places for work, reading my books etc... and I have to do the dishes at somepoint. Keep a lookout for my Velvet Elvis blog which should be before January ends!! Have a great week to come :)

--RAYE