We've Got Everything

Well, I didn't want to write about my first day of class, until I had a first week of class. Today was the second of my two Milton classes for the week, my third class with a wonderful professor, who will remain nameless. Haha.

Tuesday was my first day of classes, and I had a lot of people who were treating it as if it were my first day of kindergarten... This is probably because I was acting a little bit like it was my first day of kindergarten. I was super nervous. I left at 12:15 p.m. The drive, according to Google maps, was supposed to take 55 minutes, and class started at 2 p.m. Haha. I'm a dork. I pulled into my parking space at 1:20 p.m., because I got a little bit lost on Fairmount circle trying to find the campus. I got a really good parking spot (both days actually), and I found my classroom rather quickly.

So, here I go into class thinking that there are only 5 people in the course, because that's how many were signed up online. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that this meant that the rest of the course is made up of undergraduate students. You know how every time you get older, you make fun of the age group that you were just in? Well, I'm about to do that. I didn't quite fit in, because I didn't have my North Face jacket or my giant quilted bag to carry all my belongings in. :)

The class itself was good. I never thought Milton was worth anything, but apparently he wrote a TON of stuff. He's also very relevant to a Jesuit university. My professor is extremely smart, but she wouldn't blow me away until my next class.

The school I'm attending is very very small. Compared to Akron, it has the volume level of a library, except for in the little dining room where they blare 107.9. Normally, I love this station, but in a room with old men, gossiping girls, and nerdy Asian students, I don't really feel comfortable hearing "You wanna see some ass, I wanna see some cash." I did eat a WONDERFUL sandwich from Einstein bagels, which I've never tried before. You see, Tuesday is my long day. I have a 3 hour break between classes, and with an hour commute, I have no need to go back home.

After food and boredom, I went to an orientation. It was uneventful. That's really all I can say about it. Nothing happened. Actually, I take that back, I got some information, including a fold out card from the Health Services place with the guy from Operation on it. It talked about STI awareness and GYN services.

Then, I had my Chaucer class. This is where said professor knocked my socks off with her impeccable Middle English. If ever I met someone who could speak this dialect fluently, it was her. She also remembered me from the earlier class I attended, a very good sign.

Today, I had Milton again. I need to get out of my comfort zone and just speak up, because right now, I'm still that shy nerd that gets completed intimidated by the jocks sitting and snickering behind me. I also hate when I have a thought in my head, don't offer it, and then the professor says it. I am smarter than I give myself credit for sometimes.

The title of the blog? Well, it's a Modest Mouse song. It also represents my crazy life right now. I have three part-time jobs, go to school full-time, and I'm hoping to purchase and drive home a new car tomorrow night. I took it for a spin and talked a bit about details today, but we'll see how things work out tomorrow. I feel like I'm scything through any obstacle that comes my way!! Exciting.

Radioactive

Hello everyone!

So, after almost a year of not publishing, I've decided to begin writing in this blog again. I tried to find my way in the world, and I met with some huge obstacles along the way. Now, I've made the decision to go back to school. I would ultimately like to get my phd in English, so I can teach at a University and infiltrate young minds.

This semester, I'm taking some interesting literature classes that I'm hoping will give me some insight for my blog entries. I start classes tomorrow, and I'm really nervous. I haven't been to school in almost two years, and I'm hoping that it's much like riding a bike.

I just read one of the entries I wrote before I stopped writing a year ago, and I was so excited about my life in Virginia. Not long after I wrote that, my life in Virginia came to a halt. No more music room, no more boyfriend, no more job... I moved back in with my parents. It took me about six months to get my head on straight. I spent a lot of time sad, but then, one day, I decided to take charge.

I went out and got a job at Old Navy, and I applied for grad school. The hardest part for me was moving back into my room. I spent many months living out of boxes, bins, and suitcases, because I just didn't want to deal with the inevitable. I didn't want to officially move back home and away from the relationship that I lost. But, recently, I spent a few days cleaning my room, going through things, buying furniture, and redecorating! My "unmentionables drawer" was a lamp box for eight months, and it was amazing to finally throw it away! I feel great, and I'm ready to start over!

I think positivity and hard work can really get us a long way. I feel like we could all benefit from more of it.

I'll let you know how class goes tomorrow. :)

Jimmy Olsen's Blues

There's that one song that says, "Gettin' money's the only thing on my resume." I wish I could have a resume like that...

