Life Lesson #23

Here in these deep city lights, girl could get lost tonight. I’m finding every reason to be gone. There’s nothing here to hold on to. Could I hold on to you?

I’ve recently hit that same wall of reality that I’ve watched my older friends and siblings experience in their first few months/years as former college students. Hit is a light term. I’m pretty sure I crashed into it, which actually isn't all that bad. Crashing created a strong impact, so maybe after a few more go’s I’ll be through to whatever awaits on the other side. I just hope it’s not another wall…

It took me longer than I expected to fully acknowledge that I have to hold myself accountable and take full control over the direction of my life now. I did the whole 4-year college thing and chose not to go straight to grad school so I no longer have such structured expectations to fall back on. It’s just me and the rest of the world, living our lives.

This is all normal, from what I understand – simply a part of the whole coming-of-age process. What really jarred me was that I caught myself doing something I swore I wouldn’t do. I promised myself I would never let myself get stuck; that I would never be someone so caught up in the daily grind that they forget about the goals they had previously set for themselves. Yet, there I was, living day to day, falling into a sense of complacency, and promising myself that one day in the not-so-distant future I’d be doing something I truly cared about.

Now, it’s not like I’m about to quit my day job tomorrow and do something extravagant. This wasn’t that type of awakening. It was simply a lesson that it really is all too easy to just let life happen to you and sometimes it takes a lot of effort to hold the reins and steer. Thanks Life, duly noted.

The Life of a Professional Job-Seeker

You know how when you join networking sites like linkedin or go out for happy hour with a friend and their co-workers and there's that question: So, what do you do?

I've decided saying: "I'm a professional job seeker" sounds more interesting than "I'm [still] unemployed]" (well, maybe neither of those would sound so good on linkedin...)

My weekdays consist of waking up around 9am, grabbing a FiberOne bar or pop tarts, driving to the Greenbelt Metro station where I ride the Metro to U St.

I then proceed to spend most of the day sitting in a comfy chair at Busboys and Poets, sipping my latte (gotta make it last) and applying for jobs. I do this mostly because my roommate and I can't get our internet to work at home, but also because at least it gets me out of the house.

I have developed a fairly comprehensive routine once I open my browser: gmail, 'new tab' then: idealist, gwork, devex, washington post, washington city paper, craigslist, sometimes monster and linkedin, and then any company/organization websites for vacancies that may not have been posted elsewhere yet.

Sometimes I'll look at the traineeships, CEEDs, and MC positions on myaiesec.net longingly. A new PBOX in Colombia is about to open that would be perfect, but I'm gonna try not to get my hopes up for that until more information is available.

Around 6pm, when I can't take cover letter writing anymore or start to get frustrated, I go further downtown where I watch cash cab and jeopardy with my friends Tom and Katie before returning to Glenn Dale for dinner, maybe a movie or reading a few chapters before bed.

Wake up. Repeat.