A thought occurred to me the other day; I don't really know why. As my buddy Lucas says in Empire Records, "Who knows where thoughts come from? They just appear." My thought is this: "to" is the most important word in the English language. Here's why. "To" establishes a relationship between people and other people, objects and other objects, people and objects, objects and people, and so on. More and more every day I am reminded of the selfish nature of people, and how much our collective society caters to the individual. Especially in today's world, where everyone is freaking out over whether they will have a job tomorrow, or a roof over their heads, or money for their latte, there is an increasing disconnect between individuals and the world around them.
Let's think of our prepositional little friend, "to". "To" can be used for good things, such as "the handsome stranger applied sunscreen to my back," or "All signs point to yes". "To" can be used for bad things, such as "She handed the speeding ticket to me," or "Why would anyone do this to us?"
This was probably all subconsciously spawned by my recent burglary. As someone who has now been unemployed for over four months, I can empathize with people who are in tough times and are desperate for even a couple bucks. But the fact of the matter is, there is always someone on the other side of the story. When they took my stuff, they didn't just take things, they took my time and energy, sentimental objects (see previous post), and generally left a mess for me to clean up that is ultimately more expensive than the value of stolen goods. What if the thieves had taken a moment to think about the people they did this to? On a related note, I've dealt with a lot of bureaucracy in the last week, which has only furthered my belief in valuing relationships. Respect is a mutual thing, and it's alarming to see how many people out there expect to receive it without giving it out. Give love to each other.
From there, it just spirals outward. What if we were conscious of all the effects our words and actions did to the world around us? What if we could sense what each styrofoam box would ultimately do to the Pacific Ocean? What if we could see how many times a smile would get passed on when we show it to one other person? What if we could really know how much it means when we really listen to our partners? How much of a difference does it make when we talk to people and not at them?
I wonder...
Monday, March 30, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
My Case of the Mondays or Why I Seem So Bitter Lately
So, last Monday I had the good fortune to get robbed. What a wonderful thing to wake up to! I've made a pro/con list to assess the situation.
First, the cons:
1) Taken:
-Black leather goes-with-everything purse purchased for a fantastic price on sale at Target .
-Inside said purse: similarly fantastic clutch containing debit card, credit cards, checkbook, driver's license, a whopping $7.85 in cash, library card, checkbook, Canon Powershot SD400 digital camera, pair of earrings that go perfectly with a new shirt I recently purchased.
-Older, but still much-beloved wallet containing rarely-used credit cards, Social Security card (yes! I get to wait in line at the DMV AND the Social Security Office!), family photos, Qdoba gift card still good for 8 free entrees, and a friend's note written to me in tenth grade (I'm a girl. I'm allowed to be sentimental.)
-Empty, slightly-more-stylish purse. Goes great with my spring jacket. Built like a tank, this thing has survived falls, spills, and being stuffed until most normal purses would burst at the seams. Was the perfect size for toting around paperback books.
-Pentax ZX-M 35 mm SLR camera.
- Canon EOS 20D digital SLR camera with 8 GB memory card and top-of-the-line polarizing filter. I'm so glad now that I decided not to scrimp on that. Now without a camera to my name, I feel naked.
2) The douchebags had the balls to break in while I was sleeping in the next room
2a) They came in through the sliding door that we never lock. D'oh.
2b) I was apparently sleeping like the dead and b/f was sleeping with earplugs in because our upstairs neighbor stomps around all the time. Convenient.
3) They left the door open. Considerate of them, so as not to wake us up. Apparently it was not enough to rob me, they also wanted to drive our heating bill up.
4) They didn't take anything of my boyfriend's. Just my stuff. Awesome.
5)I am now left with an overwhelming icky feeling, fairly certain they were watching me at some point.
6) Calling out the police to assess the scene caused me to reschedule a job interview. I was not offered the position.
Now the Pros:
1) They apparently discarded all the credit cards after being unable to use them at the self-serve gas pumps. I can only guess that they got hung up on the part where it asks for the zipcode. The zipcode of the house they targeted and physically entered to rob.