If I could include any details about myself in my resume that I want, I would say a lot... I would let people in on all the little things that make me me... including:

In fourth grade, I won the spelling bee.

I'm really good at math... or at least I used to be. I took Calculus. Most people don't know this, just because I don't like doing math.

There are probably over a dozen websites online where you can find my work... it just doesn't have my name attached.

When I try to write a steady blog... I always get bored with the subject matter and neglect it... hence why I work for other people. Money motivates.

I have a handful of songs on my computer that I have written or recorded. They are usually turned off so they won't play on shuffle or anything, but if I've been drinking, I'll let people listen.

I have a MUSIC room in my apartment. It's got my keyboard, melodica, mic, and all my music posters... When I have a music room in my house, it's going to have a piano.

I'm a published poet, and I have a ready for print manuscript that I consider my little baby. I haven't written too much poetry since then, because I'm so proud of my manuscript and I don't want to disappoint myself.

I always have these grand ideas for scripts, novels, and songs, but I never pen them down... If there was a program that just recorded all my thoughts, I'd be painfully rich and successful. I'll walk around my apartment for weeks coming up with a film or album idea.

The sunshine=motivation.

Wait it Out

So, I haven't written in this blog since October. I've been a busy girl. Long story short, I live and work in Virginia now. While I'm not a famous novel writer, and I haven't landed that job at the publishing company, I am still freelancing, which is a little bit less than rewarding right now, but I have high hopes. Being an English major doesn't really help me at my job at Hallmark... (and no, I don't write cards), but it's a job nonetheless.

Today, I would like to talk about freelance writing. I would like to talk about client/writer relationships. I will discuss good characteristics of clients, and I will discuss what no writer wants to hear (or read via e-mail). I read a blog this morning on the Freelance Writing Jobs Network that says you shouldn't call out the bad clients on writing blogs such as that one, but I don't necessarily agree. Freelance writers are among the most mistreated writers, I think. I would like to know if the client I'm about to sign an agreement for is going to rip me off.

My favorite clients are those who are completely honest. They don't offer me steady work necessarily, but they are honest about the possibility of having or not having articles or web content for me to write. They expect an answer from me promptly on when I can have the work completed, and I expect payment promptly when the work is finished.

One of my greatest pet peeves is a client with an obscure pay structure or an unreliable pay schedule. I remember waiting almost a month after the time I was supposed to be paid. I had to hound the client with daily e-mails... trying to sound passive, but getting more and more aggressive with every e-mail... I also had a client who got angry at me for asking about payment, and telling me to refer to the "normal pay schedule." I never got any sort of pay schedule. I appreciate those who pay promptly, or content sites that have bimonthly pay periods and pay their writers on time.

Another problem is low pay. Many clients say, "oh, you can make 15-20 dollars an hour if you work hard." I would really like to gather up these clients, put them in a classroom, and put them to the test. There are some clients who are right. If you're allowed to write about a subject you're knowledgeable about, and you can produce a well-written work with no research, this can be true. But for topics that you may not have extensive knowledge of, you might spend an hour researching and another hour trying to come up with 500 words on a subject that takes 350 to explain. I recently called out "uncle" on a writing job that was literally paying me three dollars an hour after all the research I had to do.

I find that these low paying and unreliable clients are the ones that have a large team of writers to deal with. They don't treat their writers as individuals, but more like little computers that put together articles. I like my clients that don't have 100 writers under them; they don't have big egos and they are more flexible.

I like clients that trust I know what I'm doing. My best clients have been people who work on websites or computers that make websites and put together SEO packages... they are extremely experienced, but they call on me to do the actual writing. Whether it be for articles promoting the websites or for actual web content. These are the people who have paid my bills and made me happy to be a writer. Thank you to you!

I would like to point out that I have been a client too. I've never paid my writers for their articles, but once upon my website, I gathered a team of bloggers to write what they know. I gave them specific guidelines and told them how often I wanted a blog. Only two of the six or so writers actually followed through and gave me regular articles. I understood that I wasn't offering payment, so I never had harsh words for the other writers, I simply told them if they didn't want to write, I would take their bio off my site.

All this being said, I don't feel like naming the clients that angered me, because it could just start a war of words or make me less credible as a writer. I am definitely ready to move into an editing position now... a lot of the editors I've worked under don't do any work and only have negative things to say. I once had an editor who sent back an article because my headers weren't in bold. It probably took them more time to send the article back than it would to fix it. I would LIKE to be an editor, because I would be hands on. I would help the writers become better, more articulate, and I would fix any small mechanical errors, because that's what I would be getting paid to do.

