Jobs Applied For: 9.
Interviews Scheduled: 1 (the same one)
Music Practice: Now that I have more time, I can dedicate a few more hours to this.
Happy Holidays readers! I hope your Thanksgiving was full of family, fun, turkey, pumpkin pie, and lots of wine. The list of things that I'm thankful for are as follows:
1. My family for putting up with my constant complaining about jobs, boys, life, etc.
2. My amazing friends for the same reasons listed above (and them some.)
3. An excellent thanksgiving meal.
4. The hope and anticipation for tomorrow. Knowing that something better is on the horizon for me and will show its face sooner or later.
5. The 2 jobs that I currently possess (SPINtern and babysitter extraordinaire.) While they aren't full time, they did pull me out of an awful summer and provided me with something to look forward to.
While it is disheartening to see that I've been searching for 105 days with no full time result, I still have extra time on my hands to work on certain side projects such as songwriting and music business pursuits (stay tuned for that one.) One of the easier side activities I have recently enjoyed is cooking. This is a small creative adventure that few are aware of. Growing up in a large family such as mine, I had to learn the art of cooking at the young age of 12. My parents were always working so my older sister and I were usually responsible for Friday night dinner. As I got older, my taste became more refined as did my 'mad skillz.'
Fast forward to today. As you all are more than aware, my parents went through a messy divorce. This means that for my youngest two siblings, holidays are constantly split, divided, and fought over. As for the older three (myself included) we were able to make the decision, seeing as we are all over 18. Since we spent the Jewish high holidays with my mother this year, we decided to spend Thanksgiving at my dad's house. This obviously led to bitter fighting. While yesterday went off without a hitch, I still felt bad about not spending the holiday with my mom. Which is why I'm using my 'mad cooking skillz' today to make a mini-thanksgiving tonight! On the menu, we have Arroz con Pollo (not so American but she celebrated yesterday with friends and family as well), roasted asparagus, and home made pumpkin pie made from scratch by yours truly. I can't believe that everything came out so great! I'm not going to lie by saying the the slow cooker didn't save me a ton of work today, but the pumpkin pie. Because of that, I will never buy store bought pumpkin pie again. Maybe I should just leave the music business, open my own bakery (not to toot my own horn), and call it a day. Let me take care of all of your holiday baking needs (for a small fee of course)!
And as for all of you, my wonderful readers, I hope you all have a thrifty black Friday and a magical holiday season no matter what you celebrate. Let the fun begin!
Friday, November 25, 2011
Monday, November 14, 2011
Day 94: I'm not Anne Hathaway last time I checked
Jobs Applied For: 5.
Interviews Scheduled: 1 (still grad school, but that isn't until December 6th)
Music Practice: 0.
You all must know at this point that I am having bad luck with employment, it's the number one reason why this blog is in existence. However, when your current job is described by family and friends as a "Devil Wears Prada" type of position, there is definitely a problem. I can't say that this particular errand was any crazier than anything else I've had to do with SPIN and since I normally find myself up to my eyeballs in data analysis on the average Monday, it was refreshing to get out. This was a bit too Anna Wintour for my liking though...
Today, I solved the question "how many SPINterns (Spin interns) does it take to pick up a passport at a foreign consulate." just in case you were curious, the answer is 2. About an hour and a half after I got to work, I was frantically approached to run to midtown and assist a fellow intern with this passport adventure. But there was a catch (there's always a catch.) I had about 30 minutes to get myself from Canal and Broadway to 42nd and 12th, a task that is not for the faint of heart. Catching the Q (a subway line for those of you who don't know) and arriving in midtown only took 10 minutes of time which meant that I was above ground just in time to catch a cross-town bus. Theoretically, that would leave me 4 minutes to find the Consulate, find my co-SPINtern, and complete the passport task. Oh if only theory was intertwined with execution on this Monday Afternoon. After waiting 8 minutes for the crosstown bus that never came, my fellow SPINtern called to inform me I had 8 minutes to get myself over there. I had 8 minutes to SPRINT from 7th avenue to 12th avenue on the most tourist packed street of the city. That is the equivalent of running 10 blocks, or a half-mile. I had my headphones, flat boots, and a heavy bag in tote so I did the only thing I could think of.
I booked it like there was no tomorrow.
8 minutes and a few side splints later, I was greeted by 2 security guards. One informed me that the Consulate was now closed (oh crap). The other said "Wait, are you the girl with the credit card?" (That's why 2 interns were needed) "Yes!" I breathlessly exclaimed as if they were the only words I could get out of my mouth. The guards stepped aside and there was my lovely SPINtern who looked very relieved to see me. We left with the passport in hand because after all, SPINterns know how to get the job done. We then proceeded to head back to the office where I ended up crunching numbers for the rest of the day, as expected.
