Accomplishments of Unemployment

Yesterday I made guacamole from scratch. A feat I've accomplished before, but usually it's for a reason such as a party, gathering, Mexican Night, what have you. This time, I made it because as a member of the Unemployed Elite, I have a lot of time to fill and need feel the need to fill it productively (on top of the hours spent on cover letters). So, in honor of this idea, I made it a goal to try to accomplish one seemingly out of the ordinary feat per day and document it. On top of my unending search through all the websites, newspapers, and emails for a job, I will attempt to do something I've been talking about, thinking about, and meaning to do at least once a day. The plan is that this will continue after I finally accomplish the job deal.

The other day I made a bracelet from the Valentine's Day Friendship Bracelet Kit Zack got me. Yesterday I made guacamole. Today I made fudge (and I think it's low fat fudge, because I used low fat items, but that could really mean nothing, so who knows, but it'd be fun to pretend that it's not as bad for you as it could be...but I digress). Let's see what I am able to accomplish!

It's definitely not professional, but I like it.

What is now left of my guac. Mmm!

My Unemployment Crutch is the Disney Channel

An interesting thing has happened in the last month and a half of my unemployment adventure. Whereas some of the unemployed turn to alcohol, food, perhaps a semi-illegal substances during this time period, I have turned to the Disney Channel. Yes the Disney Channel. I'm talking about all of the Miley Cyrus (Hannah Montana...), Wizards of Waverly Place, Sonny with a Chance, High School Musicals 1 and 2 (HM3 is far too big to simply be played on the actual channel) ridiculousness that has infected the youth of the new millenium has now, also affected me. I know the story line of Wizards of Waverly Place, and I know the Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez are in fact best friends in real life. In my defense, I'm not a huge fan of those twins from Suite Life of Whatever, or of the Jonas Brothers (show or otherwise). But, I understand if that's not much of a defense. This might not surprise some because of my admitted attraction to Zac Efron - which has somewhat waned - but it is a surprise to my Law and Order, CSI: Las Vegas, How I Met Your Mother loving self. Somewhere deep inside, I have the desire to be constantly cheered up by attractive actors in bright colored studio televsion sets with the ability to wrap up a problem in 30 minutes or less. And this desire is being filled by the Disney Channel. I'm sure there's some sort of psychological issue there. Oh well, I'm sure there's a Disney show about it coming right up.

Talking to Strangers

When I was younger, my friend Sarah would always chastise me for talking to the homeless people, or people trying to sell you things as we walked around downtown Columbia, MO. I would usually be responding to a greeting they offered first. I always thought, and still do think, what's the harm in saying, "Hi! I'm good, how are you?" Now that I live in a slightly larger city my correspondence with homeless people has slightly altered and is usually a "I'm sorry, I don't have any change." And let's be honest, I don't have "a moment for the environment" or the children or the animals when I'm rushing to get from point A to point B. Still, I try to remain as nice as possible, and try answering with an apologetic smile. However, recently my tendency to have brief conversations with strangers led to developing a relationship with the same street vendor I see every day.

Every morning, as I walk out of the Copley Square T station, I meet the same jolly man handing out the Boston Metro to my fellow commuters. He's always happy, always smiling. Never donning the orange Metro apron that cloak most Metro hander-outers. Instead he prefers his normal clothing accompanied by awesome sunglasses and a very stylish baseball cap. I don't remember how we first started talking. Knowing me, initially I most likely grinned, said a polite "No, thank you" to his kind Metro offering and proceeded on my way. The next day it probably developed into a "No, thank you. But have a great day!" And then the next it most likely was, "No, but thanks anyway. See you tomorrow?"

For the past few weeks our morning encounters have developed into a full on relationship. Upon my exit from the depths of the T station the Metro Man knows I don't want the paper. Instead he puts on a big smile when he sees me. Every morning with that smile, he opens his arms to give me a good morning hug. He always ends our morning embrace with a very much welcome, "Princess, did you change your hair? It looks great!" or "Girl, you're wearing those great glasses today." or "Have a great day, Princess!" You know, though. I just don't even know his name. Nor does he know mine. Regardless, we've managed to create an entire relationship based on the fact that he hands out Metros in the morning, and I happen to get off at this stop to get to work.

I considered this relationship this morning, and came to the conclusion that it's good to be nice to people, to respond to their greetings (within reason of course...). This is a quality I like in myself. And now I have a life long friend in the Metro Man.

...A Year Later

I've been terribly busy. Very busy.

Since I've last treated my five (5) followers with an entry, I have accomplished many things in life. Although my viewing of 17 Again is holding steady in my list of adventures, since then I have also managed to:

1. NOT finish Catcher in the Rye

2. Start and finish two other novels. Catcher in the Rye maybe has 100 pages. Maybe it's not meant to be.

3. See Star Trek (absolutely amazing) and Angels and Demons (even Tom Hanks makes bad decisions sometimes. But hey, he still gets paid. And is awesome.)

