Sitting on the Fence

I have been working since I was 14 years old. My first job was at the Ohio State Fair. I sold toys at this little booth. From nearly Sun up until closing time, I flogged toys to people with money they wanted to throw away on cheap bits of plastic manufactured in China. I could give them a smile, allow them to play with the toy themselves and persuade them that their lives wouldn't be complete unless they had a cute penguin-going-up-the-stairs toy. The money I earned that summer was used to buy school clothes and other necessities. That was 21 years ago. Since then I've paid my own way in the world save for a brief two month period of collecting unemployment after leaving the phone sex company I worked at while in college. That period of time was more for the ability to say that I'm "on unemployment" than for anything else. Jobs have always been easy to come by. The work that I do now is very satisfying, but I'm sick to death of living my life based on a time clock. Tired of it. Hate it. Wanting out so bad that I can taste it. My job has been very good to me since it has provided me with money to live, a lot of experience and a group of people I like working with, but I hate working in a cubicle.
So, what am I going to do about it? Shall I go postal? Shall I walk out and hit the panic button on life? None of the above. I've decided that the time has come to put my "cock on the block" and start living the life I want versus just existing in one that doesn't fully satisfy me in terms of a career. I love my job, coworkers and boss, but I want to see what else I'm capable of. It feels like I have this BMW, but I've been driving at a Chevy Chevette speed.
I had business cards made up that actually say that I'm a writer on them. This is a first for me because it really implies that I have a career and a calling. Oh, it may not be noble or along the same lines as a priest or nun, but it is my calling. Hooking up words to form thoughts is the only thing that I enjoy doing. That pleasure of watching words put together to make a picture.
I signed up for a copywriting course some time ago. I did the reading and exercises and now I'm about to submit my first assignment. It's fun and rather exciting to try my hand at this. To be honest, I feel as if this is what I've been preparing to do forever. I write articles at an English teaching magazine now, but copywriting combines my love of selling (penguin toy or no penguin toy) with words. Being a freelance copywriter will also give me the chance to have more time to do the other writing that I love for magazines. I feel as if finally it is all coming together. It sure as heck took forever for me to figure it out but well worth the wait. Off to write some tests.
J