7 posts tagged “job”
Note: This post is long overdue, and I apologize to all of my Vox friends for taking so long to update my blog. In all honesty, I attempted to create several posts in these past few months, but I haven't been able to bring myself to do it. After reading the following paragraphs, I think you'll understand why.
After Yukimo passed away, a string of events occurred in my life that ended up making this year one of the worst years of my life. I fell in and out of small depressions for a few months and I'm still getting over some of the things that happened. I originally planned to go into great detail about this year's happenings, but it's really too hard to bring up all of the emotions that I've faced, so instead, I'm going to sum everything up into a small post.
This was my life for the last half of 2008:
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Yuki passed away at the end of September.
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I lost my job in November.
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I had to have emergency surgery in December due to having appendicitis.
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My chance for unemployment is "under investigation," even though I fully deserve to get it. Financial stress has kicked in.
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I had to deal with the consequences of everything and somehow get myself to graduate by the middle of December.
While I know that many other people have probably had to endure far worse than I've gone through, the harsh reality of all this... devastated me. Here's the thing: I had a plan. I had a solid, fullproof plan for the end of this year and the following few years. I was going to graduate and then not have to worry about classes ever again. I was going to have a secure job that I loved. I was going to finally, finally, be somewhere in my life that was stress-free. Instead, the universe decided to turn its back on me and flick me off.
Honestly though, I'm not angry with anyone. Six Apart is an amazing company and I fully understand its reasoning for cutting back. I still love the company in so many ways; I just need some time to heal from that experience (which is part of the reason why it's been so hard to come back to Vox). The economy sucks right now and that's a reality I've learned firsthand. Now I'm dealing with the financial repercussions... It's hard, and I'm starting to panic a little more every day. Shawn has been trying to relieve my stress and he's been handling the bills. Thank goodness for him-- he's been here with me for everything.
My body decided it couldn't handle the stress of Yukimo and losing my job so my appendix decided it was time to head out. I had never in my life went through surgery before, but considering everything that had happened, I guess it was bound to happen. It was one of the scariest and most painful experiences of my life. Again, it was another reality that I had to face.
I'm just bitter with life right now. I don't think I've ever done anything to purposefully harm someone else, but this feels like a punishment. I still wake up and go to bed thinking that I'm being punished for some unknown reason. Nothing like this has ever happened to me before, and I should probably be thankful for that. In fact, I'm trying to be. But after being emotionally and then physically beaten up by the universe, I'm tired of trying to understand why everything happened to me. I'm so aware of what's going on around me right now, as if preparing for the next bad thing to happen, that I don't think I'm fully enjoying what time I have to myself.
I'll be searching for a new place of employment in January. After the surgery a few weeks ago, I just didn't have the heart (or strength) to find a job. I'm hoping that this little time off from work and school (since I did graduate, finally) will give me a chance to recuperate. And again-- that's just a hope right now.
Exactly one year to this day, Vox made its public launch. The website opened its doors to the public and let thousands of people into one of the greatest blogging networks around. I'm so proud to be part of such a great community, and I'd like to dedicate this post to Vox and every single Voxer out there.
I've received countless gifts throughout the past year; Vox is to thank for many of them. I think my favorite gift of them all has been the opportunity to express myself to people I've never even met in person. To know that I can use my blog as a creative and personal outlet in so many ways is pretty extraordinary.
My passion for photography was strong before, but it's grown even more since I started posting photos here at my blog. I know that I've mainly focused on a small portion of my life (with dollies, my sisters, Shawn and things I come across in my everyday life), but I've been able to slowly pick up new photo subjects that catch my eye. I think that one of the great things about Vox is how willing to encourage every reader is. With the encouragement and small pushes in new directions from awesome friends here, I find that my confidence is building day by day. I don't consider myself a very social person outside of the internet, but blogging at Vox has made me feel a little stronger. The fact that I can step outside, taken in my surroundings, and then form new ideas about what images I want to capture is a confident step in the right direction. I no longer feel the need to socialize in the way that other college students do anymore. I've realized how great it is to strengthen what I do have and what I really enjoy-- and that's the quiet atmosphere of my blog in the company of people that I call close friends. (That's you.)
