Do you ever get the feeling like you're not good enough?
Yeah, that's me. This guy. The one with more awards on his shelf than he knows what to do with, who's helped shaped and pass legislation in the face of bitter and personal opposition and who's repeatedly distinguished himself academically and politically. I know what I've done with my life so far, and right now all I can muster is a "so what?"

I'm still dangerously underemployed. I'm 26 and live with my parents. I have no immediate prospects for work in either my political field or my educational field (though there are a few people pulling strings for me in the teaching world), and I haven't seen anything that leads me to believe I'll be working full time in the near future. Frankly, this isn't where I thought I'd be, and it's playing hell with my plans that I made for myself.

The plan was to be teaching or a full-time worker by now, building up my contacts in the community and preparing for a run at municipal politics next year. I'm not ready. No one thinks I'm a serious candidate in spite of how well I acquitted myself before. I'm seen as a gadfly, and by all rights people are correct. I have nothing in my life that signals I'm a serious being. I'm supposed to be one of the people who helps shape my little corner of the world, maybe make things a bit better than they were. How am I supposed to accomplish anything like combating homelessness when I can't even land a job?

I hate this.