(Forewarning: this blog may be a tad random and tends to jump from topic to topic. During this time there was A LOT occuring and can't really be listed chronologically, nor organized by title. Please bear with...)
After graduating, and telling my friends and family goodbye, I was at a loss of what to do. I had been in school for the past 18 years of my life! Textbooks and highlighters were all I had known, they brought me comfort. Because I spent so much time of the last semester focusing on Europe and graduating, I hadn’t put as much time and effort into finding a job (like I should have been).
After graduating, and telling my friends and family goodbye, I was at a loss of what to do. I had been in school for the past 18 years of my life! Textbooks and highlighters were all I had known, they brought me comfort. Because I spent so much time of the last semester focusing on Europe and graduating, I hadn’t put as much time and effort into finding a job (like I should have been).
Maybe it’s because of my generation’s so-called ‘entitlement’ issues, but I honestly had high confidence that I’d be able to find a job. I did everything as I was supposed to: went to college, got a high GPA, was an honor student, participated in academic and social activities, and had good work experience. I thought I was ahead of the game, probably just like many others did. But guess what?! All of this isn’t enough. There aren’t enough job openings, and tons of people are applying for them. A phenomenal resume will not help in this situation.
Prior to realizing this, I sent everyone my resume and was optimistic. I decreased my odds over time by only applying to positions in NM, OK, TX, and CO. I realized that although I’m ready to leave the safety net, I wasn’t quite ready to move somewhere totally foreign to me (East/West coast, New England, Arkansas…) where I knew no one and would be starting out with nothing. Besides (it may have been too soon to decide this) I didn’t want to get too far away from J-Dawg.
While searching for jobs, I went ahead and stayed working at the car dealership I had been working for for the past year and a half (as the marketing director, I don’t sell cars). I had never really been totally stoked about the position but was grateful to have a job. And although J-Dawg was five hours away from me, I had a pretty flexible schedule that allowed us to spend a good amount of time together.
About this time, my mom had run across an opening for a marketing position with an agricultural company in Eastern NM. I thought the position had been created for me, it was everything I wanted to do for a career. I told J-Dawg about it and he was optimistic about my chances. I put together a perfected cover letter and resume and emailed it to their HR person. Now it was just time to wait (little did I know J-Dawg and I would be doing that A LOT for the next couple of months).
* To explain what happened with the position, I received a call back and did a phone interview! Great, right?! Nay. I was told I'd be hearing from an individual with the company to set up an interview time. Waiting, waiting, waiting... I finally received the call and was told the interview would be in over a month! Cows!, I thought, but I waited (all the while thinking "I may get to move!"). Then the interview came and I met with a couple of individuals--- I thought it went well. They said they'd be in touch. Two weeks went by, and I still hadn't heard anything. Then I received an email from a job posting website, that the position had been re-opened.
I called, emailed and left them voicemails trying to figure out what was happening. Another two weeks passed and I received an email that said, "Thanks for your interest with our company. We are currently re-opening the position so that all have a fair chance to apply." FAIR?! Life's not fair!!! When did morals and ethics come into play in the work force? That rarely happens! Then I realized, that was just their polite way of saying "We interviewed you for sh*ts and giggles. We're actually waiting on a certain person to fulfill the requirements so we can hire him/her. But thanks for playing along."
I worked part-time for the next week, and found things to keep me entertained throughout the week till I could head to see J-Dawg again (this wasn’t easy in the blazing hot heat of southern NM). One day, I came home from work to find the ceiling in my house had collapsed and I already had a huge hole in the floor, all from an AC leak. I called the insurance and submitted a claim. My happiness was going downhill fast, as my house was falling apart around me, I was still working at the car dealership, a job was going to be nearly impossible to find, my friends had mostly all graduated and moved away and J-Dawg was five hours away from me.
I tried keeping my head high, believing that someone was bound to call me back with the amount of resumes I had submitted. To ease my woe's I decided to take some time off work (working part-time, there wasn't much work to be done). I loaded up on Friday and left to see J-Dawg. At that instant, I felt all those 'warm and fuzzies' people talk about when referring to love. He was (and is) the most helpful person when it comes to making me feel better.
While driving up to his house, he was sitting outside on his tailgate. He hopped off and met me at my car with open arms. It felt great, I was where I was supposed to be--- with J-Dawg. This time was crucial to our relationship because I stayed there for almost ten days. This was when we really got to know one another and see the "weekday" side of one another (how we roll our toothpaste tubes, when/ how laundry is washed, sleep schedules, TV choices and so forth).
It was a blast to spend that much time with one another, and the best part was, we never once got bored, irritated or angry with each other. Our personalities perfectly coincided, and I loved spending time with him--- someone crazy like me, someone who shares my particular point of view, 'we're in tune and out of touch with all the same things'.
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