My blogging life extends to amazing highs, ones that I can really say I'm proud of. About two months after Vox made its public launch, I hosted my very first Kawaii at Vox raffle. Over 80 people participated at the time. I was ecstatic! Then, only eight months later, I threw my second raffle. By then, after Vox's community had grown even more, over 100 people joined in on my event. Knowing that people in just one community on the internet could have fun through such a simple event like a raffle really made me smile.
It was the events and the dedication Voxers had to their friends here that have made Vox what it is today. Like I've said before, the amount of community participation between each other and Team Vox is incredibly strong. I think that community is what makes Vox stand apart from every other blogging website out there. I've had the pleasure of being able to see both sides of the spectrum. On one hand, I was a simple blogger who enjoyed her occasional blog post, and on the other hand, I was given the opportunity to work with a great group of hard working people who have dedicated their working lives to better the entire idea and vision of Vox. I take a look at the leaps that I've made in my life thanks to every single ounce of luck (and fate) that has come my way, and I can only say one thing: thank you-- to Vox and to every Voxer who has been able to participate in this great blogging experience.
Vox, you are my favorite blogging place and I don't know where I'd be without you today. Watching you grow up into the strong and healthy community you are today makes me so, so proud. Happy anniversary, Vox!
My hair is so freaking long now. I'm very tempted to get it cut, but I'm resisting that temptation because I know it will just grow out to be this long by the time classes start up again. Now that I'm earning my own money, I'm beginning to realize why cutting back on "unnecessary expenses" is very, very necessary.
I asked Beth why my hair was growing so fast in such a short amount of time, and she suggested that my birth control pills could be responsible. I'm happy that the pills are helping the pain from my Endometriosis, but I wish some of the side effects could be a little less severe. I've noticed my hair growth rate increasing, weight loss and feelings of horrible nausea early in the morning. The nausea only lasts for about an hour, but the sick feeling is still something I've come to dread. I always try to sleep through it, rather than wake up and sit through it alone.
The hair growth and weight loss are side effects that I've come to deal with, and I don't really mind them. Ever since I switched from the first birth control pills I was on to the brand I take now, I've been much happier and a lot more energetic. (At least, that's what Mom tells me every time she sees me when I go to my parents' house.) The weight loss is something that Shawn's been worrying about lately, but I'm trying to make sure that it doesn't get serious in any way. I don't like it that he has to worry about me in that way.
A little over two years ago, I went through a major life change that affected the way I live-- mentally and physically. I'm not going to go into too many details right now, because I plan on writing a post dedicated to staying healthy in the future. My little "life story" kind of goes along with that post. For now though, I'll just say that a lot has changed in the past two years. I was never "bigger" in any sense, but I did have a little extra weight that was unhealthy for me in an emotional way. I wasn't happy with who I was and I couldn't grasp that fact at the time. After realizing that I needed to make a drastic move, the new, healthy part of me started to slowly take its rightful place in my life. I went from weighing 128 pounds to weighing 104 pounds. The loss of weight was slow, so in no way did I just drop the pounds.
The weight loss was completely unintentional. I never thought I was fat, but now that I look back at those days, I realize that I just wasn't the best person I could have been-- I wasn't happy with who I was, which makes me think I was "fat" with unhappiness. Now that I don't eat greasy or fast food like I did before, and now that I watch what kind of meat I eat, I feel fresh and clean all the time. When I first started taking the birth control pills, my doctor warned me that there was a chance that I'd either gain or lose a few pounds, which made me feel uneasy. The very idea that I would be changing who I was, yet again, just didn't sit well with me, especially since it didn't seem like I'd have control over my own body. After seeing that I have control over how I feel now, I don't feel as threatened by the pills. If anything, I feel more in charge. And I'm definitely in less pain!
