Thanks, but No Thanks

I made a summary of failures to go along with my regular resume.  I figure it's only fair to note organizations and paths that I said "Thanks, but no thanks" to over the years.

Stephen Francis Pearcy

Summary of Thanks, but No Thanks

Education

• Masters in Education, Middle Tennessee State University - To teach more than two years in Tennessee, a teacher was required to have at least 12 graduate credit hours in education.  It didn't matter how and where you got them (some earned them via correspondence courses, some via night classes in the next town, some via summer classes in Murfreesboro), or what classes you took (one of mine was the History of American Public Schools, a fascinating class, yet not very useful for everyday teaching), you just had to have 12 credits.  I earned 9 credits at MTSU and 3 credits at Columbia University for a summer program I got into there.  So I was almost halfway to a Masters and never continued.
• Masters in System Engineering, George Washington University - When I worked for the navy doing simulations, I took a graduate class in Operations Research at GW and a Finite Math class at the University of Maryland.  6 credits in all.  Never continued.

Professional Experience

• Assistant Manager, Olsson's Books and Records, Washington, DC - I worked part-time at Olsson's and the manager asked if I was interested in going full time as an assistant manager.  Stayed in my day job (though I still worked evenings and weekends at the store) and several years later Olsson's closed (very sad day).
• Some school in Oregon - I was applying for teaching jobs and working with a placement agency.  Just after I accepted a job in Maryland, I was contacted by a school in Oregon about working there.  I told him I had just accepted a job in Maryland.
• Summer School Director, Hathaway Brown School, Shaker Heights, OH - During my first year teaching there, the Headmaster offered me the job as Summer School Director for the coming summer.  I declined and subsequently left the school after one year to study music at KSU.
• Senior Year Program, St. Andrew's-Sewanee School, St. Andrew's, TN - I was approached about participating in the Senior Year Program.  The fellow (the math teacher who replaced me when I left) who said yes eventually became the Dean of Students.  I moved to Cleveland to teach at Hathaway Brown School.
• St. Andrew's School, Bethesda, MD - I declined a job teaching math and coaching soccer, which I had never played outside of gym class in 8th grade, and moved to Tennessee for a job teaching there.
• Electronics Engineer, US Naval Surface Weapons Center, White Oak, MD - I left the job to become a school teacher.  Someone I knew in college who graduated the year before me, and like me, started working for the government right after graduating, just retired from the government at 55.

Professional Singing Experience

• National Cathedral Choir, Washington, DC - I left the choir to have Sundays free.  The choir has gotten a lot better and later rejected me.
• St. Matthew's Cathedral, Washington, DC  - I auditioned and was accepted but continued singing at the other cathedral.  Later sang with the choir for 5 years, leaving just in time to NOT sing for Pope Francis.
• Chantry, Washington, DC  - I sang their first concert but decided to stop singing with them.  The choir has gotten a lot better and later rejected me.
• Advent Project, Vienna, VA  - I sang their first concert but decided to stop singing with them because it was too far away from home.
• National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, DC  - My first paid singing job, I sang for a year and half and then left, before they sang in Rome.

Women I declined or ignored advances

• Rachel - a Library Science student at KSU who I met at the bar at Ray's and subsequently met sometimes to play scrabble in a booth there.  She eventually moved to NY and visited DC once to see her sister in a play at the Kennedy Center (Wit) and got me a ticket.
• Girl at Vonnegut talk - I went to see Kurt Vonnegut speak at KSU and a woman came up to me afterwards and said "I've seen you sing with the Thai Ensemble, a couple times."  I said cool and walked away.  A woman who went to Thai music concerts and Kurt Vonnegut talks.  Oops.
• Amy - a fellow tutor at the Academic Support Office of KSU's Intercollegiate Athletics Department.
• Lisa - the girlfriend of a fraternity brother with whom I would go to the pharmacy to get condoms for use with her, even though I was fond of her.   We admitted the weekend I graduated that we both wanted each other back then, though by that time we were both in other relationships.

After figuring out my resumes of what I did, what I was rejected to do, and what I myself rejected, I asked myself what happened to the places and people after my time with them?  It varies.  To date, I have worked at 9 organizations for a year or more in DC and MD.  Over half have closed or experience drastic restructuring after I left.  Only the most recent 4 have escaped the wrath of my departure.   The clock is ticking.  One woman I dated in college died in her early 40's.   Musical groups have not all survived my presence either.

Organizations that crashed or were devastated after I left

• Joy of Motion Dance Company, Washington, DC - a dance school that had troubles with staffing and then Covid hit after I left.  Lost two of three studios and trying to limp along, somewhat doomed.
• Olsson's Books and Records, Washington, DC - closed 2 years later because of Borders and Amazon.
• Washington National Cathedral, Washington, DC - laid off half staff 2 years later due to investment crash and overspending.
• William E. Doar Public Charter School, Washington, DC  - DC earthquake of 2011 caused damage that condemned one building, losing about 150 students.  It eventually was closed by the charter board, 15 years after opening, for mediocre test scores.
• Newport School, Kensington, MD - lost its lease on its building after I left and, after limping along in other locations, closed 10 years later.
• Naval Surface Weapons Center, White Oak, MD - closed with end of cold war and base closings 5 years after I left and most employees moved to Dahlgren, VA.

Musical groups usually survive my participation, though there are exceptions

• Woodley Ensemble, Washington, DC  - board decided to stop supporting the organization with donations, though the group still does pick up work through the last director, including one of my favorite gigs of all time, singing music to 2001: A Space Odyssey with the NSO at Wolf Trap with the movie screened above.
• Palestrina Choir, Washington, DC - founder moved and attempts to find a new director were not successful.
• Sewanee Early Music Ensemble, Sewanee, TN - group was around a couple years when I arrived in TN.  It had one concert after I joined and started to rehearse for another but then gave up.
• University of Maryland Chorus, College Park, MD - town and gown chorus I sang with chorus for 2-3 years after I graduated from college.  Folded 10 years later after over 30 years of performing.  I recorded my first CD with the group (Antal Dorati conducting Handel's Messiah), sang my first NSO concert and first Kennedy Center concert, Beethoven 9, and went to a foreign country for the first time with the group (Switzerland) and stayed for an extra 2 weeks wandering Europe by train, my first taste of travel.  Opened the door to a lot of my life habits.
• Lafayette College Marching Band, Easton, PA - dissolved a few years after I graduated.  Replaced by a pep band several years after dissolution.
• Lafayette College Glee Club, Easton, PA - dissolved after my freshman year, casualty of coeducation.