I think I've talked about my plans for moving to Austin in March quite a bit and everyone knows about it, right?
Good.
So this afternoon my editor calls me into a one-on-one and tells me that as part of a series of beat changes at the paper I'm moving to our features/entertainment section, effective a week from Monday.
So basically, a job I've wanted ever since I got here five years ago falls into my lap 2 months before I was planning on moving to a city where I as of yet have no secure job but probably wouldn't have much trouble getting one.

To say I'm conflicted is an understatement. In addition to this, two friends who had been on board to help me move pulled out on me today.

Yeesh.
Any thoughts?

You live in Flint, MI right? If I were you I would go to Austin. Living in a cool place will probably make you happier than any damn job.

Shoot first and ask questions later.

Is being the features editor in a dying hull of a town full of THEM! gonna make you happier than abject poverty, alcoholism and Vic Chesnutt style drunken despair in Austin?

CHASE THE DREAM, CHAD. You are only young once. And even then it doesn't really count.

Take the position you've been eyeing. Austin, unfortunately, will be there forever.

I say, stay where you are. That's a sign if I ever saw one.

or.....get a bit of experience with your dream job in michigan.....before you move on to get your dream job in a cooler city.

definitely.
that's fate stepping in.

i spent 3 drunk and poor years in san francisco right after college. even though it really put a damper on my career for awhile, it was one of the best decisions I've made.

Dreams are for losers. Be practical, Chad. Take the job.

sounds like fate. at the least, take it while you flesh out the abroad opportunity.

Listen to everything Opa says. And then do the opposite.

Loog and OPA! represent the exact voices of the angel and the devil sitting on my shoulders right now. Not that one is right and the other is wrong. It's just that... shit, I don't know.
Plus, I'm sick today and only thinking at about 75% capacity anyway.
I needed this like I need a case of dysentary.

Chuck, your input wouldn't hurt. Where you at?

take the job. when something like that happens, it's obviously a sign. is the pay more? use the extra $ to save up. get some experience doing your dream job for 1-2 yrs., then move. austin will always be there... and maybe by then you can find a cool job.

I think it's a sign from the cosmos . . . that you should take the position you been wanting, give it some time, and then decide if you still want to move. At least then you've actually taken advantage of the opportunity and gotten some experience with it. Personally, I, at least, would have been disappointed that I hadn't jumped at that dream job.

I'm with Opa & DayStar on this 'un.

Question for you people who seem to believe in "signs": do you suppose all omens point to good fortune?

Let's not overstate things. This isn't a "dream" job, meaning that it's not how I ever planned to fill the bulk of my career.
But it's a great job for me where I'd have the most enthusiasm, make the biggest difference for the paper and be the happiest if I were to stay in this city.

I'm taking the weekend to think this over. Starting tonight when I get raving drunk.

Seriously, take the job for a minute, and then move.

As for dreams being for losers, you will regret it if you don't ever strike out for a different pasture, IMO.

You can always limp back home with your tail between your legs, but nothing ventured nothing gained.

[IF]

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!


--Rudyard Kipling

i got a huge raise just as i was all ready to quit.
i stayed on for six months, saved money, built up a client base and then quit.

it was a good move because it made my transition really easy to have all that extra money.

also, your new job will probably make getting a job you want in austin easier.

no.

my luck runs in 3 1-year-ish cycles -- better luck than normal, worse luck than normal, and normal (for comparison). this last "year" was worse & i knew it "was on" when dumya won. (that was a tough nite.)

and there are minor (affecting hours or days, etc) omens too.

I'm all for enthusiasm. At the same time, most of the things that make you want to leave one city will be waiting for you at the next city. I'm not saying you should stay or go.

Once again, I default to the coin flip. Flip a coin, Austin one side and Flint the other. You'll know which one you really want to land before the coin hits the ground.

Move to Austin. Chances are taking the job will only trap you in Flint for longer possibly forever.

This is so true.

Without getting too spiritual, religous, belief-heavy whatever....I feel that things do happen for a reason. What may appear to be the obvious reason, or what we hope it to be may entirely lead to something completely unexpected but in the long term better. Of course we also have the free will to ignore our impulses, omens, signs, whatever you want to call them.

As far as the topic, you could go either way. The smarter move may be to accept the job you've been holding out for, make some money, earn some more padding on the resume and choose to persue a move later on if the urge is still there. If you feel more ambitious and spontaneous make the move, create some memories and be able to have a good story to tell people when they ask how you got there.

Either way it can work out great. Ask yourself where you are right now in what you want....exciting, adventurous change-of-pace or stable, secure familiarity.

The arts/entertainment editor in Austin already knows me, because we had lunch when I was there in October. He likes my work and has no doubt I'd be a great fit there, but they haven't had any openings in that department in 5 years. That's actually a pretty common situation; features jobs are the hardest to get.

I'm leaning toward doing the new gig for a year or two just to bide my time and see if anything opens up at the paper there. I've already got all the money I need saved up since I've been planning a move of some kind for about a year now.

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts. I'll let you know how things play out.