Another factor that may be weighing in *chuckle* is the amount of work I've been putting into my life. Never have I been so adament at making sure that I'm kept busy during, what used to be, a vacation time. I grew up spoiled with the idea that Summer break means lazying around the house all day, but now that I actually have life goals for myself, I want to make the best of my time by working towards something I love. Knowing that I get to help maintain an amazing blogging site every day makes me so proud. I'm proud because I finally have a job that I enjoy doing, and I get to use my experiences here to throw myself even further into the adult world-- along with the dream of someday having my own life with Shawn. My future with him is what's keeping me going right now. He gives me reason to want to do well.
That's why I owe a lot to Shawn right now. I recently found out that I will be an official Six Apart employee who works full-time! I've been taking on more and more responsibilities with Vox ever since I started, and even though everything with my job has seemed to go extremely fast, I'm happy to know that I get to incorporate myself even more into the blogging network through such a great company. It's nice knowing that what I'm giving to my team and to Voxers really matters and makes a difference. My main objective right now is to get through the school year and then, hopefully, go full-time for good. (I'll have to cut back on some hours when classes start up, but I still plan on trying to maintain a regular work schedule.)
Knowing that I'm working hard has made me smile more than anyone can imagine, and it's made Beth, Shawn and Mom even more proud of me. That's something that means more to me than... anything. Life is good right now-- busy, but oh-so-good.
I wasn't planning on making another post until my Kawaii event, but as it turns out, the "secret packages" that are on their way to me are taking longer than expected. They should all be here within the next few days. I didn't want to fall out of my good routine of posting, so here I am!
The lies. I would like to take a little time in this entry to clear something up. A friend of mine recently notified me that a MySpace (gross) page was put up using pictures of me in it. False information was used, and the user did not have permission to use my own photographs or to pose as me. When clicking on some of the photographs, porn sites were brought up. Let me say this now: I was in no way affiliated with that MySpace page, so don't hold anything you see that's not in my Vox against me! I've had people steal my photographs and samples of my writing in the past and claim it as their own. I'm never happy when this happens, but putting my work up for public viewing is always a risk-- one that I'm willing to take. If you ever stumbles across work of mine (or anyone else's), always inform the rightful owner.
The transition. Whenever summer vacation rolls around, I tend to go through a transition of three: physically, mentally and emotionally. All three types of transition usually revolve around my relationship with Shawn, mostly because our schedules change radically within a very short period of time. About three weeks ago, I helped Shawn move into the my university's dorms. As luck would have it, Kohl's decided to be even more kickass and give Shawn housing right down the street from my apartment. Not only do I get to see Shawn more often, but I get to go over to his place whenever I want. The first week went by fine, but then I started to notice I was hearing from Shawn a little less I usually do. I'm normally just fine with that, but with my daily routine with sleep and work, I noticed that my goal for the day was to get through everything so I could reward myself with a little Shawn time. The problem with my "need" is that Shawn was starting to adjust to his own new life at the dorms-- meaning new friends, new social life, new routine.
At 7 in the morning, I finally got a text from Shawn asking what was up. He, of course, had been sleeping at his new place. Apparently, the connection between cell phones is just bad in his huge building sometimes. He immediately came over, and since then, I've been able to keep myself calm and collected. That kind of small breakdown happens every year around this time for me. It's a scary experience that I hate going through, but my mind and body has never dealt well with change in any way.
The girl crush weirdness. Speaking of dorm life, I've had some pretty interesting experiences at Shawn's place. The girl interns he works and lives with have crushes on me, which I'm not quite sure how to take. (It's all in good fun, but this sort of thing usually happens to Beth, not me!) Since they met me, they've been asking and talking about me with each other and with Shawn. I've never had this happen before, but I think it's really funny. I didn't believe Shawn at first when he told me that two girls in particular are obsessed with me. Then, just last night, both girls blatantly told me: "We have girl crushes on you. No, seriously, we talk about you all the time." We all laughed it off, but then I started to think about the past few days I had been there. They would crash into the room, completely wasted (of course), and come up to my face and talk directly to me. Oh, dear god. Shawn thinks it's hilarious, and I'm completely bewildered. I tend to smile and nod whenever they're around because I honestly don't know what to say.
