Friday, September 4, 2009

It's offical...I am the Rat King!

My ascension to oblivion has reached its climax. There is no longer a doubt that I am indeed the Rat King.
Before I continue, I want to assure the masses that are reading other blogs and not mine that I am not a depressed, whoa is me, I have it so bad, I need a hand out type of person. In fact one might argue that I am an over confident, sometimes cocky kid that wants to be ‘in the mix’ of everything, but let’s leave that argument for another blog. I am simply trying to get to my point, because right now I have no idea what my point is or is not. I do know that my education is not worthless, but I also know that it hasn’t provided me directly with any tangible markers of success. All that I have accomplished to this point has been of my own hard work and creative design. Would I suggest to the youngsters of the world to skip college and just jump into the world…God no. But if one finds themselves in that position don’t get worried…just yet.
Ok. So what is the latest ripple in the evolution of my career that has removed any doubt that I am indeed the Rat King? Licensure. I recently learned that I have passed the fifth and final exam in the road to becoming a licensed landscape architect, a feat that only a few hundred other people in Illinois and maybe a few thousand in the country have accomplished. So why is this a mark on my status? State laws in 48 states require the stamp of a licensed landscape architect on many construction/ development plans, but guess what state is one of the two that does not? That’s right, Illinois. Meaning landscape architects have very little economic or political influence in this state, rendering my licensure virtually useless. Second that with the fact that there are no available jobs in my industry, and I might just be the most over qualified underappreciated professionally licensed unemployed person in the entire state of Illinois and maybe even this side of the Mississippi.