End of Summer

I would just like to say that this has been a really wonderful opportunity writing for Experience. Now that summer is coming to an end, I am able to look back on how far I have come since starting the interview process and essentially documenting my progress through blogging. I would encourage anyone looking for a job to use www.experience.com as a resource. The website is going through some exciting changes and I think it would benefit anyone looking for a job or an internship immensely to look it over. 

That being said, I did not find my job via Experience, although much of the advice given on the website helped me in landing it. For anyone who is struggling with the lack of work experience read "The New Grad Catch-22." Much of what is outlined are things I wish I had known earlier. I realize this may not be completely time appropriate since May graduates have been job searching... since May, but I don't think it hurts to reinforce the tools needed in finding a job. 

I thought that networking wasn't that important. I didn't like the idea of depending on another person professionally to find me work if I didn't honestly like them on a personal level. After getting the job as a Project Coordinator for NYPIRG I realized they go hand in hand. I respected and liked my boss, I did good work because of that, he encouraged me to apply, and he was a strong reference for me. It all made sense. Working for NYPIRG this summer was the hardest I've ever worked for an organization or company and it was because of how much I believed in what I was doing and now I feel rewarded because of it. 

Training in New York was a lot of fun. I had only been to New York City once before and even though there wasn't a lot of time to take it all in, I think I got my fill this time. I also felt completely energized and ready to start working when training finished. It was inspiring to be around so many people like myself and also new people to the organization who were excited about the work, too. 

One more thing I'd like to add about how what I'm doing and experience relate is how the website is environmentally aware and promotes green living. I feel very strongly about personal responsibility towards the environment and Experience has a lot of great tips on how to do that. I feel proud to be working with both organizations which facilitate change and environmentally sound policies. Once I start working I will have much more to say about the job but for now...

I start on Monday. Auugh!

Back to the Future

School is starting all across the country. The air smells of freshly sharpened pencils, crisp notebook paper, text books, and coffee...to keep the students awake for those lovely A.M. classes...How many of you readers are adjusting to the school schedule all over again?

Personally, I'm done with college. Well, at least for now. I've earned my BFA and am on the job market. But plenty of my friends are trucking back to university, including one of my besties, Lawrell. Yesterday the two of us packed up the rest of her belongings and loaded up her car. As I write, she's probably on the highway headed to UNI. Her immediate future? Classes and grades; decisions and preparations for what she will "do" in life. My immediate future? Go to the mall to work my part-time job and sit on pins and needles while I wait to hear back from my latest career interview.

photo courtesy of kippefinger via flickr

Gotta admit; I'm a little jealous of Lawrell and the rest of you college kids. School is tough, no doubt, but it's fun, too. Your schedule is your choice, to a certain extent anyway. Your home is surrounded by friends. You might have anxiety about life after school, but really you know that for now, it's no big deal. Enjoy life!

After my buddy and I said our "see ya's!" and parted ways yesterday, I was very aware of the differences in our upcoming months. But I was also aware of the similarities; no matter where we are at in life, it always comes back to the future--we don't know where we are going tomorrow, but we all are going that way!

The Hills

The Hills is back and better than ever!!! I couldn't believe how Audrina talked to Lo last night!! I didn't even know that she had a mean side!! Not that Lo didn't deserve it. ....

And Spidey?!?! Well....as always they are the couple I (and I'm sure many others) love to hate. I mean honestly....Heidi, you give up your great job opportunity for loser Spencer who basically just comes back to your apartment and continues to treat you like your nothing?!?! And then he's rude to your sister?!?!? Oh no, that would not fly with me.

It looks like Lauren has a new love in her life...will he last or will she go back to Brody?!?!? And will things get better for Lauren and Heidi?

OOh the possibilities!!

I don't know about all of you but I am way excited to see what's in store for this season of the hills!!

Back to Ithaca

Ithaca was wonderful. Seeing Darren and Alison was great. Darren had some friends from home visiting and we grilled and went fishing at the waterfall near his apartment on Saturday night. Alison and I are bringing back the band and had our first band practice in Darrens lofted bedroom around 1 a.m. I'm not exactly sure how we sounded but we're both going to practice more and since we'll be in the same area we think we can make it work this time.