2) While $7.85 is approximately 45 minutes worth of unemployment income these days, I'd had $25 in there just the day before. I can deal with the fact that I'll never get my 45 minutes back.
2a) The Starbucks card in aforementioned black leather purse had $0 available on it.
2b) As mentioned, one purse was completely empty, except for maybe a tampon and an Equity Pen. Epic Fail for those guys.
3)Stuff they left behind:
-iPod
-cell phone
-computer (they couldn't lug this thing away if they tried)
-car keys
-platinum and diamond necklace chillin' on my computer desk
4) Aforementioned Pentax camera was on my list of stuff to sell on Craigslist. I was hoping to get $100.
5) Aforementioned (much-loved) Canon 20D was a gift. I didn't personally lose any investment there. Except for the filter.
5a) screw-on attachment for tripod was not attached and therefore not stolen, thus not rendering it completely useless.
6)We didn't wake up, and therefore didn't have any kind of dangerous or otherwise awkward confrontation
6a) While there was clearly entering, no breaking was involved. Thus, no repair bills.
7) The cat , though noticably freaked out, remained unharmed.
One can clearly see that there are more pros here than cons. Obviously, therefore, the idiot thieves did me a solid. Thanks, d-bags.
First, the cons:
1) Taken:
-Black leather goes-with-everything purse purchased for a fantastic price on sale at Target .
-Inside said purse: similarly fantastic clutch containing debit card, credit cards, checkbook, driver's license, a whopping $7.85 in cash, library card, checkbook, Canon Powershot SD400 digital camera, pair of earrings that go perfectly with a new shirt I recently purchased.
-Older, but still much-beloved wallet containing rarely-used credit cards, Social Security card (yes! I get to wait in line at the DMV AND the Social Security Office!), family photos, Qdoba gift card still good for 8 free entrees, and a friend's note written to me in tenth grade (I'm a girl. I'm allowed to be sentimental.)
-Empty, slightly-more-stylish purse. Goes great with my spring jacket. Built like a tank, this thing has survived falls, spills, and being stuffed until most normal purses would burst at the seams. Was the perfect size for toting around paperback books.
-Pentax ZX-M 35 mm SLR camera.
- Canon EOS 20D digital SLR camera with 8 GB memory card and top-of-the-line polarizing filter. I'm so glad now that I decided not to scrimp on that. Now without a camera to my name, I feel naked.
2) The douchebags had the balls to break in while I was sleeping in the next room
2a) They came in through the sliding door that we never lock. D'oh.
2b) I was apparently sleeping like the dead and b/f was sleeping with earplugs in because our upstairs neighbor stomps around all the time. Convenient.
3) They left the door open. Considerate of them, so as not to wake us up. Apparently it was not enough to rob me, they also wanted to drive our heating bill up.
4) They didn't take anything of my boyfriend's. Just my stuff. Awesome.
5)I am now left with an overwhelming icky feeling, fairly certain they were watching me at some point.
6) Calling out the police to assess the scene caused me to reschedule a job interview. I was not offered the position.
Now the Pros:
1) They apparently discarded all the credit cards after being unable to use them at the self-serve gas pumps. I can only guess that they got hung up on the part where it asks for the zipcode. The zipcode of the house they targeted and physically entered to rob.
2) While $7.85 is approximately 45 minutes worth of unemployment income these days, I'd had $25 in there just the day before. I can deal with the fact that I'll never get my 45 minutes back.
2a) The Starbucks card in aforementioned black leather purse had $0 available on it.
2b) As mentioned, one purse was completely empty, except for maybe a tampon and an Equity Pen. Epic Fail for those guys.
3)Stuff they left behind:
-iPod
-cell phone
-computer (they couldn't lug this thing away if they tried)
-car keys
-platinum and diamond necklace chillin' on my computer desk
4) Aforementioned Pentax camera was on my list of stuff to sell on Craigslist. I was hoping to get $100.
5) Aforementioned (much-loved) Canon 20D was a gift. I didn't personally lose any investment there. Except for the filter.
