On moving forward

I wanted to update everyone on some progress I have made as of late. I have been thinking a lot lately about what I want to do and where I want to be in the next couple of years. Now I have been thinking about these things ever since I graduated last year. In fact, I would say that I think about the future more than I probably think about anything else. As everyone knows, thoughts don't always necessitate action, which was pretty much my life story this past year. The past couple of months though, I have been consistently acting so that all my planning and hoping will eventually turn into my reality.

Like a blogged about in my last post, I have been working at Trivani Foundation on the side. In addition to Trivani, I have also been applying for a few international teaching jobs. The one I am mainly interested in is in Taiwan, where I would work as a English language teacher. I already completed the entire interview process, and will find out in a week or two if I was successful. If they offer me a job, it would most likely start in January, so I would have a lot to think about in not a lot of time.

I have also been looking more and more into graduate school (which I am now 80% sure will be preferable to law school). I recently got to talk to a few reps from different International Policy/Development/Politics programs and have learned a lot. For one, I will most likely have to take a few dreaded Economics and Statistics courses in order to apply. What is harder, I would probably have to take more language courses. Oh joy. Meaning MORE school before graduate school.

I feel serious now. I like having a plan, and I think I am finally ready to put that plan into motion.

Wish me luck (and some extra time)!

On a unrelated note, I dyed my hair red. Maybe I am going through a personal crisis....?

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

I've been really lame lately. I forgot I had a blog. Crazy, I know. I seem to have forgotten the small pleasures I used to enjoy. Like blogging. Or sleeping. No just kidding. I am sleeping.

Today I started training at my new job. This consisted of me sitting in a chair for 7 hours and learning about HIPPA (in layman's terms the ultra trendy Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)...It's as interesting as it sounds. Trust me! I also got to sign my name on about 30 forms. My signature now resembles the chicken scratch often used by doctor's, professor's, President Bush, and other overly important people.

In other exciting news, I had yet another job interview today. This one actually pays really well but its a long shot. The guy interviewing right after me was around 50. (Hint! The job is out of my league). Who knows though? I could get lucky. Maybe the 18 other people she is meeting with will all move. Or get pregnant. Or die. I'm a horrible person. I know.

And just in case anyone doesn't know this already, riding the public bus sucks. It more than sucks. It's traumatizing. Literally. I can't tell you how many times I have had to walk along the sides of some weird side road looking for the freaking bus sign, all the while trying to ignore the creepy cars that slow down, honk, etc when they get near. And it is even worse on the main road. Mostly because they are more cars and more people staring and molesting you with their toot toot horns and scary eyes.

Don't worry though. Very soon I will have a car. I'm thinking a black, shiny, Honda Civic.

The Big move to....where?

I realized I haven't written lately about anything actually going on in my life. There were many reasons for this. Mainly, I was going through a hard time emotionally. If anyone else has at some point in their life spent a good deal of time on a job hunt, they understand what I'm talking about. I never knew it would be so hard. And I'm not talking about actually finding a job. I'm talking about figuring out what job you want and where to go to find it. The how is important, we all know this. But I've found it a little easier to answer than the other two.

A couple of days ago I found out that I am going to have to leave the country. One, because I'm only on a tourist's visa, and two, because that tourist's visa is preventing me from getting any valuable work here in Singapore. I never thought the technical side of moving to a country where one is not a citizen would be so difficult to figure out. A word to the wise for anyone who is thinking of moving to a foreign country for work--get the job secured before you move there. Believe me, this is important!

The conclusion of this whole Singapore job experience has been coming on for about a month. I begin to feel I'm not supposed to be here. That its not good for me to be here. That I need to leave. I had pretty much given up my job hunt. I made one last half-hearted attempt at my search when I applied for an internship which I actually really did want (once I found out what I would be doing). The sorry end came when I was informed I couldn't get the internship because I was a foreigner, and they didn't want to fill a spot that a Singaporean could rightly take. I wasn't angry. It actually made sense. But I knew it was over.

So now here I am, ready to leave and yet reluctant to go. The biggest question on my mind is where? And how? With my resources at an all time low, I am very limited in my options. That still hasn't made it any easier for me to decide. How do you chose something when your prevented from seeing the ending?

I know to a certain extent what I want. I would love to work as a writer or an editor or even in public relations for a publishing, media, or creative company. And I would love suggestions from anyone who knows about a publishing company or knows someone who works for/in a profession similar to the above description.