Needless to say, this tired girl didn't go to the gym when she came home.
Interviews Scheduled: 1 (still grad school, but that isn't until December 6th)
Music Practice: 0.
You all must know at this point that I am having bad luck with employment, it's the number one reason why this blog is in existence. However, when your current job is described by family and friends as a "Devil Wears Prada" type of position, there is definitely a problem. I can't say that this particular errand was any crazier than anything else I've had to do with SPIN and since I normally find myself up to my eyeballs in data analysis on the average Monday, it was refreshing to get out. This was a bit too Anna Wintour for my liking though...
Today, I solved the question "how many SPINterns (Spin interns) does it take to pick up a passport at a foreign consulate." just in case you were curious, the answer is 2. About an hour and a half after I got to work, I was frantically approached to run to midtown and assist a fellow intern with this passport adventure. But there was a catch (there's always a catch.) I had about 30 minutes to get myself from Canal and Broadway to 42nd and 12th, a task that is not for the faint of heart. Catching the Q (a subway line for those of you who don't know) and arriving in midtown only took 10 minutes of time which meant that I was above ground just in time to catch a cross-town bus. Theoretically, that would leave me 4 minutes to find the Consulate, find my co-SPINtern, and complete the passport task. Oh if only theory was intertwined with execution on this Monday Afternoon. After waiting 8 minutes for the crosstown bus that never came, my fellow SPINtern called to inform me I had 8 minutes to get myself over there. I had 8 minutes to SPRINT from 7th avenue to 12th avenue on the most tourist packed street of the city. That is the equivalent of running 10 blocks, or a half-mile. I had my headphones, flat boots, and a heavy bag in tote so I did the only thing I could think of.
I booked it like there was no tomorrow.
8 minutes and a few side splints later, I was greeted by 2 security guards. One informed me that the Consulate was now closed (oh crap). The other said "Wait, are you the girl with the credit card?" (That's why 2 interns were needed) "Yes!" I breathlessly exclaimed as if they were the only words I could get out of my mouth. The guards stepped aside and there was my lovely SPINtern who looked very relieved to see me. We left with the passport in hand because after all, SPINterns know how to get the job done. We then proceeded to head back to the office where I ended up crunching numbers for the rest of the day, as expected.
Needless to say, this tired girl didn't go to the gym when she came home.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Day 86: Back to Life, Back to Reality.
Jobs Applied For: 14 since we last spoke.
Interviews Scheduled: 1 for a job and 1 for a Grad School program (explained below.)
Music Practice: Recording and guitar. Yes.
Readers, before I go into a long winded explanation as to why I haven't been around for the past few weeks I would like you all to take note of the update numbers listed above. Notice anything different? Is a certain category missing? Why yes, one has been in fact taken down. Would you like to know why? BECAUSE I FINISHED MY GRE WORK!!!!! 5 exclamation points were indeed necessary for that statement considering the amount of time it took to prepare for those exams. On October 25th, I officially finished those exams and you will all be very happy to know that I did pretty well on them too. The moment you finish your test is probably the most nerve wrecking moment of the entire process. When all is said and done and you finally complete the final section, the computer asks you not once, not twice, but three times if you would like to cancel your scores. The only thing going through my head during that moment was, "Wow, I couldn't have done THAT badly to initiate 3 of these prompts." And then the scores finally appeared and it was all over, and I couldn't be happier with the outcome.
With all of this said, I am finding it a little difficult to return to the social life I once had. It has nothing to do with my friends themselves, it's just more of an adjustment than I thought. I would try to explain with an anecdote of when I first began this blog but the summer of 2011 is not a period of my life that I am proud of. Between low self-esteem, broken hearts, slight depression, and unemployment, it is not a time I look back on fondly. A better way of explaining it would be to relate back to this point last year. To say that I had a very active social life would be an understatement. I catered to many many groups of friends and went out 6 out of 7 nights a week, so much that it made me sick. No, not the nauseating hangover type, but actually ill. As a result of my partying, I spent most of winter 2011 in bed with a cold/flu/strep throat/you name it. Maybe I'm afraid of going back to that or maybe it's because I spent the last 2 months contained to the 4 walls of my room but I can't seem to find the energy to get back to the same social butterfly. I hope I can find some sort of happy medium soon because this inability to readjust is beginning to cause fights between my friends and I. I'm not trying to hurt them or abandon them, I'm just trying to get my stride back.
And now, the return to EXTREME job hunting.
There are two very large opportunities that have found their way into my lap this past week. One is with SPIN. My supervisor just received a promotion so the company is looking to hire an entry level sales assistant, needless to say I put my resume in without a second thought. Last Monday, I interviewed with the publisher of the magazine and I must have dazzled him with my wit and charm (or maybe it's because I already work there) because I was granted an interview with some of the marketing staff this coming week! I feel that this is the best chance I have of breaking into the music business, almost like being in the right place at the right time.
