Yeah, so this continues my recollection stories for my countdown to 30. For those of you who are family or know me really well, this will be old news to you. I have my own Medical Billing business. But nobody goes grows up saying, "I want to bill medical insurance companies when I grow up!" So how did I get here?
Well, growing up, my family wanted me to become a doctor and really, that is what I thought I wanted to. I was super smart and when you are smart like that, that is just one of those jobs people expect you to do. I don't know when I realized deep down that I didn't want to become a doctor, but I know it was around the end of my elementary school days. I never mentioned it to family though as I wanted to please them. It was also around this time that I had some great teachers and I started thinking about becoming a teacher myself.
Going into Junior High and High School, I still pretended to want to become a doctor when I really knew by now that a teacher job was what I really wanted. As I was now very much into sports, I decided that maybe I would stick to the doctor path by being a physical therapist with a goal of a sports team doctor. For a while, near the end of High School, I actually became excited about this proposition. It also didn't help that I was now hinting at becoming a teacher and it was not only shot down by my family, but by the teachers I idolized.
So, I started college with the goal of physical therapist. I just wasn't into it though and that coupled with my sudden freedom and dramatically more difficult classes left me in academic probation in my first year. I tried to turn it around and after the first quarter of my second year, I was still on academic probation. This is when my life turned around. I met with a counselor at school and discussed my options and future. I mentioned the teacher dream and she convinced me to go for it. I was hesitant at first, but then jumped at the opportunity once I thought about it more and more. I changed my major to a wonderful major called American Studies which analyzed the American Culture. I was able to take some amazing classes in this major that I will remember forever and while I took this, I took my prerequisites for a teaching career. A couple of quarters later, I made the Dean's List. Quite a turn around. I graduated happy and with a goal in site.
I then took the year program to become an elementary school teacher which was thrilling and easy at the same time. After one year of training to get my credential, I was now teaching 4th grade in the same district where I grew up. I started my first year full of confidence and wanting to have the same kind of fun classes I had as a kid...
But I only lasted three years. In those three years, I had some wonderful students. The thing is though, my ideal of what teaching was had completely changed since I was a kid mostly because of a change in the way kids were in that period. When I was a kid, kid's were scared to death when a teacher threatened to call home. When I taught, most kids just laughed and shrugged their shoulders when I threatened to call home. I just had no support and that included from administration. I knew after one my students stabbed me with his pencil in my hand and he only was suspended 2 days that I had to get out. I actually ended up teaching one more year after that incident, but that is mostly because that incident happened at the end of the 2nd year and it was too late to change my mind for the following year. I was miserable the 3rd year and it didn't help that the class was mostly a class of rugrats.
I wanted out, but I didn't know what to do. This is about the time Jessica and I bought our first house and I fell in love with the home buying process. I decided after much deliberation to leave teaching at the end of the year and try my hand at real estate. And why not? Real Estate was BOOMING in town! I made many friends while teaching and had some amazing students, but I happily left and was excited to start my new job.
So I started my real estate career and almost right away, the real estate market took a giant dive downwards. I became depressed as deal after deal fell through. I couldn't believe my luck or lack of it as everything seemed to go against me. It didn't help that Sacramento was now being called the 3rd worst real estate market in the entire United States. I made a little money, but after a year, I had to get out. I LOVED the job, but I couldn't stay in a job where I wasn't making money. In fact, the market has only become worse since then.
I applied for some State positions and scored extremely well on their entrance tests, but I was either too well qualified for entry positions(which I was okay with taking) or they just weren't hiring. To make some money on the side while I waited for a job to apppear, I started working the Medical Billing business with my mother in law. And then a funny thing happened; I actually liked it. I liked all the math I got to do. I liked having to make things balance at the end. I liked the freedom of working from home. Perhaps as a gift from above for my bad luck, a colleague of my mother in law decided she was ready to retire and wanted to sell her business. I jumped at the opportunity and as of yesterday, I have now had the business one full year. And you know what? I love it! Yeah, I deal with stupid people and I get frustrated at times, but I love it. Let's hope the ride lasts...
