With deepest regret...

Ok so I have not been the diligent blogger that I should have been this week. have mercy, the sphenoid bone is alluding me with all its complex wonder. However, if I can't personally entertain the tens of you actually read this blog, I can at least direct you to other shock-and-awe sources.

I have a pretty high tolerance for jelly fish thanks to the 11 summers I spent in the Neuse River at Camp Seafarer. But these... I'm less confident of my ability to withstand a "mermaid kiss" from one of these bad boys...

http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/ariel-schwartz/sustainability/japanese-fight-giant-jellyfish-invasion-jellyfish-infused-space-c

Ok so I have found a whole new world of convenience. I can now successfully post to this blog from my phone, get excited b/c I am. This comes at an esspecially convenient time bc this week I have my first midterms in both of my classes on friday. Which means I have voluntarily sentenced myself to a week of hard core studying, the likes of which have not been seen since the week before my AP Bio exam in high school...

Test post: I'm texting this from my phone, cross your fingers that it works!

"She and Her Job Just Broke-Up Last Week..."

I received a FB message from one of my college professors yesterday. (Nothing thrills me more than receiving FB messages from people of my parent’s generation, it gives me hope that one can grow older and not grow out of touch) Anyway, he sent me an article that I related to on so many levels. This girl amassed some sound advice based on her ten-cities-in-one month job search in the advertising industry this year. I thought everyone suffering the blight of the class of 2009 could benefit from it, advertising or otherwise.

http://adage.com/gennext/post?article_id=138867

The point she makes that stands out the most to me is #4, “Unemployment is forgivable; idle hands are not”. THANK GOODNESS!

Truly, Kelly Eidson, you have made my day. As much as I’m enjoying the new challenges in front of me, I’d be remised not to admit I feel more than a little awkward about being unemployed. But busy I’ve got covered. Now granted, being busy going into an entirely new field is probably not what Kelly was talking about, but that’s my spin on the whole situation.

And as nice as a little unprompted, outside positive reinforcement can be, that’s not why I dwelled on the article for so long. Kelly’s advice stuck in my head because it was just so damn familiar. Where have I heard this before?

And then I realized it. Kelly is coaching me through a break up. Her advice sounded exactly like the advice you get from your friends when you abruptly lose the half that makes you whole. (This could bring whole new meaning to the expression “married to your job”) Its the kind of thing you need to hear after one of those earth-shattering kind of break-ups where he/she leaves you high and dry and your world comes down around you. Kind of like the economy right now…

Side by side translation:

Kelly’s Job Search Advice	Chris’ Break-Up Advice
1. The sun is coming out (if slowly)	1. Everyday will get a little better
2. Calculated restructuring	2. You need to think about what you really want
3. There are no jobs, but there’s plenty of work	3. So you don’t have a boyfriend, there are plenty of fish in the sea
4. Unemployment is forgivable; idle hands are not	4. Stop thinking about him, get busy with other things
5. Not all markets are created equal	5. He’s no good for you

*Disclaimer: Sorry if it seems sexist that this is only from the female perspective, but I don’t know what guys say to each other after a break-up, please feel free to enlighten me…

I really appreciate this perspective that Kelly has given me. It gives me a template with which I am familiar. Amid all the CNBC and NYTimes mumbo jumbo on how, why and what is happening, it finally all boils down to your garden-variety break-up. But at least I understand what I’m up against.

Because I’ve done break-ups before. I survived. Hell, I’ve even grown from the experience of a few of them. But most importantly, I now have a familiar beast to battle. I know what to do... which is exactly what I’ve been doing. Being busy. But with the added bonus that now I have more reason to believe it will work.

But what I’m most excited about is this. They say that relationships come along when you least expect it. So by proxy, a great job opportunity should come along when I least expect it, too. Well I hardly expect it at all in this economy, so now seems like the time for a job to jump up and grab me…right?

The Stay-At-Home-Mom Complex

Going back a few days, I wrote (very briefly) about how unemployment was running me ragged. Lets explore that topic again, shall we?

The myth about unemployment is that you have time to kill. That you have nothing to do. And that you couldn’t possibly be busy without a job.

I am just as guilty as anyone else. Upon entering this summer, I was concerned about being able to fill my time productively while at home. That fear was quickly abated when I began taking chemistry 101 and 102. Class from 8-10, library from 10-2, lab from 2-5. Bam, 8-5 job.