The second opportunity is one that I neglected to share with most only because of the proximity between the last-minute application deadline and my GRE Psychology exam. A career path that has always been in the back of my mind that I have shared with very few is the possibility of becoming a teacher. When I was in college, I taught Math at a New York City public school as part of a work-study program (America Reads/America Counts.) The pay was pretty decent as far as work-study positions went and with my background of constant camp counselor-ing and music teaching, I was a shoe-in. What I thought would simply be a way for me to pay my bills in college turned into something much more. I actually didn't mind waking up at 6:30am to go to work, in fact I would say that I liked it. That is why I decided to apply to the New York City Teaching Fellows. It's this great program where you earn your masters in education while simultaneously teaching in New York city public schools as a full time teacher. I received a message from NYCTF on Friday evening informing me that they would like to schedule an interview. I was very excited by this news. I may be getting my hopes up a bit too early but this feels like the first time in a long time that I'm perfectly suited for something. I'm signing off so I can schedule a date and time for this momentous event. Maybe this could be the light at the end of my long-term unemployment tunnel...
Interviews Scheduled: 1 for a job and 1 for a Grad School program (explained below.)
Music Practice: Recording and guitar. Yes.
Readers, before I go into a long winded explanation as to why I haven't been around for the past few weeks I would like you all to take note of the update numbers listed above. Notice anything different? Is a certain category missing? Why yes, one has been in fact taken down. Would you like to know why? BECAUSE I FINISHED MY GRE WORK!!!!! 5 exclamation points were indeed necessary for that statement considering the amount of time it took to prepare for those exams. On October 25th, I officially finished those exams and you will all be very happy to know that I did pretty well on them too. The moment you finish your test is probably the most nerve wrecking moment of the entire process. When all is said and done and you finally complete the final section, the computer asks you not once, not twice, but three times if you would like to cancel your scores. The only thing going through my head during that moment was, "Wow, I couldn't have done THAT badly to initiate 3 of these prompts." And then the scores finally appeared and it was all over, and I couldn't be happier with the outcome.
With all of this said, I am finding it a little difficult to return to the social life I once had. It has nothing to do with my friends themselves, it's just more of an adjustment than I thought. I would try to explain with an anecdote of when I first began this blog but the summer of 2011 is not a period of my life that I am proud of. Between low self-esteem, broken hearts, slight depression, and unemployment, it is not a time I look back on fondly. A better way of explaining it would be to relate back to this point last year. To say that I had a very active social life would be an understatement. I catered to many many groups of friends and went out 6 out of 7 nights a week, so much that it made me sick. No, not the nauseating hangover type, but actually ill. As a result of my partying, I spent most of winter 2011 in bed with a cold/flu/strep throat/you name it. Maybe I'm afraid of going back to that or maybe it's because I spent the last 2 months contained to the 4 walls of my room but I can't seem to find the energy to get back to the same social butterfly. I hope I can find some sort of happy medium soon because this inability to readjust is beginning to cause fights between my friends and I. I'm not trying to hurt them or abandon them, I'm just trying to get my stride back.
And now, the return to EXTREME job hunting.
There are two very large opportunities that have found their way into my lap this past week. One is with SPIN. My supervisor just received a promotion so the company is looking to hire an entry level sales assistant, needless to say I put my resume in without a second thought. Last Monday, I interviewed with the publisher of the magazine and I must have dazzled him with my wit and charm (or maybe it's because I already work there) because I was granted an interview with some of the marketing staff this coming week! I feel that this is the best chance I have of breaking into the music business, almost like being in the right place at the right time.
The second opportunity is one that I neglected to share with most only because of the proximity between the last-minute application deadline and my GRE Psychology exam. A career path that has always been in the back of my mind that I have shared with very few is the possibility of becoming a teacher. When I was in college, I taught Math at a New York City public school as part of a work-study program (America Reads/America Counts.) The pay was pretty decent as far as work-study positions went and with my background of constant camp counselor-ing and music teaching, I was a shoe-in. What I thought would simply be a way for me to pay my bills in college turned into something much more. I actually didn't mind waking up at 6:30am to go to work, in fact I would say that I liked it. That is why I decided to apply to the New York City Teaching Fellows. It's this great program where you earn your masters in education while simultaneously teaching in New York city public schools as a full time teacher. I received a message from NYCTF on Friday evening informing me that they would like to schedule an interview. I was very excited by this news. I may be getting my hopes up a bit too early but this feels like the first time in a long time that I'm perfectly suited for something. I'm signing off so I can schedule a date and time for this momentous event. Maybe this could be the light at the end of my long-term unemployment tunnel...
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