5a) screw-on attachment for tripod was not attached and therefore not stolen, thus not rendering it completely useless.
6)We didn't wake up, and therefore didn't have any kind of dangerous or otherwise awkward confrontation
6a) While there was clearly entering, no breaking was involved. Thus, no repair bills.
7) The cat , though noticably freaked out, remained unharmed.
One can clearly see that there are more pros here than cons. Obviously, therefore, the idiot thieves did me a solid. Thanks, d-bags.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Sorry to have shown some ambition- it won't happen again
I, like all of us, am a statistic. Nay, many statistics. You can't do anything these days without being required to fill out "optional" surveys asking you anything from your ethnicity to your shoe size. Some supreme being somewhere is supposedly compiling all this data in attempts to make sense of the modern world. I think this is, at least for the most part, crap, but that's besides the point. My point is, I am one of hundreds of thousands (have we crept into the millions?) of unemployed "out there" today. Despite the overwhelming boredom that creeps in some days, it's actually not so bad. I'm still collecting unemployment, and without having to go to work every day, I'm saving a bundle on gas, food, lattes, and other former necessities (I had a habit of visiting Ross on my lunch breaks from time to time).
Actually, that's not even my point. The point of this blog is the ridiculous hoops one is made to jump through these days in their quest to seek gainful employment. It's taken me a while to realize how bleak the job market is, but I've pretty much got it now, thank you. It doesn't matter how you go about your job search, and it hardly matters how qualified you are. No matter what door you beat down, you can rest assured there are hundreds of other applicants beating down the same door. Many have gotten there before you, and many have similar or better qualifications.
Impossible, I used to think. I am generally a pretty modest person, but I do know that I'm smarter than a lot of people out there, and pick things up a lot quicker than the average bear. My problem is simple. I am young and still trying to figure out who I am going to become over the course of the rest of my life. Curse you, mom and dad, for not copulating five years earlier, for telling me "you can be anything you want to be," for sending me to the college of my choice instead of forcing me into the work field so I could gain experience in every single proprietary software program that any employer may ask me to know. Job ads are now only looking for individuals who:
1) Have spent at least 5 years already in that particular narrow industry
2) Are preprogrammed to know all the idiosyncrasies of this new office and the people that reside therein
3) Are willing to work for $10 an hour (no offense to people who make $10 an hour, but chances are it's not paying for the mortgage)
4) Are not planning on needing a filling, getting in an accident, or becoming ill for the first 90 days after the first partial month worked
5) Have no plans to ever do anything with their life except work in that particular place in that particular menial position for that skimpy paycheck for the rest of their days.
Here's where I come in. I have a music degree. Not the most practical choice, I know, but I was 17 when I chose my college, I worked hard, got ahead in school, and graduated with honors. It was only after I grew up a little that I realized life was about more than one's career, and I didn't want the lifestyle that came with hanging out in a recording studio for 80 hours a week. Sorry for maturing, future employers. I know it's confusing seeing a music degree on my resume, but ask me about it, and I'll put it into perspective for you. Anyway, since then I've held two jobs, each for about a year and a half, each progressively more demanding than the last. Let's not forget there's my student employment job which was often a full-time gig, one that I held for more than half of my college career. But, because I am actually somewhat of an overachiever, I decided that wasn't going to be that and enrolled in an online school to earn a second degree. Stupidly, I put this on my resume thinking that it shows I have direction in life and am not just floundering around waiting for opportunities to be handed to me. Because it's online, guess what? It means I never have to leave early to make a lab time or a study session.
To make a long story short, I've sent out hundreds of resumes and gotten six interviews, none of which turned into jobs. At the last one, I paid close attention and realized that the turning point in the conversation came when I gave them my anticipated graduation date, still at least two years in the future. I really had them, too. I had even convinced myself that I was really looking forward to learning about the foreclosure business and would remain dedicated to performing, delivering, etc., etc. The fact that I am looking for a job that I am currently qualified for (instead of the job I want that I'm not qualified for yet) is killing me. The fact that I don't want to settle for only that like they did, is what's been killing me.
