After a week of preparing to move, getting into a car accident (it was a taxi, but despite me not being the driver I was still hurt/shaken up) mere minutes before a job interview (guess how that went? awful), still working full time and not having a bed to sleep on because I prematurely sold mine, this has been a rough week. I've been tempted to just be the most miserable person and complain at every turn. Since that does nothing buy perpetuate the cycle of unhappiness that I am trying so desperately to forget, I made a list of things that made me happy over the past few days:
The woman in Sbux who overheard me talking about my bus ride back to Boston and gave me her magazines to read.
The random person on the subway who gave me their unlimited all day ride pass to use.
The really nice taxi driver who listened to me spill my guts after said awful interview and told me that everything would be ok.
The outpouring of positive support I received from my colleagues when I put in my 2 weeks notice.
Running into acquaintances on the street during lunch who give me hugs and tell me how much they are going to miss me.
ATT texting me to tell me I'm about to go over my data plan instead of just charging me overages with no warning.
Going home to CT, sleeping in my own bed, and hopefully seeing my family visiting from HI.
The boy getting to Seton Hall when I was ready for him to be in Miami for the next 3 years.
The weather is starting to feel like fall!
That felt good. Out with the bad, in with the new.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
Unaccustomed Earth
Just ran across an apropos quote from Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Custom-House:
"Human nature will not flourish, any more than a potato, if it be planted and replanted, for too long a series of generations, in the same worn-out soil. My children have had other birthplaces, and, so far as their fortunes may be within my control, shall strike their roots into unaccustomed earth."
"Human nature will not flourish, any more than a potato, if it be planted and replanted, for too long a series of generations, in the same worn-out soil. My children have had other birthplaces, and, so far as their fortunes may be within my control, shall strike their roots into unaccustomed earth."
Everything can look like a failure in the middle
--Rosabeth Moss Kanter, via @HBSNews
I'm reviving the blog and I promise I'll try to keep things interesting if you wish to follow along as I figure out this next exciting step in my life (oh, and I guess you can read about my adventures in China, considering I've written twice since 2008.)
Today I put in my two weeks notice at work.
Throughout my life I've always been the kind of person to stick it out- wait until the end of the movie, even if it was awful or I fell asleep (W, anyone?). Even if I never returned to Irish Dancing, Rowing or Chemistry, I stuck it out until the end of the year/season/class simply because I had always been raised not to "quit" anything. We Zs, we finish things (including everything on our plate.) It is just the way I was raised- you don't give up on things.
I find myself coming to the end of a long summer of promises and expectations that I have been building up for myself. I told myself that I had until September to find a "real" job or I was moving back home. Also, I went from being in a long distance relationship of the 1,500 mile variety to a boyfriend living in a city I've always been fascinated with, New York City. Also, it is safe to assume that I am less than thrilled with the current job I find myself in. So instead of sticking it out I'm sticking up for myself and I'm leaving to find a better job and living situation.
Somehow the stars aligned such that my lease is up a mere 3 days before my last day of work. I'm looking at apartments in NYC (though who knows what will happen in the end in terms of employment) and in the interim I will be taking a little vacation in CT with my wonderful parents to refocus on applying for jobs, running, cooking and enjoying my life to the fullest as opposed to settling for the job I had in Boston.
I pinky swear to update more and to write shorter updates with more pictures. My warning is that this blog will probably have very little focus-- some job hunt here, fashion there, technology another day, perhaps a sports musing or two (did I mention I'll have TV again in CT?!).
I'm reviving the blog and I promise I'll try to keep things interesting if you wish to follow along as I figure out this next exciting step in my life (oh, and I guess you can read about my adventures in China, considering I've written twice since 2008.)
Today I put in my two weeks notice at work.
Throughout my life I've always been the kind of person to stick it out- wait until the end of the movie, even if it was awful or I fell asleep (W, anyone?). Even if I never returned to Irish Dancing, Rowing or Chemistry, I stuck it out until the end of the year/season/class simply because I had always been raised not to "quit" anything. We Zs, we finish things (including everything on our plate.) It is just the way I was raised- you don't give up on things.
I find myself coming to the end of a long summer of promises and expectations that I have been building up for myself. I told myself that I had until September to find a "real" job or I was moving back home. Also, I went from being in a long distance relationship of the 1,500 mile variety to a boyfriend living in a city I've always been fascinated with, New York City. Also, it is safe to assume that I am less than thrilled with the current job I find myself in. So instead of sticking it out I'm sticking up for myself and I'm leaving to find a better job and living situation.