However, I fell for the myth again when I came back to Chapel Hill. Being enrolled in only two classes and volunteering one day a week at UNC hospital, I set out to find other things to do. I started a blog (ta dah!), which led me to apply for an internship for another blog. And today I am yet again about to fall for the myth of bored and unemployed. I’m interviewing at Duke Hospital today to get another volunteer shift each week.

But between all the blogging, studying, class, labs, group meetings, and volunteering I’m also trying to whip my butt into shape. So that means I get up at 7am everyday to run. (I hate to run and love to sleep, so this is particularly earth shattering).

I’m reminded of what one of the retired women from my parent’s neighborhood said to my Mom at some point over the summer. She wanted to know why my mother, who is a home-maker and therefore technically (and for lack of a better word) unemployed, didn’t have time to play golf with the girls?

“What do you do to fill your time?”

My mother is too polite to go off on this, and this woman was genuinely surprised my Mom hadn’t chewed her arm off from boredom over the last 25 years. But this woman personifies a prejudice of which so many are guilty. This perception that if you don’t have a boss and a pay-check means you aren’t busy is what I’m going to call the Stay-at-Home-Mom Complex.

And OMG it is SO frustrating. I promise everyone right now, unemployment is not for the lazy. I envy my friends with jobs because they’re off the hook when they leave the office. But when you suffer from the Stay-at-Home-Mom complex you feel the obligation make highly productive use of every waking hour, 7-12. At the same time you have to disappoint your friends who don’t understand why you don’t have time to hang out.

So have mercy on the Stay-at-Home-Mom Complex suffers in your life. Hand them a coffee, a Red Bull, or a 5-hour Energy, because its been a busy day and we haven't made it through half our To Do list either...

Financing the proletarian education system....

Today I’m a little peeved at the new North Carolina budget and Bev Purdue. I’m not usually a very political person. But I’m trying to understand the long term logic behind the education cuts in the NC budget.

This weekend my roommate and I were discussing taking an EMT class together. It would be a great way for me to log some patient contact hours over the summer and into next year. My roommate had worked as an EMT before and told me that when he first took the class it cost about $165. But now it cost around $255, which is a 35% increase. This is supposedly due to the cuts made in continued education programs this year.

I can understand why cuts have been made. I can even support a lot of them. But in a time when so many people are trying to acquire some continuing education to protect them selves in this poor economy, I’m having difficulty in seeing the logic in such a large cut in this specific area.

This chagrin was reinforced yesterday morning as I was walking to campus and picked up a DTH. (The DTH is the Daily Tar Heel, UNC’s campus newspaper) The cover story today was about the budget cuts and the disproportionate burden being placed on out-of-state tuition vs. in-state-tuition. According to the DTH, there is a clause that limits the increase of in-state-tuition to a maximum of $200. Out-of-state tuition does not have a limit.

Where is the cap on tuition increases for the rest of us? I think it’s great the state is taking steps to keep UNC-CH affordable for NC residents. But a small percentage of people actually get to go to UNC-CH. What about the tuition cap on the other, less high-profile, education institutions in this state?

First post graduate profile...

I just got off the phone with one of my favorite people, Porter. Sadly it was the last time I will hear his voice for quite a while. Porter will be making a very long trip this weekend. To Africa. Specifically Ethiopia. The plane ride from DC to Addis Ababa is 16 hours. It’s such a long plane ride that the plane will have to make a pit stop in Rome to refuel. Because it’s SO far away you can’t even fill up a plane with enough gas to get there. (I suggested that in that amount of time Porter could get drunk on the flight, sober up, have a hangover and recover.)

Clearly, I’m having separation issues…

Luckily, Porter will be making this great leap into irony (if you know Porter you know why him going to Africa is miles beyond ironic) in the company of a few others. Grant, Porter’s heterosexual life partner, is another UNC graduate. Adam is an Economy major from Hampton-Sydney. And Sam is a History major from NC State. Porter majored in Political Science and History.

And here is what I love the most about Porter’s post-collegiate plan; there is no plan! Ok that’s an exaggeration. But these guys are going to Africa with only a rough idea of what they will be doing once they get there. Porter and Sam will be teaching English in some capacity. Grant and Adam will be doing something in community development.

I know these guys are going to be doing some great work and all. And that’s great. And I’m not trying to bash on Ethiopia (interesting note, its got one of the world’s fastest growing economies and with the right government leadership could be a agricultural powerhouse) But I can’t help but wonder what it says about the United State’s economy that 4 college graduates from 3 respected universities believe placing their bets on vague job descriptions in a third world country will give them more opportunities than they would have here….

Huge THANK YOU to everyone that responded to my call for followers!

