Archive for January 2011

No more frowny faces.

Dear readers of this blog,

As of 1:30 yesterday, I am no longer employed. It was a situation that was bad from the start and I’m happy to no longer be involved in a situation that was bad for everyone in my department. I wasn’t meant for that job, at that company, and I’m glad to no longer feel burdened by it.

Two years ago, I was completely devastated when I was laid off. I shut down emotionally for two weeks, barely left my apartment, and didn’t even eat some days. I was 23, fired from my dream job, and completely poor because I was living in Brooklyn and making hardly any money.

I’ve learned a lot since then — mostly that there’s no dream job. It doesn’t exist. No job is perfect, no job is indefinite. A job is a job and it doesn’t completely define me. There will always (hopefully) be others.

As of right now, I’m okay. I’m fine with this decision and I wanted out of that position… I just wanted to do it on my own. But I’m fine. There is nothing sarcastic or false about that statement (and if you know me personally, you know that means I’m really serious).

I have a lot of personal projects that had been put on the backburner that I’m ecstatic to bring back to life, most notably JOBSESSED. Also, this gives me a ton of dedicated time to work on my nonprofit and see if it’s feasible. Finally, it’s going to give me the opportunity to really figure out what I want to do: move to a new city? Make a fourth career change in three years? Get out of marketing all together? Who knows?

So, if you’re reading this, I want to ask you a few favors:

• No more frowny faces. Seriously guys. Stop it.
• Don’t feel guilty for complaining about your job in front of me. Just because my situation just got a lot more complicated, that doesn’t take away from the fact that everyone else still has issues.
• Stick around. I’m fine now. In a month, I might not be. That’s where you come in: I’ll probably need your help and I’m not going to be able to ask for it because I’m too proud.

Worse case scenario? I put this guy out on the street turning tricks:

Let’s go for a drive.

2010 was a weird for me:

• I changed my career. Again.
• My best friend got married.
• I stopped talking to my best friend.
• I started hanging out with tall people. I’ve never had tall friends.
• I fell hard. For three different people. The only thing they had in common: they were all (and still hare) at very difficult times in their life.

More than anything, I formed really great relationships with people I expect to be friends with for a very long time. Two of them are Paul and Alex. We spent the majority of the last day of the year together basically just wandering from breakfast to a coffee shop to an apartment viewing to the Basilica to the waterfront to the Palisades. In just one day, we managed to visit all 6 Wards spanning all four quadrants of the city and I took pictures along the way (and Instagrammed them to death!).

Happy belated New Year. Enjoy.

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First snow of the year.

For the past few weeks, several people I’ve come into contact with have told me, “Don’t get too close. I have a cold.” Well, I got too close to someone because I’m starting to feel the first cold of the new year coming along.

I woke up this morning with a bit of a sore throat, but vowed to stick it out through the day. However, as soon as 2pm rolled around, I couldn’t take it anymore. I came home and decided to lay on the couch and let the cats take care of me. I awoke to a bit of a snow storm and decided to get some fresh air and go for a walk (as a January baby, there are few things that make me feel better than having a fresh blanket of snow on the ground).

While the walk felt good at the time, my eyes are beginning to feel sunken in again and my throat is starting to close up. This little trip might’ve been a big mistake, but at least I got these awesome Instagram photos out of it:

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Happy Birthday!

Today is the day I can finally rent a vehicle (even though tomorrow is the day my driver’s license expires). Today is the day I hit the official “quarterlife” crisis moment (despite having gone through that for the past four or five years). Today is the day I turn 25 (and the day I turn to tumblr to document this year).

I’m excited for both new years: 2011 and 25. With my birthday being so close to the holidays, they kind of always feel the same for me, like hitting the refresh button on the last year of life.

I’m going to take that refreshing feeling into the next year and try to start doing things I wouldn’t normally do. The other day, I tweeted out my 2011 goals and have decided to compile them here for good measure:

2011/25 is the year…

• … I eat my first hamburger.
• … I convince someone to teach me how to rie a bike. Then, I buy a bike.
• … I start dancing at concerts again.
• … I get over my fear of being photographed… maybe.
• … I start my own business.
• … I figure out how to save what little money I have.
• … I move to California, even if it’s just for a month.
• … I stop apologizing for having strong opinions.
• … I see my ideas through to fruition.
• … I stay at a job long enough to get a promotion.

I plan to blog about all of these things, especially the burger and the bike story as those are incredibly likely to be hilarious (injuries are almost certain).

More than anything, I’m excited about the people I’m going to share these experiences and stories with. The end of 2010 had me forging great friendships with new people, most of whom I expect to be around in the new year and for a long time to come. A story is nothing if you have no one to share it with, right?