Any advice is good advice, especially coming from all my smart family and friends! So please, bring it on, anything! Please...

A Horde of Career Tests

Yesterday I spent about 6 hours taking career tests. If you don't know what those are, they are all a little different... Basically, the tests attempt to distinguish you as a certain type of personality, worker, or interest group, and then based on that assumption they point you towards careers you will both be good at AND enjoy. I thought I'd impart the knowledge I learned onto you all.

The most helpful test I found was The Princeton Review's Career Test. Go to this site and give them your email, make up a password, and then search for the test under the career sidebar. They give you two separate results: your interest color and your usual style (all will be explained...). Both of mine turned out to be blue. The best part is they give you a list of potential careers and all are linked to a lot of info about each, including sections like a day in the life, facts and figures, graduate programs, quality of life, etc.

Another one that's really good is based around John Holland's theory, which basically says that people and work environments can be classified into six different groups (realistic, social, investigative, artistic, enterprising, and conventional). I took it here (which isn't a test you have to guess yourself which combo you would be) because I didn't want to pay. If you want to take the real test, take it here.

The third and last is more fun than anything. Its Carolyn Kalil's True Colors Test. This one, obviously, is another color based test and I thought it was very precise. I was green, which I was very happy about (I always seem to get blue on these color tests).

What is your city?

Lately I've been searching for the answers to A LOT of life's most difficult questions. Today my search was purely geographical. Where in the world do I want to live? If anyone has some free time, I highly recommend this site, called Find Your Spot. It asks you a series of questions and then gives you 25 cities (limited to the U.S.) that fit your specific preferences. It's very cool and I know you're dying to do it.

Here were my top 10 cities to live:

• Portland, Oregon
• Honolulu, Hawaii
• Baltimore, Maryland
• Corvallis, Oregon (Whitney!!!! haha. I guess it really is a great town)
• Ventura, California
• Santa Barbara, California
• Eugene, Oregon
• Norfolk, Virginia
• Palo Alto, Calfornia
• Valencia, California

Don't ask me why there are so many Oregon cities. I have no clue, having never been there.

FYI- I'd love to know your favorite city, whether its somewhere you've lived or visited.

What color is YOUR parachute?

I wouldn't call the last couple of months the highlight of my life. They would, rather, reside near the bottom on my life history's list of good times. Job hunting is NOT fun and does NOT make you feel better about yourself. I have learned a few things in the past ten weeks though.

First: College is not the real world. Don't fool yourself into thinking that it resembles it in any way.

Second: College will teach you about the real world, but not how to survive in it. This involves Josie B. Student learning all about current events, international problems, philosophical implications, empirical evidence, and scientific reasoning. It does not, however, involve a study of the job market, how to find a job, or even where or how to start.

Third: A degree is worth less than your real world expertise. Sadly, knowing how to go about securing a job will help a lot more than that beloved degree. Paper is less effective than personality. That's just how it is. People don't choose to hire you because of your resume.

So how do you go about learning all this real world stuff? Well, for one, you learn learn by failing. All those unsuccessful attempts at landing a job teach you what not to do. I highly recommend this path if your looking for a long and tortuous professional and personal hell. Or if your a masochist. Either or.

If that, however, does not sound appealing to you, I would go for the second option. Learn from another expertise and success how to find a job the right way. And learn it before you graduate. There are many ways to go about doing this. I, not surprisingly, chose to read a book.

That book is Richard Nelson Bolles' What Color is Your Parachute?: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers. I just started the book today and I have already learned a lot! Here are some pearls I have gleaned from my perusal:

• College/High School fails to teach you the three essential life skills.

1. How to choose and find a job.
2. How to choose and find an appropriate partner/husband/wife.
3. How to think and how to make good decisions.
• It takes, on average, 18 weeks to find a job in America. That is over four months!
• Some are the worst ways to go about finding a job include using the Internet (4% success rate), mailing resumes to employers at random (7%) and answering local newspaper ads (14%).
• Some of the best ways are asking for job-leads from family, friends, and contacts (33% are successful), knocking on the door of any employer that interests you (47%), using the phone books yellow pages employers of interest residing in the city you want to work, and then calling to ask if they're hiring for a position you can do well (69%).
• The best way to find a job, according to the author, is by doing a life-changing job-hunt. This includes doing homework on yourself before even beginning the job search. It involves learning the WHAT, WHERE and HOW.

