Life in a holding pattern

One of the things I came to regret early on about my choice of career was the lack of geographical mobility. It's one of those things you don't think about when you start college. Hey, I'm doing what I want to do, the pay's good, what more is there, right?

I was asexual at the time, so the idea that I might want to be somewhere where I could find guys to date never crossed my mind. I figured, eventually I'll find me a cute chick, we'll settle down, whatever, there's cute chicks everyplace, right?

I don't think that's going to happen. LOL

I'm getting to the point in my job where I'm pretty confident navigating all the political pitfalls and other bullshit I have to wade through to get my job done. My coworkers like me, I get my job done, and my boss has given me some good coaching. As long as I stay here, I think there's a lot of things I can learn.

However, it's costing me dearly in my personal life. When it comes to the kind of guys I'm interested in dating, New Orleans has almost nothing to offer. This city is very gay friendly, there's certainly a strong gay community here, and people here are very friendly. Trouble is, there's not much overlap between the gay community and the working professional community. Lot of the gay guys here are students at UNO or Loyola or Tulane - too young. Lot of the gay guys here are service workers in the Quarter, which means they wake up late, stay up late, and have time off in the middle of the week. That's no good either, I need a guy who's free when I'm free.

It'd also be nice to meet someone who's on top of their life, doesn't have drama or other excessive problems they're constantly struggling with, who has interests above and beyond Britney and Mariah and Beyonce and all the other wailing divas without last names... *sigh*

So New Orleans isn't working out for me as far as the dating life goes. Unfortunately, the career path I've chosen doesn't leave me many options. Houston's the best option, but I'm not sure I want to go back, at least not to where I used to work. I like the hustle and bustle of being in a plant. There's a definite sense of camaraderie, there's always something going on, and you never know quite what to expect. And you're always learning. Research is... boring.

So anyway... Houston. Got a lot of friends there. Did get a few dates there. But I think there's better places for me. I'm starting to consider San Francisco again. More gay guys than you can shake a stick at, and there's some refineries out in the east Bay area.

Once this economy improves, I'm going to see if I can't make a move out there. Might mean changing companies, but it'll be worth it. I think this next move, I need to make it for the sake of my dating life and not for the sake of my career. I've sacrificed tons for the sake of my career so far in my life already. It's time for it to take a back seat to the rest of my life.