And now, an update.

Last we talked, I had quit my job without another lined up.

Let's rewind.

It was a Monday morning. I wasn't feeling great, so I decided it was an ideal opportunity to use a sick day. A to-do list for the day: watch "Do the Right Thing" (a Spike Lee joint), determine the ideal ratio of honey to cinnamon when eaten straight from a cup, file fingernails into squovals, and finish an application for a job posting I saw the day before at a company to which I've sent no less than seven applications over the past several years. Check, check (the answer is half and half), check, and check.

Fast forward to Saturday - I'm trudging through the mall on an epic search for a dress to wear the following weekend to a friend's wedding in the hottest place on earth, and I get an e-mail asking me to come in for an interview. I wasn't sure this day would ever come, and I am over the moon. I abandon my search and spend the rest of the weekend obsessing over strategy. Should I take the first available interview or the last? My instinct was last. I decided to take first. On Wednesday.

Now, how to handle my current job? I had already used a sick day last week. My options: (i) lie, and tell them I have a doctor's appointment, (ii) tell them I have an interview and that I need the morning off (awkward...), or (iii) put in my notice, and then tell them I have an interview and will be taking the morning off. I choose door number 3 and give my notice Monday afternoon. Am I that confident that I will get the job? No. I just decided my job didn't fit into my plan anymore, and I had nothing to lose (except money).

I am obsessive in my preparation for the interview. Barely sleep. The morning of my interview, it's hot and sweaty. I'm dressed as if I'm a circa 1992 day-trader. I'm an hour early so as not to be late. I spend the hour trying to slow my heart at a hotel across the street. I walk in an acceptable 5 minutes early. The interview is 45 minutes long. I know I say a few things they like, and I know I am also very awkward for a few choice moments. I am unsure. I craft a 2 sentence thank-you e-mail in 45 minutes.

The next couple days I am made aware that they are checking my references. I am hopeful, but not too much.

On Saturday I fly to the wedding in hottest place on earth with an old dress that is admittedly too snug. I worry I may go deaf on the plane back (faulty Eustachian tubes). I try not to mention my interview too much for fear of embarrassment if I don't get the job, but it manages to come up in nearly every conversation. I imagine the humiliating conversations this could lead to at the wedding of whichever friend gets married next.

The following week at work is awkward. I angst over a hand-written thank-you note I write them to remind them of my existence. By Friday I am thanked for my e-mail and note. In a dramatic turn of events, one of my references forgets to call them back. Drama! I fix it, and all is well.

On Monday afternoon at work we are treated to a sushi lunch by a company kissing ass. There are also, strangely, fortune cookies. My fortune states, "Expect a change for the better in job or status in the future." I share it with a co-worker who grabs my hand and is sure it is a sign.

On the train home that day, I check my phone and see an e-mail from one of the people who interviewed me. "We are pleased to offer you..."

I'm frozen. I'm smiling. I can't believe it's finally happening.

So there it is. I have to pass a background check, so there's still that, but barring some freak finding, I will probably start the first week of August.

If I could do it all over again, life, college, career edition

I graduated from a small liberal arts college in the summer of 2006 with a degree in Art History and English, and vague ideas about some kind of artsy-fartsy employment. My work experience up to that point, while broad – I had been a babysitter, cashier, sales associate, temp, dental assistant, admin assistant, gopher, intern, and server – was lacking in depth. So was my college education, turns out.

I imagined working as a graphic designer or editorial assistant, but to do anything vaguely skilled, I would need to know the programs that were integral to their processes, yet I knew none, or I would need writing samples – would my John Donne final paper work? By this point, my student loans were coming due and I had rent to pay. You know the thing they always say about how getting a job, ANY job, is all about who you know? It’s true. I fell into this job through my cousin’s friend. And I took it because it was the first one I was offered. The plan was to work here a year, all the while “figuring it all out” from the safety of a cash-padded bank account, then make my escape.

At the time of posting, I have been working as a legal assistant for 3 years, 6 weeks, and 1 day. What happened to figuring it all out? Life, mostly. Life happens everyday, and it happens quickly. I don’t love my job, and honestly, I rather hate it (gasp!). Not only do I get zero fulfillment out of it, but when you WILL yourself to stay at a hateful job with hateful people, it invites a steady creep of negativity into other areas of life. Before you know it, you’ve developed all kinds of unhealthy habits to compensate… and you thought drinking, smoking, spending, and eating were fun in moderation? Meanwhile, you become an intensely miserable bastard – you’re depressed, you’re fat, you’re jaded, and you have a certain sense of learned helplessness that’s pathetic. And where did all the time go?



If I could do it all over again, I’d go to a big state school that taught applied skills (architecture, graphic design, etc.). I’d have worked out a career track in high school. I’d have figured out what I was passionate about and pursued it with reckless abandon, instead of wasting time worrying about what people thought of me, or what everyone expected me to do. I would’ve remembered that my body is an integral part of mySELF, and while physical activity may seem like a hold-over from the Stone Age, it’s vital and beneficial. I’d remember my self-worth.

I know I’m still relatively young and have some time to recoup my career (and personal) losses, but the market has ensured that I’ll stay in my current position for a while longer, despite the fact that I’m actively seeking other employment (cross your fingers for me). For this holiday season, all I want is a little chance for a do-over. Sure, a bonus would be nice, but I won’t hold my breath. Just a new job, a new start, please.

And to everyone reading, stay happy, stay healthy, and stay hungry.

2010 Goals

Whether I like it (I do!) or not, 2010 promises to be a year full of change. First and foremost, I'm getting married. Second, well, there doesn't really need to be a second, because HELLO, I'm getting MARRIED, and with the marriage comes filing taxes jointly, the loaded decision re: changing my name (I still haven't decided), and the sudden, incessant pressure from parents to reproduce.

With that in mind, I have a few money-related things I'd like to accomplish next year that I didn't manage to do this year:

1. Fully fund my Roth IRA;


2. Focus hard on saving as much as possible to push E-fund up to at least $10k again;


3. Stop all purchases from home-shopping sites - I've improved since August, but still feel the itch;


4. Use the promise of reimbursement from my insurance company to join Weight Watchers;


5. Limit miscellaneous spending - spend only with real purpose; and


6. Keep wedding costs down with creative, inexpensive solutions.

Other than than the things listed or implied above, I'd really just like to figure out what it is that I'd like to do, and have the courage to pursue it.