To my freelance writers out there, keep your heads up. I remember the number of complaints I saw online when I started almost two years ago, and I must say they have decreased. Freelance writers everywhere are demanding more respect and standing up against clients who are treating them unfairly. Good luck to all of you.

Working Day and Night

The Bureau of Labor Statistics updates the state unemployment rates each month. You might want to consider relocating...

Former economic crisis website, Layoff Daily, has shut down due to... well... the economy.

Let's chat about some popular job seeking trends... A lot of unemployed people are resorting to the "work at home" world, which promises fast and large payouts. Unfortunately, if it sounds too good to be true, it often is. Craigslist boasts a number of these remote jobs, but most of them are scams, attempting to get people to pay money for e-books, services, and memberships that will then bring them a hefty paycheck. Just because there is a picture of a Google Adsense paycheck doesn't mean that the website is legit. People who truly make money from Google Adsense are generally not allowed to disclose the exact amounts of what they rake in. If you find a data entry job that hires people without experience, it is most likely not a legit offer. Residual income websites are also popular and promise to make you revenue, but any revenue website requires two things to be successful, time and effort. You have to create a steady stream of articles for a prolonged period of time in order to make any money. Websites that used to be honest in the work at home opportunities they researched have now been bought out by writing companies that have been deemed "shady" in the past.

Even Yahoo Hot Jobs and Careerbuilder are saturated in scams. I have received numerous e-mails from the latter in my Spam folder, promising employment and lots of money. The simple solution is to type in the company name into your Google search engine, followed by the word "scam." This will tell you if the company in question is legit or fake. Any site that talks about transferring money from different bank accounts will rob you completely blind. Do NOT participate with these websites. Remember, anyone can make a professional looking webpage... I applied for a job and didn't hear back for a few days. I called them late one evening to see if the company was real. A tired gentleman answered the phone... clearly, I had awakened him. Wrong number. Illegitimate business.

Be careful. Working at home is not an easy way out to losing your job or finding employment quickly. If you are an independent contractor or self-employed, you have to pay taxes on all of your earnings. Freelance jobs often pay little money, and the flow of work isn't always steady. Keep checking out my favorite job website, Indeed.com, for open positions in your area.

I Can't Do It Alone

Oh man, I am so sick of the daily job search.

I wake up to a rejection e-mail or two... hastily delete them... and then the search begins...

I started with Indeed, then Monster, then freelance writing gigs, and then whatever other site I want to explore. I look for customer service jobs, administrative assistant jobs, jobs at banks, jobs at insurance companies, writing jobs, editing jobs, jobs at newspapers, marketing jobs.

Sometimes, when I get desperate, I pull up the yellow pages... get the local advertising or marketing agencies, the publishers, or some other industry that I could deal with, and look at each individual website, go to the About or Contact Us page and see if they're hiring. Even if they aren't hiring, I sometimes send an inquiry letter and resume.

When that's done, I usually do the dishes, fold some laundry, shower, get dressed... come back and check my e-mail. Then, my family comes home and I hang out with them for awhile. I check my e-mail probably every hour... I check Indeed about three times a day.

After dinner, I check my e-mail again... and then I finally decide to look at Craigslist. I really never find anything there... it's mostly all spam anyways. Then, I type whatever articles I have piled up that are due to my clients... watch my shows... search more... go to bed.

Sometimes I catch a cool break. Like the other day Geico called for a phone interview. I did extensive research about what it was like to work there, how to get hired, blah blah blah. I had it solid. I was ready.

I nailed the phone interview, which wasn't an interview... it was mostly me saying I would do anything to work there. This morning at 7 a.m. I got an e-mail saying I was no longer being considered for a position...

I can't describe to you the feeling... I thought I would at least get an interview. Everyone tries to make you feel better... "Well, it wasn't meant to be... you didn't want that job anyway." Yes, I did want that job, or else I wouldn't have applied for it.

