Happiness & money

The past few days have been rather full of tough choices or weighing out choices that I may be presented with soon. There are times when it feels as though I can never have everything. Is it crazy that I want it all? I want the relationship and the job and the friends and location that I love. Or can't I have a combination of most of those things? haha. Anyway, sometimes all it takes is one piece of really good advice at the right time. Yesterday one of the people closest to me gave me this advice; "Your happiness is more important than money." Of course this belief is one of the reasons I love this person. Maybe I was desperately in need of approval that I was making the right choice to turn down a job that I was desperately suspicious that I would hate. At the end of the day I think I did the right thing. I always have valued hard work, but I don't think I realized how hard you have to work sometimes. I was under the sort of impression that if I went to college and studied hard and got a degree that WAS the hard work. Does it sound foolish that I thought that? Well anyway, I'm learning the hard way.. or the "hard work" way I should say.

On that note, I had a job interview yesterday. Let me be more specific. I had an interview for a job that I am extremely excited about. I really really really am crossing my fingers, this would be an amazing opportunity for me and I would only have to move about an hour and a half away from where I am now. I also received an email from another organization I applied to saying that they will be setting up interviews within the next few days. Exciting things happening in my life. What I really need is any job right now so I can pay my student loan. 

Moving right along, I can't wait for tomorrow to get here. I am traveling along the coast to attend a formal event on Saturday night. I purchased a very pretty blue gown a month or so ago and I'm looking forward to getting dressed up. I am fortunate enough to have a very lovely date as well :D

The torture that is landing a good job

I've decided to try something out. Here is where the idea began. It will be two years in December that I packed nearly all of my belongings into my car and headed home. I had done everything I could to get done with school a semester early (although I would technically graduate in May I was satisfied to just be going home). You see my boyfriend was at home and I had big dreams that I felt would just materialize. I'm not sure I actually thought that, but I certainly didn't imagine that two years later I still wouldn't have a job in the field of my degree. So a couple boyfriends and what feels like 200 job applications later I sit here in a Barnes and Noble in North Carolina thinking about my life
 and future. I've decided to chronicle my experiences looking for a job in this crazy world. I know I'm not alone in my journey as a job seeker, and in hopes of helping ease the minds of those of you in my position I encourage you to laugh at my experiences. Laughter, I believe, truly is the best medicine.

I went to a staffing agency yesterday and only after being presented with a math quiz that was to be completed without a calculator did I realize I have completely forgotten how to do long division. Yes, I know, seems kind of pathetic.. However, doesn't that speak to how utterly ridiculous it was that my ability to do long division was being used to see if I was eligible for a job. I graduated with honors with a bachelor's degree... That either completely discredits our education system, or our system of hiring or both (I'm going to go out on a limb and say both). Not to mention, I wasn't trying to get a job doing accounting (I'm sure they especially get to use calculators) Lets just say I was a little bit pissed off. Give me a god damn calculator. I'm not going to say I used my phone calculator, I think that would show off my ability to solve problems tho.. If I had in fact used it.

I must say tho, I left that place strangely cheerful, because I was starting to realize how truly fucked up our system is. I had shifted from thinking there was something wrong with me to being suspicious of where the bigger problem lay. Let me end this by saying that I googled how to do long division when got home, nobody's going to pull that one over on me again