Time to move on...but to where?

So, it's more or less official: I'm moving back to Maryland. Sitting in my apartment in Los Angeles, waiting for the phone to ring about an interview or to receive an email inquiring about one thing or another...none of that ever came. Honestly, I wasn't sure about what to expect out here as I tried to find a job. I'm no genius, nor aerospace engineering superstar. I never expected to be batting-off the big companies as they scrambled to offer me high-paying positions. Then again, I wasn't expecting to hear absolutely nothing. It's a bit of a humbling experience, knowing you're not even worth a minute's consideration. But all that - all that searching for and (hopefully, eventually) finding a good, steady job in California - is now in the past. Our quiet failures, along with our outrageously loud successes, all amount to the great bundle called life experience. This venture to California was no different, and now it's time for me to learn from that experience and move on.

So what did I learn? I've got no idea. Perhaps that California's economy sucks, and everything in Los Angeles is way overpriced. Or maybe that it's next to impossible to be seen in a job market flooded with struggling, desperate, unemployed individuals. People who probably have a better understanding of what they want in life than I do, and therefore pursue it with greater vigor. As much as I had wanted a job in Los Angeles, I was never certain about which particular direction to take. And unfortunately, upon leaving Los Angeles, I'm just as confused.

Life lessons or not, I'm spending these days trying to figure out how to turn my move home from two steps back to three steps forward. Which is interesting if you don't know which way to walk. I've got a few general options though - the same options that seem to haunt every decision we make in life:

A.) To be comfortable. For me, this means coming home, finding a job locally, and waiting for something to inspire me. The comfort comes from having my family and friends around, along with (if this path is successful) a decent engineering job. I could work until that one thing finally came along and slapped me. It would all be a matter of waiting and recognizing that opportunity when it arrived.

B.) Be proactive and do something completely different. I've whittled this option down to one direction - joining the Air Force. It's a big decision, though, and will probably guarantee to be nothing like I'm expecting (which could be a good or bad thing). It also forgoes the many perks of the comfortable path - being around my family and my friends, the ability to choose exactly I want to do at any given time. My life would have structure, yes, although I may not play as big a role in shaping it.

Given the choice of the two, you'd think the answer might be obvious - to choose the life where you get to make the choices, decide where you want to go. Lately, though, it seems like those choices are a burden. I don't know where I want to go, and I don't know what I want to do. So maybe it's best if I take the guess work out of the picture. But where does that leave me in 4+ years? Am I happy with how I spent my time? Do I finally have a direction? And did I give up something truly good when I left the comfortable path?

I'll being weighing those two options for the next week or so (HOPEFULLY by which time I'll have finally gotten someone to rent my apartment and can move home), and I'd appreciate all the input I can get. There are some that tell me a change would be good, that the military life would be a great direction for me. And there are others who advocate more that I stay the comfortable path. Is there a right answer? I don't think so. I don't think it will come down to what is right, but rather what is best. And finding what is best will probably prove to be just as complicated as the road that lies beyond it.