Somehow the stars aligned such that my lease is up a mere 3 days before my last day of work. I'm looking at apartments in NYC (though who knows what will happen in the end in terms of employment) and in the interim I will be taking a little vacation in CT with my wonderful parents to refocus on applying for jobs, running, cooking and enjoying my life to the fullest as opposed to settling for the job I had in Boston.
I pinky swear to update more and to write shorter updates with more pictures. My warning is that this blog will probably have very little focus-- some job hunt here, fashion there, technology another day, perhaps a sports musing or two (did I mention I'll have TV again in CT?!).
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Cinderella
I am a proud member of Northeastern’s Class of 2010. On May 7th, I received my diploma and took the obligatory pictures in academic garb and dined with family and friends in this great city that I have come to call home over the past 5 years. The logical next step for most people would to be to find a job as soon as possible. While logic is something I rarely ignore, heading into the worst economy of my lifetime I couldn’t help but feel that I shouldn’t waste this opportunity of a fresh start on just any job. I have been anything but lackadaisical in my job search, but the fact that I am still jobless in August is more a testament of my desire to find the perfect fit, m proverbial glass slipper of a job. A position that excites me when I wake up in the morning, where I enjoy what I do, where I actually enjoy the people I work with in social settings, and where, to paraphrase Google, I feel that I am doing no evil.
I started my job search way back in September, applying for all of the cushy corporate “Leadership Development” programs and had my heart set on two at different points over the fall. One program was canceled, the other I wasn’t selected for due to the cruel disadvantage that is phone interviews. This left me in an interesting position: I wasn’t so much interested in the corporate LDPs anymore, but most companies don’t want to hear from you until a month or two before you graduate, so I sat back and let the rest of my senior year unfold. As March rolled around I brushed the dust of my resume and got back into the swing of things. April came and a few mentors of mine reached out to help me, as well as a “Life Coach” whom I met at an alumni event. I sought out so much advice that it all ended up to be contradictory ("your resume needs to be 2 pages!" and "Your resume should never be more than 1 page!" type stuff). I realized that as in many of my job endeavors before, you need to stay true to yourself and I ended up disregarding a majority of the advice.
My former mangers and family members all pushed me to work in their respective fields, however subtly they though they were doing it. Others whom I asked for (and genuinely wanted) help from became hard to get in touch with.
Along the way I met a wonderful woman during senior week who got me a temp position at NU. I had a lot of fun, and when that position ended another one popped up in another department. I find myself now in the position where I can take my time in finding the perfect job because I have the "just for right now" job in the bag. I don’t need to settle for a job I feel lukewarm about, because I already have one and they don’t expect me to stay any longer than until I find my next big adventure. Am I completely satisfied? No, which is why I am leaving at the end of the summer, but for the past few months I was able to pay my way living in Boston while I’m looking for my proverbial glass slipper.
I guess my point is, there are amazing jobs out there and I'm sick of people telling me to suck it up and take a Servant to the evil Stepsister type of job when I just know that there are still a few Princess positions out there.
I started my job search way back in September, applying for all of the cushy corporate “Leadership Development” programs and had my heart set on two at different points over the fall. One program was canceled, the other I wasn’t selected for due to the cruel disadvantage that is phone interviews. This left me in an interesting position: I wasn’t so much interested in the corporate LDPs anymore, but most companies don’t want to hear from you until a month or two before you graduate, so I sat back and let the rest of my senior year unfold. As March rolled around I brushed the dust of my resume and got back into the swing of things. April came and a few mentors of mine reached out to help me, as well as a “Life Coach” whom I met at an alumni event. I sought out so much advice that it all ended up to be contradictory ("your resume needs to be 2 pages!" and "Your resume should never be more than 1 page!" type stuff). I realized that as in many of my job endeavors before, you need to stay true to yourself and I ended up disregarding a majority of the advice.
My former mangers and family members all pushed me to work in their respective fields, however subtly they though they were doing it. Others whom I asked for (and genuinely wanted) help from became hard to get in touch with.
Along the way I met a wonderful woman during senior week who got me a temp position at NU. I had a lot of fun, and when that position ended another one popped up in another department. I find myself now in the position where I can take my time in finding the perfect job because I have the "just for right now" job in the bag. I don’t need to settle for a job I feel lukewarm about, because I already have one and they don’t expect me to stay any longer than until I find my next big adventure. Am I completely satisfied? No, which is why I am leaving at the end of the summer, but for the past few months I was able to pay my way living in Boston while I’m looking for my proverbial glass slipper.
I guess my point is, there are amazing jobs out there and I'm sick of people telling me to suck it up and take a Servant to the evil Stepsister type of job when I just know that there are still a few Princess positions out there.
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