Zodiac - This is the movie based on the real life hunt for the Zodiac Killer. I don't know how much was truthful and how much was made up for the story, but it was a pretty good film. There is really not any action in it like typical Hollywood serial killer movies, but then again, I expected that. If it was based on a real life killer who was never captured, why would I expect their to be chase scenes and the like? The story mainly focuses on the people who became so obsessed with capturing this criminal. The movie is almost devastatingly slow, but if you can appreciate a slow movie that relies mainly on character build up and conversations, then I would give this a try. Be warned, it is nearly three hours long. 7 out of 10
The Mist - This is horror/supernatural movie based on the Stephen King story. The movie starts out like a 50s B-horror movie. It's not too bad. I was enjoying it. Then the movie becomes so much more and deals with the horrors that the human race brings on themselves. The end of the movie is one of the most difficult endings I have ever seen. It is at this point that the movie becomes memorable and one that is difficult to shake. 7.5 out of 10
Sicko - This is the newest Michael Moore film. In this film, he deals with the horrors of the health care industry on the United States. It is a very interesting movie even though I know, like all of his movies, it has his biased viewpoint. Regardless, I know some of it had to be true and it is just sickening. A pretty good watch as long as you don't hate Michael Moore(which I know some of my fellow bloggers do! :-)) 7 out of 10
Reno 911: Miami - Silly. I watched this because I think the Reno 911 show on tv is fairly amusing and I was hoping the movie would at least give me a couple of laughs. Well, I was right. It gave me a couple of chuckles. But 2 or 3 chuckles in a 90 minute period is not a very good ratio for a comedy. Oh well... 2.5 out of 10
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer - I really didn't care too much for the first Fantastic Four movie, but I had heard from everyone who had seen it that the second one was better. They were right, it was better, but not considerably. The problem I have with this series is it is too family friendly and happy go lucky. It borders on slap stick like. I just think for a super hero movie, it never feels like anything is ever very serious. 6 out of 10
Beowulf - This is the "animated" movie based on the old story. I say animated because the characters are made to look as real as possible and many of the characters are made to look exactly like the actors who supply voices. Overall, the film looks spectacular and you sometimes forget you are watching an animated movie. This is what drives this movie as the story is only so-so. The story is good enough, but probably not enough to hold up to multiple viewings once the wow factor of the animations wears off. 6.5 out of 10
Iron Man - Awesome! Really, if this is the way my Summer movie season is going to go, it is going to be spectacular. This one will be hard to top. This may be my favorite comic movie to date and that is saying a lot. The main reason for the greatness of this movie? Robert Downey Jr. completely nailed the character of Tony Stark. It was almost as if her was born to play this role because it is his movie. The story itself is great and has the right mixture of action/humor/etc. As a comic movie, everything just felt perfect. If you do go see it, be sure wait and see the scene after the credits roll. Classic mark out moment for comic fans!!! 9.5 out of 10.
Atonement - I wasn't looking forward to this at all, but I heard from a couple of people it was decent so I tried to go in with an open mind. Well, that's all it was, decent. About a third of the way through or so, I felt the film had a lot of potential after a big event in the film, but it really didn't go the direction I expected/wanted. In the end, it didn't have the big payoff I wanted and it just kind of died out. 5.5 out of 10.
Michael Clayton - This was actually a pretty decent movie. I don't know why it was nominated for Best Picture though. I mean, it was really no different or better than a good John Grisham adaptation. George Clooney plays a guy who works in a law firm as a fixer and the story revolves around a pretty high end case for the firm. Clooney was awesome in the film and it had some really powerful scenes, but I didn't think it was Oscar quality. Oh well, I still enjoyed it. 7 out of 10
Ratatouille - This was a really cute film, but what else do you expect from Pixar? Not much needs to be said as I am sure you all know it is about a cooking rat. Just know, if you have been a fan of their past films, you won't be disappointed with this one and it comes highly recommended. 8.5 out of 10
The Number 23 - Jim Carrey plays a man who becomes obsessed with the number 23 after reading a book and then seeing it pop up everywhere in his life. This is a very dark film and Carrey puts in another underappreciated performance as a man going crazy. It has a few twists and turns and is definitely not for the average movie goer. It is simply not straight forward like that and is almost David Lynch like. Not bad at all. 7 out of 10
- The King of Kong - A hidden gem that came out of nowhere. This is a documentary about a man trying to beat the world record for Donkey Kong. Simple enough, right? Truthfully though, this film was so much deeper than that and it is amazing to see all the politics that go into the video game record world. By the end of the film, you are cheering for some and having such hatred for others on par with the greatest of movies. The fact that it is documentary makes it that much more impressive. After I saw this movie, I raved to Jessica about it and told her she had to watch it with me. Thankfully, but not surprisingly, she had the same feelings about the movie. Simply put, I can not recommend this film any higher. Don't worry if you don't like/play video games. The documentary transcends that and it really is about good vs evil. You must watch this film. 9.5 out of 10.