4. Write an entire "How To" guide for this job. I only started last week...I don't know what that means, but it means something.

5. Begin the process of sending out an email mail merge to over 4000 people.

6. NOT start packing for myhuge, intense move to a new city in T-minus two weeks.

Exciting stuff.

But...and here's the Big But.

I'm ready. I am ready for a challenge. I'm ready to take on unemployment, apply to grad school, follow my destiny, watch all five seasons of "Lost"...again. It's been a year since I graduated from BU and it's been nice witnessing a new class of former over-achievers grab their diplomas, ready to run. I wish them all the best of luck. That's what I did: grabbed my diploma, held on with a death-like grip, made like a baton-wielding relay runner and took off sprinting. In circles.

I'm not sure what's happened in this past year. However, for all the complaining I did, I find myself looking back with fond memories. Maybe I needed this year to let myself run around and figure out which direction is the best for continued sprinting. I still have my diploma clutched tightly in hand, but I'm ready to explore what comes next.

17 Again

As I so boldly posted as my Facebook status, I have an entirely inappropriate crush on Zac Efron. I find him utterly attractive. This being admitted, I was invited to a screening of 17 Again on Monday. I woke up with the regular excitement that Manic Monday Mornings bring, and with a twinge of true, not-sarcastic excitement at the opportunity to see this gorgeous man's new movie for free. (I might find the guy good looking, but I wasn't about to cough up $10.50 to see his movie. That's what NetFlix is for.) With this event in mind, I somehow made it through the droll day and went to stand in line with all the other angsty pre-teens to wait for the doors to open.

As soon as I saw Zac's face on that screen, I swooned. Yes, swooned. And then I got over it and realized I was actually paying attention to the movie. It wasn't just this man's gorgeous face that I was enjoying, but it was the movie itself that was holding my attention. Not only can Efron act better than I imagined, but he kept up with a surprising comedic cast made up of Leslie Mann, Mathew Perry, Melora Hardin and Thomas Lennon. The plot line flowed well and the packed audience seemed to actually care for the characters. For example, the middle-aged man, most likely a movie critic, next to me even managed to let out a few guffaws and heartfelt sighs. In total honesty, I walked out of the theater pleasantly surprised and a little bit more infatuated with...sigh...Zefron...sigh...

Adult Temper Tantrum

Welp, I'm currently at work, bored per usual. With no outlet whatsoever to direct my boredom to, I've discovered I'm feeling extremely destructive. It's actually taking quite a lot of willpower just to not throw things around. It's not like I want to throw my monitor from the 8th floor window (although...), but I do have the urge to throw my pink Sharpie highlighter across the room. Suddenly, I'm realizing I feel about four years old right now, and the destructive behavior I feel is actually a temper tantrum.

So I've realized I'm going through what I will call the Adult Temper Tantrum.

It's "adult" because you're not on the ground crying until you're red in the face, or holding your breath until you turn blue in the face, or making your face turn any particular color in general. Rather this Adult Temper Tantrum makes you want to mess with people, particularly your co-workers. For instance, throwing a pen in your co-worker's general direction seems like a very good idea when experiencing an Adult Temper Tantrum. If the pen hits him or her, then great, but if it doesn't, you most likely still got his or her attention. Now they feel obliged to pick the pen up. It's not a huge inconvenience, but still a bit of a bother. It's an even better reaction if the pen is thrown back at you. Another common feeling resulting from Adult Temper Tantrums is the urge to take someone's cup of paperclips and just knock it to the floor and run away giggling. Again, this does not creat havoc or utter destruction, but it's enough of an outburst that you've let out your frustration and inconvenienced his or her life just enough for the next few minutes. Watching the unlucky co-worker pick up the paperclips is also a nice little bonus.

In short, the four year old in me right now does not wish to cause harm or break anything. I simply want to make something incredibly inconvenient for you and walk away smiling.

Book Club!

I've been on a year long pursuit to start a book club. Yes, I could have simply joined one and be done with it. But no. I wanted my friends to read books with me, and then talk about them with me. I love my friends, but let's be honest, I am fully aware that this was wishful thinking on my end. We've been complaining throughout our entire education about teachers and professors forcing us to read books and then forcing us to pretend to care about another person's dreadfully boring insights. So, you can see how this was difficult for me.

However, my wonderful, lovely little, Julie, and I have decided to read the same book at the same time. Of course she would be the one to help me fulfill my dream of a book club. Even if it is only the two of us, I have to admit excited to be reading books with someone else again. So sue me, I was an English major. I have a burning desire deep down to read books, discuss them with others, and then think about a paper I could possibly write. The best part is the papers don't actually have to be written this time!

We are reading The Catcher in the Rye. I know, this is a book I should have read ages ago in high school. For some reason it managed to skip over me throughout my entire education. As they say, it's never too late.

Welp, here's to the first of many postings, and here's to the beginning of our two person book club.