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...