I came to a sudden realization this morning. I'm living my dream. It's not in the way I thought it might be, not remotely. But life is full of unexpected surprises.  I've been in the "independent contractor"/"work for yourself" mode for about 5 months, now, but I have to say it's incredibly liberating. Yes, there are things about it that are terrifying, but it's nice to know my fate is in my own hands. For those unaware, to say that a brand new library has limited funds is a gross understatement. The funding here isn't even enough to provide me benefits. So I am employed here as an independent contractor. I pay my own taxes and am on the justifiably-maligned Obamacare health system (which sucks--everything good you've heard about it is a lie, and if you're not actually ON it, you don't get to disagree). Aside from the Obamacare bit, though, things are pretty good. Sure, I don't get PTO from here, but again, my fate is i...