After nine crazy months of working three part-time jobs in three different cities (Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and Annapolis), I’ve landed a new position that should make my life ten times easier. Starting at the end of the month, I’ll be the new Project Manager for a publishing service company (they take projects for publishing companies, such as formatting print books to be e-books, handling the layout and design for manuscripts, etc.).

A quick caveat to the celebration that’s about to go on here: I am keeping the Youth Director position, mostly because I really enjoy it and feel invested in the kids, and also because I still need that income to make ends meet. Because of this, I will still be pulling the 50-hour shift for the time being. That said, here is what I am looking forward to with this career change:

1. It’s in my field. Publishing is highly competitive, and there aren’t too many opportunities in this area. Between getting to spend my work days doing what I want to do and getting a foot in the door of the industry, this is a fantastic shift from doing filing work for a company where I’m neither qualified or interested in rising up the ranks.

2. It’s in my city. Or close enough. I’m about a half-hour drive from Gwynn Oak to Towson, instead of an hour to hour-and-a-half drive, plus half-hour Metro trip to D.C. I get to get up at 7:15 instead of 6:00 a.m., and will get home closer to 5:45 than 6:45 or 7:00 p.m.

3. I eliminate the Metro from my life. Unless there’s an exhibit or something in D.C. that I want to see for fun, Metro commuting is over. No more spending $40 a week on parking and Metro passes, no crowded cars or waiting for trains or gloomy platforms. I am well aware that on-the-road rush hour’s no fun, either, but I am very happy to know that when I am stuck in traffic now, at least I will be able to see the sky.

4. It’s much more challenging than what I was doing before. This job will be a lot closer to the work I was doing as an Editorial Assistant at Passager than as a law clerk, and it will probably be even more involved than at Passager, since it’s full-time and I may even have people (like proofreaders) working under me. It’s a weird thought, and an exciting one. I’ve been the underling in almost every job I’ve held since graduation. Sometimes it’s been pleasant work and I hardly noticed being at the bottom, sometimes it was made painfully clear how little power I had. Sometimes, like at the law firm, it became the kind of thing I took for granted. It’s a major confidence boost to think that I’m starting in a position where I have some real responsibility to make sure stuff gets done.

The countdown stands at 3 weeks exactly until my first day as Project Manager. I’m looking forward to a few free days and the church mission trip before I start. Money’s a little tight this month, since I’m basically working half-time (only two jobs a week, and one week of only church), but I’m feeling great about the new beginning waiting for me at the end of the month.