If anyone is interested in having a Moo card of mine, just let me know by leaving a comment in this entry with your email address and the Moo card you're interested in having. I have a limited amount of each, but I thought it would be fun to give a few away to my Vox friends, since you're the ones who inspire me to keep writing and Voxing!
This will be a short entry. I wanted to give a little update, because I don't know how often I'll be able to write in my Vox within the next few weeks. Work has been going really well so far. Everyone at Six Apart is amazingly friendly (I was never worried about that!), and the team I work with is especially helpful. They've been so wonderful with making sure to keep me on track at a pace that I can keep up with. I keep thinking about the next few months and what will hopefully happen: I'll be able to take in all the information, and before I know it, all the routines will become secondhand to me. I'm excited for the day I will feel comfortable with everything I'm learning now. The first few days of any job are a bit overwhelming, but because I actually love what I'm doing now, I'm extra particular in making sure everything I do is just right.
I just wanted to let you know that everything is going well with me. I work five days a week, and because I focus my eyes so intently on the computer screen, I feel overly tired after I finish working. (I'm hoping that the tired feeling is temporary. I tend to get stressed over little things when I start a new job. After the first week or so, I usually feel at home and more comfortable.) That's why I haven't been on Vox a lot lately. I'm hoping to fall into a good routine where my eyes aren't so strained. I like working towards a good balance of work and fun. ^__^ It gives me something to look forward to.
The Cookie Bottom: The semester is finally over with! I completed all of my exams last week, and I was able to finish my ten page paper at the same time. I knew it could be done, because I've had worse semesters in the past, but knowing that all the stress over schoolwork is gone for a few months really gives me comfort. I feel like the freedom is sinking in.
I started and finished my ten page paper in a matter of about five hours. I know that I should be happy that I could finish a paper that I was proud of by the end in only a few hours, but I still felt that I struggled at first. I never take more than a few minutes writing the introductory paragraph. Something didn't click as quickly as it usually does this time around. Whatever the problem was, I felt a huge rush of relief as soon as the paper was out of the way. After that, I focused on my three exams: Irish Literature, Oceanography and Intro to Linguistics. All of them went fairly well. This was one of my rougher semesters, so I'm just happy to get my last science class (ever!) over with. From here on out, I'll only be taking level 300 and higher English classes that specifically focus on Technical and Professional Writing. The cookie is looking mighty yummy. ^___^
Other than the rude behavior, our little vacation pretty much rocked. We were able to sleep in and do a little browsing through cute stores. I think my favorite part of our vacation was when went down to a dock near our hotel. As usual, Beth and Shawn expressed great amounts of glee because of absolutely nothing. I think that's why I love them, haha. Here's a little sneak-peak of our adventure on the dock:
When Beth screams out, "Wait, you guys! Let's pretend I'm a bird!" I pretty much know what setting I should put my camera on: action (to avoid blurs). Beth's always all over the place, but I think that's what makes her such a good photography subject-- she's not afraid of doing anything.
(Oh, and on the way back from the resort, I made sure to have Shawn pull over when we passed the Plum Bottom Road sign again. There aren't many days when I can say that I've seen Plum's name sprawled on a road sign. I think it was the best way possible to wrap up my mini-vacation.)
The Cookie Top: Starting tomorrow, I will be officially working at my new job. Six Apart was nice enough to allow me to finish all of my exams before I began the job, thank goodness. For the next few months, I'll be working five days a week, helping to improve Vox and keep it running. When I left for my vacation, I realized something: I'm not nervous about starting the new job at all. This is the first job I've ever had that I'm genuinely thrilled about. It's the perfect way to end the school year and begin my Summer. In fact, I think this cookie is the real icing.
(More pictures of my weekend can be seen in my photo section.)