We went to look at an apartment for me in Cortland Sunday afternoon and three on Monday. I cried. Cortland is not Ithaca. I had no idea. I'm also feeling very overwhelmed and have been crying at the drop of a hat whenever something doesn't end up how I expect. Anyway, long story short, Darren is looking to get out of his apartment and we decided to move in together closer to downtown in Ithaca. I think this is going to work out the best.

The Wilco concert was exactly as I had hoped it would be. Laurie, Matt and his three friends met Alison and I there. We had lawn seats and people were pick-nicking. Matt and Laurie brought wine and we had chips and blankets. When the concert started we were all able to get a little closer. I ended up being pretty close and stayed there. I hadn't been to a big concert in such a long time, it was so great. The next morning I was sad to say goodbye to everyone again. And the car ride home was very quiet. I thought about happiness and how fleeting it is and about what my new life is going to feel like. (At that point I still thought I was going to live alone in Cortland.)

I'm finishing up canvassing this week. I'm driving to Binghamton to meet up with another Project Coordinator who will then drive to NYC for training on Sunday. Training is for a week, and then I start the job at Cortland very soon after that. I hope Darren finds an apartment quickly. I'm going to be homeless for a little bit. I am still shocked at the way things worked out this year. At the very least, five years from now, I will look back at my first year out of college knowing I did everything backwards, and laugh about it.

Interested in a career in entertainment??? Check out this great article from Experience to learn more about the industry.

Interesting

Do you think its okay for teacher-student relationships outside of school? Should a student and a teacher have contact with each other when they are outside the classroom?!?!

One teacher thought that student-teacher relationships outside of school may be an interesting experiment.

Randy Turner, a 52-year-old english teacher at South Middle School in Joplin, Missouri set up a MySpace page and his students began asking to add him as a friend and sending him questions about assignments. When this started happening he realized he may be onto something. He realized that having a MySpace and allowing his students to talk to him through it may let them think he is open to communication and may make them feel more comfortable in his classroom.

Many teachers feel that sites like MySpace or Facebook give their students open doors to let them connect with their students about homework, tutoring and other school matters. Many others feel that it will breed inappropriate relationships with students.

There have been 11 teachers from Misouri in the last 2 years arrested and convicted of inappropriate behavior with students. Because of this, state legislature Jane Cunningham is sponsoring a bill in the Missouri House of Representatives that would ban elementary school teachers from having social-networking friendships with their students.

Do you feel like its a bad idea for students to be able to have open communication with their teachers outside of the classroom in ways like a social-networking website or e-mail?!?!

Rich and Buttery

photo courtesy of if you dream it... via flickr

Beijing 2008. The Olympics. They are kind of a big deal, right? Whether you actually take time to watch the games or not, chances are you recognize the names of some of the key U.S. athletes. Michael Phelps, Shawn Johnson, etc. Which means that these athletes are celebrities. Which makes them fair fodder for this entertainment blog!

Shawn Johnson is particularly a big name in my area; Des Moines, IA. Yep, Johnson is a local girl, which makes her every move newsworthy around here. Now clearly I don't know the kid personally, but even if I did, the news coverage is a little much. The Olympics are the Olympics after all; they get enough publicity of their own accord. Add a hometown hero into the mix and all chaos breaks loose. Girl is everywhere.

Earlier I mentioned that celebs are "fair fodder," and Johnson makes that doubly true. Not only are the '08 Games underway, but so is the ginormously important Iowa State Fair! Trust me, people, this is like one of the hugest state fairs around. Literally. One of the annual highlights of the fair is seeing the butter sculptures. The butter cow makes an appearance every year, along with special highlights. Take a wild guess what V.I.P. was recreated out of milk's fatty portion this year...Shawn Johnson! Will wonders never cease?

photo courtesy of myershse on flickr

Over-exposure aside, Olympic athletes really are incredible and inspiring individuals. If you have some time, cheer them on from your living rooms and appreciate being American. If you have a lot of time, come to the Iowa State Fair. The best array of foods-on-a-stick, free concerts, and endless attractions await you! :)

Finally I can breathe

So, I got the job. I am moving to Cortland, NY very soon after training in NYC. These past six months have been some of the most confusing times of my life and now that I finally have a job I think things will calm down. I am excited to lead and teach students about activism and the environment and to be close to Ithaca again.