• What are the skills you most enjoy using. That does NOT mean those you are good at.

  Where: Imagine you are a flower. Every flower has an environment where it does best. Where would your flower thrive, in a professional sense?

  How to get where you want to go. This is perhaps the most difficult question.

• If done thoroughly (again according to Bolles) this has a 86% success rate.

I'm working on #1 right now. After making a huge list of verbs detailing things I can and can't do, I found about 15 that I both do well and love doing (the second part is essential):

1. Discovering
2. Learning
3. Questioning
4. Writing
5. Analyzing
6. Interpreting
7. Investigating
8. Traveling
9. Reading
10. Informing
11. Examining
12. Creating
13. Playing
14. Listening
15. Conceptualizing
16. Reviewing
17. Researching

I know most are pretty abstract, but they are meant to be. The practical comes in when you figure out how to consolidate these skills/interests into a real world job.

I haven't gotten that far yet. But I hope to, as I hope some part of this very long post helped or interested you in some small way. Cheers!

Wicked and da da dun....another interview

News: a report of a recent event; intelligence; information.

News Item #1:

I started reading Wicked. I know, I am about 2 years overdue. For over a year I've had various and sundry people ask me, tell me, beg me, and talk to me about IT. But they're many reasons why its taken me this long to begin.

First off, my first association with the franchise was NOT ideal. My freshman year of college I became acquainted with Wicked through the continual blasting of the token high notes of Broadway sopranos. To tell you the truth, I don't remember what they were singing about. I do remember my constant annoyance towards my roommate, who, from what I could tell, only listened to John Mayer (who I also loathe), the Beatles, and the Wicked soundtrack. I know, I thought it was a strange combo choice too.

To make matters worse, the first time I tried to begin the novel I was sick with food poisoning from bad Thai salmon. Let me tell you, reading anything is an experience when you're half delirious. When I was recovering from mono (and taking A LOT of Vicadin) I tried to read War of the Worlds. Yeah...need I say more?

Anyway, the point is, it didn't really work. The only thing I remember about the Wicked reading experience was the 'bawdy' show detailed at the beginning of the book. You know what I'm talking about...

News Item #2:

I have a job interview today. Its at the Singapore American School, the private, swanky, my family has more money than yours na na na, kind of school. Its for a job as a secretary (I know not the best I can do) but I'm guessing the job pays much more than entry-level publishing. We'll see.

News Item #3:

I have tentatively decided to try to get into Graduate school. Go me...

Real Life SUCKS

Oh how I wish I could go back to school. I would have prolonged the experience, I would have double majored in economics and comparative literature. I could have been one of those people who switches majors like they were bath towels. Really though I did not know how good I had it. Yes, school is stressful. Duh! But life, I mean real life is ten times worse. Real life equals responsibility, it entails actually making meaningful decisions that will effect EVERYTHING.

This week I finally got the call I have been waiting for.

"Can you come into the office? We'd really like to hire you."
"Sure. Anytime works for me" I say calmly, like it happens to me everyday.

Yada. Yada. Yada. I jump up and down and thrust my arms in the air and say "yes" because why not? I just got a job as a writer at a publishing company, I will soon actually have money coming in instead of all out, and there is nobody home to tell me I'm weird (again). Why not..??
It sounds great right? Your thinking good, she finally did it. Yeah. That's what I thought too. Until the next day.

The next day...
I get up (6:15 am), and leave for the MRT by 7:15. I get there at 7:30 and ride it until 8:15. Then I begin walking, thinking I can find the bus stop on my own. I give up and hire a taxi. Then I sit there for 50 minutes in traffic trying to get about 7 blocks. 9 am I am at work (it starts then) and the editor tells me she wants to see more of what I can do.
"We have a piece we want you to finish by today" she tells me. "Its a four page cover spread." Great I think.
9:30-1:30 I write a very boring article covering a conference in which 10 people spoke (I covered each speech) on various business related topics to international financial planners and CEO's.
1:30-2:30 lunch finally. I didn't eat breakfast (I assumed I was just coming in to meet the boss, etc not actually start the job and WRITING and WORKING).
2:30-3- I meet with the boss, in which he outlines what I would do (write almost every single piece requested by our clients, attend occasional events to report on them, and liaison with the other employees like the graphic artists and my editor on pagination, etc). How much I would get paid (2000 a month. That is in Singapore Dollars, making it even worse) and the technical (the company provides emergency medical in the amount of 300 a year, hours are 9-6 with occasional days of working late and on weekends with no overtime).
3-6 I research for another article my editor is working on and write up interview questions for her to ask them
8 pm I finally get home, after two hours of buses, trains, and walking.