Two days ago I took all mention of my current studies off my resume. I have three interviews lined up in the next two days.
Sorry to have shown concern for my own future. I'll have those TPS reports to you by the end of the day.
Actually, that's not even my point. The point of this blog is the ridiculous hoops one is made to jump through these days in their quest to seek gainful employment. It's taken me a while to realize how bleak the job market is, but I've pretty much got it now, thank you. It doesn't matter how you go about your job search, and it hardly matters how qualified you are. No matter what door you beat down, you can rest assured there are hundreds of other applicants beating down the same door. Many have gotten there before you, and many have similar or better qualifications.
Impossible, I used to think. I am generally a pretty modest person, but I do know that I'm smarter than a lot of people out there, and pick things up a lot quicker than the average bear. My problem is simple. I am young and still trying to figure out who I am going to become over the course of the rest of my life. Curse you, mom and dad, for not copulating five years earlier, for telling me "you can be anything you want to be," for sending me to the college of my choice instead of forcing me into the work field so I could gain experience in every single proprietary software program that any employer may ask me to know. Job ads are now only looking for individuals who:
1) Have spent at least 5 years already in that particular narrow industry
2) Are preprogrammed to know all the idiosyncrasies of this new office and the people that reside therein
3) Are willing to work for $10 an hour (no offense to people who make $10 an hour, but chances are it's not paying for the mortgage)
4) Are not planning on needing a filling, getting in an accident, or becoming ill for the first 90 days after the first partial month worked
5) Have no plans to ever do anything with their life except work in that particular place in that particular menial position for that skimpy paycheck for the rest of their days.
Here's where I come in. I have a music degree. Not the most practical choice, I know, but I was 17 when I chose my college, I worked hard, got ahead in school, and graduated with honors. It was only after I grew up a little that I realized life was about more than one's career, and I didn't want the lifestyle that came with hanging out in a recording studio for 80 hours a week. Sorry for maturing, future employers. I know it's confusing seeing a music degree on my resume, but ask me about it, and I'll put it into perspective for you. Anyway, since then I've held two jobs, each for about a year and a half, each progressively more demanding than the last. Let's not forget there's my student employment job which was often a full-time gig, one that I held for more than half of my college career. But, because I am actually somewhat of an overachiever, I decided that wasn't going to be that and enrolled in an online school to earn a second degree. Stupidly, I put this on my resume thinking that it shows I have direction in life and am not just floundering around waiting for opportunities to be handed to me. Because it's online, guess what? It means I never have to leave early to make a lab time or a study session.
To make a long story short, I've sent out hundreds of resumes and gotten six interviews, none of which turned into jobs. At the last one, I paid close attention and realized that the turning point in the conversation came when I gave them my anticipated graduation date, still at least two years in the future. I really had them, too. I had even convinced myself that I was really looking forward to learning about the foreclosure business and would remain dedicated to performing, delivering, etc., etc. The fact that I am looking for a job that I am currently qualified for (instead of the job I want that I'm not qualified for yet) is killing me. The fact that I don't want to settle for only that like they did, is what's been killing me.
Two days ago I took all mention of my current studies off my resume. I have three interviews lined up in the next two days.
Sorry to have shown concern for my own future. I'll have those TPS reports to you by the end of the day.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Oh snap, I'm blogging
So I'm sitting at Kahili Coffee today, sipping on a white chocolate mocha and tracing figure eights with my foot (I'm a very jittery person as it is- coffee doesn't help the matter), when several thoughts occur to me. In no particular order (okay, the order that makes the most sense now):
I should blog. Duh. I thought of this for several reasons. One being that I severely need typing practice in this time of joblessness. While I've been putting this off because I don't intend to be an admin the rest of my life, I still desperately need it in the short term. The second being that I enjoy the bandwagon. It's comfy and I usually get a window seat. The third being that in a burst of caffeine-induced mania I remembered that once upon a time I was good at writing. The kind of good that got me nods from a bestselling author or two (no, seriously). And thus, I need to write again. So here I am.