Here's the other thing. People are always trying to give me advice about where to work... "work as a secretary for a medical office..." (usually this requires prior experience or medical knowledge) "work at a retail store and just say you don't have a degree" (wtf? dumbest thing I've ever heard... get underpaid on purpose and lie on applications... I'm sorry I would rather be unemployed and maintain dignity and morals). People have their perfect idea of how to get me employed, but they don't realize that I've already been there. Sorry. And then if I tell them I've already tried that in my job search, they look at me like I'm a failure or lazy.

I have a more rejections than I can count. A lot have come in the form of e-mails that I delete quickly. I got a postcard rejection from a local newspaper, and a letter from a local SEO company. I had one job interview before I graduated at a commission only position, which I received and worked for three weeks before I realized that "average of 900 dollars a week" was a hoax and the joke was on me. I had two other job interviews... one where I wasn't taken seriously at all, even though I spent hours on their written tests. The other was actually very nice and really professional, but they decided to go with someone with a more specific background.

Most of my rejections have come in the form of no answer. I found a job on Craigslist that I was super excited about... I called the office number at 2 a.m. to see if it was legit, and some tired man answered... :( Again, the joke was on me.

I like writing. I like poetry, but I understand that isn't a career. People say that what's meant to happen will happen, but I don't know if I believe that anymore, because I've tried everything aside from going back to school. I don't have the money to go back to school... I'm just waiting for my break... It's been 6 months since I started looking, my stamina and soul are wearing thin. I lied in bed almost all day today, because each new rejection feels like 100 more. With every rejection, I feel I'll never get there... I'll never realize what I'm supposed to do or where I'm supposed to be.

I understand the economy is bad. But I'm a smart and qualified girl. I am well-spoken, polite, a fast learner, and I work damn hard. Any employer would be LUCKY to have me. At least I haven't lost sight of that part of things.

Beautiful

I think it's time to give some props to the celebrities that AREN'T being jerks, instead of focusing negative attention on Kanye and Serena and their ridiculous behavior.

Christina Aguilera recently visited Guatemala and did a wonderful PSA for World Hunger Relief.

The Yellow Bird Project has shirts designed by many different independent music artists, such as Bon Iver, Rilo Kiley, and The National, and the proceeds go to various charitable organizations.

Starstrukk

In her season premiere, Ellen decided to have the top 10 of SYTYCD on her show for a little dance.

Here's a little music connection, connecting my favorite rapper, Drake, to my favorite artist, Bon Iver.

Mary J. Blige has a new song featuring Drake called "The One."

Drake filled in on Lykke Li's remix of the song "Little Bit."

Lykke Li sang a live version of her song "Dance Dance Dance" backed by Bon Iver.


In other news, awesome electro group 3OH!3 has teamed up with Katy Perry to remix their song "Starstrukk." Let me just say it's absolutely amazing. Just announced a few days ago.

Smack My Bitch Up

So maybe you heard about this story, and maybe you didn't.

Classy and senile old man, Roger Stephens, hits a two year old that won't stop crying at Wal-mart. As if pregnant midriffs hanging out of graphic tees and kids with dirt covered faces tripping you up at Wally World wasn't enough? Now you have to watch out for old men that will beat your children.

I'm serious. This old guy slapped a stranger's baby like four times before another shopper pulled him off.

Just when we thought that Obama's speech to the kiddies and the H1N1 virus were our biggest problems, along comes old man Stephens ruining Walmart's slogan to "save money and live better."

Yes hunnies, I said parents are opposed to Obama's speech to stay in school... The same right wing whack jobs that DEMAND freedom of speech to leave the phrase "one nation under God" in the pledge of allegiance, DO NOT pledge allegiance to the United States of America, because they do not honor and respect our democratic system. These are the people who strongly oppose the president's views and don't want him influencing their children but let them sit in front of the television for hours, being influenced by all the crap and propaganda the media throws their way. These are the people who interpret the Bible to have the meaning that they want it to, when they want it to. (I've got news for you, many religious groups have a very "free" interpretation of the Bible, including the Rastafarians who believe that God wants us to smoke marijuana and back it with passages of scripture.)

I literally heard an old man on the news last night say... and I quote, "What does the president need to talk to kids for? They can't vote."

I'm not kidding.

Now, some of you are probably saying I'm a left wing anarchist liberal right now, but let me tell you something. I voted for McCain. That's right, I felt McCain had more knowledge and less empty promises and that he would protect our boys and girls in the military. However, I'm a fan of common sense. Obama should be allowed to tell the kiddies to stay in school, so they are well-educated and don't end up ignorant like their parents.