I guess it doesn't sound that bad. I mean, I know I'm a complainer. I've known this about myself for a long time. But seriously! 2000 a month (that is 1200 dollars) plus basically no benefits. And I would be gone from 7:30 in the morning until 8 at night and sometimes later! With 3 hours of travel time! AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Problem #1: Too much work with not enough compensation. Do I look like someone who agrees with slave labour?
Problem #2: The commute. Do I really want to spend 3 hours on public transportation 5 days a week?
Problem #3: I would be the sole hired writer for the company. Which means I am going to be writing so much my brain is liable to shatter with all the words coming out in such a constant flow.
Problem #4: Do you know anyone who actually WANTS to be a business/financial writer? No? Well there is a good reason for that.

All in all, I am very disappointed with everything at the moment. I finally get offered a job and it turns out to be nothing like I expected it to be. I turn it down, I am back to where I started. If I accept it, I know I'll be unhappy.Neither are good, but then, that is how a lot of real life decisions are. You end up picking the one you can tolerate.

The Rest of my LIFE

I'm trying very hard to be positive about life. As of right now, I am unemployed, living with my parents, broke, and a all-out loner. The problem is I didn't think this whole moving to Singapore thing over. In fact, I didn't think about it much at all. I was a lost college student, and now I'm just a lost person with NO IDEA what to do with my life. There are just too many options. Do I go to Grad school, do I find a job, can I find a job, where to live, who with...the ultimate questions remains- what the hell do I want?

So far I know that I want to

1. be independent



2. make money



3. live somewhere other than Utah
   

That's about it. Which I know is quite sad, but I can't help it. I just don't know! Here's what I could see myself doing...

1. Getting a M.A. (See image)

2. Joining the Peace Corps

3. Being a Successful Editor/Journalist/Writer in New York

4. Saying F' it all and moving to Europe where I become some low-level farmer/street vendor/bartender (well hopefully it won't come to that)

So I would enjoy all of your opinions (if you have any) so I can wisely make one of the most important decisions of my life. My fate is in your hands.

On Being Interviewed

I had a job interview yesterday that was quite stressful. It was at a publishing company based out of Singapore that specializes in business deals, magazines, articles, etc. It actually is a pretty eclectic company...among their clients are a Lebanese restaurant, a children's book company, a local mosque, a temple in Thailand, etc.
But anyway, back to the stress. The woman called me the day before the actual interview, and told me she wanted to see my portfolio. The problem was I didn't have one and didn't even know how to begin. An hour after I recieved the call, I had already bought paper and a green plastic case/portfolio cover. I decided on the green one because I thought it looked like it belonged to someone who was creative but not overly creative. (like Van Gogh with the whole ear thing or Woolf and her little trip to the local river creative)
After I bought the supplies I figured I'd done enough for the night (work and productivity are not my strongest character traits) and decided to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer instead of work on my portfolio.
The next morning I woke up quite early because my ac unit kept shutting on and off and beeping incessantly at me. When I was coherent enough, I realized that the power was what was really making everything else shut on and off. I ended up putting my portfolio together amidst ac guys everywhere, constant power loss, and the increasing panic I was feeling about my first ever real job interview.
I did get everything together in time. When I actually made it in the doors of the company, their policy of no shoes in the office (all the shoes were lined up neatly in the front) and my interviewer's sweet, brace covered smile made me feel relaxed and more in my element.
I believe the interview went well, although I often hate the person I become when I'm being interviewed. I smile too much, look too eager, desperate or both, and always answer questions quickly and remotely. I talk about myself without revealing myself, and often forget the question that was asked in the middle of answering it.
Regardless, I did get through both it and the evil written portion of the interview 'test', which made me feel like a unprepared student again. The questions I had to answer were absolutely horrible, including: "Describe a day in your life" and "explain why freedom requires responsibility." Yeah, I didn't have much to work with.
The moral of the interview- never use college essay prompts when attempting to hire a good writer.