So let me just say welcome to the 50 (and counting) new followers I’ve accumulated since 3pm today. Yall are awesome. Yall are a part of a special and unique group of individuals, in that I have your contact information.

So mostly everyone knows the deal. I need followers to legitimize my blog for my new blogging internship with Lovegevity.com. So come January, I’ll probably hit everyone up again to follow that blog too…. Ahh the circle of life.

But I’m really excited about this internship. It’s a great way for me to stay plugged in with my first love, Journalism, while still pursuing my new love, Medicine. Somewhere in there I’m going to have an affair with Spanish, which is the love that I love to hate.

It’s shaping up to be a busier year than I expected. And that what has surprised me most about being unemployed. I am SO busy…. And on that note, I’ve got to peace out, because I have yet another engagement today...

Future topics: Porter leaves for Africa on Saturday, WTF?

Unemployment is running me ragged continued...

Eggs in Two, Three, Four Baskets

I’m sorry to have neglected the blog yesterday. I owe particular apology to Porter, who emailed me today to remind me I had not written since Friday. (to avoid confusion in the future, the blog is a job, and therefore I perform it during the workweek)

Yesterday was a big day in the rest of my life. I began volunteering at the hospital in the Pediatric Emergency Department. It took me one shift in the ER to decide that I’m going to have to learn some Spanish.

This previous statement will only horrify a few people, namely my mother and Mrs. Davila, my high school Spanish teacher. Both of these sainted women took the brunt of my furious battle against Spanish during high school… I lost. So when I arrived at UNC, I begrudgingly took the two mandatory Spanish classes to allow me to graduate and said Adios!

Until yesterday my more advanced Spanish consisted of “Es lo que ella dijo”, which was patiently taught to me last spring by my two (fluent) roommates. It was in preparation for our spring break trip around Spain. For those as linguistically challenged as myself, that’s Spanish for “That’s what she said”. (For those that are pop culture challenged, it’s a line from Michael Scott of The Office. If you don’t know Michael Scott of The Office, then I can’t help you.)

Luckily for me, I seem to be in good company. There are many aspiring medical professionals in need of some newfound aptitude de Espanol. For this reason, there is a Spanish class taught through the Friday Center for Part-Time Studies specifically for medical professionals. So I know at least one more thing I will be doing this year.

But this kind of diversifying seems to be the reemerging theme behind post-graduate life. Which can be a difficult adjustment in some respects. Even though UNC is a liberal arts education and has requirements in several curriculums, that’s not always the attitude reflected by students and faculty. There is an attitude that if a class is not in your major, it’s just as elective. (Although not an all together untrue statement, its carries a negative connotation) And from the faculty side of things, there are certain professors or departments non-majors simply do not take because if you don’t major in their field, it’s a widely accepted notion that they will… remind you why that particular subject is not your major.

My Dad is still bitter about the 'C' he got from an English professor his freshmen year. Apparently this man had the audacity to have the class write down their name and major and pass them in. According to my Dad, at the end of the semester all the humanity majors got A’s and B’s. And the lowly science majors like himself received C’s. (Unsolved mystery as to how my Dad knows the grades of every person in the class.) But I’d be lying to say I don’t have the exact same feeling about a grade I received from a TA I had in an elective course. (Which ironically enough, is a prerequisite for many PA schools…)

Maybe it’s the student’s fault for not taking a non-major class seriously enough. Maybe it’s the professor/TA’s fault for not expecting good work from a non-major. If everyone were honest, I’d bet it’d some of both…

But here in lies the danger. If students or faculty feel that students can only, or should only, thrive within their major we, as a generation, are poorly prepared for the real world. Success in the real world is rarely based on the mastery of a single skill. Only so many people get to be so invaluable that it justifies that their entire effort be channeled to that one purpose.

Amy Winehouse is one of those people. She’s a cracked out mess. I hear she sings too. But mostly what I want from her is a spectacle. And that’s all I ever expect from her.

What we’re going for people, is Mylie Cyrus. That girl has a TV show, a #1 song on iTunes, a hit movie in the box office, magazines covers, including Vanity Fair, and was up for a Relly Award on Regis and Kelly today. I’m not usually a Mylie fan, but the girl is covering her bases.

As the economy turns around, success (and gainful employment) will be based more on one’s ability to fuse their skills to a productive end than it has in the past. And that means, despite my specialized college degree, I'm gonna have to diversify. I may want to be a PA. But its unlikely I will be very good unless puedo hablar con mi pacientes…