[BoomerSooner]

I too am a college student (done in December, thank God), so I know what you mean as far as losing the desire. My situation is a little different considering I also work a full time job at night (that's why most of my posts are at obscene times in the night), am married with a son, and still taking classes full time. Burn out is to be expected even without baseball and softball. I find looking for the positive aspects of umping is the key. For me it is a chance to get away from life for a couple of hours. It is also how I make up for missing my true love, basketball (in regards to officiating, my wife is my real true love), since it conflcts with school. The extra money also goes to my son's college fund.

It seems to me that you are attached to the money side of it, albeit understandable at your point in life. You have to make it about the kids or the game or the exercise or the fresh air. Somthing that you can't get elsewhere and that you can really appreciate (trust me, in only 24 years on this earth, I've also learned that this goes for any job or career). If you look at umpiring as a way of avoiding a "real" job then thats all it will ever be to you. It doesn't sound like its the escape that it once was for you, but rather a way of hiding from other jobs.