Who the heck do I think I am?

I can't quite believe I'm considering this, but....

Does anyone think it's ridiculous to actually consider working as an Aflac insurance agent? It's commission, but it's not like I'd have to sell 1,000,000 widgets and it's certainly not like I'd be standing in a Home Depot trying to get individual marks to remodel their kitchens.

Pros:

- Money potential is great (commission structure allows residuals on all signed contracts)
- Not like healthcare, academia, or construction in that one doesn't need any special degree / knowledge to advance
- flexible schedule / hours, so I could totally arrange my schedule for auditions / rehearsals
- Variable days, not stuck at a desk, lots of field work
- plays to many strengths: presentations, talking to people, site visits, running open enrollments, etc.
- growth potential
- don't have to do it forever
- non-profit-like service (i.e., it's a socially responsible product)
- Offices are in Waltham, easy commute


Cons:

- I'm not very mainstream, dunno if I'll connect well to potential clients?
- commission structure
- will I get "addicted" to taking the calls, getting the clients?
- Will I go nuts at the scripts / sales mentality?
- Can I get emotionally invested in this enough to do it well?
- Some travel (mostly in region) and hassle of getting into town? Going to companies?


(though as the guy I interviewed with today said: You'll know if you don't like it. But don't quit before you get started.) I've also got their sample associate contract, which I'm trying to read carefully but my eyes are crossing....

I dunno.

On the other hand - if I'm going to be stuck in a job that I don't really care about passionately, it might as well be something I can make a lot of money doing, right?

Dear Gwen:

Don't ever buy Hamburger Helper again. Really. I mean it. Use up the ones you have if you must, but you really shouldn't get any more. Like Kraft Macaroni & Cheese and Spaghettios, this is something you no longer ever, ever need to buy.

Kthxloff,

Your Stomach


Meanwhile, I'm in a personal crisis of sorts over AUness. Some of you may know that I have a Lucius backstory, a Snape backstory, and some other snippets flowting around on my hard drive, that have never yet seen the light of day, much of the background for which was laid during the writing of HMSS and developed long before "Order of the Phoenix," to say nothing of "Half-Blood Prince." Since the gulf between canon and my backstories has grown to a rather sizeable chasm, yet in many ways, I like my own scenarios Just Because, I've got major urges to just go ahead and put it all out there (probably here first, for some open beta, if nothing else).

But how AU should I go? Should I make any attempt to comply with any canon at all? For example, there are things I simply *won't* be changing, due to my storyline: Lucius will be 7 years older than canon-Lucius; for symbolic reasons, his father's name is Lazarus, not Abraxas; Narcissa will not be a Black; Bellatrix does not exist in anything like that format; my Lestrange boys have always been cousins, not brothers (though I'm very proud that I did figure there was another male Lestrange in addition to the married one).

But should I bother to canon-comply on things that don't matter to the story, like making Slughorn the potions prof and Head of Slytherin? Should I alter Molly's maiden name to make her a Prewett? Would it make the story slightly more acceptable, or would it simply be all the more jarring where I had veered well away from canon (before canon was ever revealed)?

The same principle applies to the Snape fic. I won't be using Tobias, and his mother's name was never important to me; the whole point of the AU-ness is the difference between my picture of his childhood and JKR's, so his heritage is a pretty firm point. But should I incorporate the book? Should I move them from London to Cradley Heath (heh. Thanks Jenna!)?

How AU is *too* AU, now that we know what canon says?


Or should I just swallow it, since they've never seen the light of day, and somehow figure out how to turn them to something original? (Which would be sorta difficult, considering)