Tuesday, August 27, 2013

recent realizations

1.  It might be virtually impossible to get a job on the internet.  It's really all about who you know (or who you're sleeping with).
2.  Labor Day is the last holiday that you get off from work until Thanksgiving.  Say whaaaaaat?! Make it count.
3.  I'm already thinking about Halloween costumes.
4.  Maybe don't put your engagement all over the internet, cause if he breaks it off it is less than cute to start deleting those photos (yes, this is about someone I know).
5.  One of my favorite things in the world is finding new treasure items at Trader Joe's and telling all my friends about it.  It's like I'm an explorer and they are the inhabitants of my new land!

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Keeping up with the Kardashians and the crisis in Syria


.I think it’s fair to say that we’re all kind of a mixed bag.  Whether it’s being a fitness freak and loving ice cream, or being a dog person who secretly watches cat videos—no one is ever one thing.  There is often more than meets the eye, so to speak in corny clichés.  So this past week when I was called out by one of my favorite news sources for apparently not being “newsy” enough for them, I felt offended and really unfairly judged on the surface.
Let me back track.  The other day I tweeted @NPRjobs to see if they had any openings in the LA area.  As a working professional with a Print & Multimedia Journalism degree I was just doing my usual browsing for new opportunities.  And since I’m constantly hearing all this chatter about how finding a job on Twitter is more common than you would imagine, I thought “why not me?”  Well, I soon found out why not.  I got a message my beloved iPhone that @NPRjobs had replied to me.  Oh joy!  Could it be?  I’m becoming one of those stories you hear about where you tweeted a question and now magically I’m the CEO?  Could it be?!  Not exactly.  @NPRjobs replied with “Replace diplomats with celebrities and you're in”.  Now this isn’t me calling out NPR on anything.  For the record, I absolutely love NPR, specifically “All Things Considered” which I listen to everyday, despite my boyfriend reminding me that it’s less than cool to be rolling around Los Angeles with my windows rolled down, bumping Robert Siegel.  I depend on NPR for a lot of news, current events, awesome books to read, and to remind me that I have a lot to learn about wind energy. 
But despite my love for NPR, I was hurt.  Sure, two of my last tweets referenced Kanye West but heck he was on my mind!  The reply left me feeling very insecure.  The type of insecure when one thinks to themselves “Ew is that how I come off?” much like when you hear your voice on an answering machine.  Immediate cringe.  But then, as I scrolled through my Twitter feed I started to feel unfairly judged.  Sure, I had tweets about Ye, Beyoncé and Kobe Bryant.  But I also talk about Egypt, the unemployment rate in the US, civil war in Syria and global warming.  Sure I partook in my guilty pleasure that is celebrity gossip, but for the most part my tweets were either jokes (that are really sad, hilarious things that have happened to me) or things I’ve read.  You know, normal things that people put on Twitter if Twitter isn’t their job. 
I felt very defensive.  I wanted to shout “Hey! Just take a look at my resume!  That’s not filled with any celebrity references!”  I understand that your internet presence is an extremely important part of who you are in the employment world these days.  I mean, I wrote about it on my blog!   But why can’t a girl be into the latest celebrity chatter AND the news of the world.  Are those things mutually exclusive?  Has it gotten to the point where I will be judged if I’m carrying the Economist along with the latest People magazine?  I never thought it was a problem for those things to coincide.  After all, we’re all human and all have guilty pleasures whether it is gossip, Oreos, bedazzled nails or the Real Housewives.  We’ve all got them, and I dare you to find someone who doesn’t! 

In the end, I guess I can see where they were coming from.  They probably didn’t read past my most recent tweets so they based their judgment off of that.  And I’m not so self-involved that I’m going to sit here for hours and analyze why someone might think I am shallow enough to only care about celebrity gossip.  But I do think it is worth a discussion about how just because someone talks about or peruses the internet for stuff that may seem meaningless, a waste of time and with little to no depth, that doesn’t mean that’s all there is to them.  This little incident made me realize that the next time I overhear someone talking about Honey Boo Boo, I should check myself before I pass any judgment.  Because even the strongest, most put together woman I can think of has a guilty pleasure.  And I ain’t faulting her for it!

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

oh yikes

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Career frustrations has me feeling like the photo above.  Excuse my absence.  Trying to get my everything together to move on UP!

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Things I hate spending money on: Part 1

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Not one of these smiles are genuine.

Just reading the title of this series, I'm sure you're saying to yourself "um this will be never ending " because really we all have like a thousand things that we hate spending money on.  But I'm going to try to focus on things that particularly suck and are particularly necessary to spend your money on as an adult.  So, blabbing no further:  I hate spending money on work clothes.  
Unlike some of you super cool, freelance, chill, young work place people, I have a "normal" job.  It's not particularly exciting, for the most part it pays the bills, and I don't know much about the people around me because nothing we wear says anything about who we are.  When the seasons change and I realize that it's time to change my work wardrobe I always let out a loud, very detectable groan.  
Why?!  Why must I spend my hard earned money, that could go towards fabulous things like manicures, gourmet pizza and even more throw pillows, on pants suits, blazers, boring "work" tops and frumpy cardigans?  I still haven't figured out a way to look cute at a desk job.  I constantly see these fashion bloggers posting pictures of a work outfits and every time I think "who would wear that to work?!"  Call me grandma, but there is no way in hell I'm wearing platform heels to work.  And if  I even dare show up in a shorts suit  my boss will most definitely give me the "you know I'm sending you home" look.  
No one likes spending money on work clothes, is my ultimate point.  Whether you work at a restaurant and have to buy those ugly "nonslip" shoes, or you work in retail and your employer essentially forces you to wear their $400 jeans.  It's something that none of us want to do.  I can't tell you how much of a better, more efficient employee I would be if I could show up to work in leggings and just look fabulous on my down time.  Because honestly, this whole  "work" business is already cutting into my fabulous time.  How can I be expected to look effortlessly cool if I'm leaving work wearing slacks and a polka dot button down with grandma loafers?  Essentially impossible.  No one is going to believe the lie I tell that I am the secret fourth Kardashian sister if I"m not constantly walking around like shopping and worrying about my juice cleanse are my only problems.  
All I'm saying is, we live in California and in the year 2013.  So I don't believe anyone who is sitting in a suit is comfortable doing so.  This isn't 1968 à la a Mad Men board meeting.  No one leaves work in a suit and goes on a sexy rendezvous anymore (at least no one I know).  Most people leave and head straight for the gym or the nearest take out.  So can't we just get with the times and allow people to show up to work in their normal attire as long as it doesn't require assless chaps or bikini tops?  For the sake of my pocketbook, please.