Along that line of thought, I really want a laptop so I can perform said writing in aforementioned coffee shop. I've been dreaming of a Macbook Pro, but maybe I should hold out with my G5 at home and get a Dell just to write or do some light -shopping (as in Photo-). All of this is of course contingent on me finding employment, which may well not happen until my typing skills are somewhat improved.
Still along the blog train of thought, the main reason I've been putting it off is because I figured there was no point in publishing anything until I'd gotten it perfect. I had to have the unifying idea, the color scheme, the first three posts, the name, everything all planned out before I could "break ground". F--- that. I do that crap all the time, and nothing ever gets done. Freakonomics seems to be doing just fine with no unifying theme, so I think I just may be okay, too. Chances are no one's ever going to read this anyway, and as I've already mentioned, readership is not the point. So I'm not going to be an obsessive perfectionist about this. I may not even post anything after this. Who cares? I'm having fun for now.
New topic: all coffee shops should play at least one Smiths song every hour. Continuous Smiths for hours on end, maybe a little much, but at least one every 60 minutes. I'm starting a petition.
Something that has plagued me for a while is the usage of quotes, particularly from music, in various every day situations. While I use them frequently myself, and often appreciate them when I run into them, a lot of them make me cringe, even when they're from songs I like. Sometimes nerdy people quote a song and instantly seem cooler. Some cool people quote a song and instantly become a tool. Why is this? I wondered for a long time. It came to me today that the obscurity of the quote is directly proportional to its coolness factor. Some simple guidelines: If the quote is a) the title of the song, b) the first line of the song, c) from any part of the first verse or chorus, that quote is lame (particularly if that song was a single). If one quotes anything from subsequent verses or the bridge, that quote then becomes acceptable. Bonus points if the song was not a single, and/or if it was from a record before the artist's breakaway album. I hope that clarifies things.
I should blog. Duh. I thought of this for several reasons. One being that I severely need typing practice in this time of joblessness. While I've been putting this off because I don't intend to be an admin the rest of my life, I still desperately need it in the short term. The second being that I enjoy the bandwagon. It's comfy and I usually get a window seat. The third being that in a burst of caffeine-induced mania I remembered that once upon a time I was good at writing. The kind of good that got me nods from a bestselling author or two (no, seriously). And thus, I need to write again. So here I am.
Along that line of thought, I really want a laptop so I can perform said writing in aforementioned coffee shop. I've been dreaming of a Macbook Pro, but maybe I should hold out with my G5 at home and get a Dell just to write or do some light -shopping (as in Photo-). All of this is of course contingent on me finding employment, which may well not happen until my typing skills are somewhat improved.
Still along the blog train of thought, the main reason I've been putting it off is because I figured there was no point in publishing anything until I'd gotten it perfect. I had to have the unifying idea, the color scheme, the first three posts, the name, everything all planned out before I could "break ground". F--- that. I do that crap all the time, and nothing ever gets done. Freakonomics seems to be doing just fine with no unifying theme, so I think I just may be okay, too. Chances are no one's ever going to read this anyway, and as I've already mentioned, readership is not the point. So I'm not going to be an obsessive perfectionist about this. I may not even post anything after this. Who cares? I'm having fun for now.
New topic: all coffee shops should play at least one Smiths song every hour. Continuous Smiths for hours on end, maybe a little much, but at least one every 60 minutes. I'm starting a petition.
Something that has plagued me for a while is the usage of quotes, particularly from music, in various every day situations. While I use them frequently myself, and often appreciate them when I run into them, a lot of them make me cringe, even when they're from songs I like. Sometimes nerdy people quote a song and instantly seem cooler. Some cool people quote a song and instantly become a tool. Why is this? I wondered for a long time. It came to me today that the obscurity of the quote is directly proportional to its coolness factor. Some simple guidelines: If the quote is a) the title of the song, b) the first line of the song, c) from any part of the first verse or chorus, that quote is lame (particularly if that song was a single). If one quotes anything from subsequent verses or the bridge, that quote then becomes acceptable. Bonus points if the song was not a single, and/or if it was from a record before the artist's breakaway album. I hope that clarifies things.
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