Coming Out

Hello. I'm Justin. I'm a 25 year old child.

Long discussion regarding finances, jobs and bike racing over dinner tonight. What was supposed to be my mom's Mother's Day dinner, turned into another realization that I'm broke, and that life might get hard after leaving my job...

Oh yea! I quit my job Monday. I put in a month+a day's notice. It was a long time coming, but it's still weird knowing that I'm leaving a company that I've been with for nearly 7 years.

My step-dad told me that it would make more sense to work this summer, save money and then leave work in the fall to race. I'm going to make more fitness improvements over the summer than during race season, and this is the only chance that Jen and I have to live together before I go to grad school. Neither one of us wants to find out that we can't stand living in each other's mess after I've changed schools, so now's the time to test the waters.

I do realize how absurd it sounds to quit a steady job, leave home for two months and only work part-time, but I also realize that I need to take this chance when it comes, and this is the only time it's coming. At dinner I said, "if I put in work this fall, and become an elite racer, then maybe a team will find me that wants to pay for my entries next year."

I know it's a long-shot, but it is a shot. Next fall, no matter what city I'm in, my hierarchy of needs isn't going to be the same as the past five years. I can't screw around once I start grad school, and paying the bills may mean taking a job that requires I work on the weekends and nights. As long as I get my studying done, working may take precedence over bike riding. This is probably my last chance to try to become an elite bike racer. It's also my last chance to move to a colonial port city to live with my girlfriend mostly worry-free before adulthood starts. I HAVE to take it. It'd be absurd not to.