I have to share this with all of you Voxers, because I am just bubbling with happiness. There's some big news in my life right now and it's all good. In fact, it's so good that I finally feel like I'm going to be doing something meaningful with my life, something that I'm proud of and that I love doing. After a few grueling weeks of waiting, I just discovered that, yes, I will be working for our very own Vox.
About two months ago, the Vox team put a wanted ad up for the position of a Junior Support Adminstrator here at Six Apart's Vox website. I've always wanted to somehow get involved with Six Apart, but every position that I could think of sounded technical-- and only technical. I knew I wasn't cut out for a job where I couldn't expand what I do best: I write. Then the ad was posted and I knew I had a chance at getting a job that was meant for me. So, at 2 a.m. (when I first saw the post), I booted up Kathleen's laptop at my parents' house, and I wrote out an entire cover letter for an application. The next morning, I woke up, took a shower, and then sat down in front of the computer, determined to write out the rest of my resume. It felt so good to be excited about something work-related. That's almost a never with me.
After double and then triple checking my entire application, I sent it all in. I waited a few days after getting an automated "please be patient" response. After about a week or so, I received an email asking for a sample piece of my writing. A day later, I sent in a sample piece, pleased with how it turned out. I had to wait another few days (weeks?) for a response, but sure enough, I received one. There were a couple of weeks of emails being sent back and forth between Kristine, a member of the Vox team, and me, and after a final phone conversation with Kristine and Brenda just a few minutes ago, they excitedly told me that I was being offered the position! I immediately said yes (with probably a little too much eagerness), and that's that. Later this month, after my exams are finished, I shall be starting my brand new job as a Six Apart employee.
I'm all smiles right now.
My job, from what I understand, will consist of working with a few members of the Vox team every day. I will be using my writing skills to provide Vox with news, new information for the database, responding to feedback, and many more tasks. I know that I won't get the total feel of what I'll really be doing until I actually start the job at the end of May, but that's a little summary of what my life will consist of.
I'd like to say that my new job is the only good news, but wait, there's even more to come. When I heard about the open position, I had a brainstorm. I've been going to school as an English major, but a few weeks ago, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my writing skills. I knew I didn't want to become a teacher, but I had no idea what other kind of job opportunities there were for after I graduate. I did a little research, and I discovered that the emphasis of Professional and Technical Writing is offered at my university. Perfect! I went to my advisor and finally declared my English major with my emphasis. Life as I know it is set for the time being. The new job at Six Apart will not only give me great experience in the field I'm going into, but it's a dream job for me. With my major, I can go into web design, copywriting and publishing-- or all of the above. The possibilities are literally endless.
Speaking of jobs... There's even more good news. Just last week, Shawn disovered that he had received an internship at Kohl's Department Store-- something to do with computers and programming. (I guess that would make sense since he's a Computer Science major, tee hee.) Not only will the pay be much better than the icky job he was (yes, was) working at, but Kohl's is a major corporation that will, hopefully, give him a job after he graduates in about a year. After hearing that awesome piece of news, Kohl's called him again a few days later to let him know that the company wants to give (yes, give) him an apartment while he's an intern there. He'll finally be able to move out of his house and into a place with some privacy-- and quietness. Everything that Shawn is receiving is a huge blessing, not only for him, but for me as well. After all the hard work Shawn has put into school and the hours he's put into that crappy job, he is being given something special. I couldn't be happier for and more proud of Shawn. I feel like Shawn and I have part of our future ready for us to fall into and then take on as our own. We can do this. I know it.
I think the best part about Shawn's new apartment is the fact that it will be right down the street from my apartment. Who would have guessed that Kohl's would pick a place right on my own campus? Shawn doesn't even go to school here, but we'll be able to see each other within a few minutes of walking.
So, to wrap this entry up, I just wanted to say how thankful I am for the opportunity to give something back to all of you Voxers-- and to Six Apart. Being able to work for a place that I love and have come to consider a virtual home really makes life feel worth it... times a million.
I work for Six Apart. I work for Six Apart? I work for Six Apart!
Don't tell Mom, but the kids are finally growing up.
