Responding to Your Comments and Questions

Thank you so much for your kind and thoughtful responses to my previous posts. Since I'm not very good at responding to your comments in the comment section (except when it's a nasty or annoying comment that I want to address right way so everyone can see my response), I always try to do it in subsequent posts, so here you go.

Career Options Post

Sandra asked: "Have you ever thought about museums or archives or literary manuscripts curating? " (I'd need an MLS to work at an academic library she explains, but private institutions might be OK just with my Ph.D.)
YES! I have indeed. I ADORE libraries and museums and I think I'd be really happy working as an archivist or a curator, but I really have no idea (apart from the MLS which I'll discuss next) what path to take to go this route, where to start, who to contact. At this point I am limited to whatever I'd be able to find in the Philly area (in any area for work).

Aliki also mentioned the MLS:
I have also considered going into library science and I've even researched it a bit and I was aware that I'd need to get an MLS (Masters in Library Science). However, I really don't know if I'm willing to spend the $ needed to get another degree, particularly not knowing if it would take me anywhere. I wouldn't mind the studying at all, on the contrary, I'd really enjoy it -- I would get another Ph.D. in a heartbeat if my stipend as a TA was decent and I had tuition waiver like I had at my institution. I actually always wanted to get into other areas, more specifically musicology, art history, and maybe history. If I had gone to college here I'd probably had had a double or triple major even...

Anyway, I have no idea how much an MLS would cost and if I did get one, I'd want to do the best one I could find in the area, which probably would cost even more than average. As you may recall, we're having serious budgetary issues at the moment and the need is for me to find a job and bring more $ in, not spend it (or "invest" it which is what one does when paying for a degree).

M asked: "Have you considered grant writing?"
And I must say I haven't. But I guess I can make the same per hour with my piano classes, except that I might spend more hours writing for grants and therefore earn more, not to mention that writing is more engaging to the mind than piano teaching :). My problem is the same as yours right now, M, I need to be working on my own writing, not other people's right now. But maybe in the future. Who would hire me, though? I have have no academic contacts whatsoever here.

Other options of alternative little gigs I have thought of since writing that post:

- Free-lance photography (I'd have to invest in a good course and some basic equipment) since it's something I already do for friends and family and I really love doing it.

- Playing the flute at weddings and stuff (for the Brazilian community folks around here)? For this one I'd have to start practice more and order CDs with good orchestral tracks. (Did I mention I had my mom bring me a new Yam*aha flute from Hong Kong? I have yet to pay her for it, though :(

Desire for Another Baby Post

Your words meant so much for me, Yvette, Caroline, Aliki, RocketMom, Anjali, Cloudscome, and Brikebrok! Thanks for responding. I will write about this subject again soon, but I wanted to address the most recent question in the post.

Brikebrok asked:
"Adoption is out of question ?"
And the answer is quite simple -- it is not, BUT, there are many many "buts" about adoption that I won't have time or the energy to discuss at length here. In brief, I'd love to adopt a little Brazilian girl (as would my sister-in-law who also has two boys), BUT we fear that in our particular extended family there might be a huge resistance to grandkids that were not kin. We both would want our adopted girls to be fully part of the family, but that might not be really possible, so we may not be able to go this route.

Besides, adoption is the single topic I have learned the most since I started blogging. Dawn at This Woman's Work who has been blogging about her transracial open adoption for several years, Manuela (Thin Pink Line -- now under password), an infertile "ex" adoptee, and the birth-mom blogs that I've been reading (check my side bar) have just led me to understand many aspects of adoption that I'd never considered and now I feel quite afraid to embark on this journey. Knowledge can be power, but it also makes one much more vulnerable and apprehensive.

And about those suggestions of the pregnancy in the dream as symbolizing something else, I think it may as well be the case, but I do know in the level of my conscious mind, not only unconscious, that I do wish for a pregnancy and a baby. But... it probably won't happen, and I'm OK with it, but that's subject for another post, OK? Oh, and thanks RocketMom and Anjali for debunking my husband's point! :) I'll have him read your comments ASAP although I know he's not thrilled about it ;).