Jaya Ganesha, Jaya Ganesha, Shri Ganesha, Shri Ganesha

[dr_pretentious]

I took my troubles to the Remover of Obstacles today. Ganesha has never yet objected to my propitiations, even though I don't know how to do proper puja and I don't know more than a handful of words in Sanskrit. My pronunciation of the handful of Sanskrit words is probably not so great, either, and stringing them into a sentence is entirely beyond me.

But I brought candy. Candy is one of those international languages. Gulab jamun with pistachio and rosewater--very good, and it's what he's used to.

And I said everything twice, the way you're supposed to when propitiating Hindu deities, so you have a chance to catch yourself and correct errors, in case you accidentally pray for the wrong thing.

I'm pretty sure I'm praying for the right thing.

I need to bring home more money. I assume that's going to necessitate either a conventional job of some kind or a lot more tutoring clients. Basketball season has cut my schedule down to a mere five students until the end of February. If I don't find more students really soon, I can't afford to stay in the tutoring business long enough for the basketball players to come back. This is a problem I was not expecting. It didn't happen last year.

I need a day job that does not suck and that won't get too much in the way of my writing. A job that doesn't try to own my soul, that I don't have to bring home with me unless I own it. (Those requirements rule out a return to academia rather decisively.) The day job I have would be fine, if there were more of it. Its equivalent or better--that's how the Wiccan spellwork legal boilerplate puts this kind of thing.

The lotus-footed and the great, he who holds the armies in his hand, he of the sweet tooth who did not look down his trunk at caramel that time when it was all I had for an offering, is invited to remove the obstacles.

If I knew Sanskrit, I'd have some more dignified way to tie it all off than, "Pretty please with pistachio on top."

Comments

Re: Maybe teach a class...

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

I've been trying to break into the homeschooling market from the first. So far, my only homeschooling students were homeschooled for very short periods of time. Their parents pulled them out in response to social crises at school, but ended up sending them back when it turned out to be easier to work things out with principals than to come up with curricula and quit jobs to stay home and teach their kids.

Families that homeschool because they want to are trickier to catch. As far as I can ascertain, the majority of the homeschoolers around here are Christian fundamentalists, and the unschooling homeschoolers who have a visible presence in the area are mostly university professors who don't need my services.

I've figured out where I need to place my ads now, though. There have to be homeschooling families somewhere in Middlesex County who are neither religious fanatics nor professors.

Things aren't nearly dire enough for me to stand on the other side of the Starbucks counter.

Re: Maybe teach a class...

[citabria]

If you're willing to go outside Middlesex county, I'd ask whether Whole Foods has a board you can post on.

Re: Maybe teach a class...

[jasminewind.livejournal.com]

You might try to find a yahoo group or some other sort of listserv for NJ homeschoolers. We have a couple of pretty active ones in DC & MD.

Re: Maybe teach a class...

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

Oh, cool. Found one. Thanks!