Dealer had an Ace up his sleeve

Well its official, the dealer had the Ace in the hole. The house wins. I lose. No more left seat for me at this airline. I didnt quite get to the magical 1000 hours, but managed to knock about a third of it out. I am a lot closer to that goal than I was a year ago, so that has to count for something. But due to having such low seniority and having my re-call rights to my seat expire, unless I wanted to be come a regional lifer, the left seat is gone here. So, now what?
1. I can stay at my airline and go bankrupt on FO wages
2. I can leave this career and go find a real job
3. I can try and find another Captain gig somewhere....ha
4. I can put my degree and expierence to work in an industry related field.

OK....here's some of the thoughts about my choices running through my tiny little pilot brain.

1. My schedule right now is about as good as its ever going to get. Since "the screwing" (my displacement) I average 16-18 days off a month with commutable schedules. If I were to be pay protected right now, I'd be the happiest pilot on the planet. My sked is exactly what I got into this job in the first place for. The downside, I cannot afford to pay my bills. I bring home less than $1,200 a month, I shit you not. As great as my sked is, I cannot afford to stay here. Besides, if I dont want to be a regional lifer, I need to get that 1000 jet pic, not gunna happen for a very, very long time at this airline. I know that I'm not going to get hired at the next level as soon as I get those hours, but at least it makes me eligible.
2. Gettin out of the industry gets more appealing by the paycheck. But I have to be honest with myself, a) Who is going to hire a lazy throttle jockey with no real world expierence besides working in a bar b) I know I could never, ever sit behind a desk for 40 hours a week. What the hell could I do? and c) Even after all the B.S, I still love to fly
3. There are a few jobs out there, but the only possibilities so far are not in the United States. I'd have to travel half way around the world just to fly a plane. The money would be good, but if there is one thing I have realized over the few years I've been a Dad, the kids grow up fast and you cant get that time back. While I'm not ruling any possible jobs out, they'd have to be the right one for me to leave.
4. So this brings me to my last possibility and to date, the most promising. Just about a year ago after I had finished upgrade, I was doing a little internet surfing and came across the FAA's hiring website. For shits and giggles I filled out an application to become an air traffic controller. I filled out the app, clicked submit and then completely forgot about it. It wasnt until 6 months later that I was checking my email and noticed a strange email address in the "from" column. I nearly marked it as spam and deleted it, but curiosity got the best of me and I opened the email. Come to find out it was the FAA asking me to come take some sort of entrance exam for ATC down in Chicago. After talking with the wise one (Erin), she convinced me to go take the test just for fun to see how I would do. On a cold wintery sunday night I drove down to our friends house in Chicago so that I could spend the night there and not have to drive all the way from WI on a monday morning. My friend and I managed to have a good time that night drinking beers, eating Mexican and playing Tiger Woods on the playstation till about 2am. When my evil cell phone alarm clock went off at 630am, I was none too pleased. I seriously thought about rolling over and going back to sleep, but decided that since I'd already driven all the way down there, I might as well go take the test. So, I hopped in the car and headed to the hotel where they were adminstering the test. Needless to say I was not in the best of mental states. Even some greasy goodness from McDonalds couldnt shake off the cobwebs from the previous nights fun. I was tired, prolly smelled like stale beer and rotten salsa and had some nasty gut rot that slowly eeked its way out my tail during the course of the day. I felt bad for the girl sitting next to me taking the test, I can only imagine how foul I must have stunk. So after 4.5 tortuous hours of taking this very long test, much to the relief of everyone around me, completed the exam and bolted out the door. A few weeks later after having convinced myself I failed the test, got my results, 93.7, not too shabby for being hung over and having the runs like I had just drank a gallon of Mexican tap water ;)

So that brings me up to where I am now. After having passed the test, submitted where I'd like to work and played the waiting game for the last 6 months, I finally have an interview with the FAA for an ATC position. The only gotcha at this point is that I do not know where I've been selected to work. I will find out at the interview. All I know is that its for a specific state, not a specific facility. I am really only shooting for one specific facitlity. If they happen to want to send me to a po-dunk little tower in the middle of cowchipville, I'm going to pass on the job. I'll know more in a few weeks.