As a remedial college math teacher (my day job) I try to teach a whole lot of people some math. This is hard in that for the most part they don't actually want to learn or understand math, and a good portion of them have been taught to hate math or that they can not do math. It is a very hard job. Some days I find it very rewarding, like when a student from a few semester back runs into me on campus and tells me that they wish I was their math teacher now (I even got this from a student who failed my class) or when I'm out and about and someone stops me in the street to thank me again for all my tutoring help. But then there are the days where I have to process the paperwork for the student using their cell phone during a test and get an email from someone on their friends account telling me what a horrible teacher I am. And yes I know that I need to not let that bother me, but it still sucks. I know I would enjoy teaching if all I have are students that actually want to learn and maybe one day I will find that, but it is not at my current job.
So I would like to quit my job, there is more to it then just what is mentioned above and I will probably at some future date rant about that, but not now.
The spark: One day I was reading facebook and one of my friends posted this article http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/magazine/why-are-there-still-so-few-women-in-science.html?_r=0. If you have the time, it is a very interesting read. On the same day another friend completely unrelated actually quoted some information found in this article. When I did read it, I found that there were too many points in there that were true for me. One of the big realizations I had was that even having been a graduate student in mathematics for 4 years I had never actually been to a math conference. I told my uber smart little sister (who actually finished her phd in mathematics) and she invited me to visit her this January when the joint mathematics conference is being held really close to her. This isn't just any old math conference, this is the largest math conference. I'm not the intended audience as I do not have or am currently working on a phd so I can get in for a lot less money. I can do this, I can go. Then my brain said "what if I don't come back?"
Next thought: What would happen if I turned my little truck into something I can camp in and drive? I like to think that as a SCAdian I know how to camp and handle not having everything or a shower everyday. I have a tiny bit of savings, I could drive across country.
The scheme: Buy a camper shell for my pickup truck, add some things and make it so I could live in it. The first of January head out. I would start here in southern California and drive to Washington DC, I have about two weeks before the conference and it would be winter so I would want to plan extra time to get there, and then take the longest road trip home I could possibly take. I do need to be back in southern California for a couple weddings in summer of 2014, but no dates as of now. I could spend six months traveling.
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