In the quest for employment, particularly the way things are going at the moment, the hardest question to answer in interviews is, "why aren't you making the commitment to a career in education?" Truthfully, I have, and I would continue to do so were I able. The big question becomes one of adaptability, and lifestyle management; if you know you're going to be off part of the year, you'd better get in the habit of saving more money than you spend. Having something else to do in those two or two-and-a-half months is getting to be as hit-or-miss a proposition as anything, and employers are, I find, increasingly ill-at-ease with employees who just leave on a whim. Is the summer job becoming a thing of the past? Maybe not if you're 19 or 20, but at the stage I'm at in life, it's getting harder and harder to sell. It bugs the crap out of me, and theoretically points up one of the downfalls of the American education system, at least as a sub; should we mandate a longer school year in the interest of employees getting paid? And God knows the fact that we as a country have have ever even needed an idea that smelled like No Child Left Behind points up a lot. As I pointed out a while ago, hell, we can't even turn out a beauty pageant contestant who sounds like she has a brain; witness Miss South Carolina, or whoever she was, and her public proof of idiocy in thinking maps weren't widely available. Maybe not in your county, hun, I can get one where I'm from. And I know where in the world to stay the hell out of, too. So business America has found itself having to safeguard against idiots, incompetents and fly-by-nighters. Oddly it hasn't stretched to our sexual persona as a nation, you can still hook up if you're dressed right and your breath is reasonable. Much to the chagrin and frustration of all the rest of us. I mean, think about it; do you think a woman in Tokyo, New Delhi or many other places in the world would respond the same way as a woman in New Orleans to the cry of "Show us your t*ts?!" Hell, in Turkey, that'd probably get you locked up for life. So what is it about? Tightening up in the right places, or just rearranging our priorities period? Don't ask me, I just work here. Sometimes. Sigh.