I knew that the interview went well and my best advice to anyone looking for work is to stay true to yourself and things will work out. Make strong contacts and references. Josh (my boss) was probably my strongest asset in getting the job as a project coordinator. I also feel very lucky that I was interviewed by the executive director of NYPIRG, she had an extremely magnetic personality and I felt comfortable with her right away. Not in the way that I was comfortable working as a financial advisor for three weeks, but real authentic comfort with having a conversation with this person and knowing I was pursuing something that I really wanted. I didn't want to get to excited but I had a very good feeling after the interview.

I got the phone call the other morning and am waiting to hear more plans for being trained. I'm on my way to visit Ithaca today to see Alison and Darren and Alison's new house and see some apartments in Cortland. I cannot wait to have an apartment again, whether it be with a new roommate or my own space I am very excited. I am bringing my guitar and my dads record player. I just finished the biography of Woody Guthrie.

On Tuesday we're going to meet up with Matt and Laurie to see Wilco in Massachusetts. So this is my little vacation before starting work. I'll finish up next Saturday with canvassing and then head off to New York City that Monday. I'm nervous for New York City, but good nervous. Auuugh, it's all coming together :)

Commercialism?

So I applied for a job, and part of the application process was filling out a template for a TV commercial on why this place should hire me. Now, I watch A LOT of television, which means I am quite familiar with commercials. (Aren't we all?) I know which ones are funny, which are touching, which are annoying--that would be most of them. Especially local commercials. Seriously, I don't care what part of the country you live in, local commercials are dreadful things.

However, now that I've spent the better part of today writing a commercial, I'm beginning to feel some sympathy for the local guy. It is not easy coming up with audio and video content for 30 seconds worth of air-time. Particularly if you have no clue what the proper terminology is! Thanks to google and plenty of surf-time, I finally found a site that is really helpful for TV and film lingo: The Grammar of TV and Film. Check it out. It's gravy.


video courtesy of x2v2

My only question now is whether I will get the job or not. Either way, designing a commercial was actually a really enjoyable experience. I definitely recommend it.

I have been ridiculously busy lately getting ready to go back to school. I just recently got an apartment for school and I feel like all my money from work is gone and I'm just working for free!!!



Does anyone know of any good places for me to go that will save me money so I can save SOME money?!?!?

Ramble On

So I've been getting pretty overwhelmed lately with the prospects of the future. I'll admit I'm really easily influenced by people I meet and books that I read. I tend to read a book and imagine myself living the lives of the characters.

I made a friend at work who had told me upon our introduction that he'd be leaving for Alaska soon. He's a twitchy nervous guy who previously had been traveling across the U.S. following music and hanging around. I didn't really know anything about him other than he was telling me, his boss, that he was quitting. I got a little mad, but also thought it would never happen, and let it go. People come and go pretty quickly with canvassing, I wasn't going to become jealous of this guy who I assumed was just a weird liar. The thought of Alaska has been in and out of my life since graduating. I had far too much time to read and was reading Into The Wild and living in Ithaca. I started to plan how I could get out of paying back my student loans and following my new found dream of hiking through Alaska. Later my two best friends were in a student film entitled What's In Alaska. Steve left for his trip on Saturday.

Now I'm reading Woody Guthrie: A Life by Joe Klein. I'm getting restless and stir crazy. I spent the entire day today finishing the book and learning about life in that time. I know I'm going to be life long learner. In all honesty, I miss college and structured learning. I want to get on the road. I may get this job back at Ithaca which would be nice but still would feel like a step backward. At the same time I cannot stay in Buffalo much longer. At least work is ending. I've been feeling trapped by the people I work with.

I went out to see a bluegrass band on Friday called the Erie Lackawanna Railroad band with Josh, Rob and Steve. Matt and some guys from last summer met us out later. The show was fun, but they were no Baby Seal Clubbers. I miss those guys. I've also started thinking about going to Nashville. My mom has been pressing me to look for jobs in D.C. I can't really see myself there.

Websites I've been into lately:
www.jango.com --- I just found this website today, it's a lot like pandora, but I like it more
www.ultimate-guitar.com --- for guitar tabs
www.coolworks.com --- non-traditional jobs in nature
www.allmusic.com --- resource for everything you would want to know about artists
www.careerbuilder.com --- I've been posting my resume more lately and getting phone calls, it's a relief
www.idealist.org --- job site for non-profits

I can't believe it's August already. I was supposed to have a band meeting for Supernova on Thursday which required me to rearrange my schedule within NYPIRG. No bands showed. This job, although I love it, is becoming more trouble than it's worth. It's music for the sake of music.