My inevitable demise.Follow

I've decided it's time to get the **** out of Mississippi and the retail/food industry.

I hate it sooooo much. So very much. Every day is more excruciating than the next. Thank Jeebus for pot, right?

Time to do something nuts. I will be enrolling in a commercial diving academy to learn underwater construction/welding in the very near future. I freakin' LOVE scuba diving. I jitter like a 6 year old on their way to Disney World every time I'm about to get in the water. It's like jumping onto another planet. Hopefully this combined with my love for building things and for dangerous gadgetry will make this a rewarding venture. All but approved for the loan needed, I just need a start date, which will be known as soon as I find some suitable renters for my house and tie up a few loose ends.

My question for everyone is if they have any experience or knowledge of the industry I'm getting myself into. I've been researching it for months now and am sure of my goals and what I need to do, but there's no getting around being brand new to the lifestyle and all that it may or may not entail. It's been impressively difficult to find much information other than technical info and pretty much every individual I've talked to has been directly affiliated with or employed by a diving school and obviously they're going to make everything seem as inviting as possible when the reality is somewhat less.

I'd like to hear more BAD things to be honest as to alleviate some unpleasant surprises later.

Things other than evil sea creatures and drowning preez. I've accepted both of those already. Looking for things more along the "You probably think it's going to be like THIS, but it's really like THIS" line.

I have zero to tell you in regards to your future job prospects, but I wish you luck. I have lately been feeling that I should do something nuts, too. A few months ago, I applied for a job at Google as an Administrative Assistant, thinking that randomly moving from TN to CA might aleviate some of my boredom, but I, of course, never heard back from them.

My next super crazy thing I'm thinking of is getting my MBA. At this point, I figure, if I can't beat'em, join'em.

Good luck, Kaain! Don't drown or get eated by a sea monster without video taping it 'cause I could use a laugh.

You probably figure you'll get blown by Ariel... but in reality, she's a blonde.


Sucks, huh?

You probably think it's going to be awesome, but it's going to be really difficult to post here during work.

If you want to be laying down 500+ feet in a deep sea suit welding on an oil rig then your in your element. Turing a thing of fun into a job is not always the best thing to do. I wish you luck.

You probably think it's going to be like the start of the second Echo the Dolphin, where you don't need to resurface for air at all, when actually it's going to be like the underwater sections of Sonic, when you haven't been near an air bubble for ages and then that music starts playing and you're like **** **** **** **** **** I NNNEEEEEEEDDDDDDDD AAAAAIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRR and then you die, falling off screen only to have to start the whole process again.

If you have enough lives left.

I love that movie. Haven't seen it in forever.

Isn't that in the top 5 most dangerous jobs?

You get paid a lot, but expect to start at the bottom of the ladder.

I don't know, looked pretty punny to me.

I have a friend that does underwater welding.

It's lonely, it's dangerous, but the money is very good. It is not glamourous, you are not swimming through reefs of beautiful fish, you are welding crap on a dirty oil rig or pipeline or whatever else needs welding. He loves it, but he doesn't have any family.

This is not a job where you can go out partying at night. You get dead fast that way.

He gets $90/hr while he's underwater. He gets paid to sleep (not $90/hr but if he's onsite he's paid a sort of salary for being there on top of his wage). Not sure if this is standard or just him.

I have a buddy who's a diver in the reserves for the Canadian Military and he never shuts up about how great it is. The only bad stories he tells are about swimming in our harbour which has 500 years of sewage sitting on the bottom of it.

You can't **** in a wetsuit, and you can't come up instantly to hit the can. Ever white-knuckled it at 500 feet? That's the Olympic gold of sphincter clenching.

Things can still explode and collapse underwater.